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Beauty and the beast food & wine tour

July 12 - 21, 2026

For the woman who grew up dreaming of castles, candlelit dinners, and Champagne at golden hour — and grew into someone who appreciates better wine, slower mornings, and stories that linger.

We’ll toast Bastille Day in storybook Alsace, wander fairytale villages that look too perfect to be real, savor our way through France, and finish in the Loire Valley surrounded by châteaux, beauty, and that delicious feeling of being exactly where you’re meant to be. This is fantasy, elevated — designed for women ready to step fully into their own story.

Hosted by:
Kate Ciullo, Founder of Lumina Literary Tours

Route:
Colmar (Alsace) → Fairytale Villages of Alsace → Black Forest (Germany) → Burgundy (Château Stay) → Loire Valley → Paris Departure

For:
Fans of romantasy, found-family stories, feminine power, slow luxury travel, seaside villages, candlelit dinners, and women who want to feel like the main character again.

A Fairytale Built for Grown Women

2
Countries

10
Days

8
Locations

Women Only 
Travel

lock in your spot

What’s Included in Your Escape

9 nights of accommodations

All scheduled ground transportation

Daily breakfast plus select group lunches and dinners

Wine included with group meals

Private guided tours & admissions

Hotel porterage

Bastille Day celebrations

Gratuities covered

Highlights
  • Arrival in France & private transfer to Colmar
  • First stroll through storybook streets
  • Welcome dinner with Alsatian wine

Arrive in France and step gently into the story. After landing in Zurich, Switzerland, we travel by private coach to Colmar, where half-timbered houses and flower-lined canals set the tone for the week ahead. After check-in, we gather for our first Alsatian meal together — wine poured generously, laughter easy, and that quiet realization settling in: this trip already feels different.

Zurich → Colmar

Easy

Grand Hôtel Bristol

DAY 1 — WELCOME TO ALSACE

Monday, July 13, 2026

Lunch · Dinner

Private arrival
transfer

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Highlights
  • Guided visits to Ribeauvillé & Riquewihr
  • Bastille Day celebrations in Alsace
  • Long-table dinner in Eguisheim


The Story
Today feels like wandering through the pages of a story you already love. Ribeauvillé and Riquewihr are widely believed to have inspired Belle’s village — cobblestones, pastel facades, and windows filled with flowers. By afternoon, we arrive in Eguisheim as Bastille Day energy fills the streets. Music drifts, laughter echoes, and the night ends with a communal dinner that feels less like a tour and more like a feast in the village square.

Alsace Wine Route

Private Coach

DAY 2 — FAIRYTALE VILLAGES & BASTILLE DAY

Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Breakfast, Lunch,  Dinner

Moderate walking

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Grand Hôtel Bristol

Highlights
  • Guided Old Town & Little Venice walking tour
  • Free afternoon for boutiques & cafés
  • Cozy Alsatian group dinner

The Story
If Belle had a day off, this would be it. A guided walk reveals Colmar’s canals, hidden corners, and storybook streets — and then the afternoon opens up. Find a café. Browse a bookshop. Sit by the water and do absolutely nothing. Dinner brings us back together, where conversations deepen and the group begins to feel unmistakably like its own little world.

Colmar

Private transfer

DAY 3 — A GIRL AND HER BOOKS

Wednesday, July 15, 2026

Included Meals:
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Walking Tour

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Grand Hôtel Bristol

Highlights
  • Crossing into the Black Forest
  • Lake views and alpine air
  • Wine tasting in Freiburg

The Story
Today we step beyond the village — into the forest. The Black Forest is quiet, green, and slightly mysterious, the kind of place where stories feel like they could still happen. Lake Titisee offers stillness; Freiburg brings warmth, wine, and history. We return to Colmar in the evening with the sense that the story is widening, deepening, asking you to pay attention.

France → Germany → France

Private Coach

DAY 4 — INTO THE WOODS

Thursday, July 16, 2026

Breakfast, Lunch

Moderate

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Grand Hôtel Bristol

Highlights
  • Château stay surrounded by vineyards
  • Unstructured afternoon to rest or roam
  • A night that’s entirely your own

The Story
Every great story has a turning point — the moment inside the castle walls where the noise fades and something softer takes over.

Today, you arrive at a 14th-century French château, surrounded by vineyards, woodland, and a kind of quiet that feels earned. There’s nowhere to rush to. No schedule pulling at you. Just time — to swim beneath stone walls that have stood for centuries, wander the grounds where history hums underfoot, journal in the shade, or do absolutely nothing without apology.

This day isn’t empty. It’s intentional. A reset wrapped in limestone and sunlight.

Dinner is yours tonight — a choice, not an omission — because independence, ease, and listening to your own rhythm are part of the magic here.

Burgundy

Private transfer

DAY 5 — THE CASTLE INTERLUDE

Friday, July 17, 2026

Breakfast, Lunch

Easy

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Château de Saulon

Highlights
  • A slow, unhurried morning at the château
  • Scenic journey into the Loire Valley
  • Arrival in Amboise — castles, river light, and evening freedom

The Story
Morning arrives softly at the château — the kind of morning that doesn’t ask anything of you. Coffee tastes better. Time feels generous. You linger a little longer than usual, knowing the road will wait.

By late morning, we begin our journey into the Loire Valley, passing vineyards, villages, and wide-open countryside that feels almost cinematic from the coach window. There’s a sense of forward motion again — not hurried, just purposeful — like turning the page after a chapter that mattered.

Amboise greets you with river views, castle silhouettes, and a rhythm that invites wandering. After check-in, the evening is entirely yours. Find a wine bar. Follow the sound of conversation spilling onto the street. Sit by the river as the light softens and let yourself feel what’s shifted.

Burgundy → Amboise

Private transfer 

DAY 6 — THE ROAD UNFURLS

Saturday, July 18, 2026

Breakfast, Lunch

Easy

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La Maison Rabelais

Highlights
  • Visit Château de Chambord, the inspiration for the Beast’s castle
  • Time inside one of France’s most dramatic royal estates
  • Loire Valley wine experience
  • Evening return to Amboise

The Story
Some places don’t need explanation — they simply rise up and take your breath with them.
Château de Chambord does exactly that.

As you approach, its towers and spires emerge from the landscape with unmistakable presence. This is the château believed to have inspired the Beast’s castle — grand, complex, and quietly powerful. Inside, you wander vast halls, spiral staircases, and rooms built not just for living, but for legacy. There’s a gravity here, the kind that invites reflection rather than spectacle.

After time exploring the château and its grounds, we slow the pace with a Loire Valley wine experience, tasting regional wines that carry the character of the land itself — grounded, expressive, unapologetically distinct.

Amboise → Chambord

Private Coach

DAY 7 — THE BEAST’S CASTLE

Sunday, July 19, 2026

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Moderate

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La Maison Rabelais

Highlights
  • Guided walking tour of Amboise Old Town
  • Visit to Château d’Amboise, overlooking the Loire
  • Exploration of Leonardo da Vinci’s Clos Lucé
  • Final shared dinner in the Loire Valley

The Story
After days of castles and countryside, today turns inward — toward the ideas, artistry, and quiet brilliance that shaped this region.

We begin with a guided walk through Amboise, a town that feels lived-in rather than preserved. Cobblestones, river light, and stories of royalty and artists unfold as you wander its historic streets.
From there, we visit Château d’Amboise, rising above the Loire with sweeping views and centuries of history layered into its walls. Just steps away is Clos Lucé, Leonardo da Vinci’s final home — intimate, thoughtful, and quietly astonishing. Here, you don’t just see his work. You glimpse how his mind moved through the world.

Tonight, we gather for one final dinner in Amboise — glasses raised, stories shared, and that familiar feeling when something meaningful is almost complete.

Amboise

Private Coach

DAY 8 — THE MIND BEHIND THE MAGIC

Monday, July 20, 2026

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

La Maison Rabelais

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La Maison Rabelais

your itinerary

Deposit: $500 per person


Double Occupancy: $5,777 per person

Solo Occupancy: $7,777 per person

Final Payment Due: June 01, 2026

This journey is intentionally limited to 26 travelers to preserve the pacing, intimacy, and depth that make Lumina tours feel different. Pricing reflects a curated, small-group experience shaped by story, place, and exceptional local partners.

Registration

pricing &

after you register

You’ll receive immediate confirmation, access to your personal travel portal, and a warm welcome from Kate & April. Everything you need to feel prepared — without overwhelm — arrives gently.

reserve your spot

HOST

meet your

Hi, I’m Kate — the bookish romantic behind Lumina Literary Tours.

I build story-driven journeys for women who want more than a pretty vacation. The kind who crave beauty and depth. Laughter and quiet. The ones who’ve always felt a little pulled by places they first met in books.

Books raised me. They taught me that courage could be quiet, that longing wasn’t a flaw, and that transformation doesn’t always arrive with fireworks — sometimes it shows up slowly, over good wine and better conversation.

Be Our Guest is one of the trips closest to my heart. It’s a love letter to fairytales, to castles with weight in their walls, to women who are ready to step into a story that feels both enchanting and deeply grounding. No forced vulnerability. No awkward icebreakers. Just shared experiences that naturally turn strangers into something softer, truer, and lasting.

I’ll be with you throughout the journey — handling the logistics, smoothing the edges, and making sure you can fully sink into the experience. My job is to hold the container so you can show up exactly as you are.

Come for the castles.
Stay for the connection.
Leave a little changed.

kate Ciullo | Founder of Lumina Literary Tours

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