July in France includes Corsica, St. Tropez, Le Tour with Lance, and more, we're talkintravel(video)

July 3rd is the start of the Tour de France with RadioShack's Lance Armstrong and company trying to pull out another one for the old guys.  Le Tour begins with a time trial in Rotterdam and will include eleven new stage towns including Arenberg Porte du Hainaut, Bourg-de-Péage, Bourg-lès-Valence, Gueugnon, Longjumeau, Pamiers, Pauillac, Sisteron, Station des Rousses, Tournus, Wanze (Belgium).  There's one prologue and 20 stages finishing in Paris as always. 

There's more to France this summer including a brand new hotel in St.Tropez.  In mid July, the French Riviera will get a glamorous new addition to its perpetually fashionable and buzzing coastline: Hotel Sezz Saint-Tropez. Owner and hotelier Shahé Kalaidjian has joined forces with an all-star team consisting of designer Christophe Pillet, architect Jean-Jacques Ory, landscape designer Christophe Ponceau and chef Pierre Gagnaire to create a sister property to the Hotel Sezz Paris.

Situated just outside Saint-Tropez and a short walk from the beach, Hotel Sezz Saint-Tropez is a contemporary version of a Provençal village with a collection of single-storey buildings. The resort has 37 guestrooms surrounded by a lush wooded park, and a swimming pool at its centre. Christophe Pillet has made sure that guests will smell, hear and taste ‘holiday’ from their beds and baths. Entire walls of glass and oversized windows are used throughout the resort to create an airy atmosphere. Hotel Sezz Saint-Tropez is set to shine new light on the regional tradition of luxury resorts.  I've never been to Saint Tropez, but my friend in Auvergne who works for the tourism board there, never misses an August in Saint Tropez...It's now on my bucket list.

Corsica for a few days.  If the island of Corsica seems just like a distant dream, look no farther than their website and book you dream vacation after you leave the Hotel Sezz Saint Tropez.

Now how does that song go?  "I love Paris in the springtime, I love Paris in the fall....."  add France to the song on you can't go wrong.  For more on France, check out the sidebar stories from the International Travel Insights Examiner, and on this page  you'll find dozens of travel features from our adventures around the world.  Watch out the videos below on Dijon from the Lost in Francelation series and Talkintravel TV on the Auvergne Region of France with host Rich Cand Ruth Carlson.