Organisation: Annelies Bodifée and Anja Wester
Utrecht, November 2026
Dear members, students and interested parties,
In the spring of 2027, the Alliance Française Utrecht is organising an interesting five-day trip to France for the thirty-fifth time. This time, we have chosen Besançon and its surroundings
as our destination. Please find the brief programme enclosed.Please find the programme below.
Wednesday, May 12
Departure at 8.00 am from Overvecht station on our own coach.
Coffee/tea and toilet breaks en route will be arranged in consultation with the driver. Given the long distance to Besançon, we will not be organising any activities along the way, but will only stop for the driver’s mandatory rest breaks.
We hope to arrive at the Ibis la City hotel in the centre of Besançon. We will be staying there for 4 nights. Dinner in the hotel restaurant.
Hotel address: Hotel Ibis la City, 1 Avenue Louise Michel, 25000 Besançon.
Thursday, May 13
After breakfast, we’ll set off by coach for the Saline Royale d’Arc-et-Senans, an old saltworks built around 1775 by the famous architect Ledoux on the orders of King Louis XV. Set within a 13-hectare park, we’ll take a guided tour of the restored buildings, which are now listed as a UNESCO World Heritage List. We then drive on to the actual factory where the salt was processed at La Grande Saline in Salins-les-Bains.
For lunch, we head to Arbois, a nearby village where you can also visit the birthplace of Louis Pasteur. At the end of the afternoon, we drive back to our hotel.
Dinner at a restaurant within walking distance of the hotel.
Friday, May 14
In the morning, we’ll head with a guide to the famous Citadel of Besançon, a masterpiece by Vauban and one of the most beautiful citadels in France. 100 metres above the city lies a vast site featuring various museums and offering panoramic views of the city and the surrounding area.
The afternoon is free to spend as you wish. You can visit one of the many museums in the city centre, including the Musée des Beaux-Arts, the Musée du Temps (Besançon is the city of timepieces) or the birthplace of Victor Hugo. Besançon has a charming city centre with
plenty of shops and outdoor cafés!
Make your own way back to the hotel and join us for dinner at a restaurant within walking distance of the hotel.
Saturday, May 15
In the morning, we’ll start by taking a guided tour of the Musée Courbet in Ornans. Gustave Courbet, the most important painter of the 19th-century Realist movement, was born in Ornans and also spent a large part of his life living and painting here. Lunch at your own expense in the charming town of Ornans. After lunch, we’ll take our coach on a beautiful journey through the Loue Valley, stopping along the way to visit the recently restored Prieuré de Mouthier-Haute-Pierre, featuring art by regional painters.
At the end of the afternoon, we arrive in Villers-le-Lac for a river cruise with dinner/dîner-croisière: ‘Saut du Doubs et ses bassins’.
After the boat trip, we drive back to our hotel.
Sunday, May 16
We will set off for the Netherlands at 8.00 am. Breaks en route will be arranged in consultation with the driver. We will announce the venue for our farewell lunch at a later date.
As on the outward journey, we will not be organising any further activities.
We are due to arrive in Utrecht at around 8.00 pm.
Photo : Musée Courbet in Ornans
Important
Anja & Annelies are delighted that we can offer this trip for the same price as in 2026!
If at least 35 people take part, the price is €850.00
per person for a twin room and €950.00 per person for a single room. The surcharge for non-members/guests is €20.00.
Included: the coach journey, all overnight stays with breakfast buffet, four dinners (including one dinner during a river cruise), one lunch (including drinks). Also included are the guided tours and admission fees as listed.
Other drinks and lunches are at your own expense.
Book your trip in the store here and at the bottom of this page.
Register
You can only register for the trip by completing the registration form and paying for the trip via the AFU webshop . We would ask you to do this before January, 1st 2027. Besançon also gets increasingly busy in the spring, which unfortunately means it is no longer possible to hold the hotel rooms for much longer. There are a maximum of 40 places available and places are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
We assume that all participants on this trip are in good health and able to take part in this five-day programme.
In the event of cancellation of the trip, no refund of the trip fee will be made due to contractual agreements made with the coach company and the hotel. We ask participants to take out adequate travel and cancellation insurance themselves.
Would you like more information? Please contact Annelies Bodifée (annelies.bodifee@casema.nl/06-51345707) or Anja Wester (anjawester@planet.nl)
€20.00
€100.00
€850.00