Discover France, held a special bike ride event on Sunday, June 8, a perfectly sunny day in New York City.

Integrated into the annual Sud de France Festival, the bike ride—christened “Discover the South of France in New York”—was attended by travel journalists, tourist representatives and winners of a contest promoted in various media outlets.

The special day kicked off with a 10am rendezvous; a light breakfast of croissants and coffee was served at the Maison du Languedoc Roussillon in Midtown Manhattan. The troupe then headed off to The Cloisters, an annex of the Metropolitan Museum of Art that incorporates actual architectural elements of the cloisters of St Guilhem le Désert and St Michel de Cuxa, two ancient monasteries in the south of France.

After an excellent tour of the museum, participants were given bikes to embark on a ride down the Hudson River and through Central Park, all along the way discovering various heritage sites of Languedoc-Roussillon via their New York counterparts. The ride ended with a lunch accompanied by a selection of the region’s wines.
The trip was an opportunity for everyone to experience a trip in the style of trips offered by Discover France in all regions of France, but also abroad, throughout Europe and California.

With detailed roadbooks just like the ones included on a typical Discover France itineraries and French guides that arrived especially for the trip, participants experienced the benefits of traveling by bike, namely the independence, freedom and ability to immerse themselves more intimately into the local life and culture.

Thank you to everyone who joined Discover France for this inaugural event and we hope to see you soon on a new adventure 🙂

Here are some comments from people who joined us on this adventure :

“Thank you for a beautiful day. We are exhausted, but happy.”
Anne-Elena Buckner, winner France-Amerique contest

“I’m sure the lunch buffet convinced all Americans present to go to France as soon as possible!”
Chloe Miraucourt winner French Matin contest

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