3 Noteworthy Ways to Experience Faith-Based Travel to France

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November 14, 2025|Jamie A Richardson|Wonder Voyage Destination|

Wonder Voyage’s faith-based travel to France is designed to reconnect your team with wonder. For youth groups, it offers urban energy, countryside reflection, and active service. Adult groups experience depth, theological insight, and meaningful fellowship. School groups blend curriculum, service, and cultural immersion into a holistic learning experience.

Let’s dive into three different examples of how Wonder Voyage can build your team a one-of-a-kind experience.

Faith-Based Travel to France: Brittany and the Celtic Soul

A Wonder Voyage to Brittany, France, focuses on nature and Celtic Christianity. This region was once cut off from the rest of France by thick forests and a wild coastline. Brittany is where Celtic saints met the sea and the Gospel took root among ancient tribes.

Here is an example of what faith-based travel to Brittany, France, with Wonder Voyage has to offer.

1. Normandy in Sight

After months of preparation, your team arrives in France. As you enter Europe’s fabled land of good food, iconic landmarks, and hidden landscapes, you head west to the first monastery in the western borderlands of Normandy. Here, the community welcomes you for a time of retreat and renewal.

2. The Beaches of Normandy

Today, your team can explore a small section of France that changed the course of history. On the morning of June 6, 1944, “Operation Overlord” commenced as 6,000 ships and boats landed on Normandyʼs northern beaches. A total of 135,000 soldiers from the U.S., UK, Canada, and elsewhere began to recapture French soil from the clutches of the Nazi occupation. Known as D-Day, this marked the beginning of the 76-day Battle of Normandy, which would result in over 400,000 casualties. Today, your team will learn about that fated day by visiting beaches such as Omaha and Utah. It is a day to contemplate sacrifice and the cost of freedom.

3. Mont St-Michel

From Normandy, your Wonder Voyage takes your team into the heart of Celtic Brittany. On your way west, you can stop at the iconic and holy sanctuary of Mont St-Michel. This small mountain island was initially known in Celtic mythology as a sea tomb for the souls of Celtic heroes. In 708, Bishop Aubert of Avranches built a devotional chapel after receiving a vision from the Archangel Michael. Over centuries, Benedictine monks transformed the site into a fortress of faith. Pilgrims leave Mont Saint-Michel reconnected with wonder.

4. A Celtic Abbaye

No faith-based travel to France is complete without a visit to St. Guenole, the oldest Christian site in Brittany. You can spend the day in quiet exploration while you learn about the history of Celtic Christianity and the lives of the saints that once roamed these shores. Your team can spend the day in quiet exploration or serving alongside the brothers. By the end of the day, you will feel connected to centuries of faith.

5. A Sampling of Towns

On your fifth day abroad, your team can visit several villages to understand what day-to-day life looks like in France. First, you see the mystical woodland interior where the legends of Brittany come alive. Then, your team moves on to the small town of Huelgoat, surrounded by an otherworldly forest filled with ancient caves, abandoned mines, and beautiful rock formations. Next, you visit the mid-sized seaside village of Concarneau to see an ancient, well-preserved walled town from the 14th century. Finally, you end the day in the large city of Quimper, where Breton culture and arts still thrive.

6. Chartres Cathedral

As your team leaves the Abbaye, you head toward the Eiffel Tower. Along the way, you stop at one of France’s most beloved holy sites: Chartres Cathedral. This 13th-century sanctuary dominates the medieval town that surrounds it. By late afternoon, your team arrives in Paris.

7. Ah, Paris!

And finally, Paris! You start at Ste-Chappelle before heading to Notre Dame and the Latin Quarter. The afternoon offers free exploration before your team reconnects for a Celebration Meal and Pass the Candle.

8. Pilgrims Return

Your team’s week in France has been a pilgrimage filled with wonder. You head back home with a more profound connection in faith, with yourself, and with each other.

Faith-Based Travel to France: Southeast France

Southeast France offers sparkling Mediterranean waters, lavender fields, and villages that seem frozen in time. Pilgrims encounter history, faith, and natural beauty in every direction. Wonder Voyage combines structured experiences, reflection, and service to deepen spiritual connection.

Let’s dive in to discover what a pilgrimage or service trip to Southeast France may look like for your school team, youth group, or adult team.

1. Bienvenue en France

Your team arrives in France by way of Marseille. Just outside Marseille, you find your first home-away-from-home with a Benedictine sisterhood. As your team participates in the community’s daily life, you will also launch into other adventures. On this first evening, your Wonder Voyage Guide will help prepare your team for the days ahead.

2. Ordered Rhythms

On the second day of your faith-based travel to France, your team takes full advantage of the abbey, spending time in quiet contemplation, prayer practices, moments of silence, scriptural reflection, and peaceful wandering. As you take a short hike beyond the grounds, wonder awaits.

3. Coastal Wonders

On the third day, your team dips its toes in the Camargue, a coastal area on the Mediterranean Sea teeming with a vibrant ecosystem and a fascinating past. You start your exploration in the walled town of Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. This small seaside town is where Christianity may have first come to Europe. The church of Eglise des Saintes Maries gives your team space to pray before you jump on a boat and see the area from a different point of view. On the way back to the abbey, you may stop at Arles, a town filled with France’s Roman past.

4. La Promenade

Nothing says pilgrimage like lacing up your boots for a good hike! The Sainte-Baume mountain range is the cradle of a Christian sanctuary dedicated to Saint Mary Magdalene. Running water has carved out a remarkable geological legacy: a maze of caves, sinkholes, grottos, and subterranean rivers. This little-known area promises to reconnect your team with wonder.

5. A Sure Stronghold

Up next: the Château des Baux. A turbulent past marked this beautiful place until the Château’s destruction during the Wars of Religion. This medieval stronghold contains both a castle and a village.

6. Marseille

On day six of your faith-based travel to France, your team departs the monastery and heads to Marseille, where grit and grandeur coexist seamlessly. This exuberantly multicultural port city has a pedigree stretching back to classical Greece. Here, your team can partake of the Eucharist with a local church, then spend some time in one of the city’s magnificent museums.

7. Calanques

On your seventh day, the beach beckons your team to a day of fun. Cassis contains one of the best beaches in Marseille. Your team can hike to Port Pin to enjoy a day on a largely unspoiled beach without having to worry about large crowds. Your reward: a kayak adventure you won’t soon forget.

8. Wonder Wandering

On your final full day on your faith-based trip to France, your team has free time to explore Marseille. Visit Vieux Port (old port), where boats line the water mast-to-mast. Or head uphill to the city’s oldest section, the Le Panier neighborhood. Also worth exploring is the République Quarter, or the Cathédrale de Marseille Notre-Dame de la Major. You cap off a perfect day with a Celebration Meal and a time of Pass the Candle.

9. Au Revoir, France

Your team departs Southeast France carrying memories, prayers, and reflection into daily life. Faith-based travel to France is more than a trip—it is an ongoing rhythm of encounter, service, and growth.

Faith-Based Travel to France: Normandy

A Wonder Voyage to Normandy is another beautiful option for a faith-based trip to France. While many sites overlap with our Brittany trip, Normandy focuses more on WWII and the U.S. connection to France.

Let’s see what a Wonder Voyage to Normandy has to offer your team.

1. Bienvenue en France!

As your team lands in France, you head north to your first home in Normandy. This area of France has been the launching pad and the landing point for several of historyʼs most significant invasions. You will spend the afternoon exploring your monastery home before jumping into orientation. In quiet and silence, this community welcomes you for a time of retreat, recollection, and rest.

2. Sacrifice

Today, your team will explore a corner of Normandy that forever changed the course of world history. On June 6, 1944, “Operation Overlord” began as more than 6,000 ships and boats carried 135,000 Allied soldiers from the U.S., U.K., Canada, and beyond to the beaches of northern France. This D-Day invasion marked the start of the 76-day Battle of Normandy and cost over 400,000 lives. As you visit sites like Omaha Beach and Utah Beach, take time to reflect on the courage, sacrifice, and cost of freedom.

3. Sabbath

On the way to the Cotentin Peninsula, your team will visit the Norman town of Coutance before arriving at the next retreat center near the sea. The afternoon will be filled with hiking, followed by an evening of rest and rejuvenation.

4. Mont St-Michel

On the fourth day of your faith-based travel to France, your team can visit the sacred Mont Saint-Michel. Once known in Celtic mythology as a sea tomb for heroes, it became a holy site in 708 when Bishop Aubert of Avranches built a chapel after a vision from the Archangel Michael. The Benedictines later settled here, and the grand fortress that stands today soon followed. Spend the day exploring this UNESCO World Heritage Site and its timeless beauty.

5. Chartes

On your way into the city of dreams, you will take time to stop at one of Franceʼs most beloved holy sites: Chartres Cathedral. This 13th-century sanctuary dominates the medieval town that surrounds it. By late afternoon, you will reach your home for the next three days in the heart of Paris.

6. Ah, Paris!

During your faith-based travel to France, your team can spend two days exploring the City of Lights. Start at your hostel, take a tour to the Arc de Triomphe, enjoy the buzz and beauty of Paris, before partaking of a Eucharist service at the American Cathedral. And in the afternoon, you can visit the world’s most incredible art museum: the Louvre.

7. Paris Your Way

On your team’s second day in Paris, you can visit Ste. Chapelle and Notre Dame. Then, you can spend the afternoon exploring independently before rejoining your group at the Eiffel Tower. A Celebration Meal and Pass the Candle caps your faith-based travel to France.

8. Un Pèlerin de Départ

As your team heads home, you are filled with wonder and reconnected with each other. A once-in-a-lifetime experience bonds you moving forward.

Bonus Option for Faith-Based Travel to France: Exclusively Paris

Wonder Voyage also offers a weeklong tour of Paris, France, if that is what your team longs for. See every tourist site and the hidden gems on a pilgrimage or service trip to one of the most iconic cities in the world.

Planning and Registering for Your Faith-Based Travel to France with Wonder Voyage

Wonder Voyage simplifies faith-based travel to France with clear steps:

Register Online – Secure your dates through Wonder Voyage’s website.
Define Your Purpose – Are you traveling for youth formation, adult discipleship, or school learning? We will help you clarify your goals in our initial consultation.
Consult a Voyage Coordinator – A dedicated Coordinator will craft a personalized itinerary, manage logistics, and integrate service opportunities into your faith-based travel to France.
Select Service and Reflection Elements – Choose hands-on projects, contemplative walks, journaling, and worship to align with your group’s interests.
Download The Way of Wonder Curriculum – Spiritually prepare your team for the journey ahead.
Connect with your Guide – Your Voyage Guide is an expert who will be with you on the ground, handling day-to-day logistics so you can focus on your team.

Wonder Voyage offers a complete support system for faith-based travel to France, making it accessible, safe, and spiritually enriching for groups of all ages. Visit www.wondervoyage.com to learn more, download the curriculum, and begin your registration.

Call to Action

Faith-based travel to France with Wonder Voyage is more than sightseeing. It is a pilgrimage that engages faith, culture, and community. Youth, adult, and school groups alike will reconnect with wonder and each other.

Let Wonder Voyage’s 25+ years of expertise guide your group through France’s heritage, landscapes, and communities. Begin your registration today and transform your next trip into a life-changing journey of faith. Visit www.wondervoyage.com to get started.

Looking for other Wonder Voyage Destination Options?

If your team is looking for options beyond faith-based travel to France, consider these popular blog posts to learn about other destinations Wonder Voyage offers.

Jamie A Richardson

Jamie has been involved with Wonder Voyage for over 15 years. She is our Communications Director and Legacy Co-Director.