Art and Literature in Paris

Your guide will meet you at the Charles de Gaulle airport, and you’ll head to your Parisian hotel for the beginning of your adventure. Spend the day settling into your hotel and join your guide for an evening walk around the neighborhood and an authentic meal at a local bistro. 

Your first full day of Paris will be spent admiring the architecture and artwork of the Orsay. Join your guide in the hotel lobby and head to the 7th arrondissement. Not only is the museum full of European masterpieces from the 19th- and 20th-century, but the building itself is an amazing sight. The museum is housed in a former railway station and features distinct beaux-arts architecture. 

Spend the day wandering through the collections and be sure to check out the Saint-Paul Asylum collection of Van Gogh paintings as well as works by Gauguin, Seurat, Monet, Cézanne and Manet, to name a few. Join your group in the museum café for a light lunch and a much-needed rest. 

The first day will end with an evening trip to the Eiffel Tower. Climb to the top and watch as the sun sets over Paris. The lights that come on after dark are equally impressive!

Enjoy a traditional French breakfast in your hotel and join your guide on the tour bus for a trip to the Louvre. The Louvre is unlike any other museum, and you can easily spend the entire week exploring its immense collection. Follow your guide through the impressive museum to see the most famous selections of artwork on display. During your tour of the Louvre, you’ll see such famous works as the “Mona Lisa,” “Liberty Leading the People,” “Winged Victory of Samothrace,”  “Venus with Three Graces” and more. 

Paris has more to offer than museums. Today your adventure will be spent walking through the city and along the Seine to visit the most famous literary attractions. Join your guide in the hotel lobby for the start of your tour. 

Stroll along the Seine and marvel at the rare books, posters, and maps for sale at the famous bookseller stands, known locally as The Bouquinistes. These sellers of antiquarian books have been around at least since the 16th century. After The Bouquinistes comes Shakespeare & Company, the iconic bohemian bookstore. 

Once you’ve perused and picked up a few books of your own, you’ll stop for lunch at Le Procope. The eatery is famous for being the oldest operating restaurants in France. Spend the afternoon in an establishment frequented by France’s most famous Enlightenment philosophers, including Rousseau, Voltaire, and Diderot. 

Finish the day with a tour of the Père-Lachaise Cemetery and pay your respects to such literary greats as Marcel Proust, Oscar Wilde, and Gertrude Stein.

You’ll spend today outside of Paris in the beautiful village of Giverny. Famous for being the last place Monet worked and lived, the village is full of inspiring scenery. Explore the small town, do some sketching, and tour Monet’s house and gardens. Often cited as being the birthplace of impressionism, Giverny is also where you’ll see the water lilies that inspired Monet’s most famous collection of paintings.

Wake up early and hop on the tour bus for a day trip to the Palace of Versailles. You’ll spend the day taking a tour of the palace and wandering through the grounds. Pack a picnic and enjoy lunch en plein air among the same gardens frequented by Marie Antoinette and other French royalty. 

Enjoy one last croissant and café crème before packing up for your trip back home. You’ll leave France with a deep appreciation of the arts and plenty of inspiration to create your own masterpiece!