Full Day Monet’s Giverny & Versailles Palace Tour

This tour combines trips to two of the most notable attractions within driving distance of Paris: Claude Monet’s bloom-bursting estate at Giverny and the famously extravagant Palace of Versailles. Learn about two different chapters from French history – the Baroque-era excess of Versailles and the hugely influential Impressionist art movement – and about the lasting influence both periods have had on the country and indeed the wider world.
In the morning, travel from Paris to the quaint country village of Giverny by air-conditioned coach. During the drive, which takes around an hour, your guide will provide an enlightening introduction to the day’s agenda. First stop is the Fondation Claude Monet, where you’ll be treated to a short but informative introduction to the estate where the Impressionist master Monet made his home. After the orientation tour, you are free to explore at your leisure using a self-guided app. You might simply stroll slowly around the lily pad-peppered ponds of the garden, made so famous by Monet’s own masterpieces and admire the fabulous explosion of blooms, which change depending on the season. Or make your way around the artist’s ivy-clad house, which has been restored to show how it would have appeared during the painter’s lifetime. You might even want to get lunch in one of the town’s tranquil bars or restaurants, which exude provincial charm.
After lunch, we’ll regroup and make the short trip to Versailles on the outskirts of Paris, where a majestic European castle serves as a perfectly preserved example of the reckless extravagance of the French monarchy. An official palace guide will be waiting to meet you when you get off the bus, and will then accompany participants on a comprehensive two-hour guided tour of the Palace.
We skip the line via pre-booked entrance to Versailles and your guide will lead you around the labyrinthine interior, showing you the resplendent rooms where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette threw lavish soirées for fellow aristocrats as well as the royals’ own private chambers. Marvel at the sheer array of magnificent art, which could rival even the finest museum collections, and at the astonishingly detailed design of the palace’s 1,250 fireplaces. You’ll see the King and Queen’s apartments, the Chapel, the Coronation Room, the Hall of Mirrors and the Salon of Abundance, where the king would show off all his most precious items, including silverware, vases and medals, to distinguished guests.
And just when you think that you have seen all that the Palace of Versailles has to offer, you’ll step out into its dazzling manicured gardens. The gardens measure more than 1,800 acres in size, so we'll give you plenty of time to wander them at will. From April to October, you'll get to xperience the musical show inside the gardens of Versailles. (Tickets are included in tour price on show days). After ambling around the gardens at your preferred pace, you can hop back on board the return coach to Paris or, depending on your travel itinerary, you may prefer to stick around Versailles and make your own way onto your next destination.