Escape the busy city and visit the enchanting home and gardens of the famous impressionist painter Claude Monet. Stroll through the beautifully landscaped gardens with your knowledgeable guide and learn more about the flora as well as the importance of the gardens in Monet's paintings.  Meet with your small group and your guide before entering the gardens. First, visit the water garden with the water lilies that inspired many of his paintings and then the 'Clos Normand'. Your guide will point out different species of flowers and features of the garden. As you wander through the gardens and visit Monet's house also learn more about Claude Monet's life, and why he became the master of impressionism.  At the end of the tour, you can stay longer to stroll on your own or take a look in the big gift shop before you exit. From early spring till the first days of November, Monet's gardens are a fairy of colors and fragrances. Feel free to ask your guide about the picturesque village of Giverny and what more there is to see.

Enjoy a half-day trip to the former home of Claude Monet, one of the most famous painters of French Impressionism. Located in the tiny hamlet of Giverny on the banks of the River Seine, 50 miles west of Paris, the house and gardens were bequeathed to the Académie des Beaux-Arts by his son in 1966. They were opened as a public museum in 1980 following large-scale restoration work. Depending on the option you choose, your tour will either be guided, audio-guided or at your own leisure.  Depart Paris and travel by comfortable air-conditioned coach. As there is no direct public transport to Giverny, this is the ideal way to get there. You will drive via the western districts of Paris and take the Normandy motorway as far as Bonnières. After crossing the River Seine at Vernon, continue to Giverny through the wooded plateaus of Eure. Giverny attracted several Impressionist painters in the 19th-Century, most following the lead of the movement’s founder, Claude Monet, who lived there for 43 years. Visit the Master’s house, where the spectacular colors and enchanting garden were designed like a work of art. Be dazzled by the flowerbeds and plants and get a sense of the artist’s feelings and inspirations as you stand in front of the famous water lilies and weeping willows in the delightful water garden.

Explore the beautiful village and home in Upper Normandy where the Impressionist artists, Claude Monet spent the last 40 years of his life. Visit the charming village of Giverny, and discover why it proved such a source of inspiration for Impressionist artists. Following your transfer from Paris, look inside the house where Monet lived and worked. Set within an exquisite valley of the River Seine, the gardens and surroundings formed a great part of the subject matter for his paintings after he moved there in 1883. Once you have seen the rooms where the artist lived with his family, stroll through 2 unique gardens that Monet designed and modified throughout his life. See more than 100 different types of flowers, and intertwined foliage in Monet’s Flower Garden. Then, feel as if you have stepped into one of his paintings in the Japanese Garden. Go to the lake full of water lilies, and get a better appreciation of why Monet used this garden as the inspiration for over 250 of his paintings.

Your tour starts in Paris, where you will be picked from your accommodations and hop aboard a minivan for a one-hour drive to the Palace of Versailles.  Here, you will explore the opulent palace, once home to King Louis XIV, King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. On your tour, you will view the famous Hall of Mirrors, the Grand Apartments and the Queen's Apartments, as your guide helps bring history to life. Enjoy some free time to wander through the expansive gardens behind the palace.  After touring Versailles, take a midday break for lunch and continue your journey to Giverny, the long-time home of Claude Monet. When you arrive at Monet's House and Gardens, take some time to wander through the rows of vibrant flowers and stroll over to the water lily pond and Japanese bridge. You can view his workshop and house, where you can admire Monet's collection of Japanese prints on the walls before heading back to Paris.  

Stroll the streets of the charming village of Giverny and discover the grave of Claude Monet in the churchyard. Then, skip the long lines to Monet's house and gardens to hear the story of the artist's life and how he led the Impressionist movement from the village between 1883 and 1926. Learn how artists such as John Singer Sargent, Paul Cézanne and Mary Cassatt joined him in the sleepy village to form an unofficial artists’ colony. Be enchanted by the ponds and gardens that inspired his paintings, and see the Japanese bridge and lilies of the Oriental water garden. Savor the scent of flowers in season, such as wild roses, hollyhocks, poppies and honeysuckle.  Admire the water lilies and weeping willows, instantly recognizable from his classic paintings and look inside the thatched roof house to find the cheerful kitchen and his collection of 18th and 19th century Japanese prints.

Take a guided tour of Monet’s Giverny estate and the Palace of Versailles on this day tour from Paris by air-conditioned coach. Save time with skip-the-line entrance to the Château de Versailles and its elegant garden.  Be picked up from a centrally-located meeting point in Paris and board a spacious coach. Stop at the Monet Foundation for a short introduction to the estate. Take a walk around the lily pad pond and visit the artist’s ivy-clad house. Take a break in town where you can purchase a delicious lunch. Sit back and take in the views on the short drive to Versailles, a perfectly preserved example of French royal extravagance. Breeze past the long lines at Versailles with your fast-tracked entrance. Explore the this famous palace and follow your guide on a tour of the rooms where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette threw lavish soirées. Visit the private royal chambers. Enjoy a short tour of the gardens and then have the freedom to appreciate them further at your leisure. Depending on the day, you may experience the Fountain Show or the Musical Gardens. Hop back on the bus and relax on the transfer back to your meeting point in Paris.

Take a fascinating excursion to 2 of the most impressive symbols of French culture, and discover the complex and rich history behind their walls. Start your excursion from Paris to Giverny with an audio guide or a guide (depending on option selected), a quaint village in Normandy that attracted several impressionist painters throughout the 19th century. See the home of Claude Monet, and be inspired by the touch of color and charm that influenced his work. Explore the colorful garden whose lilies, weeping willows, and flowerbeds are a vivid reminder of his masterful works. You will then enjoy a traditional lunch before visiting the stunning site of the Palace of Versailles. You will discover the masterful combination of classic and baroque architectural styles. Take a stroll through the beautiful gardens, walk by the hall of mirrors, and visit the Grands Appartements to get a sense of the grandeur that surrounded King Louis XIV. You will return back to Paris at around 6.00 pm.

A day of unforgettable impressions awaits you outside Paris at legendary Versailles and the home of Claude Monet. Meet at the meeting point in Paris then get taken to Giverny, the village where Monet produced some of the world's most beautiful landscape paintings. See the gardens the so-called Father of Impressionism magically recreated on canvas, with their trademark water lilies and Japanese bridge. A complimentary 3-course lunch at the renowned Moulin de Fourges restaurant will provide the perfect opportunity to rest and savor what you saw along with fine gourmet food. The second part of the day takes you to Versailles, where reality might exceed your idea of how kings and queens once lived. Spend an hour wandering about the Grand Apartments of the king and queen, and the famous Hall of Mirrors. Outside discover the famous palace gardens, the marble Grand Trianon palace retreat and Marie Antoinette's Hamlet.

Discover the unparalleled beauty in the Clos Normand and Japanese Water gardens of Claude Monet, in Giverny. You’ll feel as though you’ve stepped into one of his Impressionist paintings as you walk among the willow trees and cross the little green bridge over his pond of water lilies. Then you’ll explore the inside of his colorful family home, getting some unique access to whether the artists actually lived and worked.  After visiting Claude Monet’s home and gardens, stop at his tomb to pay your respects to this great man.  Afterward, visit the town of Auvers-Sur-Oise, where you’ll focus on the troubled life and unique Post-Impressionist art of Vincent Van Gogh. You’ll see the boarding house where Vincent lived the last 3-months of his life. Next, explore the little town and surrounding area, which inspired 77 of his paintings.  Visit the gothic “Church of Auvers” and walk in the actual “Wheat Field with Crows.” Seeing these places with your own eyes will help you to understand why Vincent Van Gogh found so much inspiration in Auvers-Sur-Oise. See Van Gogh’s final resting place, a humble ivy-covered grave site.

Begin this full-day Monet bike tour with a scenic coach journey through the spectacular wheat and sunflower fields of Normandy. Speed by the lazy Seine River, and stop off at the village of Vernon. Here, you will visit the charming farmers' market to buy picnic supplies. Then, hop-on your bike and pedal across the river to a beautiful park along the banks of the Seine. After lunch, enjoy a relaxing 3-mile (5-kilometer) ride down bike paths to the village of Giverny. Cruise past Giverny Church and its cemetery, which contains graves of local citizens dating back to the 17th Century, as well as British soldiers from World War 2, and even Monet himself buried within his family's vault. Pass Hotel Baudy, where Impressionist painters Manet and Renoir used to paint. You will then arrive at the highlight of the day, Monet's Garden. Spend about 90 minutes exploring the gardens and house, including the famous water lily pond where some of his most famous works originated. Additionally, you can explore the village of Giverny, which boasts the American Museum of Art, located across the street from Monet's Gardens, as well as numerous cafés and small streets begging to be discovered.