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.

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.

The departure will be at 7:45 AM from a centrally located agency. It will take about 1 hour and 15 minutes to reach the idyllic location, the lovely Norman village of Giverny. Discover the place of inspiration where Claude Monet, master of the Impressionist movement, created his most beautiful works. By visiting the artist's house and gardens, still in its original look, let yourself be carried away by Monet's imagination. Enjoy the vibrant colors as you listen to your audio guide and make your way through the two gardens which are an exceptional work of art in themselves. When crossing the Japanese bridge inside the water garden, you won’t miss the famous water lilies and the majestic weeping willows decorating the charming pond. In the paths of the Clos Normand (the Norman enclosed plot), the flower beds will dazzle your eyes with their endlessly varied colors and will lead you to daydream and romanticize. Stride along the streets of this charming little village, and stroll through the painters' and sculptors' galleries. Complete your day by visiting the museum of impressionism which has one of the most beautiful collections of Impressionist works.

After being picked up from your hotel, you will depart in a luxury vehicle for your one hour drive to Giverny, where you enjoy Claude Monet's home and gardens.  You arrive early at Claude Monet's House and Gardens, a Norman orchard that Monet turned into a lavish property full of colorful flowers and other vegetation, including cherry trees, tulips, roses, wisteria, weeping willows, and irises. This attraction includes the following: Monet’s Home: visit the painter's house where he lived with his big family. The yellow dining room, his first workshop, and the kitchen are especially memorable.The Flower Garden: every season and every month, flower beds change, as do tulips, hyacinths, iris, nasturtiums. At any time of the year, find the flower landscapes dear to the impressionist master.The Water Garden: the main subject of painting at the end of his life, Monet liked to spend time there and observe the variations of light and the reflections of his garden on the pond, famous for its water lilies.The Japanese Bridge: see the famous little green bridge crossing his pond with your own eyes. Your guide will then suggest several different options for a nice lunch in the charming village of Giverny.  In the afternoon, head to the town of Auvers-sur-Oise, where Vincent van Gogh spent the final days of his life. See the wheat fields and church that he painted, and visit his room at Auberge Ravoux, where he died. You'll also see the twin graves of van Gogh and his brother, before you head back to Paris