Your Adventure

1 Travel to Paris

• Board your flight Relax and enjoy your journey to Paris, France.

2 Hello Paris

• Meet your Tour Director Arrive in London and meet your Tour Director, who will accompany you for the duration of your trip.
• Paris city walk Île de la Cité, Notre-Dame Cathedral, Île St. Louis, Latin Quarter
  This city was made for walking. Stroll grand boulevards with sweeping views of the city, pristine parks with trees planted in perfect rows, and narrow streets crowded with vendors selling flowers, pastries and cheese. Then head to the Île de la Cité, a small island in the Seine, to see Notre Dame Cathedral.
• Dinner in Latin Quarter

3 Paris

• Paris guided sightseeing tour Arc de Triomphe, Champs Élysées, Eiffel Tower, Les Invalides, Opera House
  What's that huge white arch at the end of the Champs-Élysées? The Arc de Triomphe, commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 after his victory at Austerlitz. Your licensed local guide will elaborate on this, and other Parisian landmarks. See some of the most famous sites, including the ornate 19th-century Opera, the Presidential residence and the Place de la Concorde, where in the center you’ll find the Obelisk of Luxor, a gift from Egypt in 1836. Spot chic locals (and tons of tourists) strolling the Champs-Élysées. Look up at the iron girders of the Eiffel Tower, built for the 1889 World's Fair to commemorate the centenary of the French Revolution. See Les Invalides (a refuge for war wounded) and the École Militaire (Napoleon's alma mater).
• Versailles guided excursion State Apartments, Hall of Mirrors, Gardens of Versailles
  The ultimate palace, Versailles was built by Louis XIII, and housed the royal family and its groveling court from 1682, when Louis XIV the Sun King moved in, to the French Revolution. Everything in Versailles is worth a look, from the 250-foot-long Hall of Mirrors, with themed salons- "war" and "peace" -on either side, to Marie Antoinette's faux country hamlet. When being a queen became too much to bear, she would pretend to be a commoner, tending her sheep and wearing peasant clothes. (Please note Versailles is closed on Mondays.)
• Seine River cruise See the city from the water on an hour-long cruise along the River Seine. The Seine cuts right through Paris, dividing the city in half. See the Eiffel tower rising up on the Left Bank, the walls of the Louvre on the Right Bank. A guide will point out other monuments and architectural marvels as you pass, many of which are illuminated by clear white light at night.

4 Paris

• Louvre Museum visit The world's largest art museum, the Louvre is housed in a Medieval fortress-turned-castle so grand it's worth a tour itself. You walk through the 71-foot glass pyramid designed by I.M. Pei and added in 1989, and step into another world--one with carved ceilings, deep-set windows, and so many architectural details you could spend a week just admiring the rooms. The Mona Lisa is here, as well as the Venus de Milo and Winged Victory (the headless statue, circa 200 BC, discovered at Samothrace). The Louvre has seven different departments of paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures and antiquities. Don't miss the Egyptian collection, complete with creepy sarcophagi, or the collection of Greek ceramics, one of the largest in the world. (Please note the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays.)
• Eiffel Tower ascent Line up to climb to the top floor of this iconic landmark for a spectacular birds-eye view of the glittering City of Light.

5 Paris - Côte d'Azur

• Travel to Nice on the TGV (one of Europe’s fastest trains)
• Nice tour director-led sightseeing Vieux Nice, Promenade des Anglais
  The Côte d'Azur's largest city spills down the hillsides to pebble beaches that line the shore. Your Tour Director will show you around the narrow pedestrian streets and tiny squares of "Le Vieux Nice" (Old Town), which is sprinkled with old palaces and mansions. Stroll down the Promenade des Anglais, which runs parallel to the water. Backed by Nice's grand hotels, the Promenade was built in the 19th century for the British who flocked here en masse.

6 Côte d'Azur

• Monaco and Èze excursion Prince’s Palace, Parfumerie visit in Èze
  Step into the dazzling world of Monaco, a tiny country bursting with luxury, history, and sunshine on the French Riviera. Learn how this unique principality became a playground for royalty and movie stars alike. Journey to the hilltop village of Èze to visit a traditional perfumery and discover how expert perfumers have blended scents since the 1700s.

7 Côte d'Azur

• St. Paul de Vence and Chagall Museum excursion Travel to the beautifully preserved medieval hill town of St. Paul de Vence. A visit to the Marc Chagall National Museum and stop by a confiserie are among the highlights of today!

8 Côte d'Azur - Provence

• Travel to Provence
• Provence tour director-led sightseeing Avignon, Pont du Gard visit, Nîmes amphitheater visit, Les Baux-de-Provence
  Lush lavender fields, olive groves, terra-cotta roofs, and ochre walls lit by golden sunlight...Your Tour Director will guide you through the splendor that is Provence. Explore legacies of the Roman Empire like the Pont du Gard aqueduct, a sophisticated work of engineering that is intact after more than 2,000 years, and visit the Nîmes amphitheater. Built by the Romans, it was once the site of gory gladiator and animal combat, and is still used today for performances and bullfights (some things never change). See the medieval ruins of Baux-de-Provence, a fortress sitting in the Alpilles mountains that was once used to protect the three bordering villages.

9 Provence - Barcelona

• Travel to Barcelona via Collioure Imagine a perfect jewel of a Mediterranean village, bright boats bobbing on azure water and pastel houses providing shade from a lollipop sun. You’re in Collioure. Hidden between the Pyrenees and the sea, this laidback town has combined the best of Spanish and French resort cultures to become the perfect relaxation spot (and a former favourite of both Matisse and Picasso).
• Tapas dinner Tapas purportedly originated when bartenders set a small plate ("tapa") over patrons' glasses of sherry and wine to keep the flies out. The bartenders starting piling the plate with cold cuts, olives, or salad, and the bite-size snack was born. (We're unsure how they kept the flies out of the cold-cuts... maybe that's how the sandwich was invented?) Over time these working-class snacks have become more elaborate, with each region adding its own specialties and cooking techniques to create unique tastes and combinations.

10 Barcelona

• Barcelona guided sightseeing tour Plaza de Espana, Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia, Montjuïc Hill, Park Güell visit
  See brilliant Barcelona, a city of graceful Gothic churches, wrought-iron balconies and grand avenues filled with outdoor cafés. Throughout the city, daringly innovative buildings sit side-by-side with the medieval past. A licensed, local guide will show you some of the high points of this architectural showcase. First stop, the pointy spires of the La Sagrada Familia (Church of the Holy Family), a half-finished church complex that became the obsession of Barcelona's famously eccentric architectural genius, Antoni Gaudí. At the top of Güell Park, another of Gaudí's masterpieces, is a terraced area where you get a fantastic view of the park and Barcelona City. The vibrant colours of the tiles are breathtaking. Then step back to the past with a journey up to Montjuïc (Hill of the Jews), a fortress built atop an ancient Jewish cemetery. This was the site of numerous battles to control Barcelona, and also the location of the 1992 Olympics.
• Las Ramblas scavenger hunt Take interactive learning to another level with a Tour Director-led scavenger hunt of Las Ramblas, the most famous pedestrian street of Barcelona! Complete exciting activities and solve fun clues. Each clue and every activity is built to maximize on-tour experiential learning.
• Paella dinner Paella is a Valencian rice dish with ancient roots that originated in its modern form in the mid-19th century near Albufera lagoon on the east coast of Spain.

11 Barcelona

• Montserrat guided excursion Montserrat is famous for its monastery, its caves, its weirdly shaped crags of rock and its amazing mountain. It is home to the Shrine of Our Lady of Montserrat, a popular pilgrimage destination outside of Barcelona.
• Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey visit The Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey, situated in the Montserrat mountains near Barcelona, is a historic site famous for its beautiful basilica, the revered statue of Our Lady of Montserrat, and its distinguished boys’ choir.

12 Depart Barcelona

• Begin your journey home After breakfast, bid farewell to your Tour Director as you board your flight home.