VIP VERSAILLES AND GIVERNY

Would you like to experience a special VIP treatment during your VIP Versailles and Giverny tour?

VIP Tours will give you full satisfaction taking you on this unforgettable journey of 9 hours in Versailles and Giverny that will introduce you to the most marvelous and largest royal residence in the world (The Palace of Versailles) and to one of the most beautiful villages in France thanks to the world renowned impressionist painter Monet who lived there and his amazing gardens (Giverny).

Your personal, licensed driver-guide who is a specialist of the history of Versailles and Giverny will pick you up at your hotel in a luxurious Mercedes minivan or car and will tailor your tour to your specific wishes and needs.

During the VIP Versailles and Giverny tour, your personal driver-guide will take you first to the Palace of Versailles. On the way, he will give you an introduction to the history of the Palace and the century of the Sun King. Arriving at the Palace of Versailles, your personal guide will take you to a special entrance (NO LINES) to start your private guided visit that initiates with the Royal Chapel, followed by the visit of the King’s Grand Apartment. 

This prestigious seven-room enfilade served as a parade apartment. It was therefore sumptuously decorated and was reserved on 3 evenings a week for the court. You will visit the following rooms: Hercules Salon (reception and Ball Room), Abondance Salon, Venus Salon, Diana Salon, Mars Salon (that served as a ballroom), Mercury Salon (that served as a gaming (cards) room), Apollo Salon (that served as a concert or music room).

The visit of the King’s Grand Apartment will lead you to the magnificent Hall of Mirrors (La Grande Galerie des Glaces as it was called in the 17th C, that served daily as a passageway and a waiting and meeting place frequented by courtiers and visiting public), the War Room, the Queen’s Grand Apartment (Guard’s Room, Salon des Nobles - when not used for audiences it was used as antechamber to the queen’s bedroom, Queen’s Bedchamber – birthplace of the Royal children in front of the court-), the Peace Room and the Hall of French History and Hall of Battles.

After the private visit of the Palace, your personal guide will take you for a stroll into the Gardens to discover the planted architectural patterns and the groves (during the season – from April to October – on Saturdays and Sundays you have the Fountain Display in the Gardens – Les Grandes Eaux – not to be missed) and where you will look down on the grand perspective.

It is now time for the lunch that we will book for you in a very nice, typical French restaurant or brasserie (not included in the price). You will have the choice to have it in Versailles or Giverny.

After this culinary break, your personal driver-guide will give you first an introduction to the history of Giverny. Arriving in Giverny (1-hour driving time), you will stop at the local church (that Monet painted several times) before having a close look at the Monet’s tomb. Then, your personal guide will take you for a stroll in the village where many American Impressionists (Whistler, Metcalf, Robinson…) and friends of Monet (Renoir, Rodin, Cézanne…) stayed there when they visited him. You will have a look at the Café Baudy that these artists used as a studio in winter.

After this nice stroll, your personal guide will enter with you in Monet’s house and gardens on the side entrance (NO LINES) and start your visit at the Water Garden that Monet created 10 years after settling in Giverny on a piece of land neighboring his property and crossed by a small brook, the Ru. It is inspired by the Japanese gardens that Monet knew from the prints that he collected avidly. You will find the famous Japanese bridge covered with wisteria, weeping willows, a bamboo wood and above all the famous nympheas that bloom all summer long. Monet shaped his subjects in nature there before painting them. He found his inspiration there for more than 20 years.

Leaving the water garden, you will arrive to the Flower Gardens (called Le Clos Normand) full of perspectives, symmetries and colors. It is divided into flowerbeds where flower clumps of different heights create volume. Monet did not like organized nor constrained gardens. He married flowers according to the harmony of their colors and let them grow freely. At the end of the Flower Gardens you will arrive for a visit to Monet’s House (Blue Room, Family Living Room, Monet’s Bedroom, Alice’s Bedroom, Dining Room and Kitchen).

Then, you will finish your visit at his last Studio (that he had built especially to paint the large Water-Lilies Paintings that are at the Orangerie Museum in Paris) that houses now a gift shop before having a break in a French “patisserie” enjoying one of their delicious pastries.

On the drive back to Paris, you personal driver-guide will take you along the picturesque “Route des Crêtes”, you will discover a marvelous panorama of the Seine Valley, an ancient watch tower of the 10th century (that was built during the Viking invasion), the village and château of La Roche Guyon (that became the headquarter of general Rommel during WWII) and the village of Vétheuil where Monet lived for 3 years before discovering Giverny.

This tour due to the VIP treatment that we provide will leave you without doubt outstanding memories of your day in Versailles and Giverny.

This tour is available from April until the end of October