VIP GIVERNY AND AUVERS SUR OISE

Would you like to experience a special VIP treatment during your VIP Giverny and Auvers sur Oise tour?

VIP Tours will give you full satisfaction taking you on this unforgettable journey of 9 hours in Giverny and Auvers sur Oise that will introduce you to the history of the most famous Impressionist painters: Claude MONET and Vincent VAN GOGH. 

Your personal, licensed driver-guide who is a specialist of the history of Giverny and Auvers sur Oise 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 Giverny and Auvers sur Oise tour, your personal driver-guide will take you first to Giverny. On the way, he will give you 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.

It is now time for your lunch break in a very nice, typical French restaurant or brasserie (lunch not included in the price).

On the way to Auvers sur Oise, your 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.

After lunch, you will this leave the magic of Giverny, driving along the picturesque “Route des Crêtes”, discovering on your way to Auvers sur Oise, the exceptional panorama of the Seine Valley, an ancient watch tower of the 10th century (that was built during the Viking invasion), the château of La Roche Guyon (that became the headquarter of general Rommel during WWII) and make a last short stop in the village of Vetheuil where Monet lived for 3 years before discovering Giverny.

Arriving in Auvers Sur Oise, you will stop at the heart of the town for a guided visit of the Ravoux Inn, the last home of Vincent Van Gogh.  Van Gogh rented a room in the Ravoux Inn for 3, 50 francs (50 cents) per day full board. He was accommodated on the top floor in a sparsely furnished room of only 7 square meters lit by a small skylight. It was also there that his brother Theo looked on helplessly as Vincent breathed his last. Thereafter room 5 was known as the room where a man committed suicide and was never let out again.  Vincent’s room remains exactly as it was and the visitor is able to set up inside and enter the artist’s intimate universe. There is an intense emotion trapped inside these tiny walls in all their bareness and simplicity.

After the visit your personal driver-guide will take to the cemetery to visit the Tombs of Vincent and Theo, the 2 brothers that lie side by side. On the way, he will stop at the Romanesque/Gothic Church, which was immortalized by Van Gogh before making a break in a French “patisserie” enjoying one of their delicious pastries. If time, you will also make a stop at the House of Doctor Gachet, Vincent’s friend of whom he made several portraits. You might even have a glimpse at the Absinth Museum to pay a tribute to the notorious “green fairy” before heading back to Paris after this very interesting and emotional day.

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

This tour is available from April until the end of October and from Wednesday until Sunday.