VIP GIVERNY AND HONFLEUR TOUR

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

VIP Tours will give you full satisfaction taking you on this unforgettable journey of 9 hours in Giverny and Honfleur that will introduce you 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) and to one of the most important and beautiful city in Normandy (Honfleur).

Your personal, licensed driver-guide who is a specialist of the history of Giverny and Honfleur 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 Honfleur tour, your personal driver-guide will take first to Honfleur (about 2 hours of driving), a very picturesque 500-year-old harbor on the Norman coast. On the way, he will give you an introduction to the city of Honfleur. There, you will be captivated by the many colored shops reflected on the water and the boats as they bob back and forth. There, you will make a break in a French “patisserie” enjoying one of their delicious pastries while sitting and watching the world goes by kind of place that was fancied by many Impressionist painters (Monet, Renoir…).

Then, you will enjoy a stroll along the streets full of restaurants and typical houses before seeing the Inner harbor created in 1668 by Duquesne as a defensive measure.  You will continue the visit to the market place where you will discover the Saint Catherine’s church and its belfry, constructed of wood 600 years ago by the local wooden shipbuilders. It has unequal double naves with inverted sheep-keel roofing, lean-to aisles and decorated internal panels. After having a closer look at the art galleries along the side and back streets, you will walk the cobblestone path around the harbor where you will stop for a very nice, typical lunch in one of the restaurants of this beautiful city  (not included in the price).

After this culinary break, on the road, your personal driver-guide 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.

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 Giverny and Honfleur.

(Entrance tickets included)

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