Luxury · Paris
Paris Art & Bistros
The Louvre with a private guide, Versailles by car, a market walk and pastry class, and a golden-hour Seine cruise, from a hotel in Saint-Germain or Le Marais.
- Duration
- 4 nights
- Guide price
- from $3,900 pp
- Best time
- Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct
Four nights is the shortest stay we’d suggest for a first visit. Each day has one big plan in the morning, and the afternoons and evenings are left open for walking and long dinners. The Palace of Versailles is closed on Mondays, so we plan the days around that.
The itinerary
Day by day
Day 1
Arrival in Paris
Overnight flights from the U.S. land in the morning, and your driver brings you into the city. We ask the hotel for an early check-in; either way, a walk along the Seine to the Île de la Cité is the best cure for the flight.
Day 2
The Louvre, Then the River
Your guide meets you as the Louvre opens and leads you to the works you most want to see, not all of them. Walk back through the Tuileries after lunch, and end the day on the Seine as the light turns gold.
Day 3
Versailles
A driver takes you out to Versailles, where a guide leads you through the palace before the afternoon crowds, then leaves you time in the gardens. Back in Paris by late afternoon, you're free for dinner in Saint-Germain.
Day 4
Markets and Pastry
Walk a neighborhood market with a local guide, then learn to make pastries with a chef. The afternoon is open for the Musée d'Orsay, the shops of Le Marais or a long café stop.
Day 5
Home from Paris
After a last breakfast, your driver takes you to Charles de Gaulle airport, about an hour away.
Want it a little different?
Add two nights in Champagne or Normandy, trade Versailles for Monet's garden at Giverny (open April to October), or book a family suite and pace it for children.