London & Paris

The tour starts at 6.00pm on Sunday 19 January, with welcome drinks and dinner at The Bloomsbury Hotel, London.

The tour ends after breakfast on Sunday 2 February, in the Royal Saint-Honoré Hotel, Paris.

After individual travel arrangements to London we meet your tour leader in the hotel for welcome drinks and dinner. Overnight London (D)

Our first day in London begins with a talk in our hotel before we make our way to the National Portrait Gallery. Here there is free time to explore the gallery’s extensive collection, spanning six centuries of fascinating portraiture from the Tudor period to the present, before we gather for our welcome lunch in the Gallery’s fine restaurant. After lunch we continue to the Courtauld Gallery. Housed in the impressive Somerset House, the gallery, founded in the 1930s by a group of collectors and philanthropists led by industrialist Samuel Courtauld, holds many important Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings which were part of Courtauld’s own collection. Returning to our hotel there is time to relax before our coach transfer to the West End for our first performance. Overnight London (B, L)

Performance I
Venue: To be confirmed
Program: To be confirmed
Performers: To be confirmed

Celebrating its bicentennial in 2024, London’s National Gallery holds a justifiable place as one of the world’s premier art institutions. We spend the morning here, exploring the exceptional permanent collection which includes many fine Old Masters and one of the greatest collections of Italian Renaissance art outside Italy. After a break for lunch we continue to the Tate Modern, whose excellent collection of international modern and contemporary art is dramatically showcased in the gallery’s monumental building, repurposed from the former Bankside power station. Returning to the hotel, the late afternoon is at leisure before we transfer to the Royal Opera House for tonight’s performance. Overnight London (B)

Performance II
Venue: To be confirmed
Program: To be confirmed
Performers: To be confirmed

After a talk in our hotel this morning we make our way to Kenwood House, a gracious 18th-century neoclassical villa surrounded by landscaped gardens on the edge of Hampstead Heath. Architect Robert Adam was commissioned to remodel the interiors of the villa in 1764 and they remain some of his finest surviving work, now complemented by the 1st Earl of Iveagh’s renowned collection of Old Masters, including works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Dyck, Gainsborough and Reynolds. The later afternoon is at leisure before we meet again this evening for our transfer to the Royal Festival Hall and tonight’s performance. Overnight London (B)

Performance III
Venue: To be confirmed
Program: To be confirmed
Performers: To be confirmed

The Wallace Collection, assembled by the Marquesses of Hertford and bequeathed to the British nation in the late 19th century, is superbly displayed in what was once the family’s London residence. This morning we explore this excellent collection, which surveys European fine and decorative art from the Renaissance to the 19th century and includes Frans Hals’ famous work The Laughing Cavalier. After a break for lunch, the British Museum is our next destination. The museum’s outstanding collection is one of the largest in the world, charting two million years of human history and culture. Here we tour the special winter exhibition followed by the opportunity to explore the collection at leisure. It’s a short walk back to our hotel where there is time to relax before our early evening transfer to the Southbank theatre precinct for tonight’s performance. Overnight London (B)

Performance IV
Venue: To be confirmed
Program: To be confirmed
Performers: To be confirmed

Heading out of London today we travel to Oxford, the fabled “city of dreaming spires”. Here our guided walking tour gives us special access to the historic heart of this university town, including the Sheldonian Theatre, Ashmolean Museum and Harris Manchester College Chapel. The chapel, an unexpected jewel in one of Oxford’s smallest colleges, was built in the arts and crafts style and is beautifully illuminated with striking stained-glass windows designed by Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris. Our visit concludes with Evensong in the lovely chapel at Christ Church College. Returning to London the evening is at leisure. Overnight London (B, L)

This morning we visit the newly renamed King’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace, which rose from the ruins of Queen Victoria’s private chapel, destroyed in an air raid in 1940. Totally renovated for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 2002, the gallery displays a beautifully curated, and ever-changing selection of treasures from the Royal Collection, which holds many works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Hans Holbein and exquisite decorative pieces by Fabergé. We then transfer to Dulwich Village where we have a break for lunch at the Dulwich Picture Gallery café before visiting the gallery itself. Designed and built by architect Sir John Soane, the gallery has a fascinating history dating back to the 17th century and a permanent collection rich in European masterpieces. Returning to the hotel the evening is at leisure. Overnight London (B)

An early departure this morning as we make our way to historic St Pancras railway station to join the high-speed train for Paris where we arrive early afternoon and begin the next chapter of our adventure. Our tour manager takes our bags to the hotel while we transfer to the nearby Musée d’Orsay. Originally a beaux-arts railway station, the Gare d’Orsay was transformed into France’s national museum of 19th-century art in the late 1980s, with interiors skillfully and sensitively designed by Italian architect Gae Aulienti. We have a guided tour of the collection and enjoy the winter exhibition before continuing to the hotel to check in and freshen up. We meet this evening for an aperitif and dinner in our hotel. Overnight Paris (B, D)

The Musée Jacquemart-André was inaugurated in 1913, the generous gift of Nélie Jacquemart and her husband Edouard André who built a sumptuous mansion on one of Hausmann’s grand new boulevards in the late 19th century and filled it with a magnificent collection of fine and decorative art gathered on their travels around the world. After a talk in the adjacent hotel, we explore the newly renovated museum which provides a fascinating glimpse into the lives of two passionate collectors. We then break for lunch in the museum café before walking the short distance to the lovely Parc Monceau, a genteel oasis established in the late 18th century by Phillippe d’Orleans, cousin to Louis XVI. Painted by Monet, beloved by Berlioz, the park’s informal layout in the “English” style makes it a popular destination for an afternoon promenade. Returning to the hotel the evening is at leisure. Overnight Paris (B)

The historic heart of Paris opera, the Palais Garnier is an opulent and extravagant 19th-century temple to music, adorned with gold leaf, coloured marble, and artworks commissioned from the leading artists of the time. This morning our tour leader guides us through the Palais, revealing the fascinating history of this extraordinary building. After our visit we make our way to le Chimère, a local restaurant with a chic 70s vibe offering an excellent seasonal menu. This afternoon we stroll through the covered walkways of the Passages Couverts, beautiful shopping arcades dating from the Belle Epoque which are now home to a range of elegant boutiques and cafes. Returning to our hotel there is time to freshen up before our first Paris performance this evening at the Opéra Bastille. Overnight Paris (B, L)

Performance V
Venue: To be confirmed
Program: To be confirmed
Performers: To be confirmed

Joining our coach this morning we head north of Paris to the town of Chantilly where we visit the chateau, built in 1882 for the son of King Louis-Phillipe I, Henri d’Orléans, Duc d’Aumale. Exiled in 1886, D’Aumale was permitted to return to France once it was revealed that he had bequeathed the chateau, his extensive art collection and extraordinary library to the Institut de France. A noted collector and bibliophile, d’Aumale’s art collection includes works by Raphael, Van Dyck, and Delacroix and his library has over 17,500 volumes and illustrated manuscripts including the magnificent Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. Following our visit we’ll have a break for lunch in the town of Chantilly before returning to Paris. There is time to relax before a talk in the adjacent hotel and our second Paris performance in the striking Philharmonie de Paris. Overnight Paris (B)

Performance VI
Venue: To be confirmed
Program: To be confirmed
Performers: To be confirmed

In the 1360s Charles V transformed an existing fortress into a royal château and the Palais du Louvre remained a royal residence – demolished, rebuilt and extended by successive monarchs – until Louis XIV took his court to his splendid new palace at Versailles. After the Revolution, the Louvre became a public museum and today contains one of the world’s great collections of art and sculpture. Our guided visit this morning looks at some of the highlights of this magnificent collection followed by time to explore at leisure. In the early afternoon we make our way through the Tuileries to the Hôtel de la Marine, a beautiful neo-classical building which served as the French Naval headquarters for over 200 years. Today the Hôtel displays beautifully restored 18th-century apartments as well as precious objects from the extensive collection of Sheik Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani. The evening is at leisure. Overnight Paris (B)

Today our walking tour takes us across to the left bank of the river - the Rive Gauche - where we explore this fascinating quartier, renowned for its association with artists, writers and philosophers of the counterculture since the days of Pierre Abélard’s subversive teachings in the 12th century. We continue to the Hôtel Biron, better known today as the Musée Rodin and have an included lunch at the museum restaurant before our visit. August Rodin bought the 18th-century Hôtel Biron in 1908, using the residence as a home and studio until his death in 1917. He bequeathed his entire collection of sculptures together with a number of significant paintings to the French State and the building opened as the Musée Rodin in 1919. Today the museum and sculpture garden which surrounds it offer an extraordinary insight into the sculptor’s life with many of his greatest works on display. Returning to the hotel there is time to relax before our final performance tonight at the historic Palais Garnier. Overnight Paris (B, L)

Performance VII
Venue: To be confirmed
Program: To be confirmed
Performers: To be confirmed

Once a hunting lodge on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne, the Musée Marmottan Monet is now an exceptional collection of Impressionist works, established with bequests from Doctor Georges de Bellio, an early supporter of the Impressionist movement, and Claude Monet’s son and heir Michel. Despite a daring heist in 1985 which temporarily relieved the collection of some key works, we can appreciate over 300 Impressionist and post-Impressionist works by Monet and his contemporaries on our visit today. The afternoon is at leisure before we make our way to the Centre Pompidou, the National Museum of Modern Art, in the early evening. Designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers the now iconic building was considered an architectural outrage by many when first opened in 1977. Now nearly 50 years old the Pompidou is showing its age, so we have a very special opportunity to enjoy both the building and its superb collection before it closes for renovation and expansion till 2030. Following our visit, we take the escalator to Georges, the museum’s glamorous rooftop restaurant, where we enjoy farewell drinks and dinner with stunning, panoramic views across the city. Overnight Paris (B, D)

The tour ends after breakfast. Please refer to individual travel documents for ongoing travel plans. (B)