London & Paris

Day 1 | Sunday 11 January
Arrive London
Airport transfers to our hotel in London will be arranged by Academy Travel. In the evening, we meet for introductions and welcome drinks in the hotel, followed by dinner. Overnight London (D)

Day 2 | Monday 12 January
The Courtauld Gallery & National Portrait Gallery
| Royal Opera House
Today begins with a talk in our hotel, followed by a visit to The Courtauld Gallery in Somerset House. Founded in the 1930s by a group of collectors and philanthropists led by industrialist Samuel Courtauld, the gallery holds many fine Impressionist paintings. After touring the permanent collection, our focus will turn to the special exhibition Wayne Thiebaud: American Still Life, which explores the bold colour, wit and craftsmanship of this iconic American artist. Our next stop is the National Portrait Gallery, where we begin with a welcome lunch in the gallery’s fine restaurant, offering views across Trafalgar Square. After lunch, there is free time to explore the gallery’s extensive collection, spanning six centuries of fascinating portraiture from the Tudor period to the present. In the evening, we make our way to the prestigious Royal Opera House for Puccini’s final masterpiece, Turandot. This revival of Andrei Șerban’s iconic 1984 production remains a Covent Garden favourite and will feature soprano Anna Pirozzi as the enigmatic Princess, alongside Tenor Roberto Alagna in the role of Calaf and rising star Juliana Grigoryan in the role of Liù. Overnight London (B, L)

Day 3 | Tuesday 13 January
Oxford Museums & Evensong
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 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 of the 19th century and is beautifully illuminated with striking stained-glass windows designed by Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris. Lunch is enjoyed on Oxford’s bustling High St, before the afternoon is spent at the Ashmolean Museum – the University of Oxford’s museum of art and archaeology. Founded in 1683, it is the oldest public museum in the UK and houses an extraordinary range of collections, from ancient Egyptian mummies and classical sculpture to Islamic ceramics and Renaissance masterpieces. Our visit to Oxford concludes with Evensong in the lovely chapel at Christ Church College before we return to London. Overnight London (B, L)

Day 4 | Wednesday 14 January
Leighton House & The National Gallery
| Wyndham’s Theatre
This morning we visit Leighton House, the former home of leading Victorian artist, Frederic, Lord Leighton. Tucked away in Kensington, the house is a masterpiece of 19th-century design and its richly decorated interiors reflect Leighton’s fascination with the Middle East and classical antiquity. Created as his ‘private palace of art’, the house displays many of Leighton’s own works and offers a rare glimpse into the world of Victorian art and society. After a break for lunch, we then make our way to London’s National Gallery where we take in the newly unveiled exhibition Radical Harmony, showcasing the remarkable collection assembled by Dutch collector Helene Kröller-Müller – a great art patron of the 20th century. Kröller-Müller assembled the most comprehensive ensemble of Neo-Impressionist paintings in the world and a highlight of the exhibition includes Georges Seurat’s Le Chahut, on loan to the UK for the first time. There will also be the chance to view Wright of Derby: From the Shadows, the first major exhibition dedicated to the ‘candlelight’ paintings of British artist Joseph Wright. The remainder of the afternoon is then free to explore the exceptional permanent collection which has just been rehung in the main gallery. Tonight we attend a powerful performance of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons at the intimate Wyndham’s Theatre in London’s West End. Directed by the acclaimed Ivo van Hove, this new production stars Bryan Cranston as Joe Keller, a self-made businessman whose moral compromises unravel his family. Overnight London (B)

Day 5 | Thursday 15 January
Wallace Collection & British Museum
| Barbican Centre
Today begins at the Wallace Collection, nestled in the heart of Marylebone. A hidden gem among London’s cultural institutions, the collection was assembled by the Marquesses of Hertford and bequeathed to the British nation in the late 19th century. Superbly displayed in what was once the family’s London residence, we spend the morning exploring this excellent collection which includes Frans Hals’ famous work The Laughing Cavalier. After a break for lunch, we then visit the superb British Museum. Founded in 1753, it was the world’s first national public museum and it contains over eight million objects that paint an interconnected portrait of the world’s cultures. Here we plan to tour their special winter exhibition followed by the opportunity to explore the collection. It’s then a short walk back to our hotel, with time to freshen up before our evening performance at the iconic Barbican Centre. Under the masterful baton of Sir Simon Rattle, the London Symphony Orchestra will present a concert performance of Leoš Janáček’s opera The Makropulos Affair. The opera delves into themes of mortality and identity through the enigmatic character of Emilia Marty, a woman who has lived for over 300 years. Overnight London (B)

Day 6 | Friday 16 January
Tate Britain & the V&A
Our morning visit to Tate Britain, a veritable temple of British art from the 16th century to today, offers the opportunity to experience a landmark exhibition of two pivotal British artists in the 250th year of their births. Turner and Constable will revive Britain’s greatest art rivalry as it brings together these two titans of landscape painting in a rare side-by-side presentation. Notable works on display include Turner’s Caligula’s Palace and Bridge and Constable’s Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows, both of which were famously exhibited together at the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1831, highlighting their artistic divergence. After time to view the permanent collection, our afternoon is spent at London’s extraordinary Victoria and Albert Museum – the V&A. The focus of our visit is the new landmark exhibition exploring the lasting influence of the most fashionable (and ill-fated) queen in history. Marie Antoinette Style will examine how her unparalleled style has echoed through the ages. Among the 250 objects going on view are the Queen’s personal artifacts, from opulent gowns to furnishings from Versailles, alongside pieces from designers like Dior, Chanel and Vivienne Westwood. On return to our hotel, the evening is at leisure. Overnight London (B)

Day 7 | Saturday 17 January
Covent Garden | Royal Opera House
Following a leisurely start to the day, we embark on a guided walk through Covent Garden, one of London’s most vibrant and historic districts. Once a monastic garden owned by Westminster Abbey, the area transformed over centuries into a bustling market, a centre for theatre and performance, and a hub of Georgian elegance and 20th-century revival. Beginning at St Martin-in-the-Fields on the edge of Trafalgar Square, we stroll along the cobbled streets of the Seven Dials precinct, a 17th-century experiment in urban planning originally designed to attract fashionable residents. We then explore the elegant colonnades of Covent Garden Piazza, the first planned square in London, where we also find St Paul’s Church, known as the ‘Actors Church’ due to its close ties to the history of British theatre. Our walk concludes at the Royal Opera House, where we’ll enjoy a matinee performance of the Olivier Award winning three-act ballet, Woolf Works. Choreographed by Sir Wayne McGregor and set to a hauntingly beautiful score by Max Richter, the ballet draws inspiration from the life and writings of Virginia Woolf, with each act reflecting one of her seminal novels – Mrs Dalloway (I now, I then), Orlando (Becomings), and The Waves (Tuesday). Overnight London (B)

Day 8 | Sunday 18 January
To Paris & Musée d’Orsay
An early departure this morning takes us to historic St Pancras Railway Station, where we board the high-speed train for Paris. Arriving in the early afternoon, we begin the next chapter of our adventure at the magnificent Musée d’Orsay. Originally a Beaux-Arts railway station called the Gare d’Orsay, it 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 with time to enjoy the winter exhibition focusing on the construction and decoration of the Opéra Garnier, which celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2025. After our visit, we cross the Seine to our hotel, with time to settle in before we reconvene for dinner. Overnight Paris (B, D)

Day 9 | Monday 19 January
Musée Jacquemart-André & Parc Monceau
| Opéra-Comique
Following a talk in our hotel this morning, our first point of call is the Museé Jacquemart-André. Inaugurated in 1913, it is the generous gift of Nelie Jacquemart and her husband Edouard Andre 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 exploring the newly renovated museum, we then walk 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. Imortalised on canvas by Monet and beloved by Berlioz, the park’s informal layout in the “English” style makes it a popular destination for an afternoon promenade. In the evening we head to the historic Opéra-Comique to experience Jules Massenet’s masterpiece, Werther. This lyrical drama, based on Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther, features tenor Pene Pati in the title role. Overnight Paris (B)

Day 10 | Tuesday 20 January
Musée de l’Orangerie & Les Passages Couverts
| Palais Garnier
This morning begins at the Musée de l’Orangerie, nestled in the leafy western end of the Tuileries Garden. The museum is best known for housing Monet’s monumental Water Lilies, however the focus of our visit will be the first major exhibition dedicated to Berthe Weill – a pioneering yet long-overlooked figure in modern art. Weill was instrumental in launching the careers of artists such as Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani, Dufy and Delaunay, along with a favourite of our tour leader, Hermine David. Through letters, archival material and over 75 works by the artists she supported, Berthe Weill: Art Dealer of the Parisian Avant-Garde will provide us with a vivid portrait of her life and legacy. We then make our way to Chimère, a stylish restaurant with a retro 1970s flair where we enjoy lunch. We follow this with a leisurely stroll through the nearby Passages Couverts, a series of charming covered arcades dating from the Belle Époque, now home to an array of elegant boutiques. In the evening we head to the Palais Garnier for a highlight of the Paris Opera season – the Academy Gala Concert. Titled La nuit et l’amour (Night and Love), the Paris Opera Orchestra joins forces with the Academy’s resident singers and musicians to explore themes of night and love through a curated selection of French and British repertoire. The concert will feature works by Debussy, Poulenc, Ravel and Britten. Overnight Paris (B, L)

Day 11 | Wednesday 21 January
Fontainebleau | Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
This morning we travel to Château de Fontainebleau, a lesser-known treasure often overshadowed by Versailles. The original medieval castle on the site was transformed into a hunting lodge for the early Kings of France before Francois I commissioned architect Giles le Breton to transform it into a magnificent Renaissance palace. The château remained relatively unscathed through the Revolution, but it fell into disrepair until rediscovered by Napoleon, who loved the site and decorated a suite of apartments in his favoured Empire Style. Our visit today includes the Grand Apartments and the apartments of Napoleon, followed by a stroll around the gardens. We return to Paris in time to freshen up for tonight’s recital at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. Acclaimed pianist Alice Sara Ott will present a thoughtfully curated program that pairs the lyrical Nocturnes of John Field with three piano sonatas by Beethoven, including the radiant Sonata No. 30 and the much-loved “Moonlight” Sonata. Overnight Paris (B)

Day 12 | Thursday 22 January
Notre Dame & Musée Cluny
Today we take a walking tour of the famed Rive Gauche, exploring the historic heart of intellectual and artistic Paris. We begin with a visit to one of the city’s most iconic monuments, the newly reopened Notre Dame Cathedral. Partially destroyed by fire in 2019, the cathedral has been meticulously restored using traditional materials and techniques that echo its 12th-century origins. From there, we stroll through the Latin Quarter, known for centuries-old institutions like the Sorbonne, and, after a break for lunch, we enter the Musée Cluny – Musée National du Moyen Âge. Housed in a former medieval abbey and incorporating the ruins of a Roman bathhouse, the museum is a treasure trove of medieval art. Highlights of our visit include pieces salvaged from Notre Dame after the fire, rare liturgical objects and the exquisite series of tapestries known as The Lady and the Unicorn – widely regarded as one of the great masterpieces of medieval European art. On return to our hotel, the evening is at leisure. Overnight Paris (B)

Day 13 | Friday 23 January
Musée Rodin, Musée Bourdelle & Musée de la Musique | Philharmonie de Paris
We begin our day at the Hôtel Biron, now the Musée Rodin, where the great sculptor Auguste Rodin lived and worked from 1908 until his death in 1917. He bequeathed his entire collection to the French State and today the museum and sculpture garden which surrounds it offer an extraordinary insight into his life. We enjoy lunch together in the museum’s restaurant set within the gardens before continuing to the converted studio of another major French sculptor, Antoine Bourdelle. The charming and often overlooked Musée Bourdellle has a fantastic collection of both his own works and works he acquired, including multiple busts of Ludwig Van Beethoven. We then travel to our final destination of the day, the Philharmonie de Paris. Designed by acclaimed French architect Jean Nouvel and inaugurated in 2015, the building is an architectural tour de force, with its flowing, organic form clad in interlocking aluminium panels that shimmer like scales. Our visit here begins at the Musée de la Musique, where we explore Kandinsky: The Music of Color, a major new exhibition co-produced with the Centre Pompidou that brings together nearly 200 works and reveals the profound relationship between music and visual art in Kandinsky’s work. The day concludes in the striking Grande Salle Pierre Boulez, where we enjoy a performance of Robert Schumann’s oratorio Le Paradis et la Péri (Paradise and the Peri) by the Orchestre National de France, under the baton of the acclaimed conductor Philippe Jordan. Overnight Paris (B, L)

Day 14 | Saturday 24 January
Musée Marmottan Monet & Musée des Années Trente
Our final day of touring begins in the leafy western reaches of Paris at the Musée Marmottan Monet, once a modest hunting lodge bordering the Bois de Boulogne. Now a treasure trove of Impressionist art, the museum owes its remarkable holdings to key bequests from Doctor Georges de Bellio, an early champion of the Impressionists and physician to several of them. It is particularly renowned for its stunning selection of Monet’s Water Lilies and the very painting that gave the movement its name, Impression, Sunrise, and 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 on our visit today. After a break for lunch, we then continue to the Musée des Années Trente, a hidden gem tucked away in the elegant Espace Landowski in Boulogne-Billancourt. This often-overlooked museum offers a surprising window into French artistic, cultural and social life during the interwar years – a period of intense creativity and transformation. The museum’s extensive collection spans painting, sculpture, furniture, fashion, ceramics, industrial design and architectural models, showcasing the sweeping changes in aesthetics that defined the 1920s and ’30s. We end the day with a farewell dinner at Le Grand Véfour, tucked beneath the arcades of the Palais-Royal. This opulent brasserie first opened its doors in 1784 and has welcomed a glittering clientele ever since. Overnight Paris (B, D)

Day 15 | Sunday 25 January
Depart Paris
The tour ends after breakfast. Please refer to your individual documents for your onward journeys. (B)