Tour Overview

Paris has always been seen as a haven of innovative cuisine, food critique and fine dining. Indeed the first restaurant as we know it was invented in Paris in the years before the French Revolution to cater for an elite too sensitive to eat common fare and who could only digest a “restoring” broth.

With the collaboration of local Parisian guide, Sylvia Gagin, this tour will explore all aspects of food in Paris, from the colourful street markets to the great food halls such as the Bon Marché, the gourmet shops such as Fauchon and the best patisseries, bakeries and chocolate shops.

We will visit the Baccarat crystal collection and the porcelain of Sèvres as well as the turn of the century kitchen at the Camondo mansion. Each day we will dine in a different style of restaurant from the historic Grand Véfour to the latest “bistronomie” trends. During the day we will explore the art of dining in the collections of the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay and travel by coach outside Paris to Alexandre Dumas’ Chateau de Monte Cristo and the Ile des Impressionistes.

The tour will be led by Sylvia Sagona, specialist in 19th century French art and literature, who has been taking lecture tours to Europe for the past twenty years.

Tour Price :

AUD $6850 - Land Content only based on twin / double room accommodation

AUD $2250 - Single room supplement (added to above price if non-sharing room accommodation is required)

Note : The above prices do not include airfares or transfers to and from airports. Meals, other than daily breakfasts and welcome dinner, are also not included.

Tour Price Includes:

• 9 nights accommodation in an Art Deco hotel in the Champs Elysées/ Avenue Montaigne area including full breakfast
• Welcome dinner
• All museum and garden entrances
• Guided tours and lectures including a pre–tour briefing
• Unlimited transport by Metro, bus and the RER in Paris
• Night cruise down the Seine
• Course materials and maps

A tour brochure and an application form may be downloaded by clicking on the Download Documents tab above and then selecting the document you wish to download. If you would prefer to have any of these documents posted to you, please email us.

For more information about this tour please select the Tour Information tab above.

Tour Information

Accommodation

We will be staying in a centrally-located 4 star hotel, Chateau Frontenac, which is in the Parisian "Golden Triangle" between the Ave Montaigne and the Champs Elysees, near the Arc de Triomphe.

A delicious full breakfast is included.

Tour Organisation

All tour members will be equipped with headsets so they will have no difficulty hearing the guide.

The mornings are usually devoted to markets and walking tours visiting small specialist shops and lesser-known areas of Paris. After lunch together in a restaurant selected to highlight a Parisian culinary tradition, we will visit private collections or a museum related to the gastronomic theme. Evenings will be free except for the welcome and final dinners and the Bateau Mouche trip.

A detailed itinerary listing all activities will be given to participants at a pre-tour briefing session.

In the event of particularly bad weather, strikes or unexpected closures of museums or monuments, the tour leader reserves the right to alter the programme to better suit conditions.

Language

The tour leader speaks French and will do all the interpreting and negotiating required for the running of the tour and for the well-being of the participants.

Level of Physical Activity

There will be a significant amount of walking and standing. Daily travel will be by the Metro which may entail negotiating a number of stairs.

In fairness to all tour participants, the tour leader may advise certain paricipants, whom the tour leader believes may struggle to keep up with the group for general fitness reasons, to not participate in certain excursions which are more physically demanding.

Tour participants are advised to wear comfortable walking shoes that grip well, especially on the cobblestones that we will encounter in Paris. The programme for most days involves a reasonable amount of walking .

Meals

Full breakfasts are included at the hotel. Welcome dinner at a specially selected restaurant is included with this tour.

Weather

The average maximum temperature in Paris in June is generally in the 20's. Evenings may be cool and so layered clothing would be a good idea.

Insurance

Tour participants must take out their own private Travel and Health cover.

Not Included in the Tour Price

• Meals and beverages other than daily breakfasts and two organised group dinners
• Entertainment such as cinema, opera, concerts and theatre
• Entry to special exhibitions at museums where the permanent collection is visited
• Headphones for museums other than those included in the entry fee
• Fines incurred by tour members not presenting transport tickets when required by officials
• Entry tickets for museums when the tour member has lost or forgotten their special group entry ticket

Emergencies

The tour leader will also be contactable at all times on a mobile phone.

Download Documents

This page lists the tour documents which you can download and save on your computer or print directly on your own printer.

Alternatively, if more convenient please email us with your postal address and we will mail the documents to you.

Please click on the document you wish to download. The document will open a new window or tab in your browser.

If you require further information about this tour please email us.