London and Paris
8 DAYS
London 3 • Paris 3
Basic Inclusions
Accommodations
Accommodations in centrally-located three-star or four-star hotels. Rooming on a triple basis. Double rooms: $50 per night, per person.
Meals
All breakfasts. All dinners.
Transportation
Round-trip transportation on scheduled airline. All public transportation tickets included where applicable.
Guide
Services of a specially-trained passports Tour Director throughout. All tips are included in the Program Cost. Whisper headsets included.
Travel Protection
Passports provides and pays for a Post Departure Travel Protection Plan that includes coverage for Trip Interruption, Trip Delay, Medical Expense and Evacuation and more.
Tour Summary
Itinerary Includes
Unlimited public transportation
Days 1-2: Arrival London
Arrival transfer
Day 3: London
London City Sightseeing: Local guide
Optional Ride on the London Eye
Optional Globe Theatre Workshop
West End Theatre Performance
Day 4: London
Excursion to Windsor Castle
Optional Round-trip Thames Cruise from Westminster Pier to Greenwich: Visits to the Old Royal Observatory and the National Maritime Museum
Day 5: London - Paris
Departure transfer, Eurostar train London-Paris, Arrival transfer
Day 6: Paris
Paris City Sightseeing, Excursion to the Palace of Versailles, RER train to Paris
Photo stop near Notre-Dame Cathedral
Seine River cruise
Day 7: Paris
Optional Visit to the Louvre Museum: Louvre Guide
Ascent to the second level of the Eiffel Tower: Optional Eiffel Tower Summit (subject to availability)
Optional Capitaine Fracasse dinner cruise
Day 8: Departure
Departure transfer
UNPARALLELED STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE
Detailed Itinerary
Days 1-2: Arrival
You head east, into a short night, and suddenly it's morning, and you're in England. Londontown: the hub and focus for theatergoers worldwide!
Settle into your hotel, then venture into your surroundings. Red, double-decker buses groan along the "wrong" side of the road, escorted by innumerable black taxicabs with engines that sound like sewing machines.
Overnight: London
Day 3: London City Sightseeing, Optional London Eye, Optional Globe Theatre Workshop, West End Theatre
Enjoy a tour of the sights and sounds of the British capital. See such sights as St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Kensington, and Trafalgar Square.
A certified local guide will accompany your group today.
The afternoon is unscheduled.
Consider a visit to the Tower of London to view Traitors' Gate, the Bloody Tower, the Block (where two of Henry VIII's ill-fated wives lost their heads), the White Tower and the Crown Jewels. If you choose to follow one of the Beefeaters, you'll also be able to visit the Royal Chapel.
Enjoy a ride on one of the world's top ten Ferris wheels, magnificently situated by the River Thames, across from the Houses of Parliament. As it slowly revolves, this "Millennium Wheel" offers unique views of the capital city.
You will meet and work with real Shakespearean actors and actresses at a Globe Theatre Workshop.
You will also follow a guide through the Globe Theatre for an inside look at the replica of Shakespeare's "Great Wooden O".
Attend a performance at a West End venue. In London you can find anything you're looking for, from classical drama to Rodgers and Hammerstein. Perhaps a good tear-jerker?
Overnight: London
Day 4: Excursion to Windsor Castle, London, Optional Round-trip Thames River Cruise to Greenwich
Head to the town of Windsor, the location of royal residences for almost one thousand years, ever since William the Conqueror settled there in 1070.
A visit to Windsor Castle includes the State Apartments, Queen Mary's Dolls' House (a palace-within-a-palace with functioning lights, running water and Lilliputian-size books written by famous authors of the 1920s) and St. George's Chapel, one of the country's finest churches in the typically English style known as Perpendicular Gothic.
The afternoon is unscheduled.
Check out the free-of-charge Museum of London, which illustrates life in London from Roman times through the present. Exhibits include historical artifacts, a WWII gallery, pop culture items, and much more.
You will see London from the soothing perspective of the River Thames as you cruise downstream from Westminster Pier to Greenwich. Entertaining cockney commentary punctuates the trip, introducing London's riverside treasures: the Globe Theatre, St. Paul's Cathedral, H.M.S. Belfast, Tower Bridge, and the spectacular waterfront of Greenwich.
Your visit to the Royal Observatory includes, in addition to the Astronomy Centre, the Meridian Courtyard and the Camera Obscura, the Meridian Building with the Telescope Gallery, and Flamsteed House, location of the Old Observatory, which now houses the Time Galleries with their wealth of exhibits on inventions and instruments.
You will also visit the National Maritime Museum, which holds the world's largest exhibit of ship models, naval instruments and maps.
Overnight: London
Day 5: Chunnel Train to Paris
Board the high-speed Eurostar train in London for an exciting ride under the English Channel, through the "Chunnel." Arrive in downtown Paris less than three hours later!
Settle into your hotel, then have a look at one of the world's most beautiful capital cities.
Time permitting, you may want to head to Montmartre, Paris' highest hill and its most celebrated bohemian district. Artists still flock to the charming Place du Tertre, as they did when Toulouse-Lautrec painted the French Cancan dancers at the famous Moulin Rouge cabaret. Visitors enjoy panoramic views of the city as they make their way to the Sacré-Coeur, the white-domed basilica that anchors the Parisian skyline.
Overnight: Paris
Day 6: Paris City Sightseeing, Excursion to Versailles, RER train to Paris, Notre-Dame Cathedral, Seine River Cruise
Set out on a coach tour of the city in the company of a local guide. On the Right Bank of the River Seine, see Napoléon's Arc de Triomphe, the Champs-Elysées, the Place de la Concorde, and the exuberant Opéra Garnier. On the Left Bank, discover the Eiffel Tower, the Invalides, the Latin Quarter and Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
Enjoy a bit of relevant French history today at the palace where the Sun King, Madame de Pompadour and Queen Marie-Antoinette all come to life. In this ultimate example of Baroque architecture, you will marvel at the lavish decoration, abundant gilding and exuberant ornamentation, particularly in the Royal Apartments of Louis XIV and in the Hall of Mirrors. Imagine the sense of self-importance that must have inflated the ego of these kings and queens.
Then, take a stroll around the Main Gardens.
Return to Paris using the efficient RER transit system.
View Notre-Dame de Paris, gutted by the fire of April 15, 2019, but still standing, solemn and magnificent with its iconic towers miraculously preserved from destruction.
Begun in 1163 and completed in 1272, this cathedral has presided over centuries of glorious and somber French history, including its desecration during the French Revolution. In 1831, Victor Hugo launched a campaign of restoration with a novel he titled Notre Dame de Paris. Because he saw the cathedral as the main character, he strongly objected to the title of the English edition: The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
See Paris transformed into a wonderland like no other during a cruise along the River Seine.
Overnight: Paris
Day 7: Paris, Optional Louvre, Eiffel Tower
Enjoy some free time in Paris.
You may wish to visit the Musée de la Parfumerie Fragonard housed in the Théâtre des Capucines, a theater built in 1900 that was transformed into a museum in 1993. Its collections illustrate the history and manufacture of perfume. A mini-factory with a 19th-century copper distilling apparatus demonstrates the extraction of essences. Visitors also learn all about the esoteric artistry of the "Noses."
Wander under the 19th-century arcades of the Rue de Rivoli, lined with fancy boutiques and cafés.
Enter the Musée du Louvre and walk along grand galleries filled with treasures. See Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, the Vénus de Milo sculpted between 130 and 100 BC, the 19th century painting depicting The Coronation of Napoléon among many other masterpieces.
The insights of a national museum guide help you to rediscover the masterpieces, delve into a particular theme, or focus on one artist's pieces. Tours are aimed at art enthusiasts and novices alike.
Take an elevator to the deuxième étage of the most famous cast iron structure ever built, la Tour Eiffel, for an unforgettable panorama of Paris.
Ascend to the third level of the tower.
This evening, dine in style and see illuminations transform Paris into a wonderland like no other as the Capitaine Fracasse cruise ship takes you along the River Seine.
Overnight: Paris
Day 8: Departure
Au revoir, Paris!
Most good things must come to an end. With souvenirs tucked in your suitcase, and your phone full of photos ready to be processed, you're eager to share your discoveries with family and friends.
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London City Sightseeing
West End Theatre Performance
Excursion to Windsor Castle
Paris City Sightseeing
Excursion to Versailles
Seine River cruise
Eiffel Tower Level Two Ascent
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