From Paris hotels, airports or train stations, we will collect you for a 2-2.5 hour drive to the beautiful Normandy coast, where we begin our French immersion tour at Le Havre, near the "Parisian Riviera" of Deauville & Honfleur, the birthplace of Impressionism. From here you explore the sea-side & quaint countryside villages as you "step in-side" the masterpieces captured by famous artists - all whilst we immerse you in French cuisine & history that interests you. Whether you prefer Michelin star restaurants, port-side fishermen stalls, pre or post impressionism, following Monet to Rouen, Renoir to Chatou or hiking along the river Seine as we meander back to Paris. It's all about the journey so let's Hear French, Experience French, Speak French! (Before visiting attractions you will have coaching & audio/visual sessions to prepare you for the upcoming activities; during travel you will also debrief/prepare with your XPF coach.)

The port city of Le Havre has always been a strategic route from the English Channel, along the mighty river Seine to the Normandy capital of Rouen before continuing onto Paris. Founded in 1517 by Francois 1st, redeveloped by Napoleon 3rd in 1852 & suffering some of the worst bombing of World War II; the City of Le Havre was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List as an outstanding example of architectural unity in 2005. On arrival you can enjoy lunch in a Michelin star restaurant, sample the freshest seafood at the fishermen's market or grab a quick coffee & croissant in a typical café - it's up to you! The port’s everyday bustle so fascinated Boudin, Pissarro and their contemporaries. Boudin, generally regarded as a pre-Impressionist painter, made the port semaphore his subject in his painting, "A gust of wind before Frascati", Le Havre, while Pissarro painted 20 views of the port during his stay at the Continental Hotel, opposite the pier-head.

Masterpieces without the Paris crowds! The first thing you notice about the museum, only a short walk from the marina, is its modern and innovative design. An assembly of steel and glass overlooking the sea, flooded with the natural and changing light of the Seine River estuary that inspired so many of the works in the museum. The large glass facade is a natural invitation for the eye to travel unhindered from the artworks to the landscape and back again. The museum presents a collection spanning five centuries from the 15th to the 20th. Modern painting comprises the majority of the collection, making MuMa France's leading museum in for the 1850–1920 period: Courbet and Delacroix, followed by Impressionist artists such as Monet, Sisley, Pissarro, Renoir and Degas, the largest collection of works by Eugène Boudin, some twenty paintings by Raoul Dufy, not to mention Nabis such as Vallotton and Sérusier, as well as Fauves such as Derain, Marquet, Matisse, Van Dongen and Friesz.

Honfleur dinner & overnight at typical local hotel next to the picturesque old port or nearby luxury hotel & spa depending on your budget preferences.

There has always been something special about the quality of the sky over Honfleur. Boudin must have got it right when he captured its ever-changing moods, and he was, after all, known as the ‘King of the skies.’ Visit his works at the Eugène Boudin Museum, to which he donated over 100 paintings. Over a period of over 15 years, he and his friends would meet up at the Ferme Saint-Siméon, an inn run by Old Mother Toutain. Today, it is a high-end five-star restaurant and hotel where you can enjoy your drink while imagining their heated debates about art. Honfleur is the perfect place for a stroll, around the historic harbour (Vieux Bassin) and up to the Church of Sainte-Catherine with its separate bell tower. Everywhere here is ‘as pretty as a picture!’

A small high-quality museum notable for its collection of works by Eugène Boudin, considered as one of the forerunners of Impressionism, and other artists who painted in and around Honfleur in the 19th and 20th centuries. A generation older than Monet, Boudin worked largely in Le Havre and was one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors. Monet was only 18 at the time; Boudin encouraged him to take up landscape painting and to do so en plein air (outdoors) — a technique Monet would keep up throughout his career. Monet later paid tribute to Boudin’s formative influence, whom he called his “master”. Besides many original works by Boudin, the museum contains original works by Monet, Courbet, Jongkind, Marquet, Friesz, Hambourg and many others.

If you’re eager to experience Normandy’s seaside resorts through the eyes of Courbet, Boudin or Caillebotte, why not ‘walk the boardwalk’ in Trouville-sur-Mer or Deauville, where it is all too easy to imagine the 19th-century ladies in their crinolines and gents in their Sunday best. Further indulge your love of great art by popping into Deauville’s new cultural hub, Les Franciscaines, or enjoy a stroll along the seafront in either of these beautiful resorts, taking in the impressive Belle Epoque villas, grand hotels and picturesque bathing cabins. Obviously, elegant seafood restaurants & café terraces abound here, should you prefer a delicious “plateau de fruits de mer” (huge plate of fresh seafood!) or a quick stop for oysters & wine before continuing with your immersion.

After lots of walking (or to shelter from the elements!) we will take a refreshing afternoon tea before our drive to Rouen. This new cultural centre has since been entirely restored to house a museum, auditorium and media library, arranged across five zones, all thematically linked to Deauville and its history. The museum also exhibits works by André Hambourg (1909-1999), who donated over 500 paintings to the town, works by Louis Romanet, and other contemporary pieces. Alongside paintings, photography takes centre stage at Les Franciscaines. Thanks to Deauville’s annual photography festival, images by photographers such as Philippe Ramette, Sarah Moon and Keihin Shinoyama are displayed here for the public to enjoy. And to top it all off, the cultural centre also houses a trendy cafeteria and shop specialising in art books and local products.

Overnight hotel & dinner inside the medieval city walls of Rouen. (Ideally, arrive in time for sunset hilltop view as painted by Monet!)

Here in the capital city of Normandy we will visit the largest collection of Impressionist paintings in France (after those held at the Musée d’Orsay, Paris) & the locations painted by Monet, Pissarro, Corot such as the Notre Dame Cathedral. Depending upon your preferences/timings we can also explore the beautiful medieval buildings & learn more about the interred heart (!) of Richard the Lionheart, Joan of Arc, Rollo the Viking & how the Black Death the inhabitants of Rouen.

The museum presents an exceptional and prestigious collection of Impressionist painters, bringing together the greatest masters of this artistic movement: Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley & Caillebotte amongst others, are represented in this collection. Today, the Museum of Fine Arts exhibits masterpieces by Claude Monet such as the “Rouen Cathedral, grey weather” or “The Rue Saint-Denis, 30th June 1878” which are surrounded by works from the École de Rouen by Alfred Lebourg, Charles Angrand, Robert-Antoine Pinchon and Joseph Delattre. These 53 Impressionist works are today presented in the Impressionist Gallery which adjoins the room of postimpressionists from the École d’ Rouen. Today it is the largest collection of Impressionist paintings in France after those held in Paris at the Musée d’Orsay. (If you have the energy/time then the museum also houses one of the most outstanding public art collections in France from every school, ranging from the 15th century to the present day.)

Monet was fascinated by optical realism and painted multiple (over thirty) canvases 184 of the façade of Rouen Cathedral as an exploration of the properties of ever-changing light and the perception of light by the human eye. Imagine looking across a bright street with squinted eyes, trying to make out the buildings on the other side. With its niches and varied textures, the church façade was a perfect subject for such experimentation. In the intense sunlight, Rouen Cathedral loses detail and its physicality dissolves. Since the sun is constantly moving through the sky, the light reflecting off the building is constantly changing, and Monet attempted to capture the fleeting quality of this light in his work (which is also responsible for the unfinished style). Monet embraced the aesthetic value of the quick sketch, though he meticulously worked on these pictures in his studio at Giverny, and he hoped to capture this in his series of paintings of Rouen Cathedral.

Dinner & hotel in this beautiful area alongside the Seine river. Choose between a small local hotel or a luxury spa hotel depending on your budget or sore feet!

Monet is synonymous with Giverny but here, at the Musée des impressionnismes, you can also discover other artists, themes whilst visiting his gardens, home & the beautiful villages of Giverny & Vernon. In partnership with the Orsay Museum, Claude Monet foundation and the Marmottan museum the "Musée des Impressionnismes" was founded in 2009. (We also offer a longer visit to Giverny & the surrounding beautiful Seine valley for those wishing to explore further; just ask about our two-day tour.)

Alternatively, for those already familiar with Giverny, we have a walking trail with 14 stops encouraging visitors to discover works by artists who were inspired by the village and its surrounding landscapes. Set in a great natural amphitheatre beside the Seine, its château rising from its centre, this fortified little medieval town occupies an exceptional site, protected by the Seine’s slopes. Impressionists came to stay here and paint the area, among them Monet and Renoir. The 2.7km-long trail is dotted with reproductions of works by the likes of Paul Jouanny, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro and Maximilien Luce. Placed in the exact spots where they were executed, these reproductions allow you to view the very spots in which the artists composed their canvases. This was a truly innovative way of painting at the time, initiated by artists “de plein air” (“of the great outdoors”) as they were called, precursors of the Impressionists.

Lunch where Renoir painted "Le déjeuner des canotiers" at Maison Fournaise. After lunch we take an immersive tour with Renoir where he tells us about his vision of painting, the harsh criticism of his contemporaries, his studio secrets, his loves, his relatives... and the fruitful inspiration drawn from the banks of the Seine. For more than ten years, Renoir made frequent visits to their home and around Chatou, where he painted around thirty canvases. Nearly forty years old, he undertook the ambitious Déjeuner des canotiers. This painting, painted on the balcony of the Maison Fournaise, is the fruit of long research. Retained at the Fournaises by his painting in 1880, he wrote to Monsieur de Bellio: “You will not regret your trip. It is the prettiest place around Paris."

Tour the home & gardens of Alexandre Dumas, famous author of The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte-Cristo & The Man in the Iron Mask amongst others.

Quick stop to visit locations painted by Monet, Morisot, Renoir & Sisley and others.

Café break in this quaint village on the edge of the Versailles estate.

Dinner & hotel stop at the birthplace of the Sun King - Louis 14th & royal residence before Versailles was built. The chateau is home to the National Museum of Archaeology & the old town houses museums for composer Claude Debussy (also born here) and the Nabi artist Maurice Denis.

Walking tour around this famously bohemian Paris district to pay homage to Cézanne, Degas, Manet, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir and Van Gogh et al. Their favourite places tended to be at the top of the hill or butte, where the cafés and cabarets were situated. (This was also where the rents were cheapest.) One of the Impressionist’s regular cafés was the Cafe Guerbois in the Rue des Batignolles. It was in Guerbois that Monet first proposed the staging of an independent group exhibition in December 1873. Similarly, Novelles Athènes in the same area became a popular location for socialising with other artists and writers. This café became the setting for Degas’ 1876 painting ‘L’Absinthe’. Of course, no visit to Montmartre (hill of martyrs) is complete without a visit to the iconic Sacré Coeur Basilica where you can take a rest on the steps & enjoy the best panoramic view of Paris!

The museum was created in 1960 in one of the oldest buildings on the Butte, built in the 17th century: La Maison du Bel Air. Surrounded by gardens, it was the place of creation for many artists such as Auguste Renoir, Émile Bernard, Raoul Dufy, Charles Camoin, Suzanne Valadon or Maurice Utrillo. You will discover the permanent collections with a unique collection of paintings, posters and drawings that will make you relive the history of the Butte and the atmosphere of its famous cabarets. Three gardens surrounding the Museum of Montmartre are dedicated to Auguste Renoir who lived on-site between 1875 and 1877. Here he painted several masterpieces including the famous le Bal du Moulin de la Galette (“The Moulin de la Galette Ball”), La Balancoire (“The Swing”), and Jardin de la rue Cortot (“Rue Cortot Garden”). The Renoir Gardens offer breath-taking views of the vineyard (the Clos Montmartre) and northern cityscape of Paris.

No visit to Montmartre is complete without enjoying the world famous cabaret spectacle of the Moulin Rouge.

Alternatively to the Moulin Rouge, we can travel to the final home & resting place of Van Gogh. On 20 May 1890 Vincent van Gogh moved into the Ravoux Inn, room no.5, a simple attic room of 7 sq. meters, lit by a sky light. On 28 and 29 July 1890 Theo van Gogh was present during his brother Vincent’s last moments. Out of superstition the landlords never again rented out this “room of the suicide” which occupied such an essential place in the artist’s spiritual universe. This haven of peace where “there is nothing to see… but everything to feel” has remained untouched since 1890. The room is empty. You cannot find the slightest relic to touch. You just stand there and feel…the presence of history. This journey back in time ends in the neighbouring attic room with an audio-visual projection In the Footsteps of Van Gogh. It retraces the artist’s stay in Auvers-sur-Oise via his paintings, correspondence and a selection of contemporary photographs.

We take a short walk through the country road fields, where Van Gogh painted "Le Champ De Blé Aux Corbeaux", to visit the tomb of the Van Gogh brothers, Vincent & Theo.

Back to the Auberge Ravoux for dinner, subject to space, or another local restaurant.

Hotel stop or return to Paris airports/hotels. Saint-Germain-en-Laye is the birthplace of the Sun King - Louis 14th & royal residence before Versailles was built. The chateau is home to the National Museum of Archaeology & the old town houses museums for composer Claude Debussy (also born here) and the Nabi artist Maurice Denis.