Dublin, London & Paris

with optional Normandy Extension

Length: 10 - 13 days  
 

Dublin London and Paris Educational Tour | Dublin Doors
 
Map of Dublin, London, & Paris Educational Tour
 
Dublin London and Paris Educational Tour | Fountains
 
  • Day 1 Start Tour
  • Day 2 Hello Dublin
    Meet your Tour Director
    Dublin free time
  • Day 3 Dublin Landmarks
    Dublin Guided Sightseeing Tour 
    Phoenix ParkSt. Patrick’s CathedralTrinity College Book of Kells visit
    Dublin City Walk 
    O’Connell StreetParnell SquareHenry Street
    Optional  Irish Folklore Evening   $60
    Traditional Public House Dinner
    Details: Dublin Guided Sightseeing Tour
    Join a professional licensed tour guide on an adventure to Dublin’s finest attractions. Pass the residence of Ireland’s president, Mary MacAleese, along your journey through Phoenix Park. Within Europe’s grandest enclosed park, encounter 1,760 undeveloped acres scattered with cricket pitches, grazing cows, and red deer. Stop to eye a stone phoenix rising from flames atop the Corinthian-style Phoenix Column. Tour the roads along the River Liffey to 12th-century St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the largest of its kind in all Ireland. Get a glimpse of the neighboring park where St. Patrick (who brought Christianity to Ireland in the 5th century) baptized converts. Continue on to Trinity College, the stone-clad sprawling campus where Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett studied. Stop by the Long Room in the Old Library for a zoom-view of the illuminated edition of four Gospels, the Book of Kells. The original manuscript was penned in Latin around AD 800 by four Irish Monks who used multicolored ink from plants and bugs. Take some time to study the brilliant latticework of curvy Celtic symbols woven with animal figures that enlivens the script.
    Details: Dublin City Walk
    Get a friendly introduction to Ireland’s capital city, compliments of your Tour Director. Discover an international urban scape of Georgian buildings, castles and cathedrals. Literary legends and budding musicians. All while one million people welcome you with smiling eyes. Stroll bustling O’Connell Street, once (at 150 ft wide) the widest street in Europe, and still the busiest thoroughfare in Dublin. Pass shop after shop of local and global wares and flairs, and a lush street-meridian lined with tall trees and ebony statues of Irish leaders. Make your way to the end of the strip to Parnell Square, an antique scape of red brick townhouses and classic Irish theaters. As you wander the streets, take in the international glamour of Ireland’s most cosmopolitan city.
  • Day 4 Dublin--North Wales
    Ferry to Holyhead across Irish Sea
    Snowdonia National Park
    Details: Travel to North Wales
    Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. No, that is not a typo. The smallest town in Wales is the longest named village in the world. Travel through this little-big town, with a nickname of Llanfair P.G., across the Brittania Bridge to the Snowdonia National Park. What Llanfair P.G. has in length, Mt. Snowdon offers in height, standing at a breathtaking 3,560 feet. The park also touts Stone and Bronze Age burial chambers, Norman castles, Roman forts and steam railways. View the unspoiled coastlands and sea cliff-perched lighthouses of Holyhead on the Isle of Anglesey.
    Details: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysilio- gogogoch
    That's no typo... Visit the village with the longest name in Europe, commonly referred to as Llanfair PG or Llanfairpwll. Take a quick detour for a photo opportunity under the railway station sign to bring home proof of this 58 letter appellation!
  • Day 5 North Wales--London
    Travel to London via Stratford & Oxford
    Details: Lunch
    Please note: Lunch is included in lieu of dinner on this day due to travel considerations.
    Details: Anne Hathaway's cottage & Shakespeare's birthplace visit
    Visit William Shakespeare's childhood home, furnished in a style typical to the Elizabethan period. Then tour the thatched cottage where his wife, Anne Hathaway, lived before her marriage. The adjoining Shakespeare Tree Garden is planted with trees and flowers mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays.
  • Day 6 London Landmarks
    London Guided Sightseeing Tour 
    Buckingham PalaceBig BenHouses of ParliamentWestminster AbbeyTower BridgeHyde ParkSt. Paul’s Cathedral
    Dinner at Hard Rock Cafe
    Details: London Guided Sightseeing Tour
    Join a licensed local guide for an in-depth look at London, from the royal haunt of Buckingham Palace (the official London residence of Queen Elizabeth II) to the slightly more democratic Speakers’ Corner of Hyde Park, where anyone can pull up a soapbox and orate to his heart’s content. You’ll see the changing of the guard (season permitting), the clock tower of Big Ben with its 14-ton bell, and Westminster Abbey, where almost every English king and queen since William the Conqueror has been crowned. After a stop at the Houses of Parliament, continue on to the magnificent St. Paul’s Cathedral, the masterpiece of London architect Christopher Wren.
  • Day 7 London--Paris
    Paris City Walk 
    Ile de la CitéNotre Dame Cathedral visitIle St. LouisLatin Quarter visit 
    Dinner in Latin Quarter
    Details: Eurostar Chunnel crossing
    Take the Eurostar under the English Channel. Faster than you can say... anything, in French, you'll whiz through a tunnel and arrive in Paris.
    Details: Paris City Walk
    This city was made for walking. Stroll grand boulevards with sweeping views of the city, pristine parks with trees planted in perfect rows, and narrow streets crowded with vendors selling flowers, pastries and cheese. Then head to the Île de la Cité, a small island in the Seine, to see Notre Dame Cathedral. Look up at the great stone buttresses, grotesque gargoyles, and massive stained-glass windows.
    Details: Latin Quarter visit
    Visit one of the original college towns. Since the Sorbonne’s founding in the 1100s, the Left Bank has attracted not only intellectuals but also the cafés, bookstores, and cinemas that tend to accompany them. It’s also attracted its fair share of famous residents – a plaque marks one of Hemingway’s apartments on rue du Cardinal-Lemoine, and the imposing neoclassical Panthéon holds the tombs of Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, and Marie Curie.
  • Day 8 Paris Landmarks
    Paris Guided Sightseeing Tour 
    Arc de TriompheChamps-ÉlyséesEiffel TowerChamp de MarsÉcole MilitaireLes InvalidesConciergerieTuileriesPlace VendômeOpera House
    Optional  Versailles Guided Excursion   $70
    State ApartmentsHall of MirrorsGardens of Versailles
    Dinner at a crêperie
    Details: Paris Guided Sightseeing Tour
    What's that huge white arch at the end of the Champs-Élysées? The Arc de Triomphe, commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 after his victory at Austerlitz. Your licensed local guide will elaborate on this, and other Parisian landmarks. See some of the most famous sites, including the ornate, 19th-century Opera, the Presidential residence, the ultra-chic shops of the Rue du Faubourg St-Honoré, and the gardens of the Tuileries. You'll pass the Place de la Concorde, where in the center you’ll find the Obelisk of Luxor, a gift from Egypt in 1836, and the Place Vendôme, a huge square surrounded by 17th-century buildings. Spot chic locals (and tons of tourists) strolling the Champs-Élysées. Look up at the iron girders of the Eiffel Tower, built for the 1889 World's Fair to commemorate the centenary of the French Revolution. See Les Invalides (a refuge for war wounded), the École Militaire (Napoleon's alma mater), and the Conciergerie (the prison where Marie Antoinette was kept during the French Revolution).
  • Day 9 The Art of Paris
    Details: Louvre visit
    The world's largest art museum, the Louvre is housed in a medieval fortress-turned-castle so grand it's worth a tour itself. You walk through the 71-foot glass pyramid designed by I.M. Pei and added in 1989, and step into another world-one with carved ceilings, deep-set windows, and so many architectural details, you could spend a week just admiring the rooms. But check out the art on the walls. The Mona Lisa is here, as well as the Venus de Milo and Winged Victory (the headless statue, circa 200 BC, discovered at Samothrace). The Louvre has seven different departments of paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures and antiquities. Don't miss the Egyptian collection, complete with creepy sarcophagi, or the collection of Greek ceramics, one of the largest in the world. (Please note the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays.)
    Details: Tour Director-led sightseeing of Montmartre
    The steep hilly area of Montmartre has been associated with artists for years. The name Montmartre is attributed to the many martyrs that were tortured and killed here.
    Details: Seine River Sightseeing Cruise
    See the city from the water on an hour-long cruise along the River Seine. The Seine cuts right through Paris, dividing the city in half. See the Eiffel tower rising up on the Left Bank, the walls of the Louvre on the Right Bank. A guide will point out other monuments and architectural marvels as you pass, many of which are illuminated by clear white light at night.
  • Day 10 End Tour

  • Or
  • Day 10 Start Extension to Normandy
    Rouen Tour Director-Led Sightseeing Tour 
    Cathedral visitOld Clock
    Details: Travel to Normandy via Honfleur & Rouen
    Like Paris, the port city of Rouen is divided in two by the Seine. Your Tour Director will take you through the medieval cobblestone streets of the city where Joan of Arc was burned in 1431. See the Old Clock surrounded by half-timbered houses and shops, and visit Notre Dame cathedral, a favorite subject of Claude Monet. With its lacy Gothic façade and mismatched spires, Rouen’s cathedral is one of the most compelling in France. Hitler certainly thought so—the first time it caught fire in WWII, he ordered his troops to save it. See the inspired interior, with its columns topped by carved faces, and learn about the history of the church. Fun fact: one of the steeples is called the Tour de Beurre. It was built with money donated by a group of wealthy people who wanted to eat butter during Lent. Then visit Honfluer, a picturesque port town and a stopping point for Impressionist artists, including Seurat.
    Details: Rouen Tour Director-Led Sightseeing Tour
    Like Paris, the port city of Rouen is divided in two by the Seine. Your Tour Director will take you through the medieval cobblestone streets of the city where Joan of Arc was burned in 1431. See the Old Clock surrounded by half-timbered houses and shops, and visit Notre Dame cathedral, a favorite subject of Claude Monet. With its lacy Gothic façade and mismatched spires, Rouen’s cathedral is one of the most compelling in France. Hitler certainly thought so—the first time it caught fire in WWII, he ordered his troops to save it. See the inspired interior, with its columns topped by carved faces, and learn about the history of the church. Fun fact: one of the steeples is called the Tour de Beurre. It was built with money donated by a group of wealthy people who wanted to eat butter during Lent.
  • Day 11 Normandy
    Details: Arromanches Museum visit
    Ingenious military engineering allowed the Allied forces to land at Arromanches on D-Day. Barges towed 600,000 tons of concrete across the English Channel, sinking them to create an artificial harbor, and then 33 jetties and 10 miles of floating roadways allowed the troops to land in France. Learn about this feat and other at the Arromanches Museum, where dioramas, interactive displays, and models detail the Allied landing.
    Details: D-Day beaches
    See the D-Day beaches where on June 6, 1944, thousands of Allied troops landed in an effort to recapture the coast from Germany. All along the beaches, deserted German bunkers have been turned into memorials and the stark white crosses and stars that mark the cemeteries are grim reminders of the war.
  • Day 12 Normandy--Paris
    Travel to Paris
  • Day 13 End Tour
  •  
    Step
    1
    2
    3
    4
    price this tour


     

    Tour Includes:
    • Round-trip airfare
    • Full European breakfast daily
    • Dinner daily (exception noted on itinerary where lunch is included)
    • Full-time services of a professional Tour Director
    • Overnight stays in hotels with private bathrooms
    • Guided sightseeing tours and city walks as per itinerary
    • Visits to select attractions as per itinerary