Amsterdam and Paris

Amsterdam & Paris
Experience the best of Amsterdam and Paris on this unforgettable educational journey through art, history, and culture. Begin in Amsterdam with a canal cruise, visits to the Anne Frank House and the world-renowned Rijksmuseum, and the option to explore The Hague and Delft’s artistic legacy. Then, travel by high-speed train to Paris to admire iconic landmarks from the Eiffel Tower to the Arc de Triomphe, stroll through Montmartre’s creative heart, and uncover royal grandeur at Versailles. This program offers a dynamic blend of European history, art, and local flavor.
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Day 1 Overnight flight to the Netherlands (Amsterdam)
Day 2 Hallo Amsterdam
Meet your tour director and check into hotel
Details: Amsterdam scavenger hunt
Take interactive learning to another level with a Tour Director-led scavenger hunt of Amsterdam to learn about the city's history and cultural heritage. Complete exciting activities and solve fun clues. Each clue and every activity is built to maximize on-tour experiential learning.
Details: Traditional Dutch pannenkoeken dinner
Enjoy a traditional Dutch dinner of pannenkoeken, a large thin pancake similar to a crepe, that can be topped with anything from bacon to apples or raisins and finished with a drizzle of stroop, which is a dark thick syrup.
Day 3 Amsterdam
Details: Amsterdam canal guided cruise
Canals and crocuses. Bicycles and bluebells. With more canals than Venice (and more flower merchants than perhaps any other city in the world), downtown Amsterdam is an explosion of color and light reflecting off the water. Take a canal boat ride and enjoy the best way to see the gabled houses and nearly 1200 bridges. Note that the cruise may be guided by a local guide or by pre-recorded audioguides.
Details: Anne Frank House visit
Take a tour of Anne Frank's house, where three different Jewish families hid for more than two years during World War II and where Anne’s famous diaries were discovered. See where she and her family lived before being betrayed to the Nazis and deported to concentration camps.
Details: Rijsttafel dinner
Rijsttafel literally translates to "rice table", and is an elaborate Indonesian meal made up of many small plates accompanied with rice. During the Dutch colonization of the East Indies, this meal became a popular dish in the Netherlands.
Day 4 Amsterdam
Optional  The Hague and Delft excursion  $175
Mauritshuis Museum visitDelft Blue Pottery workshop
Details: Rijksmuseum visit
Amsterdam’s most popular art museum opened in 1885 to house William V’s personal art collection. It now holds an unbelievable collection of Rembrandts, Vermeers, and other Dutch masters, plus an extensive collection of Asian and decorative arts. Upstairs there’s a collection of 17th- and 18th-century dollhouses, furnished just as real houses of the time would have been.
Details: Mauritshuis Museum visit
The Mauritshuis Museum in The Hague is a beautifully preserved 17th-century mansion that houses an exceptional collection of Dutch Golden Age paintings. Inside, get up close to iconic works like Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring and Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson.
Day 5 Amsterdam--Paris
Travel to Paris by Thalys train
Paris guided sightseeing tour
Arc de TriompheChamps ÉlyséesEiffel TowerLes InvalidesOpera House
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 and the Place de la Concorde, where in the center you’ll find the Obelisk of Luxor, a gift from Egypt in 1836. 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) and the École Militaire (Napoleon's alma mater).
Day 6 Paris
Versailles guided excursion
State ApartmentsHall of MirrorsGardens of Versailles
Details: Versailles guided excursion
The ultimate palace, Versailles was built by Louis XIII, and housed the royal family and its groveling court from 1682, when Louis XIV the Sun King moved in, to the French Revolution. Everything in Versailles is worth a look, from the 250-foot-long Hall of Mirrors, with themed salons- "war" and "peace" -on either side, to Marie Antoinette's faux country hamlet. When being a queen became too much to bear, she would pretend to be a commoner, tending her sheep and wearing peasant clothes. (Please note Versailles is closed on Mondays.)
Details: Seine River 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 7 Paris
Paris city walk
Île de la CitéNotre-Dame CathedralÎle St. LouisLatin Quarter
Montmartre tour director-led sightseeing
Sacré CoeurPlace du TertreMoulin Rouge
Dinner in Montmartre
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.
Details: Notre-Dame Cathedral
View the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Work began in 1163 on a spot that had been a holy shrine since Roman times. Over the centuries, the cathedral has been the scene of some of France's most momentous occasions, including the coronation of Napoleon.
Details: Louvre Museum 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. 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: Montmartre tour director-led sightseeing
If you’re coming to Paris, you absolutely need to take a walk in Montmartre! This area will wake the artist in you up. Its narrow alleys, windmills, little details, and soul are some of the things that make Montmartre so unique. As you walk in Montmartre, you will quickly understand how it has inspired so many artists such as Picasso and Van Gogh. As you walk up the hill make sure to take in all that surrounds you, because in Montmartre you are likely to find surprises around every corner!
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Day 8 Flight home from Paris

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    Day 8 Start extension to Normandy
    Travel to Normandy
    Details: Caen Memorial visit (Peace Museum)
    Caen’s Mémorial, a contemporary museum for peace, tells a complete story of D-Day in interactive displays.
    Day 9 Normandy
    Details: Arromanches D-Day 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: LEAP Soldiers' Stories
    Step into the shoes of U.S. servicemen as they land in Normandy on D-Day. Learn about their lives and their experiences to gain personal and historical perspective.
    Details: World War II landing beaches and military cemeteries
    Visit key World War II sites along the Normandy coast
    Details: Normandy D-Day landing 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.
    Details: American Military Cemetery and Memorial visit at Colleville-sur-Mer
    Visit the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer that honors American troops who died in Europe during World War II.
    Details: Canadian Military Cemetery visit at Beny-sur-Mer
    Pouring onto the beaches of Normandy, Canada's 3rd Division and 2nd Armoured Brigade represented the entire nation, with regiments from Ontario, Manitoba, and Quebec. They secured the beachhead and held on against six days of counterattacks, when more troops were able to come ashore at the secured sight. The Beny-sur-mer Canadian War Cemetery contains more than 2,000 graves of the soldiers from the 3rd Division and the 15 airmen lost during these attacks.
    Details: Pointe du Hoc visit
    Stand atop the windswept cliffs of Pointe du Hoc and trace the path of U.S. Army Rangers who scaled its 100-foot face under enemy fire on D-Day. Carved into the earth by fierce combat, this site offers a powerful glimpse into the courage and sacrifice that helped turn the tide of World War II.
    Day 10 Normandy--Paris
    Travel to Paris via Rouen
    Rouen tour director-led sightseeing
    Rouen Cathedral visitOld Clock
    Details: Rouen tour director-led sightseeing
    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 Flight home from Paris
    Tour Includes:
    • 6 overnight stays (9 with extension) in hotels with private bathrooms
    • Dinner daily
    • Full-time services of a professional tour director
    • Guided sightseeing tours and city walks as per itinerary
    • Visit to select attractions as per itinerary
    • High-speed Thalys train to Paris
    • Tour Diary™
    • Local Guide and Local Bus Driver tips; see note regarding other important tips
    • Note: On arrival day only dinner is provided; on departure day, only breakfast is provided
    • Note: Tour cost does not include airline-imposed baggage fees, or fees for any required passport or visa. Optional excursions, optional pre-paid Tour Director and multi-day bus driver tipping, among other individual and group customizations will be listed as separate line items in the total trip cost, if included.
    We are better able to assist you with a quote for your selected departure date and city over the phone. Please call 1.888.310.7120 to price this tour with your requested options.
    Please select a postal code
    3766.00 total fee
    Basic Options


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