Compare Paris & the heart of Normandy by Viking River Cruises vs Paris for the first time by Paris-Toujours

Day 1: Paris, France

Meals : D
Accommodation : Paris Louvre, France

Arrive in Paris, romance capital of the world. Transfer from the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris to your ship.* After boarding, take free time to explore Paris, or join our “welcome walk” to stretch your legs and get oriented.

Day 2: Paris, France

Meals : B, L, D
Accommodation :  UNESCO Vernon Notre Dame, France

Wake up to a full day in Paris. After breakfast, embark on a half-day tour of this dazzling city and take in its most remarkable sights, including the iconic Eiffel Tower. You'll also see the École Militaire, Orsay Museum and Latin Quarter and the magnificent Cathedral of Notre Dame. Then we'll drive past the Louvre and Opera House and along the famed Champs-Élysées. Return aboard for lunch. This afternoon you're free to take in the Louvre, shop the fashionable boutiques, visit the artists’ district of Montmartre or enjoy a cruise along the Seine. As always, your Program Director can help you plan your free time. Dinner is served aboard your ship.

Day 3: Giverny & Vernon, France

Meals : B, L, D

Arrive in Vernon before breakfast; take a short ride into the town of Giverny, where Claude Monet resided from 1883 until his death in 1926. Visit the beautiful gardens and charming stone farmhouse where he lived and worked; see the water garden with the recognizable Japanese bridge, water lilies, wisteria and azaleas that inspired many of his masterpieces.

After lunch, spend some time with your Program Director in the provincial town of Vernon. Take a stroll to see the Maison du Temps Jadis (House of Past Times), Vernon’s oldest house, and the 11th-century Church of Notre Dame. Dinner is served aboard.

Day 4: Rouen, France

Meals : B, L, D

Indulge in leisurely morning cruising along the Seine. You'll spend the afternoon in the medieval city of Rouen, preeminent capital of Normandy. Begin with a walking tour through the center of Old Town, where you see the spectacular Gothic Notre Dame Cathedral, often painted by Claude Monet, and the famous Gros Horloge, a 16th-century astronomical clock. As you walk among the half-timbered storybook buildings, you'll feel transported back through time; see the 14th-century courthouse where Joan of Arc was sentenced to death and the nearby Market Square where she was martyred.

Take free time to discover more of Rouen or visit one of its museums of art or antiquities. Dine aboard or at a sidewalk café. Your ship remains docked overnight.

Day 5: Normandy Beaches, France

Meals : B, L, D
Accommodation : Les Andelys Chateau Galliard, France

After breakfast, begin your full-day tour to the historic beaches of Normandy. Drive past Gold Beach, Courseulles sur Mer and Juno Beach on your way to visit such World War II landmarks as Omaha Beach, the American Military Cemetery and Arromanches Debarkment D-Day Museum. Have dinner and relax aboard your ship or take an evening stroll.

Day 6: Les Andelys & Conflans, France

Meals : B, L, D
Accommodation : Conflans Palace Versailles, France

Enjoy a leisurely morning cruise to the small town of Les Andelys, known for its imposing castle, Château Gaillard, built in 1196 by Richard the Lionheart. After lunch, join a guided walk to this fatally flawed masterpiece of Middle Ages architecture. Return aboard for scenic cruising and dinner. Late in the evening we dock in Conflans, a riverside town whose unique culture reflects its status as a local hub for barge transportation along the Seine and its tributaries.

Day 7: Conflans & Paris, France

Meals : B, L, D
Accommodation : UNESCO, Paris, France

After breakfast, set out on a walking tour through the charming neighborhoods of Conflans. Or, join an optional tour to the luxurious Palace of Versailles, former home of Louis XIV. Lunch aboard your ship as you sail back to Paris this afternoon. Dine aboard and then enjoy some free time in the "City of Light."

Day 8: Paris, France

Meals : B

After breakfast, disembark and proceed to the Paris airport for your return flight.* Or, extend your time in France’s romantic capital with a 3-night Paris extension.

Day 1: Arrival & introduction to the City of Light

Welcome at the airport or train station by your driver and transfer to your boutique hotel in the center of Paris. Time to rest and lunch at your hotel. Early afternoon, your private driver and your guide will come and pick you up at your place of residence. You will start  with a private 2-h sightseeing tour for Paris first-timers. Your guide will introduce you to the main monuments of Paris and share with you History and storie as you drive by the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame cathedral, the Opera hoDauphinese, the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, the Concorde square…

Free evening with restaurant suggestions

Day 2: The origins of Paris

After breakfast, your private guide will pick you up at your hotel and lead you to the Ile de la Cite. You will walk on the Place Dauphine, lovely square with cafés and restaurants, then by the Palace of Justice and the Sainte-Chapelle, constructed by Saint-Louis in order to protect and treasure the relics of Christ. You will then go by the Conciergerie, an ancient state jail, where Marie-Antoinette was made prisoner and visit the Marche aux Fleurs (flower market).

You will continue the tour crossing to the Ile Saint Louis, smaller island and former residence of the French aristocracy in the 17th century. You will discover small alleys and private hotels from this period with architectural wonders.

Free afternoon to stroll around the Latin Quarter.

In the evening, your driver will pick you up at your hotel to take you to your luxury Seine dinner cruise. Enjoy all enlightened Paris monuments while relishing a gourmet dinner in a very intimate setting. Transfer back to your hotel at the end of the cruise.

Day 3: Eiffel Tower & Montmartre

After breakfast, reach the Eiffel Tower for a skip-the-line access to the top floor, a must-see in a custom tour for Paris first-timers. Lunch with suggestions in the area.

Early afternoon, meet your guide at the feet of Montmartre hill for a 2-h walking tour though this artists village. Your private tour will start with the well-known Sacre-Cœur basilica built in the early 20th century from where you can admire the whole city. You will then continue your visit by going to the Place du Tertre,  famous for its caricaturists, before reaching the vineyard of the Clos Montmartre and the cabaret of the Lapin Agile, symbol of the Boheme atmosphere of the place. Your guide will also take you to the secret places and cobblestones streets like the Allée des Brouillards where the other visitors rarely go.

Free evening with restaurant suggestions

Day 4: Le Marais & departure

After breakfast, meet your guide at your hotel for a last visit in one of the oldest area of Paris ‘Le Marais’.  You will start with the Place des Vosges, formerly called ‘Place Royale’, and its arcades. You will then take the lively Rue des Francs-Bourgeois. Walk by the Philippe Auguste Tower, constructed in the 13th century, and finish your stroll with the Hotel de Rohan and its beautiful stables, and the oldest palace in Paris, the Hotel de Soubise. This neighborhood will impress you with its architecture and numerous private mansions (“hotels particuliers”) dating from the 16th to 18th century when Le Marais was the aristocratic neighborhood of Paris.

Lunch with suggestions and departure