Gardens of the Loire and Versailles

After meeting with your Tour Manager at our dedicated Departure Office in St Pancras International, we board the Eurostar to Paris. After arrival in the French capital, we continue by rail to the city of Blois, situated on the banks of the River Loire. Here we check into the Mercure Blois for a four night stay.

• Dinner

Today we enjoy an excursion to the International Garden Festival in Château de Chaumont. The festival has been one of the world's leading events in terms of spotting new trends and landscape designs since its inaugural year in 1992, and boasts over 30 themed gardens. You have the luxury of a Domaine ticket, which grants you entry to not only the day festival but the entire of Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire. After a guided tour that also includes entrance to Château de Chaumont itself, we return to Blois.

• Breakfast

Today begins with an excursion to Château de Chenonceau, arguably the most iconic of its kind in the Loire Valley. The Château elegantly spans the River Cher and is a fine example of Gothic and Renaissance architecture. After exploring the Château and its picturesque fountain gardens, we travel by coach to the town of Amboise, former home of Leonardo da Vinci, who died here in 1519. We visit his former manor house, Clos Lucé, which still contains a number of his inventions.

Day 4 is at leisure, you could further explore Blois at your own pace, or why not make a visit to nearby Château de Villandry? Celebrated for its rich Renaissance style gardens that include a variety of water gardens, ornamental flower beds and vegetable patches, all set within a puzzle pattern of low-box hedges.

• Day 3 - Breakfast
• Day 4 - Breakfast, Dinner

Today we are driven by coach north to Rambouillet, stopping en-route at Chartres. On arrival we check into the Mercure Rambouillet for three nights. On Day 6 we travel by coach to nearby Giverny to visit the former home and gardens of Impressionist founder and painter, Claude Monet, and experience the environment that so inspired his work.

• Day 5 - Breakfast
• Day 6 - Breakfast

Today we visit the grand Versailles Palace, the opulent former seat of the Royal family until the French Revolution. The Palace gardens are equally as impressive. The grounds are some of the most recognisable in the world and feature a web of manicured lawns, extravagant fountains and dramatic sculptures. Much of the garden landscape is built around a series of lakes and canal waterways that feed the mesmerizing fountains in the centre of the park grounds.

We also enjoy the awe-inspiring interior of this wonderful building, rich in colour and jewels on a guided tour You can also see the historically important Hall of Mirrors, the former seat of the French government and famously the site of the Treaty of Versailles signing, which brought an official end to the conflict of World War One. The spectacular grandeur of the palace is matched only by its rich history and importance throughout the ever-changing political climate of historic France. On our return to the hotel tonight, we enjoy a final, farewell dinner together.

• Breakfast, Dinner

This morning we board a coach in Rambouillet and make the short trip to Paris. Here, we continue by Eurostar service to London St Pancras International where our tour concludes.

• Breakfast