Barcelona & Paris Private Tour
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Why You Should Go
These vibrant European cities both stand on their own pedestals in art, architecture, and way of life. From Paris’ Notre Dame to Barcelona’s La Sagrada Familia, each city has established their own iconic image, rooted in their cultural histories. Paris offers a seemingly perfect backdrop, with classical architecture abound as you meander through the bohemian and bourgeois cobble-stoned corridors connecting patchworks of quaint neighborhoods. Meanwhile, Barcelona is a rather eclectic city, showcasing a toggle between tradition and modernism. Gaudi has marked Barcelona with his flamboyant signature, merely acting as a small hint into what the city has to offer. With Monet, Van Gogh, Dali, Picasso, and Gaudi as some of the artists these two cities share, this private tour will be nothing short of enthralling!
Best Travel Time: Spring Summer Fall
*The average cost of our fully comprehensive itineraries ranges from USD $4,000 – $6,000 per COUPLE per DAY. All of our private tour itineraries are inclusive of all luxury accommodations, private guide/driver throughout, meals as specified, INTERNAL air flights/rail/private transfers, & all taxes/service fees.
Sample Itinerary
11 Days
Each private luxury tour is custom to the wishes of each client. This itinerary is a sample. Partnering with our long-established relationship with United Airlines, our sister company, TRAVNET, may provide competitive Polaris/Business Class international airfare, along with mileage points conversion.
Day 1
Fly to Barcelona
Through our sister company, premium air provider TRAVNET, we may assist with your international airfare, as well as with mileage points conversion.
Day 2
Arrive Barcelona
Architecturally striking Barcelona is not only among our favorite cities in Europe, but it’s also one of our favorite cities in the world. Our favorite part being that they boast some of the best-preserved medieval monuments in the world. Upon arrival in Barcelona, you will be privately transferred to the Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona, where the remainder of your day will be free to spend at your leisure.
Accommodations: Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona
Day 3
Gaudi-Centered Private Tour
A day of Antoni Gaudi discoveries will commence with incomparable architectural masterpieces. Along with visiting the massive, and still to be complete, La Sagrada Familia, you’ll visit his surreal park, Casa Milà, Casa Batlló, and Güell Palace. For lunch, we will suggest a local restaurant.
Meals: Breakfast & Lunch
Accommodations: Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona
Day 4
Montserrat Private Excursion
Approximately one-hour outside of Barcelona, Montserrat is a spectacular 1,236 meter (4,055 feet) tall mountain setting of Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey. Though visited by thousands of tourists daily, we feel it is a unique window to the Catalan’s spiritual history and well worth a visit. The caves and many surreal mountain paths provide outstanding diversions reachable by funiculars. The monastery is Spain’s second most important pilgrimage, after Santiago, and was founded in 1025. Following your tour, you will travel further down the region with your guide to the Oller del Mas winery, a family run and very renowned castle surrounded by vineyards, where you will be treated to a wine tasting with lunch!
Meals: Breakfast & Lunch
Accommodations: Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona
Day 5
Barcelona Bike Tour + Tapas!
An encouraged activity in Barcelona, the city welcomes cyclists of all abilities with its many bike routes. Your tour will begin in the port at La Barceloneta Waterfront. Originally laid out in the 18th-century, this area was once factory workers and fishermen’s quarters. Along the narrow, grid-like streets, you will discover excellent seafood restaurants and funky, bohemian bars. We will include a stopover for lunch at a local tapas restaurant!
Meals: Breakfast & Lunch
Accommodations: Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona
Day 6
Free Day in Barcelona
Today will be free to explore Barcelona at your leisure. We suggest taking a stroll to Barcelona’s most famous street, La Rambla, a pedestrian boulevard teeming with whimsical art, cafés, and entertainment. After exploring the boulevard, you may wish to visit Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter, a labyrinth of monuments and squares dating back to Roman times. Another stopover you may wish to include is the Museu Picasso.
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodations: Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona
Day 7
Train Barcelona/Paris
Following breakfast, you will be privately transferred to the train station in Barcelona, where you will be assisted with your luggage and boarding for your long (though very scenic), first-class, high-speed TGV train to Paris. Upon arrival in Paris, you will be met by your driver and privately transferred to to the Right Bank’s 5-star Le Bristol Paris or the Left Bank’s 5-star Relais Christine, where the remainder of your day will be free to spend at your leisure.
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodations: Le Bristol Paris or Relais Christine
Day 8
Paris Private Tour
Following breakfast, you will take a tour, with your private guide, of Paris’ 4th and 17th Arrondissements. Starting with the 4th Arrondissement, Le Marais, you will explore the city’s long-established Jewish quarter (“Pletzel”) with expensive, fashionable boutiques juxtaposed to quaint Jewish stores, bookshops, and butcher shops. Your next stop will be the northern 17th Arrondissement, Montmartre. With a strong bohemian vibe, this Parisian hilltop neighborhood is, in many ways, quintessentially French with petite cafés, serene squares, and art around every corner. You will continue to Père Lachaise Cemetery, in the 20th Arrondissement, home to the graves of such notables as Chopin, Oscar Wilde, and Jim Morrison! Later in the day, you will head back to Paris’ city center to explore the bohemian Latin Quarter, followed by an amble in the Luxembourg Gardens.
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodations: Le Bristol Paris or Relais Christine
Day 9
Free Day in Paris + Illuminating Night Tour
Enjoy Paris at your leisure today and at dusk you will be met at your hotel by your private guide and driver for your two-hour night tour of Paris. Your drive will include a route along the Seine, with churches, bridges, and government buildings lit up on either side with golden spotlights. We feel this to be on of the most beautiful night tours anywhere.
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodations: Le Bristol Paris or Relais Christine
Day 10
Versailles Excursion
Following breakfast, you will be met by your guide and privately transferred to the Palace of Versailles (an approximately one-hour drive). Versailles is beyond compare, with 700 rooms, 67 staircases, 352 chimneys, 2,153 windows, 6,300 paintings, and 2,100 sculptures and statues. Versailles has become a symbol of the absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime. Most impressive here are the spectacular gardens, covering 1976 acres and designed by André Le Nôtre in 1661!
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodations: Le Bristol Paris or Relais Christine
Day 11
Fly Paris/Home
Following breakfast, you will be met by your driver and privately transferred to the airport for your onward flight home.
Meals: Breakfast
Hotels
The 92 rooms and 28 suites at the Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona marry contemporary interior design with classic architecture to create one of the most luxurious hotels in Barcelona. The hotel’s premier location offers views of the prestigious Passeig de Gràcia or the hotels own Mimosa Garden, where you may enjoy relaxed dining and drinks right from your room. Other amenities include a lap pool, rooftop area with an open-air pool, fully-equipped fitness center, and a spa offering a wide range of services to help you relax.
Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona
The 92 rooms and 28 suites at the Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona marry contemporary interior design with classic architecture to create one of the most luxurious hotels in Barcelona. The hotel’s premier location offers views of the prestigious Passeig de Gràcia or the hotels own Mimosa Garden, where you may enjoy relaxed dining and drinks right from your room. Other amenities include a lap pool, rooftop area with an open-air pool, fully-equipped fitness center, and a spa offering a wide range of services to help you relax.
We feel that the 190-room Le Bristol (yes, the one from Midnight in Paris!) is our favorite luxury, 5-star hotel in Paris. Opened in 1925, the hotel occupies an 18th-century building near the shops of the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. We consider the airy, iconic Le Bristol to perfectly illustrate French culture and service. Though the Deluxe Suite here is our favorite, each room is individually decorated in a traditional style with Persian carpets and colorful toilets! In addition to two other notable restaurants, we especially like the hotel’s Café Antonia and Le Jardin Français restaurant. Amenities here include a high-quality, three-floor spa and fitness center, but we feel the property’s sixth-floor, nautically-themed pool opening onto a solarium to be the property’s most impressive feature!
Le Bristol Paris
We feel that the 190-room Le Bristol (yes, the one from Midnight in Paris!) is our favorite luxury, 5-star hotel in Paris. Opened in 1925, the hotel occupies an 18th-century building near the shops of the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. We consider the airy, iconic Le Bristol to perfectly illustrate French culture and service. Though the Deluxe Suite here is our favorite, each room is individually decorated in a traditional style with Persian carpets and colorful toilets! In addition to two other notable restaurants, we especially like the hotel’s Café Antonia and Le Jardin Français restaurant. Amenities here include a high-quality, three-floor spa and fitness center, but we feel the property’s sixth-floor, nautically-themed pool opening onto a solarium to be the property’s most impressive feature!
Having visited in April 2019, we noticed that much has changed at the 5-star, 48-room Relais Christine since our last family visit in 2013! Occupying a former 16th-century abbey, in a quiet section of the trendy Saint-Germain-des-Près area of Paris’ Left Bank, the hotel is a short walk to the Seine and the Pont Neuf bridge. The property recently completed a major renovation, including rooms with updated walk-in showers, an expanded Spa Guerlain (located in the vaulted cellar), a Finnish sauna, and an exercise room. The critical thing that has not changed is the warm and inviting atmosphere and service. It is no hyperbole to say that a stay at the Relais Christine is like staying with family friends. Though usually fully booked, our favorite rooms are the Garden Suites, opening onto the private lawns enclosed by clipped hedges.
Relais Christine
Having visited in April 2019, we noticed that much has changed at the 5-star, 48-room Relais Christine since our last family visit in 2013! Occupying a former 16th-century abbey, in a quiet section of the trendy Saint-Germain-des-Près area of Paris’ Left Bank, the hotel is a short walk to the Seine and the Pont Neuf bridge. The property recently completed a major renovation, including rooms with updated walk-in showers, an expanded Spa Guerlain (located in the vaulted cellar), a Finnish sauna, and an exercise room. The critical thing that has not changed is the warm and inviting atmosphere and service. It is no hyperbole to say that a stay at the Relais Christine is like staying with family friends. Though usually fully booked, our favorite rooms are the Garden Suites, opening onto the private lawns enclosed by clipped hedges.
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Location
Overview
| Population |
|---|
| 46.7 Million |
| Language | |
|---|---|
|
| Currency |
|---|
| Euro |
| Temperature |
|---|
| Highs: High 80’s |
| Lows: Mid 40’s |
| Area |
|---|
| 505,988 SQ KM |
| 195,363 SQ MILES |
| Capital |
|---|
| Madrid |
| Population |
|---|
| 63.5 Million |
| Language |
|---|
| French |
| Currency |
|---|
| Euro |
| Temperature |
|---|
| Highs: High 70’s |
| Lows: Mid 30’s |
| Area |
|---|
| 543,965 SQ KM |
| 210,026 SQ MILES |
| Capital |
|---|
| Paris |
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