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French Castles and Garden Tours - Châteaux et Jardins
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castle tours via car or coach offer a chance to learn about the castle’s
architecture and history as well as the intriguing lives of its inhabitants.
With our trained, licensed guides you will learn how Versailles was used
to bring a rebellious aristocracy to heel, how a finance minister built
and then lost his castle after he invited Louis XIV to dinner, and how
the magnificent castles in the Loire Valley were conceived to replace
crude Medieval fortresses with moats. These tours are geared to both individuals
and groups, including school groups and senior citizen travel clubs.
Visitors with a passion for gardening will also find their heart’s desire with French Links Tours. You will not only learn about the concept and philosophy about the gardens in and outside of Paris, but you will be able to discover the some of the newest and most intriguing public and private gardens in France. These tours are geared to both individuals and groups. This is a chance for your garden club to discover the riches of French garden design and horticulture. Our Guides We work only with trained, experienced guides, who are either university-educated native English speakers or French national guides who speak flawless English. Both have the people skills to make Americans and other English-speakers feel at home in France. Our multilingual guides also have fluency in Spanish, Italian, Russian, German and Chinese, both Mandarin and Cantonese. Do contact French Links Tours to design the ultimate garden tour for club members and friends. For more specific information about tours and fees, please contact Ms. Kaplan by completing our Tour Request Form.
Early in the morning, you will be able to visit that stunning garden which inspired some of the world’s most cherished paintings. With our guide you will discover the history of the house and gardens and how Monet and his family created a unique ‘art de vivre’ that has been widely admired. You will discover the artist’s kitchen and dining room, the splendid views from his upstairs bedrooms, as well as the man-made Water Garden with its celebrated Japanese bridge and wisteria, and water lily pond. Following lunch at a charming country inn, you will discover the State Apartments at Versailles with the newly restored Hall of Mirrors, and the Marie-Antoinette domain, that was featured in Sophia Coppola’s movie. Children will enjoy her petting zoo that features a variety of domestic animals including donkeys, pigs and cows. See Fees to book your tours.
With French Links Tours, you will discover the artistic splendors of the School of Fontainebleau, the apartments of Marie-Antoinette and Josephine, as well as the exceptional Chinese museum. Still, by 1661, Louis XIV was determined to have his own day in the sun and so he created a castle worthy of "the Sun King." With French Links Tours you will not only visit Versailles' magnificent State Apartments, but the entire royal estate and gardens, which include the Grand and Petit Trianons, and the Queen's Hamlet, where Marie-Antoinette once kept a farm and dairy. This tour is ideal for groups as well as small parties. See Fees to book your tours.
French Links Tours is offering the chance to enjoy a tour of the true Versailles, with exclusive access to private rooms and apartments not normally open to the public. You will have a real insight into the full-scale grandeur of the Château and the extravagant daily lifestyle of Louis XIV and his royal entourage. We also offer similar exclusive tours of Châteaux on the outskirts of Paris. Drink champagne with the owners and listen as they guide you round their family home and heritage. No better understanding of a family and its estate can be had or explained than by the family itself! See Fees to book your tours.
Until June 30th, French Links Tours is delighted to include a tour of "Marie Antoinette", a dramatic and visually lush exhibition being held at the Grand Palais in Paris, examining the personality of the doomed queen of France from all angles. See Fees to book your tours.
Malmaison is a 16th Century château, bought in 1799 by Joséphine Bonaparte who was looking for an estate on the edge of Paris. The couple called in the young architects Percier and Fontaine, who transformed the old building into a unique example of elegance and refinement. The Hôtel des Invalides, founded by Louis XIV to shelter 7,000 aged or crippled formed soldiers. In the chapels of Saint-Louis are the tombs of Napoleons brothers Joseph and Jérôme, of his son (whose body was returned from Vienna in 1940 by Adolf Hitler), and of the marshals of France. Immediately beneath the cupola is a red porphyry sarcophagus that covers the six coffins enclosing the body of Napoleon I, which was returned from Saint-Helena in 1840 through the efforts of King Louis-Philippe. Napoleons uniforms, personal arms, and death bed are displayed in the rich Musée de l'Armée (Army Museum) at the front of the Invalides. Fewer than 100 pensioners now live at the hospital, which is used as a paraplegic centre. See Fees to book your tours.
You can
also spend a day at Blois, noted for its splendid architecture and Renaissance
art museum, and follow it with a visit to Chenonceaux, shared by Diane
de Poitiers and Catherine de Médicis. Along the way you'll discover
the region's gastronomic specialties, including its fine Anjou, Sancerre
and Saumur wines. French Links Tours can organize both day trips
and overnight excursions, by chauffeured car or bus.
See
Fees to book your tours.
See Fees to book your tours.
Following
an elegant lunch at the country inn where George Sand met her feckless
husband, See
Fees to book your tours.
The monumental stables were commissioned by one of the castle’s former owners: Henri- See Fees to book your tours.
See
Fees to book your tours.
See
Fees to book your tours.
See
Fees to book your tours.
The Loire
Valley is justly considered the fruit and vegetable garden of France.
For those who wish to discover the estate that has over 450 varieties
of organically grown tomatoes at the National Tomato Conservatory, a
visit to the Château de la Bourdaisière is a must. Then
it’s off to Villandry, the most beautiful and authentic Renaissance
garden in the Loire Valley, where you will be able to see a Love Garden,
an Artistic Vegetable Garden, and some of the loveliest terraced fountains
in France. Be sure to take home some of their authentic jams and jellies
made from the products of the garden. On our way back to Paris we will
stop in Vouvray and sample the local wines.
See
Fees to book your tours.
After
lunch in the charming tearoom overlooking the sea, we will visit the
Villa Kérylos, a unique reconstruction of an ancient Greek dwelling
built in 1902 for the scholar and archaeologist, Theodore Reinach. The
stunning villa took 7 years to complete, and is a near-perfect reproduction
of an Athenian villa from the 1st and 2nd centuries BC. Exquisitely
furnished and decorated, this is Karl Lagerfeld’s favorite villa in
France.
See
Fees to book your tours. |
Claude Monet believed at the end of his life that his greatest artistic achievement was not his body of work, but the enchanting garden that he brought to life between 1883 and 1926 at his familial home in Giverny in upper Normandy.
In 1527, Francis the First began building the most splendid chateau
of his entire reign at Fontainebleau, bringing together for the first
time, the leading French and Italian artists of his time, including
the Florentine painter Rosso and the sculptor Primaticcio. The vast
castle - the largest in France - was to be home to kings and emperors,
including Napoleon Bonaparte.
Spend a day following this heroine of French history out to the Château de Chantilly, which inspired her design of the Hamlet at Versailles; then stop at the magnificent Château de Versailles itself to tour the State Apartments of her glory days, the Grand and Petit Trianons, Temple of Love and her private Hamlet. Finish the day back in Paris with a tour of the Conciergerie where she spent her last days before going to the guillotine. This is a very full-packed day tour which can be spread over several days for your full enjoyment and appreciation. 
Follow France's most infamous couple around Paris, from the Château de Malmaison to the Invalides in the heart of Paris. 
The great French châteaux were first built during the Renaissance in
the lush and fertile Loire Valley, the so-called the fruit and flower
basket of France. Discover them with French Links Tours, whether they
be the splendid privately-held Château de Cheverny with its pack of
hounds that still go to the hunt, the magnificent gardens of Villandry,
or the vast Château of Chambord, brainchild of Francis I, or the Clos
Lucé, final resting place of the famed Leonardo da Vinci.
During the summer, French Links Tours organizes evening visits to Versailles
and Vaux-le-Vicomte, where there are special performances featuring
fountains, music, opera and fireworks. One of our new and acclaimed
tours consists of visiting Versailles, including the Domain of Marie-Antoinette
in the afternoon, dining at Barbizon in the early evening, and finishing
off the night with a candlelight tour of Vaux-le-Vicomte. Naturally,
we arrange all private transportation with either a driver/guide or
a guide and driver.
If you ever wondered where Louis XIV got his inspiration for Versailles,
you need look no further than Vaux-le-Vicomte, the splendid chateau
in the Brie, that changed the look of French castles forever. Not only
is this sumptuous palace the largest privately owned property in France,
but it was the first edifice built by Louis Le Vau and landscaped by
Lenotre. With French Links Tours, you will discover how this
castle came to be built by the king's finance minister, and how he was
to learn the hard way to never upstage the boss!
we will head to Barbizon, a charming hamlet that was once the
center of pre-Impressionist outdoor landscape painting practiced by
Corot, Rousseau and Millet. We will visit the Auberge Ganne where they
lived and ate, and the enchanting studio and home of Millet, and wander
through the town's picturesque streets and fine art galleries. On our
return, we will tour the lovely town of Moret-sur-Loing, and see the
bridge and waterfall immortalized by Alfred de Sisley. (Ideal for groups
as well as small parties.)
There is so much to see in Chantilly’s castle and gardens that serious art lovers may find it hard to tear themselves away. It's an architectural hodge-podge of styles that work harmoniously together, thanks to the stunning landscape of canals and formal gardens conceived in the 17th century by Andre Lenotre. The present-day edifice, built on Medieval foundations, includes a small chateau built in the Renaissance by Pierre Chambige (who worked on the original Hotel de Ville in Paris), and a larger chateau that was rebuilt in the second half of the 19th century by the Duc d’Aumale, the fifth son of the last king of France, Louis-Philippe d'Orleans.
Louis, Duc de Bourbon, who wanted to be reincarnated as a horse. Built by Jean Aubert between 1719 and 1735, the stables are over 600 feet in length and once accommodated 240 horses, as well as 150 hounds for the hunt. Now known as Le Musee Vivant du Cheval (the Living Horse Museum), this is the most encyclopedic museum ever devoted to the history of horses, showing how the animal has been a vital element in the art of war, as well as the hunt and the military dress parade. However, don’t presume that these awesome stables are only for the horse buff and trainer—kids adore the live hour-long spectacles of elegant steeds trained to prance like the famed Lippinzanner horses from Vienna. 
If you
thought that Renaissance castles were limited to the Loire Valley, think
again. Less than 90 minutes outside of Paris you will find two of the
most enchanting châteaux: Ecouen and Chantilly, both built by the enormously
wealthy High Constable Anne de Montmorency (chief minister to Francis
I and Henry II). At Ecouen, you will discover the finest collection
of arms, tapestries, decorative arts and jewels in all of France, beautifully
presented in the only authentic Renaissance château left in Ile de France.
At Chantilly, you will find the vestiges of a Renaissance Château rebuilt
from the ashes following the French Revolution, and sumptuously furnished
by the Duc d'Aumale, including the greatest collections of paintings,
drawings and illuminated manuscripts outside the Louvre.
With
French Links Tours, you will discover a stunning variety of gardens
of unexpected gardens ranging from the Romantic Parc Monceau to the
ultramodern Parc André Citroen and the Jardin d'Atlantique on the roof
of a busy train station. Not to be forgotten is Paris's answer to the
hanging gardens of Babylon, the innovative "planted promenade," which
was built above an abandoned viaduct. Or if you are looking to discover
more traditional formal gardens, we can show you the elegant rose garden
of Bagatelle in the Bois de Boulogne with its prize-winning roses, or
the Luxembourg Gardens that were created by the Queen Catherine de Medicis.
Outside
of Paris, you can choose from the world's largest rose garden, "La Haye
aux Roses" - or spend a day at Versailles with its splendid musical
fountains and playful gondoliers, and pretend you have been invited
to the court of Louis XIV. For those who want to venture further, we
also offer tours to Giverny, Vaux-le-Vicomte as well as to the exotic
gardens of financier Albert Kahn, Sceaux and Fontainebleau. French Links
also organizes private tours to unique gardens in the Ile-de-France
and Normandy on special request.
Discover
the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, a magnificent Belle Epoque chateau
and garden designed to look like the Renaissance palaces of Tuscany,
which took 40 architects seven years to build! The estate has seven
different gardens, including a central one designed to look like the
ship’s deck of the Baroness’s favorite boat, the Ile de France. Stroll
through the Spanish, Japanese, Florentine and cactus gardens until you
get to the highest point—the temple of Love!
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Contact details at our offices in Paris, France:
Phone/Fax: 01
45 77 01 63 For all queries
when calling from outside of France contact:
Rachel Kaplan
at: +331 45 77 01 63 The best way
to reach Rachel Kaplan outside office hours is by email: We answer
all queries in English and in French.
French
Links Tours is run by EVENTS & COMPANY, SARL
Mobile Phone: 06 64 35 87 63
Email Addresses: kaplan@club-internet.fr
or rachel.kaplan@orange.fr
Mobile phone at: +336 64 35 87 63
kaplan@club-internet.fr
or rachel.kaplan@orange.fr
38 rue de Bassano
75008 Paris France
French
Links Tours: www.frenchlinks.com
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