Only one hour away from Paris, the Vaux le Vicomte castle and gardens. It is Versailles' prototype, but without the crowds. Photo © Art Journey Paris.
Plan the journey of a lifetime with an expert Paris travel planner
Whether you've dreamed of Paris for years or have already been there many times, what do luxury travel and experiential tourism have in common? The quality of the experience.
The hotel's silk curtains are lovely, but what really matters is the view out of the window—the stage for the magic moments that you will treasure and turn into lifelong memories.
Setting up those experiences is the most challenging part of planning travel. Even more so for Americans who have long dreamt of the City of Light but usually only have five days to discover it.
That is why time is the ultimate luxury. No amount of money can compensate for the fact that it is impossible to visit all of Paris, let alone France, in a few days. How do you avoid missing out on memorable, authentic experiences, and maximise the scarce holiday time you have?
Quite a daunting task when trying to discover the most visited city in the world, and there is no shortage of people telling you what to do in Paris.
Go beyond ticking lists and ending up lost in the crowd; plan instead an experience in Paris that will deliver the desired once-in-a-lifetime memories. For that, you need to design your journey with the help of an expert.
Genuine Parisian expertise
Old-fashioned style travel planning at a Parisian café terrace. Instead of doing it once you arrive in Paris, we now do it virtually with video consultations.
Who is your expert travel planner? Guillaume Deprez, a Parisian art historian. A graduate of the Louvre School, he has lived in London, where he worked in the luxury industry. Then, for over fifteen years, he has organized private guided tours in Paris and now in Egypt.
Countless times, he met people in Paris only to realize they had been badly advised or that their plans were simply unfeasible. He saw travellers missing out on lifetime memories, and started to amend their itineraries while sitting at a Parisian café terrace. That is how his skill in travel planning began.
Furthermore, now that most museums and monuments impose timed entry, last-minute changes are no longer possible.
Guillaume now offers to set up itineraries months in advance. That coffee chat is not done at a Parisian terrace when it is too late, but online, via video. That is where the authentic experience begins: listening to you and then sharing his expertise.
Enjoy tailored itineraries with Parisian expert video consultations!
Gain lifetime memories thanks to personalized travel experiences
Personalized travel itineraries, for Paris as well as the Loire Valley. Photo © Art Journey Paris.
To best illustrate how curated travel delivers on expectations, below is the testimony to a journey 47 years in the making:
Tailored journeys that focus on the quality of the experience
That wonderful feedback came from a person who had waited 47 years to visit Egypt. Staying at the finest hotels was a given; the focus was on delivering a lifelong dream by skilfully planning to visit empty pyramids, temples, and royal tombs.
The aim is identical for Paris. Lodging in one of Paris' best hotels is one thing, but navigating the most visited city in the world, which boasts 2,000 monuments and museums, is another.
Why apologize for having studied art history instead of business or marketing? It is precisely the secret recipe for the quality of the journey, knowing the culture. Expertise in what to do—and not do—when to go, how to avoid crowds, and the off-the-beaten-path wonders.
In other words, like a sommelier does with fine wine, mastering the ingredients that build once-in-a-lifetime memories. Now, how does Paris expert travel planning work?
A personalized travel planning service: listening to you via video calls
No longer a pipe dream, we now easily can have a conversation over the Atlantic via video calls.
Listening to you is the other secret recipe. Without knowing about your unique profile and interests, expertise is useless. Emails are great, but more often than not, they are a barrier, as one does not understand what the other is trying to say.
Instead of getting to know you at a Parisian café, once it is too late to amend your plans, we do that online, via video calls. Months before your holiday, you can explain your dreams, goals, and any limitations you may have.
With a face-to-face conversation, we exchange ideas to tailor your journey to your needs.
The more information you share, the more we can discover, make suggestions, and amend itineraries to find solutions to problems. It is the perfect opportunity to ask silly questions one would not put in writing.
The person appearing on your computer screen has not only visited all the sites he tells you about in person, but also has years of experience finding solutions to crowd issues. Needless to say, the information you receive won't be copied and pasted or generated by AI.
We discuss your initial plan and discuss if a particular site is worth your time or, likewise, if it should not be missed. In that case, when should you go, how, and for how long? Paris is full of surprises, so by listening to your interests, I can tell you about the off-the-beaten-path wonders that will amaze you.
What benefits can you expect from authentic Paris travel planning?
Did you know there is a Royal castle with the tallest dungeon of the Middle Ages only 30 minutes from Paris' center? Photo © Art Journey Paris.
Maximise the scarce amount of holiday time you have in Paris and gain lifetime memories.
➜ Avoid being one among millions
➜ Sort through a dazzling number of sites to visit in Paris
➜ Skip the tourist traps and discover the genuine, off-the-beaten-path wonders instead
➜ Get fully independent advice
➜ Practical recommendations
Expert-designed personalized travel experiences:
- Paris expert travel planning
- Bespoke itineraries, crafted via video consultation and emails.
- Itinerary delivered as an illustrated PDF document.
- 650 euros
For an itinerary of up to five days
Five persons maximum - Do not hesitate to inquire about adding the Loire Valley to the itinerary, for more than five persons, or a business trip.
- Genuine skip-the-line access to a select list of major museums
- For the most visited museums in the world, starting with the Louvre and Musée d'Orsay, enjoy genuine privileged access via a dedicated entrance. No reservation needed and no waiting in line.
- It also is possible to book regular museum and monuments tickets on your behalf.
- On-demand option along with travel planning
Contact
To inquire about setting up a custom-made Paris travel itinerary and start the conversation, please provide the date of your visit, the number of participants, and a rough outline of your plans using the form below. Thank you.
An authentic experience with your Parisian expert travel planner
Guillaume Deprez, art historian, author and expert travel advisor. Photo © Delphine Quême.
Apologies for the lack of a beret, pencil moustache, and striped shirt. All you get is the genuine expertise of a Parisian art historian.
Over the years, Guillaume has given tours to people from diverse backgrounds, including farmers, billionaires, people who had not set foot in a museum in fifty years, and art collectors.
Regardless, he has always strived to treat others as he would like to be treated were the roles reversed. Since all his tours are always private, it has become second nature to try to adapt to different people with varying needs.
As a result, many kept returning and became friends. Some of his proudest moments include the numerous times when people wept with emotion or laughter.
All of the advice given comes from firsthand knowledge
And a know-how based on fifteen years of organizing private visits, as well as feedback from past visitors. If Guillaume does not know something, he will say it.
That is why he does not feel qualified to make restaurant recommendations: it would involve eating at all 2,000 gastronomic restaurants in Paris, which would take six years, one restaurant per day. Before his liver gives up, he sticks to what he knows well, museums and monuments.
Since there are 2,000 sites in Paris to choose from, the advice is: where should you go, and what should you avoid? When to go (the best season, day, and time). How to avoid crowds, and, following discovering what your interests are, recommend off-the-beaten-path wonders.
To make sense of whom you deal with:
- Read his articles on Substack.
- Testimonies from past visitors.
- Daydream of the journey of a lifetime in Egypt.
We all were thrilled with your customized tour, depth of knowledge and fascinating perspective on the art and the cyclical nature of the environments in which it is created. Your tour truly was a highlight and I can't wait to come back to cover the next museum with you.
Already we have forwarded your company information to two other groups traveling to Paris this Spring. Thank you again for your energy, passion and vision in creating such a memorable experience.
Elise & friends
A tour with Guillaume includes his unique perspective and wry sense of humor. We learned not to just appreciate the art, but to challenge pre-conceived notions and uncontested beliefs about each piece. He made links that contextualized the art within the social, political and moral climate of the times.
He is passionate about art history and we left the tour with a memorable learning experience. We would highly recommend a private tour of the Louvre with Guillaume.
Dale
Your guided tour was a special experience for everyone in our family, from the first-timers in our group to those who had seen the Louvre several times before. You were able to make sure that each person found it to be an intimate and memorable experience.
We're still talking about your tour with our friends and family back home. We will definitely recommend you to friends visiting Paris in the future, and look forward to seeing you next time we're in town.
John
Thank you once again for bringing my family the experience of a lifetime, you showed us the beauty of Versailles under the decadence, it made us appreciate the palace not for its opulence but for its relevance in architecture and history. We loved, loved it.
When we went back to the Louvre ourselves after Versailles, my husband complained it was not the same as the first time you brought us. Therefore, next time in France, we are not going anywhere without you!
Patty, John and Madison
Merci Beaucoup! Tracey and I thoroughly enjoyed our time in your company, as you opened our eyes to the true beauty and history of art. We have a completely new appreciation for fine arts and the history associated with it.
I can't wait to peel away another layer on our next visit... This honestly was THE highlight of our trip to Paris.
Sarah and Tracey
Our tour with you of the Louvre was the best tour we have experienced. It was a wonderful cross section of the Louvre's treasures, at a terrific pace and with challenging, insightful commentary and probing questions that turned lots of assumptions upside down.
Your name and the tour have been raised in many discussions with friends and we have been recommending you highly. It was an incredible highlight of our trip to Paris.
As you may recall we told you that we were to have a tour with another company the following morning on the Italian Masters and I promised I would give you feedback. It was the most disappointing tour and our hearts sank as we endured it. We began in the classical era and moved on slowly. It was basically a rehash of material that you had covered but without the in depth knowledge and enthusiasm and insights. We also thought that it would focus on the Italian Masters in great detail. We had basically 40 minutes in the hall. Given Paul and I had some background on the Italian masters and their works we thought the tour would add to our knowledge given its specialisation. Unfortunately, we gained very little from the tour and it was your commentary and insights that we recalled that saved the day. It was a waste of a morning in Paris for us.
I am hoping that when friends and acquaintances come to Paris that they use your tours to experience what we did.
Europe and Paul
Examples of off-the-beaten-path sites to discover
Flying too close to Louis XIV's sun, the story of Vaux-le-Vicomte
Vaux-le-Vicomte, Versaille's prototype, and Louis XIV.
Discover Vaux-le-Vicomte castle.
Amiens, the Largest Cathedral of France, twice as big as Notre-Dame de Paris.
Discover the story of Notre Dame of Amiens Cathedral, the biggest French cathedral, how it was built, its use of iron, and how it survived world wars.
Discover the cathedral of Amiens.
The Apocalypse of Angers, the largest narrative tapestry in the world
The Tapestry of the Apocalypse, a World Heritage masterpiece, the Sistine Chapel of the Middle Ages.
Discover an overlooked wonder, the Tapestry of the Apocalypse.
Thirty years looking at a water garden: the Water Lilies paintings by Monet.
Making sense of Monet's career achievement, the Nymphéas Cycle, from Giverny to the Orangerie.
Discover Giverny's water garden and the Water Lilies paintings by Monet.