Don’t get overwhelmed planning your bucket list trip to Paris.
Fashion Experience Tours has your dream trip. Ready to go.
All you need to do is book it!
Creativity. Connection. Culture.
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Get inspired by the creativity of artisans.
Visiting artisan workshops wouldn’t be possible without my strong connections in the Paris creative community. These talented artisans are opening their doors to share their work with you, offering a unique opportunity to discover the connection to your own creative practice.
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Small groups for better connection.
Large bus tours can often feel impersonal. Travelling in a small group enhances your experience by allowing for greater exploration and better connections with like-minded travellers. With only 14 people maximum, places are extremely limited so don’t wait to book your spot!
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The culture of Paris is creativity.
As an outsider, it can be tough to really connect with Parisian culture. You need an insider. Fashion Experience Tours has 10 years of experience bringing people to Paris for you to discover the city’s vibrant creative scene while creating meaningful connections.
8 days in Paris October 9 -16
€6500 shared
€7950 solo
Includes your 4-star hotel, most meals, all entries, transportation, workshops, dinner cruise, and more.
What you’ll get…
7 nights and 8 days at a 4-star hotel in central Paris
Welcome package and luxe gift
Airport pick-up
Private welcome dinner
Seine cruise to watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle
Most meals on the tour, including breakfast every day
All tickets, entrance fees, and private guided tours
Transportation on the tour
Parisian picnic at the Eiffel Tower
A before-opening tour of the Yves Saint Laurent Museum, including his atelier
Guided tour of the Paris fashion museum
Meet artists and vendors at the flea market
The creative genius of Azzedine Alaïa
Shopping at French concept shops like Merci and Buly 1803
Haute Couture feather atelier visit
Delicious French cuisine
Shop the beautiful covered passages
Discover the art of the Palais Royal
Craftsperson atelier presentations
The textiles and fashion wing of the Decorative Arts Museum
Make a signature scent at a 200-year-old perfume house
Historic Paris Fashion house tour with special luxury gift
The sumptuous Galerie Dior in the Golden Triangle
Window shopping on Avenue Montaigne
Champagne in a mansion on the Champs Élysées
Help with your dinner reservations, additional travel days, and organizing your free time during the tour.
Travel tips, packing list, safety recommendations, and more
A travel agent to help you book your flights, extra guided tours and more
Sometimes, you just have to break the monotony of everyday life to find your creative spark or gain a new perspective. Even if you don’t consider yourself creative, everyone needs inspiration. Fashion Experience Tours has been bringing guests to Paris for 10 years to discover that inspiration is everywhere, especially in Paris.
It’s important to carve out time for yourself, and I can’t think of a better place to spend your valuable time than Paris. Special occasions feel even more special, and small celebrations become habitual. It’s a way of life particular to the French. You’ll be transformed as you experience firsthand this daily joie de vivre and renew your appreciation for the little things.
Immersed in the creative processes of numerous artists and artisans, you’ll learn to view everything through a creative lens. This perspective can be noticed throughout the city—in its architecture, people, and culture. While fashion is the lens we use during the retreat, inspiration can be found in all aspects and stages of life.
Book your trip today.
Paris Retreat Day-by-Day
Thurs. Oct 10 - Welcome dinner cruise, Eiffel Tower sparkle
Bienvenue á Paris! Enchanté!
Get ready for an extraordinary first day in the city. Arriving at your exceptional centrally-located 4-star hotel. You’ll be welcomed with a personalized gift before your orientation to discuss the fantastic adventures that await you during this beautiful week in Paris.
We’ll cruise along the Seine and enjoy stunning views of the city's iconic monuments and the sparkling Eiffel Tower before our sumptuous dinner at a modern French restaurant. Paris is eagerly waiting to welcome you!
If you are arriving on this day, try to arrive at the hotel early this afternoon. Festivities will start around 5 PM. If you want to stay longer at the hotel, that can be arranged!
Fri. Oct 10 - Passages, Palais Royal, Musée des Arts Décoratifs
Today, we’ll get to know each other better on our walk through some of the most beautiful covered passages on our way to the iconic Palais Royal. These passages are more than a handy shortcut; they are full of charming shops and restaurants and have been pleasant places to duck the winter rains while running errands since their construction in the early 1800s.
Once the home of future Kings, regents, and sundry royals, the Palais Royal was initially built for Cardinal Richelieu in the early 17th century. Through its shady period in the 1920s as a haven for gambling and prostitution, today it houses luxury shops, restaurants, and even two theatres in the arcades surrounding the sparkling fountain in the quiet central garden. Discover modern art juxtaposed with historic Parisien architecture full of inspirational moments.
We’ll have an appointment for a private guided tour at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, the most extensive decorative arts museum in the world housed in a small wing of the Louvre Palace. The next exhibition will be about Paul Poiret, one of the most influential designers from the first part of the 20th century. His corset-less and fluid designs still inspire designers today. We’ll also visit the stunning jewelry galleries to see the progression of jewelry design through the centuries and learn about the materials used by these artists of the past.
Royal palaces abound in our quest for fashion!
The MAD is a vast decorative arts museum, and you are welcome to continue your visit at your leisure. We are in the centre of Paris, near the Musée D’Orsay or the Louvre, with the incredible Tuileries garden. Let me know what you’d like to fit into your trip, and I’ll help you schedule them.
Sat. Oct 11 - Musée YSL, Palais Galliera, Eiffel Tower Picnic, Aft Off
We begin with a before hours, private, guided tour of the Musee Yves Saint Laurent for a glimpse into this prolific designer’s iconic contributions to fashion. With ever-changing exhibitions of haute couture-level YSL creations, the museum also features the original atelier, set up exactly as it was when he was alive. You even get to see his incredible book collection!
We will then visit the only dedicated fashion museum in Paris, the Palais Galliera, to see their latest exhibition in a beautiful building designed in the Italian Renaissance style for the Duchess of Galliera. Rick Owens invites us into his world in a dedicated expo this fall, and while he might not be a household name, there’s his incredible world-building has made him a darling of the fashion world.
Lunch will be à la carte today for everyone as we’ll be shopping for it (not included this day) along one of the longest street markets in Paris. We’ll take our lunch to the Jardins de Trocadero for a picturesque picnic on the grass with a stunning view of the Eiffel Tower.
Today, you’ll get the afternoon off as we start pretty early for our first tour, which means you have the whole afternoon to sit on a terrace, visit one of the amazing free museums or shop at a historic department store like the Bon Marche.
A beautiful day filled with the best of Paris fashion history!
Once we are done here, take the time to explore the many museums nearby, like the Musée d’Art Moderne (modern art), the Musée de L’Architecture (architecture), or the Musee de l’Homme (the Museum of Man), all right there. You’re also very close to the Arch de Triomphe and, of course, the tower if you care to go up it. I will help sort you out!
Sun. Oct 12 - Flea market experience, Artisan Atelier
Experience a guided tour of the historic Clignancourt flea market, one of the most visited locations in Paris. Also known as the Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen, this is the world’s largest flea market and the original location where the term was coined.
Vintage clothes are just the beginning, with stalls specializing in jewelry, historic haute couture garments, antique textiles, collectables, furniture, architectural salvage, and so much more! With 7 hectares and over 2000 vendors, this is a must for anyone who loves to shop at a market, even if you’re just window shopping (or licking the windows, as we say in French!)
We’ll visit an artisan with her jewelry studio at the market to learn about her work and artistic processes.
We’ll have lunch at the market and a show and tell at the end of the day to see everyone’s treasures! It will be a fun and fulfilling day of shopping and inspiration!
We will spend most of the day here, and you are welcome to stay longer, leave early, or sit on a cafe terrace and people watch till we are all done.
Mon. Oct 13 - Feather artisan, Alaïa, Marais Shopping
Today, we’ll learn how feathers are crafted into dreamy haute couture confections during an exclusive visit to a unique couture atelier. This tiny 4th-generation Plumassière atelier is an eye-opening visit that will allow you to discover the many uses and treatments of feathers in haute couture all fait à la main (handmade).
Once sufficiently amazed by this ancient feather-craft, we’ll head back to the Marais, a vibrant area where we'll visit some quintessentially Parisian concept shops in this one of the only remaining medieval neighbourhoods. The Marais is a charming and picturesque area full of incredible restaurants, memorable art galleries, so many museums, and some of the best shopping in the city. No wonder it is a favourite among visitors and Parisians alike.
After lunch at one of our favourite bistros, we’ll visit the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation to view the latest exhibition of the master couturier's work, including his atelier, which has not had so much as a pin moved since his tragic death in 2017. This exhibition also features the work of another stunning fashion talent and close friend of Alaïa, the iconic Thierry Mugler. They formed a close friendship in the 80s and 90s, and you can almost see their conversations through their signature fashion designs.
A day to discover the heart of Paris!
The Marais is an amazing place to leave off the day with the riverside not far away, incredible shopping of every type, cafés perfect for people watching, and incredible museums like the Musée Picasso or the Musée Carnavalet. Ask me!
Tues. Oct 14 - Couture Archive, Perfume Workshop
Today begins with the history of this incredible haute couture maison, which has been making hand fans by hand for generations.
While the company was not actively operating for a significant period, the family miraculously retained the most stunning archive of fans from the 18th and 19th centuries. Many are hand-crafted using now-forbidden feathers; others are hand-embroidered and embellished, with my favourite being the ones that look like cats and dogs.
You’ll learn to speak using only your eyes and your fluttering “eventail” with a beautiful couture fan, your speccial gift, which can be monogrammed in gold.
This afternoon we’ll enjoy a perfume-making workshop at the 200-year-old French Fragrance Maison, Fragonard. We’ll tour their educational and experiential museum before learning the secrets of composing a fragrance. To create your signature perfume, you’ll learn the differences and functions between a top, middle, or bottom note from a Nose that knows. You know?
A day of beauty in the language of the fan and the nose!
We end the day near the sumptuous Opera Garnier, incredible shopping at the Galleries Lafayette, and the iconic Place Vendome, where Chanel lived at the Ritz Hotel.
Wed. Oct 15 - Ave Montaigne, Galerie Dior, Champagne at La Païva
We’ll walk up one of the most fashionable streets in the world, the Avenue Montaigne, for a little “Leche Vitrines,” aka window shopping. I’ll give you a little history of the area known as the Golden Triangle and a lot about its most famous tenant at no. 31, Christian Dior.
After a quick visit to the recently refurbished Dior flagship store, we will head around the corner to the must-see fashion museum in Paris, the stunning Galerie Dior. We will have a reservation to explore the world of Christian Dior through the various themes of this gorgeous three-story museum. Featuring a rotating collection from the Christian Dior archives, we are guided through the work of all six subsequent Dior designers after Christian Dior: Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferre, John Galliano, Raf Simons, and the current creative director, Maria Grazia Chiuri.
Our farewell lunch will be a truly French experience at a classic Art Deco bistro located in the Golden Triangle. We will try all the French foods, such as escargots, haricots vertes, fois grás, and more.
After our French lunch, we will embark on an exclusive tour of a luxurious private mansion on the Champs Élysées. This mansion, with a rich history as the former residence of a famous courtesan who was mistress to Emperor Napoleon III, is now a private club. We will have the pleasure of meeting a friend of mine who is a club member to enjoy a farewell toast in one of the most incredibly ornate homes from the mid-19th century.
A truly remarkable ending to a beautiful time spent with new friends!
You are now on the Champs Élysées with its elegant boulevards leading down to the Arc de Triomphe. Tonight is the night to book that special restaurant. Le Train Bleu, perhaps? Ask me!
Thurs. Oct 16 - Breakfast and Check-out
If you have not booked a longer stay at the hotel, today is checkout day. Enjoy your breakfast!
If you are staying longer, don’t forget to ask if you need help deciding what else to do, like Champagne, Giverny, or even more Paris; there’s still much to see. You know how to get around, order food, and even get a taxi. Visit Disney, shop for souvenirs, visit Montmartre; you can never have too many days in Paris.
Au revoir et merci pour votre confiance! Bon voyage!
A truly remarkable visit to inspire you for years to come.
Don’t miss it! RSVP today!
A note from your tour designer
Leah Van Loon
I’ve created this Paris retreat to inspire your creativity through the lens of fashion. For the past 10 years, I’ve shared my knowledge with people from all over, helping them bring their artistic visions to life. I’ve used my deep connections in the fashion industry to connect you with the best opportunities possible.
During our time in this beautiful city, we’ll explore the world of high fashion from the artist’s perspective and meet the skilled artisans who make designer’s dreams a reality. Visiting their workshops will give you a closer look at the craft behind each piece of clothing, helping you appreciate the artistry and innovation built over generations.
We’ll also check out famous fashion museums to discover the creative process of the world’s top designers. The Galerie Dior celebrates 70 years of artistry at the House of Dior, and the Yves Saint Laurent Museum rotates exhibitions based on themes the designer explored in his work. Plus, we’ll visit the only fashion museum in the city, which features rotating exhibits showcasing the creative soul of Parisian fashion culture.
While we won’t have a typical shopping schedule, we’ll stroll through lively neighbourhoods that spark creativity, like the Marais and the Avenue Montaigne. One of the best parts will be a semi-independent day at the biggest flea market in Paris (and the world!), where I’ll help you discover unique finds that inspire you.
I ensure a relaxed schedule so you can enjoy your time, with morning appointments and afternoons for guided exploration. Travelling with like-minded people is not only fun but will also help you connect with others who share your passion for culture.
In short, Paris is full of creativity, and I’m excited to help you explore it. Thank you for your interest, and I can’t wait to welcome you on this inspiring journey!