April in Paris – Shopping in the City of Light                    Request more information
April 12 – 16, 2006                                                             
Per person: $1,475                                                                                       Details

Join us for the ultimate shopping trip, with a focus on art, cuisine and haute couture. Need a new outfit? You’ll visit boutiques along the Champs Elysées and attend a live fashion show. A bit hungry? You’ll tour Paris’ most delectable pastry and chocolate shops with professional chef and cookbook author David Lebovitz. How about something for your kitchen? We will guide you through cookware shops to pick up unusual French items you can’t find in the States. And you’ll step inside the exclusive world of fine art when you meet a professional art broker, who may just invite you to attend a live auction.

Paris is a bath for the senses, taste, touch, sight, sound, smell. From the cafes, to the galleries to the street vendors to the beautiful avenues – and Paris is the collusion of all things French. Here you will find the distillation of the great tastes of the world – yours for appreciation or purchase, as you decide.

Paris is a shopper's dream, of course, and the "glitterati" will feel quite at home in the Haute Couture shops found on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré and Avenue Montaigne in the 8th arrondissement. Top quality shoes, bags, and leather goods are the province of Rue du Cherche-Midi and rue de Grenelle in the 6th. Truly trend-setting fashions may be seen in the shops on Rue Etienne Marcel and Place des Victoires bordering the 1st and 2nd arrondissements. Some of the better-known emporiums of Haute Couture and jewelry include: Cartier, Celine, Chanel, Christian Dior, Christian Lacroix, Piaget, and Yves Saint Laurent.

The first market is said to have appeared in Paris in the fifth century, and since then, Parisian shops are part of their national identity. Our shopping tour takes place in April, during the “sale season” which begins in January and ends in July. You can find substantial discounts, ranging between 30% and 50% on clothing, shoes, accessories, and furnishing fabrics. Almost all retailers can provide you with a "détaxe" form, to claim a refund on the 18.6% sales tax if purchases exceed a certain level; this form should be presented to customs upon leaving France, and you should expect your refund within about six weeks.
 

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