Land in Paris and take your first steps along the cobbled stone. Aromas seep out from bakeries and bistros; everyday buildings have a dedication to the ornate; church bells chime as chatter emanates from an alfresco terrace. Your hotel is amid Paris from the 19th century, a web of narrow streets framed by extravagant architecture. Its beauty and charm are such that you can see why the locals were so unhappy with the Eiffel Tower; the tower can be found downriver and is a sharp contrast to the style of neighborhood you are staying in. You’re transferred to the hotel and have this day free. Wander the 19th-century neighborhood, take a stroll along the Seine, sample Parisian delicacies, and settle yourself into the City of Lights.

It’s along the right bank of the Seine that you find Paris’ grand icons. While many adorn postcards, there is so much more to experience behind the scenes. Start today’s tour at the Louvre, the famous art gallery once home to the kings of France and now a place of secrets. Crowds gather around the Mona Lisa, yet it’s so small in comparison to other priceless art pieces here. It’s just you and your guide in some of the other galleries, admiring collections that have influenced the world yet are barely known to 90% of people who visit the Louvre.

A morning in the famous art gallery is followed by an afternoon on foot, wandering the marvels that make Paris distinct. Through the peaceful gardens of Palais Royal to grand arcades and magasins, department stores, past the Corinthian pilasters and columns to where Marie-Antoinette lost her head, then out to the Champs Elysees. Take a glance at the Arc de Triomphe, then drift off to discover a culture that lies beyond the famous avenue. Cafes, small arcades, Parisian treats, and cobblestone squares adorn the city and you’ll be surprised how easy it is to escape the crowds, and see real Paris, just a few steps beyond the Champs Elysees.

If the right bank is about icons, then the left bank concerns neighborhoods. Smells guide you at first, Saint-Germain the indulgent home of Paris’ chocolatiers and macaron makers. Their secrets are well guarded and the best treats are found off the main roads. From Saint-Germain to the Musee d’Orsay – Gaugin and Monet all around – then into the Latin Quarter, so bohemian and beautiful as it brings chic to medieval era buildings. Stop for coffee and some jazz in a converted 12th-century prison, then continue your musings along the Seine’s left bank, so many cobbles and turns you seem absolutely lost; but one more turn and you’re right outside the hotel. The evening is free, and there are so many places to enjoy in Paris.

Parisian food is a relatively secretive world. Of course, the culinary style has far-reaching influence, but the very best of the French capital isn’t what you’ll find through top tourist attractions. Instead, it’s what you experience down cobbled backstreets and generations-old establishments. Today’s journey is a filling one as you learn about the culture behind the food. There’s a bakery, of course, all indulgent smells and delicate pastries. There are small chocolates to try, along with coffee in the Parisian style and a foie gras, duck liver tasting session.

This tour starts late in the morning and continues until the early evening, ending with a few decadent hours at a Parisian bistro. Go behind the scenes to discover how the bistros are so integral to local life. You’ll learn through taste, traveling a variety of French regions with their own wines and cheeses – Roquefort, Rocamadour, and Comte among many others. A tutor introduces you to the basics of pairing and how it’s so important to the bistros before you move on to the cured meats and heavier wines. By the end of today, you won’t need dinner, although you will receive various restaurant recommendations from local specialists you have met along the way.

You head off to Versailles this morning, where a famous palace stands proudly amid glorious gardens. Leave at a relaxed time and start in the Royal Gardens, before lunch along the banks of the canal. Skip the queues and enter through a private palace entrance, admiring the postcard rooms that every visitor to Paris wants to see. But as the hallways get crowded, you step over the rope into historical rooms that are closed to the public. It’s in these stately rooms you discover the most ostentatious and opulent of royal tastes, the guide showing you which king bought this and what queen designed that. You’ll be back in Paris before nightfall and have a final evening in the city. A champagne cruise on the Seine is one option; a backstreet eight-table restaurant is another.

Famous old sights dominate Central London. Take the Eurostar from Paris in a first-class carriage, and you walk out into a city of towering icons and antiquated legend. A guide meets you and it’s a short black taxi ride to the hotel, centrally located so you can walk to so much of the city. Big Ben rises high. The Palace of Westminster reflects off the River Thames. But these are postcards. You enter the place of the British parliament and take a walk through a building that few visitors ever step inside. At the end of one corridor is a parliamentary cafe, perfectly poised above the river; nowhere better for your first spot of English tea and scones.

The rest of today’s private tour follows a similar tone. You’ll explore Central London to find all the blocks the capital’s culture is based upon; iconic bridges, famous palaces, heritage entwined with the royal family. This is a city with an incredible wealth of history and culture. You start to understand it by exploring the inside of the famous monuments. It’s not all magnificence of course. All across Central London, you’ll hear stories that reveal another side to the city, often a polar opposite to the life enjoyed by the royals. As with subsequent days in London, the pace of the tour is relaxed, and there’s some flexibility over where you go; the best guides have the best stories, but they also have a full repertoire of places to visit dependent on the mood and interests.

Step back from the postcards and London is liberally filled with hidden gems. Unusual museums that bring past glories to life such as small houses once home to artists and their studios; cluttered rooms from a Victorian-era; remarkable inventions crafted by experiments in tiny townhouses; the wonderful Spitalfields house of Dennis Severs. On today’s off the beaten track London tour, you explore a private art gallery and explore the old red-brick lanes of a borough mostly unchanged since Victorian times. You’ll find that London isn’t just the cityscape, but the treasures to be found in small houses and neighborhoods that lay in the shadow of the monuments.

London is best explored on foot. While the underground is famous and convenient, it’s remarkable how small the central city really is. Sometimes it’s quicker to walk two stops than to change lines on the underground. And by walking you admire how the city has evolved, how each neighborhood has a slightly different architectural style from a specific era. Some parts of London have undergone huge regenerations and The Shard is the towering example of change. It looks impressive from a distance, but the unchanged neighborhoods are so tightly packed you can only explore them by walking with someone in the know. As with all days in London, you have a specialist guide, and by using different guides, there’s always a new story waiting to unfold.

Your first stop is to Soho, where saucy street names and hidden noses are found alongside cafes of post-war debauchery. Walk the streets through the time of romantic poets in Hampstead, where squares and townhouses whisper immortal lines. Medieval bone houses provide a different tale in Spitalfields. Turn another corner, and you explore a Victorian food market, which is as atmospheric as it always has been, complete with traders shouting in Cockney rhyming slang. Then head north, through Georgian streets, learning about the characters that put Mayfair on the map. As you explore, you appreciate the nuance in architectural style, how each bygone era had its variant on the past. You find that London has so much culture beneath its glitzy first facade.

With a late flight out of London, you have a full day in the city. Four different guides have led your journey, and each will have imparted ideas and recommendations, so there should be a healthy list of things you would like to experience today. Late hotel checks out has been arranged, and you’re given a private transfer to the airport.