Press play, on the little video below, then expand (maximize) your screen and make sure your sound volume is up.. Then sit back and enjoy…
The short version..
To join our upcoming Art Lovers Tour of Rouen and Normandy, please write a short email to arran@dublindecoded.com and if possible, please use one of these two subject headers: If you want one place please use the subject header “One place for Rouen please” If you want two places on the trip, please use the subject header “Two places for Rouen please”
The long version…
Many of our guests and subscribers know that we led a trip to the magical city of Venice late last year. It was our first-ever “Dublin Decoded” overseas excursion and was a terrific success, enjoyable, highly convivial, and stuffed with beautiful art treasures.
This was just the first of a long serious of overseas tours we have planned for the next six or seven years. It is anticipated and planned that- over that time – we will lead different tours to Rome, Florence, the Veneto (Verona, Padua, and Vincenza) to Ghent and Bruges and several other destinations. In the very short term however, I’m delighted to announce details below for our new overseas tour we’ve organised for this May, 2026 – a wonderful 5-day trip to Rouen and Normandy.
To celebrate the trip in May, and help fill the last 3-4 places, we hosted a free online Art History talk on THURSDAY, 12th of MARCH. The talk was recorded and it’s still available to view free (up until up to approximately Thursday 19th or Friday 20th March) To watch our recent online talk, on the upcoming Art of Rouen Art Lovers trip, press here.
See below for more details, for prices, and for how to apply to join our Rouen and Normandy trip, just see below.
Our approach.
We tend to focus on quite high-end, small group tours, staying in a very good hotel, using good restaurants and plenty of cultural “inclusions” and quite small groups, typically no more than 10 to 12 guests.
Our 2026 overseas art trip takes place very soon, this May,
from 18th to 22 May inclusive.
Why Rouen and Normandy? If you know this beautiful region of France well, the reasons may be obvious.
The local Seine valley region, for example, is littered with some of the most famous and beautiful medieval Monasteries and Abbeys in France.
One highlight of our trip is a full-day excursion down the beautiful Seine valley, following that wide river, as it snakes through the French countryside, to visit three lovely ancient Abbeys.
Monet’s beautiful home and world-famous gardens of Giverny also lie within easy striking distance (and form another of our excursions) You may feel like you have stepped inside one of his Impressionist, water-lily paintings. And perhaps the icing on the cake is the city of Rouen itself: our base together on this whole trip.
Rouen may be something of a revelation for some guests. This is an exceptionally beautiful, atmospheric French city, of peaceful streets lined with old, highly evocative timber-framed shops and houses, wonderful little squares, cafes and restaurants, some superb architecture, fascinating history, and with a truly excellent, surprisingly large art museum: the Rouen Musée des Beaux Arts.
Rouen was also once the capital of the wealthy, sophisticated medieval Dukedom of Normandy, historically ruled by medieval English Norman kings, who were themselves of course, from Normandy.
Accordingly, it had, at times, a level of medieval sophistication almost commensurate with Paris, something reflected in the lofty medieval cathedral of Notre Dame de Rouen (famously painted by Monet) as well as other superb, French Gothic architectural treasures like Saint-Ouen and Saint-Maclou. (The later church is used in school textbooks in France, to illustrate the late- style of Gothic known as Flamboyant)
Other gems abound, like the superb, stained-glass windows that illuminate these ancient churches and the cathedral.
Rouen is also synonymous with Joan of Arc, cruelly burnt at the stake in Rouen old market square. You will see evidence and traces of her remarkable story, and how she is still venerated everywhere you turn in the historic quarters of Rouen.
But our trip is not all about medieval or renaissance gems. Far from it.
Exploring French Painting and Art at the Rouen Musée des Beaux Arts.
Rouen’s Musée des Beaux Arts of one of the great French museums outside of Paris. Its collections include significant artworks by Perugino, Caravaggio, Veronese, Peter Paul Rubens, and many other European masters, as well of course as a superb chance to study at first hand over five hundred years of French Art, painting and sculpture.
Three art tours within the Rouen MBA
My own personal favourites include works by giants of French Art like the Renaissance pair of Jean and François Clouet, superstars like Eugene Delacroix, by local boy Theodore Géricault, by Ingres and by Jacques-Louis David.
You will also see works by some terrific French artists that you may not have previously encountered. I personally love the room dedicated to the Grand Tour tradition, especially works by the great Hubert Robert, and some of the 19th century genre painting (especially the exquisitely painted views of churches and of maritime scenes. (Rouen is historically also a port city, something reflected I some of the art works here)
The cult of Joan of Arc is also represented, with a room of artworks dedicated to her, including one splendid painting by a mostly-forgotten, 19th century Irish artist.
There is, in fact, too much good art in Rouen’s Musée des Beaux Arts (the MBA) to absorb in a single visit.
This is why our trip features three separate art tours in the museum.
I will lead the first two gallery (MBA) tours. These two visits cover art from around 1450 to around 1870, everything up French neo-classicism (David, Ingres) and Romanticism (Géricault, Eugene Delacroix)
The third tour is led by an expert curator from the MBA itself, and focuses on the MBA’s excellent holdings of Impressionist art, with a number of particularly striking pieces by Monet, Renoir and Camille Pissarro.
Accommodation and other inclusions.
Prices (for couple and for solo-travelers)
We have also chosen to stay in a very nice hotel in Rouen, the beautiful Hotel de Bourgtheroulde (which is itself, an important historic building, with a superb private Renaissance courtyard )
Also included are several meals, including all four breakfasts, two lunches and a dinner; to say nothing of private transfers from Charles de Gaulle airport direct to your hotel (and back).
Naturally, all the admissions and all expert art tours and interpretation are included in your fees, with a very enjoyable orientation walking tour, on our first day, from a local expert, the Seine Valley and Abbeys trip, all three art tours of the Rouen MBA, visits to the gothic churches within historic Rouen, and your entry to Monet’s house-museum and gardens at Giverny.
(For the full and complete list of inclusions, please see below)
So this whole trip is quite a small-group, high-end treat. The final price has come to €2,299 per person sharing Or €2,820 if the single-person/ single occupancy supplement (of €521) is required and added on. (Flights not included)
The latter (solo) figure may seem quite a lot, but please note, there are a lot of excellent inclusions. I’d also, personally, like to emphasize that solo travelers are warmly welcome, and will be well looked after. You would never have to dine alone, for example, unless you positively wish to. (Our trip to Venice last autumn was notable, in this regard, and for how the whole group got on so well, couples and solo travelers alike)
In any case, if you would like to join our educational, sociable trip to beautiful Rouen (and Normandy) then we would love to have you with us. You can see a precise, bullet point list of Inclusions, at the foot of this page.
All are warmly welcome!
How to join and how to apply.
It is possible, of course, that demand for this trip will outstrip supply. We only just barely squeezed everyone into the Venice trip last year. And we already have several people signed up for this trip. So, if you would like to join us, then please be sure to follow the procedure described below…
In order to maintain strict and absolute fairness, places are allocated exclusively on a first-come, first serve basis, and (therefore) exclusively to people who follow the exact procedure detailed below, please.
Please note that this process is expressly designed to keep track of who applied when, and how many places they require. (So if you would like to join us, please do not deviate from this procedure)
- Firstly, and crucially, please Do NOT REPLY to us via this platform, or on social media, or anything like that. We will simply not be able to keep track of anyone who does that, we won’t and cannot reply here. And it will not count as an application.
- Instead, please write a short email to my other email address, and here is the correct email address to use: arran@dublindecoded.com
- Also in your email– please use one of these two subject headers.
If you want one place on the trip, please use the subject header “One place for Rouen please”
If you want two places on the trip, please use the subject header “Two places for Rouen please”
If everyone could follow that procedure, please, then we’re able to keep track of individual guests, and we see who applied first. And that is also the exact basis and order we will allocate places. (This is why we require a different email ”thread” from each person (I just mean NOT a reply here, please) Otherwise, we will simply not be able to follow who, and at what stage, each application is)
“Okay, fine, I understand. What happens next?”
Following the first few days, and as we start to receive applications (following your emails) we will then send out a booking link, to the first 10 to 12 people who applied.
Guest will be asked to pay the booking deposit at this point.
(There will be a minimum of 10 guests on this trip, and likely maximum of 12 or 13)
- Those first 10 to 13 people who applied will then have 5 to 7 days to pay the deposit, followed by a final quick remainder (for slow-payers!)
- Then we will send the link to the next person or two who applied, from our list.
- And so on, until we have our allocation of guests to run the trip, and/or until the trip is full and all 12 places are allocated.
- Remember, please do NOT press reply here, instead use the arran@dublindecoded.com
and If you want one place on the trip, please use the subject header “ONE place for Rouen”
And if you want two places on the trip, please use the subject header “TWO places for Rouen”
In summary, we think this is going to be a deeply enjoyable and rewarding trip to Rouen and Normandy. We look forward to welcoming some of you to this magical part of France, and to guiding you around its superb history and heritage, and around its marvelous art and architecture.
It is going to be fun!
- – Arran Henderson.
Tour essentials.
Minimum Numbers 10 participants
Price per person sharing a double or twin room €2,299
Single supplement €521
Services included in the package price
Accommodation included.
4 Nights x Hotel de Bourgtheroulde, Autograph Collection, Tradition Room.
Other services included.
- 1 x Transfer from Paris Airport to Rouen (approx. 2h)
- 2 x Lunch in local restaurants
- 1 x Dinner at the hotel on first night
- 1 x Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen tour
- 1 x Private walking tour of Rouen with expert local guide
- 2 x Visit to Musée de Beaux Arts Rouen led by Arran
- 1 x Visit to Musée de Beaux Arts Rouen led by in house expert
- 1 x Full day with vehicle and driver to explore the Seine Valley including all admissions
- 1 x English Step on Guide to explore the Seine Valley
- 4 x Breakfast at hotel
- 1 x Transfer to Paris Airport with stop at Claude Monet’s House and Gardens at Giverny
- 1 x Admissions to self-guided visit Claude Monet’s House and Gardens at Giverny.
- Personalised Itinerary, Coordination and Support
- 24h assistance during your trip
Not included
- Flights
- Admissions not included above
- Meals not included above
- Gratuities
- Personal and Travel Insurance
To watch our recent online talk, on the upcoming Art of Rouen Art Lovers trip, just press here (video available until 22nd March only)
some of the galleries and artworks at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen
Images above:
An aerial photo of the ruins of Jumièges Abbey, Normandy (photo credit Michel Dehaye)
Stained glass windows from the 1400s and 1500s, at the church of Saint Joan of Arc, Rouen (photo credit Arran Henderson)
part of the front facade of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen
photos of the historic city- centre of Rouen (photo credit Arran Henderson)
artworks from the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen
Joan of Arc, Sick, Interrogated in Prison by the Cardinal of Winchester, by Paul Delaroche, 1824,
Rouen Cathedral, Grey Weather, by Claude Monet , 1894.
La Belle Zélie, by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, 1806
Paul Alexandre devant un vitrage, a portrait painting by Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (at MBA Rouen)
a detail from The Virgin among the virgins, by Flemish master Gérard David, c1500
and The Bath of Diana by François Clouet, c.1565 (both Rouen MBA)
final two images: paintings from the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen: