By Santorini Dave
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Best Tours in Paris
- Duration: 3 to 3.5 hours
- A super fun and efficient way to orient and familiarize yourself with Paris at the beginning of a trip. Great for all ages.
- Meeting Point: 24 Rue Edgar Faure, near the Dupleix metro station.
- Tour Highlights: Eiffel Tower, Tuileries Gardens, Louvre Museum, Napoléon’s Tomb, Pont Alexandre III, Champs-Élysées.
- Included: 3-Speed city bike, helmet (optional for guests 12 and above).
- Operates rain or shine. Rain ponchos are available for purchase.
- Food included? No. Morning tours make a stop at a cafe near the Tuileries, but food purchases are extra.
- Good for kids? Yes, defintely. 20″ and 24″ city bikes are offered for experienced riders aged 6-12. Smaller kids’ tandem bikes, toddler trailers, and baby seats are available, but must be reserved in advance.
- Tour Operator: Fat Tire Tours
- Duration: 3.5 hours
- Excellent food tour concentrating on family-run businesses in the lovely Marais neighborhood. Sample the wares and learn about French history, culinary culture, and etiquette along the way.
- Meeting Point: Rue de Turenne.
- Tour Highlights: Covered market tour, visits to a reknowned boulangerie and family-run businesses in the Marais and Jewish Quarter, lunch in a traditional Parisian bistro.
- Included: 8 stops with 11 tastes (or more), including two different French wines.
- Adaptable for vegetarians, pescatarians, and pregnant women. Non-alcoholic options are available.
- Food included? Yes, lots.
- Good for kids? Yes. Tastes are suited to kids and teens, and tour prices are based on age: adult, teen, or child.
- Tour Operator: Devour Paris
- Duration: 9 hours
- All the highlights of Paris in one full and exciting day. Includes skip-the-line tickets and a Seine cruise, too.
- Meeting Point: Anvers metro station.
- Tour Highlights: Montmartre, Notre Dame (exterior), Sacré Cœur Basilica, Île de la Cité & Pont Neuf, La Conciergerie, Latin Quarter, Louvre Museum (2 hours), Trocadéro Plaza, Eiffel Tower (non-guided), Seine River Cruise.
- Included: Knowledgeable guide and headset, skip-the-line tickets for the Louvre Museum
and Eiffel Tower (2nd floor), 1-hour Seine river cruise.
- Not Included: Lunch, metro tickets, top of the Eiffel Tower tickets.
- Food included? No. During a lunch break, your guide will provide recommendations, but cost is extra.
- Good for kids? For older kids who can take a lot of walking, yes. Otherwise, no. Strollers are permitted, but some metro stations do not have elevators.
- Tour Operator: Walks Tours
- Alternative booking though Get Your Guide
- Duration: 3 hours
- In-depth art-focused tour led by a PhD or MA-level guide; great for novices and art buffs alike.
- Meeting Point: Cafe outside the Louvre.
- Tour Highlights: Egyptian artifacts, ancient Greek and Roman sculpture, Italian Renaissance and French Master paintings. These small tours are custom-curated in advance, based on group interests.
- Included: PhD or MA-level guide, pre-purchased dated and timed fast-track Louvre tickets.
- Available as both a private and small group tour.
- Wheelchair accessible.
- Food included? No.
- Good for kids? If your kids are interested in art, yes. The guides are great at adapting focus to kids’ understanding. Context also offers a private Louvre for Kids tour, led by art historians who are specially trained to work with kids.
- Tour Operator: Context Travel
- Duration: 4 hours
- Collect fresh ingredients on a guided morning market tour, followed by a hands-on cooking course to prepare a gourmet 4-course French menu, which you will enjoy in a beautiful dining room overlooking the Seine and Notre Dame.
- Meeting Point: Place Monge, Bastille, or Maubert Mutualité metro station.
- Tour Highlights: Market tour, hands-on cooking class, gourmet French meal.
- Included: All food and wine.
- Food included? Yes, lots.
- Good for kids? For teens, yes. This tour is available for guests 13 years and up only.
- Tour Operator: La Cuisine Paris
- Duration: 3 hours
- Candlelit gourmet dinner cruise down the Seine aboard a beautiful historic boat, sailing past the glittering landmarks of the City of Lights.
- Meeting Point: Port des Saints-Pères, under the Pont des Arts, on the left bank.
- Tour Highlights: Excellent food and scenery.
- Included: Welcome cocktail, a la carte 3-course menu: starter, main, and dessert.
- Not Included: Beverages, aside from the welcome cocktail.
- This is not a guided tour; there is no informative narration about the landmarks passed.
- Weekend brunch cruises are also offered.
- Food included? Yes; generous and beautifully-plated portions are prepared from scratch on board by gourmet chefs.
- Good for kids? Yes, though this is an intimate setting with many guests enjoying a romantic evening, so good behavior should be expected. There is a kids’ menu.
- Tour Operator: Le Calife
- Duration: 4.5 hours
- View Paris’ vibrant nighttime neighborhoods by bike, and sail past the glittering monuments with a glass of wine on a boat cruise down the Seine.
- Meeting Point: 24 Rue Edgar Faure, near the Dupleix metro station.
- Tour Highlights: Notre Dame Cathedral (exterior), St. Germain de Près, Ile St. Louis, Latin Quarter, Louvre Pyramid at sunset, Eiffel Tower (exterior), Boat Cruise with Wine.
- Included: 3-Speed city bike, helmet (optional), boat cruise, red wine (or juice, if preferred).
- Operates rain or shine. Rain ponchos are available for purchase.
- Food included? No. The tour stops at world-famous Bertillon Ice Cream on Ile St. Louis, but food purchases are extra.
- Good for kids? Depends. Older kids will likely have a great time, but the return time (11 to 11:30pm) may be too late for younger kids. 20″ and 24″ city bikes are offered for experienced riders aged 6-12. Smaller kids’ tandem bikes, toddler trailers, and baby seats are available, but must be reserved in advance.
- Tour Operator: Fat Tire Tours
- Duration: 3 hours
- Visit the oldest part of Paris to take in some of the city’s most breathtaking and important sights: the gothic treasure of Notre Dame Cathedral (still strong after a devastating recent fire), the kaleidoscopic jewel of Sainte-Chappele church, and the sobering Conciergerie (famously the prison of Marie Antoinette). Finish with a scenic river cruise on the Seine.
- Meeting Point: In the square in front of the café Le Louis Philippe.
- Tour Highlights: Sainte-Chapelle Church, the Conciergerie, Notre Dame Cathedral (exterior), Seine River, Île de la Cité, Latin Quarter.
- Included: Timed entry tickets to all sites, guided walking tour with an expert on Parisian history.
- This tour takes place Tuesday through Saturday most of the year, less frequently in the winter. Advance booking required.
- Food included? No.
- Good for kids? Yes, for older kids with an interest in history. Could drag on for younger children.
- Tour Operator: Walks Tours
- Duration: 3.5 to 4 hours
- Walk from shop to shop in the picturesque Montmartre district, learning about the area and sampling the best French cheeses, fine wines, cured meats, artisan chocolates, crepes, and fresh pastries along the way.
- Meeting Point: Anvers or Abbesses metro station.
- Tour Highlights: Samples from an artisanal chocolatier, macaron patisserie, traditional boulangerie (bakery), fromagerie (cheese shop), and boucherie (butcher), secret last stop for sit-down meal.
- Included: Expert guide; all food; wine, and non-alcoholic drink options.
- Both day and evening tours are offered. Evening tours do not include crepes.
- Upgraded drink packages are available.
- Food included? Yes, lots.
- Good for kids? Yes, though infants and toddlers will need to be carried, as the area is not suitable for strollers.
- Tour Operator: Secret Food Tours
- Duration: 2 hours
- Interesting and educational guided tour of key places in the French Revolution; ideal for history buffs and novices alike.
- Meeting Point: On Rue Saint-Honoré, between the Louvre and the Palais Royal.
- Tour Highlights: Palais Royal, Église Saint-Roch, Place de la Concorde (where Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette were executed by guillotine).
- Included: Expert historian guide.
- Parisology also offers great historical tours in Paris focusing on the rise of Napoleon, the U.S. Founding Fathers in Paris, Absolute Monarchy, Art Nouveau architecture or custom tours.
- Food included? No.
- Good for kids? For older kids, yes.
- Tour Operator: Parisology
- Duration: 3 hours
- Learn to bake macarons from scratch in this small-group (8 person max), hands-on cooking class – and take home a box of your creations to eat later.
- Meeting Point: Le Foodist cooking school, in the Latin Quarter, near the Sorbonne and 10-minutes walk from Notre Dame, on the left bank.
- Tour Highlights: Expert instruction in making versatile meringues, piping, delicious fillings, and baking the perfect Parisian macaron.
- Included: Teatime with tea or coffee to taste your creations before leaving with a box full of them.
- Le Foodist also offers Advanced macarons, French desserts, chocolate eclairs, croissants, baguette, and morning and evening market visit cooking classes
- Food included? Yes, guests sample the macarons they bake.
- Good for kids? Yes. Kids 12 and older are welcome in any classes open to the public provided each of them is accompanied by a participating adult; younger children are allowed in private classes only.
- Tour Operator: Le Foodist
- Duration: 2 hours
- Skip the notoriously long entrance lines to this popular subterranean site and enjoy special access to areas of the Catacombs rarely seen by the public on this entertaining and educational guided tour trough Paris’ eerie City of the Dead.
- Meeting Point: Café du Rendez-vous, near the Catacombs entrance.
- Included: Skip-the-line access to the Paris Catacombs, expert historian guide.
- Food included? No.
- Good for kids? For older kids, yes.
- Tour Operator: Walks Tours
- Alternative booking through Get Your Guide
- Duration: 8.5 hours
- The most fun way to see Versailles, and the only way to see the palace, the grounds, and the formal gardens in a single day.
- Meeting Point: Just outside the Javel-André Citroën metro station in central Paris.
- Tour Highlights: Versailles Open-air Market, Grand & Petit Trianons, Picnic along the Grand Canal, Versailles Royal Gardens, Château de Versailles, Hall of Mirrors, Queen’s Hamlet
- Included: 3-speed city bike and helmet (optional for guests age 12+), Roundtrip RER transport from Paris to Versailles, Guided tour of Royal Grounds, Access to Grand & Petit Trianon, Access to Marie-Antoinette’s Private Hamlet, Skip-the-Line Access to Château with Audio Guide.
- Not Included: Picnic supplies.
- Food included? No. The tour stops at Versailles city market to buy supplies for a picnic lunch, but the cost of food is not included.
- Good for kids? Yes, definitely. 20″ and 24″ city bikes are offered for experienced riders aged 6-12. Smaller kids’ tandem bikes, toddler trailers, and baby seats are available, but must be reserved in advance.
- Tour Operator: Fat Tire Tours
- Duration: 12.5 hours
- A guided visit to 3 fairytale Loire Valley castles in one amazing day round trip from Paris, traveling in comfort on a private coach bus.
- Meeting Point: Paris Catacombs entrance.
- Tour Highlights: Château de Chambord (inspiration for Disney’s Beauty and the Beast castle), Blois Castle, and wine tasting at elegant Château de Chenonceau.
- Included: Transfer by air-conditioned coach bus, expert tour guide, entrance ticket and reservation fee for Château de Chambord and Château de Chenonceau, wine tasting in Château de Chenonceau.
- Not included: Lunch (time is allowed for lunch in the charming town of Blois, but the cost is extra), entrance ticket to Blois Castle.
- Food included? No.
- Good for kids? If visiting castles is something your kids are interested in, then yes. But it can be a long day for the littlest ones. No strollers.
- Tour Operator: City Wonders
- Alternative booking through Get Your Guide
- Duration: 11 hours
- Travel the gorgeous Champagne regions, with stops in small and large champagne houses, into the vineyards, and down in the cellars, while sampling a variety of champagnes in the French countryside.
- Meeting Point: Cour Saint Emilion metro station.
- Tour Highlights: 7 tastings in 2 champagne houses led by sommeliers, visiting the grave of Dom Perignon, and guided tour of UNESCO-listed Hautvillers village.
- Included: Breakfast, lunch, champagne tastings, and round-trip transportation.
- This tour runs on Thursdays and Saturdays, late spring through fall. Advance booking required.
- Food included? Yes.
- Good for kids? No.
- Tour Operator: Devour Paris
- Alternative booking through Get Your Guide
- Duration: 1 hour
- Get a river view of some of Paris’ most iconic monuments on this easy, low-cost boat tour.
- Meeting Point: Seine right bank, between the Pont des Invalides and the Pont de l’Alma.
- Tour Highlights: The Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Conciergerie, the Musée d’Orsay, and more.
- Included: Guided narration, boat ticket.
- Cruises run both in the day and throughout the evening.
- Food included? Not on a standard 1-hour tour, but Bateaux-Mouches also offers combination cruises that include dinner, lunch, Sunday brunch, or a dinner cabaret show.
- Good for kids? Yes.
- Tour Operator: Bateaux-Mouches
- Duration: 1.5 hours
- Weekly, free (tip supported) walking tour of the bohemian Montmartre neighborhood, from its iconic landmarks to its charming backstreets.
- Meeting Point: Blanche metro station.
- Tour Highlights: Moulin Rouge, Chat Noir, Sacre Cœur Cathedral, windmills, vineyards, great views, and the haunts of Renoir, Picasso and Amélie.
- Included: Guided walking tour by a friendly and knowledgeable local.
- This tour takes place every Saturday at 11am. Advance booking required.
- Food included? No.
- Good for kids? Yes.
- Tour Operator: Discover Walks
- Duration: 1.5 hours
- Low-key, sommelier-led wine tasting in a cozy bar in the heart of Montmartre. Learn the history of French wines, how it is made, and it’s cultural importance in past and present Parisian life.
- Meeting Point: In Montmartre; exact location varies.
- Tour Highlights: Tastings of French wines with a special focus on natural wines, explanations on France’s wealth of growing regions, grape varieties, and how to choose your perfect wine.
- Included: Tastings of 6 wines (2 reds, 2 whites, and 1 sparkling), expert knowledge on winemaking, how to taste wines, and the opportunity to purchase the very bottles you try.
- This tour takes place on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons most of the year (less frequently in winter). Advance booking required.
- Food included? Light bites to pair with the wines, but not a full meal.
- Good for kids? No.
- Tour Operator: Devour Paris
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