Independent Paris Tours - Who Did You Use

[fancycroozer]

We are planning to do Paris "pre" or "post" on our June cruise. Did you use a tour guide/company and if so who did you use. We will be taking the train from London to Paris for a full day in Paris.

[cberge]

We are planning to do Paris "pre" or "post" on our June cruise. Did you use a tour guide/company and if so who did you use. We will be taking the train from London to Paris for a full day in Paris.

 

This question come up a lot and there are threads on this board with a lot of suggestions.I can't give you the name of a guide in Paris,but if you don't need or have to have a private guide I suggest the Hop/on Hop/off bus...great way to get around the city with all the traffic and a great way to see the city and the sights.I believe there is a stop near G.de Nord where you will come off the ES,but there is a tourist iosk there and they can help you.

[Mike Andrews]

http://WWW.paris-opentour.com is one of the companies offering open top bus tours of Paris

[Jane110]

Nancy/Curt,

 

Paris is a city where you really don't need a tour guide. The hop on-hop off bus is a great way to get familiarized and see some of the "must see's".

 

But after that, the best way is by foot with a map. It's a safe and small city and best seen by wandering.

 

Walk along the Seine and you'll see the docks where you can take one of the boat tours, day or night. The hours are posted.

[Mike Andrews]

I agree,Paris and Rome are the two easiest Cities to navigate on your own both with great transport infrastructure.

[Monterey Girl]

It's been a couple years but while there we took a 2 hour city tour with a company called Paris Visions.( near the Louvre) It gave us a good over view of the city. Lots of stuff you just want to see but not necessarily spend time at. We were there a week. We used this company for a tour of the Louvre, a day trip to Versailles and Monet 's Gardens and a day trip to the Normandy D-Day beaches. If you are there just a day I would definitely skip the Louvre tour unless you are a real art nut. Even with a tour this took a lot of time because of the security line. We skipped the entrance line but got bogged down in security. Just walking around the outside is GORGEOUS. We WALKED everywhere .You must go up the E. Tower day AND night.The lights on the tower are incredible as is the view.There was no line at night to go up.The city is very walkable. Pretty much flat except Momartre. The Parisians were very hospitable and polite to us. No one bothered us or were rude except the Metro ticket people but aren't they short tempered everywhere ? BTW, the Metro is SO easy to get around on, tho you might not want to be under ground if your time is really limited.In a nut shell..you DON'T need a guide. MG

[Kenwoody]

We were in Paris the 15th of October after our cruise. We stayed at the Hilton at the airport CDG, it has a free shuttle, and is a very short walk to the RER train. We booked the hotel on expedia well in advance.

We spent the day doing a lot of walking, but covered all the main places. Did a boat cruise($25.00 a couple) at 8:00 near the tower, it was about 1 hour. Sit on the outside, take warm clothes. The Eiffel Tower twinkles for about 10 min each hour, awsome. Then took the last train back to the hotel at 12:15pm.