Paris Walks

Let me preface this review by saying we did not actually attend a tour. We placed an 80 euro deposit for the chocolate tour in Paris to celebrate our 7 year old daughter’s birthday and we were looking forward to the tour as one of the highlights of our trip. However, our trip was scheduled to start 1 week after the ¹¹⁄₂₀₁₅ terrorist attacks. Due to ongoing police activity, ongoing state of emergency, and concerns about the experience and safety of our children, we decided to postpone our trip for a few months later.
I understand and accept that the deposit was nonrefundable, but due to the extraordinary circumstances I asked Paris Walks if they would be willing to allow us to use our deposit to rebook with them in a few months. I received an unequivocal NO. The money is thankfully not a concern for us, but I was disappointed that this highly reviewed company would stick to the letter of the law and not make any gesture towards the spirit of customer service. We are still going to Paris and would still have loved to do this tour. With any gesture towards good customer service, even a small credit towards future booking, we would have rebooked. Instead we will never consider this company again and will tell our friends and associates.

What a wonderful tour! Rochelle (sp?) led us on a walking tour of Montmartre, and it was truly a highlight of our entire trip. She deftly combined history, current culture, architecture, art, and humor into a tour that took us down alleys we’d never have discovered. Even on a freezing, drizzly january day it was worth being outside for 3 solid hours for the tour.
Our only regret is that we didn’t take more tours with Paris Walks– there’s so much more we could have seen and learned! Plus, for the price, it just can’t be beat.

Excellent walking tours of Paris. I went on two with Cherie of Montmarte and Le Marais. She was extremely knowledgeable and personable and the tours were interesting. The tours run a little long, at least with her (3+ hours), but that’s because there is so much history to impart. I have to admit, I was getting a little tired toward the end of the tour of Montmarte because it was art history heavy (what did I expect?) and she is very knowledgeable on art history because she studied it, but I still enjoyed the tour. I was particularly grateful that she brought us to Sacre Cour, ie tourist hell (her words) last, and not first, so we could see it and make a quick getaway.
My husband did a tour of the sewers with Chris and enjoyed it very much as well.
For 12 euros, the experience you will have with these guys is unbeatable. If you only have a few days in Paris, the challenge will be budgeting your time between wandering and picking the tours you most want to go on.

I went on the Two Islands walk yesterday and had a good time. My group’s guide was Chris and he was very friendly and knowledgable, and drew a few laughs. He presented us with a lot of information about places or objects we wouldn’t really take a second look at, like significance of a street number or carving of a galleon on a pole.
In my opinion, 12 euros for 2 hours was a good price as well. I am disappointed that we didn’t go into Notre Dame though; I thought that would be part of the tour.

Paris Walks offers the perfect orientation tours for first time visitors like us. We went on several (Montmartre, Ile de la Cite & Notre Dame, Marais I, Private Louvre tour).
– Value: Unbeatable! 12 euros for over 2 hrs.
– Selection: Several tours to choose from. General historic district/​neighborhood tours along with others slanted toward art lovers, food enthusiasts and so on.
– No Reservations: We penciled in a general schedule for the week but the just-​show-​up format provided a great deal of flexibility. A couple of times we changed plans and took an alternative tour the next day. I liked that.
– Informative: Facts and humor folded into elaborate story-​telling humor. Not overly academic but certainly not light on information either.
– Oriel and Brad were great. Professional, serious about their craft and personable (although Oriel was a bit stiff at times).
– Solid recommendations: One of the best meals we had was from a restaurant Oriel recommended in Montmartre.
– Louvre tour was ++ and worth the extra money (40 euro). Only 5 of us along with our guide. It gave as lots of opportunity to ask questions and learn about not just the art but the history of the Louvre itself.

I love knowing the ‘gossip’ legends & scandals of history! Our tour guide Chris told us of layered histories & scandals that occurred as we meandered through city streets. Those lovely door ways & allies all have their secrets & Chris is well read & thoroughly versed on his subjects & areas. He paints verbal descriptions of stories of different time periods; I felt as if I was walking with a guide who could transcend those time periods & time travel through history of Parisian streets!

All of of the walking tours I’ve done, Paris Walks has to be my favorite company. I’ enjoy that they have the every day schedule of their most popular walks (rain or shine) and they also offer a list of more specialized walks each month. I’ve done two of the normal walks — Marais Circuit 2 and the St Germaine des Pres walk, and I also did a guided tour of the Sewer museum (yes really!) with them.
I’ve enjoyed each walk immensely, they also start at the proper time where the booklet says the tour guide can be found, the prices are reasonable, and the groups that I’ve been on have been pretty small. The tour guide’s really know their stuff and their talks are informative without being dry — without a guide, I never would have noticed the carved face of a one-​eyed prostitute.
If you’re looking for a walking tour in Paris, look no further than Paris Walks.

I went on the WW2/​Resistance walk in October. Our guide was an American, and very knowledgeable. The tour lasted about two hours, and every minute was interesting. We visited lots of sites, heard many stories, had all our questions answered, and had a great time.
I’d certainly go on another, for 12E.

[I think the category would be «tours», but suppose it could be broadly placed under «travel». I didn’t find this under your list under Paris, but will confess, I didn’t look through the whole list.]
Paris Walks was founded in 1994 by Peter and Oriel Caine, a British couple living in Paris. They have several professional guides who work for them, all of whom are university educated and are writers or teachers or translators, and speak excellent French. There are usually two tours a day, in good weather (less frequent in winter) and often three a day on weekends or holidays. The tours begin (usually) at 10:30 a.m. or 2:30 p. m (except as noted in their schedule which is on their website Currently (August 30, 2012), they cost 12 euro (slightly less for students or seniors). There’s a possibility of private tours (see website). The «basic» tours are various parts of Paris: the Marais, Saint Germain des Pres, Montmartre, Pere Lachaise, The Ile de la Cite and the Ile Saint Louis. There are various «special» tours which might include almost anything– Malmaison, the Cathedral of Saint Denis, and even the Sorbonne, and the Academie Francaise (these last two are rather rare and occur only when they’re open to the public). The guides are British or American. The tours I’ve taken have all been very interesting (the tours last about two hours, by the way) and informative, and the guides can be quite witty. They’re perfectly willing to answer any questions you have. On the tours I’ve been on, the average group size is between 13 and 17 people, although I understand on one May 1 (a holiday in France), there were 57 people in the tour! Some of the other tours include the Latin Quarter, and Hemingway’s Paris, and a couple of tours devoted to the French Revolution. Even if you’ve been to Paris before, they’re worthwhile. There’s even a Chocolate Tour, which I haven’t been on. It’s a bit more expensive but includes chocolate tastings!
p. s. I tried giving their French phone number, but when I tried to add this, you told me it was «invalid».