sids

We are planning for a one day hop-on-off buses trip around Paris, since we are staying at the Disney Village, which is the most convenient place to catch this Bus, Is a advance booking required for these buses.
We will be traveling in mid October 2adults+1child. We are planing to start early morning by 9 am, finish the hop-on-off bus trip by 3pm, catch a River cruise finish this by 5pm, Have booked Eiffel Tower Summit for 5:30pm, Finish this and get back to Disney village by 8pm.
Need your advice whether this is doable in a day

surfmom

On your other threads, you said you were leaving Disney at 2pm to head to the river cruise and Eiffel Tower and asked for advice. Has that changed ?

I'm not a big fan of the hop on hop off. I suggested doing a Fat Tire Bike Tour on the other thread - I still think you would enjoy it.

It looks like they have an 11am tour - they are about 4 hours. You could take that and it would get you back to their office (close to the ET) about 3pm. Might be too tight timing to take the river cruise, but you will have more fun on a FT Bike Tour than on a river cruise. Better yet, save the river cruise for after the ET and see the twinkling lights along the Seine.

http://fattirebiketours.com/paris

qwovadis

eurocheapo.com/paris great budget tips for you

RER in from Diz as early as u can best value

on the hop on off is for a full day...

otherwise I usually to better to hoof it

beatuful city to walk around in save money...

sids

Hi surfmom, since i have one more half day at Disney, i.e on the last day, we are planning to deidcate one full day to Paris.

Regarding fattirebiketour, we will be along with our 6 yr child thus we prefer to do a hop on hop off, finish by 3 pm, start for a river cruise for 2 hrs and then finish the day with the Eiffel tower,

Just wondering which is the best place to catch this hop on hop off busses (keeping in mind we will be traveling from euro Disney)..

Gretchen

The river cruise is only an hour.
The hop on bus can be caught at any of its stops. You can look online for the one that might be closest to your RER station. There are actually 3 tours of different parts of Paris, and I think each of them are about an hour loop. Then you get a different color, if you want to continue. Although it is called hop on hop off,and you can, it is a way to just take a quick relatively inexpensive tour of major sites.

Chels

Hello,

I've done the Paris hop-on/hop-off tour twice now. I must say that it is an inexpensive alternative to tour the city, especially as it goes to all the main sites. That said, it is not that great.

First, if it is chilly or cold (possible in October), even sitting downstairs on the bus is cold as the bus top remains open. While it's fun for the first 15 minutes, it goes miserable pretty fast. Second, there is a lot of Paris traffic. As such, the wait time between busses, should you hop-off, can be long, thus decreasing the things you can see. (I've done this both summer and winter, and wait times were never truly short.) Third, at the end of the day, the bus does not complete the circuit, it drops you off at the nearest stop - not always a convenient location.

In my opinion, the hop-on/off bus is a good, cheap alternative to a fully guided tour - if you have two full days. (The cost of the second day on the bus is so small, it is worth it.) If you have one day, and are short on time, take a good organized tour of the Paris highlights, which will maximize use of your time. There are many good tours that will combine a Seine river cruise, a visit to the Eiffel Tower, a Paris city tour, and even a visit through the Louvre into one long day. It will give you enough to make you come back for more.

Hope this helps, and enjoy your trip.

-Chels

sids

Hi Chels,
I get your point of being out with a child in october can be chilling, do you suggest any particular conducted Tours, and more over i have booked a evening 5:30 slot to eiffel summit.
However if i take the hop-on/off bus we will not be getting down and visiting all the places(only those with less crowd), need your suggestions on this

theflock

Another non-fan of the hop-on/off bus here. From the lower level, you don't see much, and the upper level can be miserable if the weather isn't good. If the weather is good, likely the upper level will be full. The buses speed down the street -- unless there's traffic and then you just sit there. The headsets and audio ports didn't work half the time. And, contrary to what you might think, you can't just hop off when you want and you might spend 30 minutes standing at the bus stop waiting for another hop-on bus to come by. You spend a lot of time driving through areas you have no interest in.

For a one-day visit, I'd buy tickets for the hop-on/off boat which will take you up and down the river and you can get off at most of the major sights. Children like boats more than buses, right? I don't know whether they offer any commentary so you'll have to do a little reading before you go.

theflock

I think its called the Bateau Bus.

StCirq

It's Batobus.

Gretchen

I think the Batobus is the boat bus that you can take from place to place on the River--it isn't a "cruise".
I think the hop on bus is OK for a tour--don't get off. Just see the sights/sites, and then take the next one to see the next part of Paris (e.g. Montmartre). Yes it can be chilly up top--dress for it. You can't see anything from the bottom.
A City tour by ParisVision will be considerably more, but more complete.

Christina

I think the weather may be the big issue, as I don't think the hopon/off tour is such a bad idea in fine weather. I like those kind of tour buses, they can be relaxing and enjoyable for an overview of a city in a brief time. I've done them in other places when I was only there for a day.

There are two main companies, OpenTour and Cars Rouges.

For the OpenTour company (29 euro for adult, one day), there are several routes, but I think you mainly want to do the Grand Tour route. If coming in by RER from Disney, you could get out at Gare de Lyon, but there is no stop there for this bus. I'd suggest just taking the RER A all the way to Auber stop (which is near the Opera Garnier), as that is where the OpenTour office is and a bus stop and start of their circuit. It's as good a place as any, and it's only about a block from the RER exit.

Now the Cars Rouges is a little cheaper so might be a good choice in this situation. It is only 26 euro normal adult. You can get a discount for buying online. They only have one main route with the basic tour attractions for stops (9 of them), probably fine for you. It doesn't start until around 9:30-10 am. Again, if you choose that company, I also think the Opera building would be the place to start on the bus as there isn't any other good point for you coming in on RER A to catch it. check out http://www.carsrouges.com/content/circuit/index.php


no, you don't have to buy in advance for these kind of things. In fact, even if you buy online for a certain day, there is no reservation for a particular bus, of course. The idea is they are always coming and going and you get on and off as you wnt, so there isn't any way they could regulate reservations very well, even if they wanted to.

I would not recommend a boat instead, they only stop at sites on the river, of course and you get no real overview of the city in any way. If you wanted to do that instead of a Seine cruise and the hop on, I guess, but it still wouldn't be my choice. It is cheaper than the buses. http://www.batobus.com/english/

sids

Hello all,

first of all thank you all very much for the inputs. I guess will go with the Christina suggestions, however i plan to take the Cars Rouges from Etoile station, as i will be getting off at Etoile station visit Arc De Triomphe top, then catch a Hop-on -off bus. If i start by 10 am from Arc De Triomphe, i guess i can cover this and get back to eiffel tower area by 5 pm for the summit reserved @ 5:30pm. Guys need your suggestion on any thing in particular should i focus at in the above day trip(like the Berthillon ice cream shop @ Ile St Louis), Please suggest accordingly

Christina

Starting at the Etoile makes sense, also, that's a good choice, it's just the next stop on the RER. Sure, I don't see why you can't get to the Eiffel by 5 if you start at 10 am.

Michel_Paris

Bit confused, the bus tour has two of its stops at Eiffel tower and also Trocadero( which is just across the river), yet you will..not get off but come back later? Ideally, I would stop at Trocadero, take many pics, walk over bridge to Eiffel and go up.

at the Notre Dame stop, could add Sainte Chapelle, walk over to Ile St Louis, lunch, Berthillon, bit of shopping. Could also do river cruise from this area instead of near Eiffel.

This bus tour misses bits I would think I'd like to see on a bus tour. Have you looked at the other similar tours?

http://www.parislopentour.com/paris-circuit.php

Chels

Hi, Sids,
With your limited time, also explore the option of a 1/2 day tour through a company like Parisvision or Cityrama. You may see one that combines aspects of the sites you want to see with the convenience of an organized tour. You can do the Seine cruise and the Eiffel Tower on your own as you can pick up the cruise at the foot of the Tower.

I would avoid, however, the City Tour from those companies that give you the headphones and just drive around Paris. While you see a lot, the tour is dry and a bit boring.

If the weather is good, and you don't plan on exploring at a lot of stops, the hop-on/off bus is good for a bird's eye view of Paris.

Have fun!