Chocolate Tour with Paris Walks
 

My college age granddaughter will be in Paris for a few days in May with a group of l2 students (and professor) on a "backpacking" type month long trip to Europe. They are in the planning stages of what to do in each city, and mentioned that she thought the Chocolate Tour with Paris Walks might be fun.
Has anyone done this, and if so, what did you think? I've done a couple of their Walks and enjoyed them, but don't know much about this one. Thanks.

Sorry, I've never done the Paris Walks tour.

These tours, Meet the Parisians at Work, are inexpensive, short and (based on interests) may offer the opportunity to enjoy more than one tour-

http://www.meetingthefrench.com/services21.php

Click on "see the programme" for schedules and details.

I thought about doing this tour but the price put me off - 25 Euros. I figured I could buy a lot of chocolate for that price. I have taken many other Paris Walks tours and enjoyed them all.

I did this Chocolate Tour in Nov 09 and enjoyed it. While it was expensive, I've done about six other Paris Walks and really enjoyed them; plus, I knew the guide (a lady - I forget her name) was one who had led other walks and I liked her style. Plus, it seemed a nice way to get an unusual perspective on the city.

So, I don't remember which chocolate shops we went to, but I had done enough reading to know that there were some of the top "names". We got a sample in each shop - either there in the store, or, since many of the shops are small, took our samples outdoors. I think the focus was on one kind of special, chocolate treat from each shop so that everyone wasn't fighting over the samples to try each type. (No fighting involved - very polite, genteel handing around of the sample box.) THe sample sizes were just right - in fact, one of them was so rich & chocolatey that I couldn't eat it all. As an example, in one shop we had flat, round choc tarts of some type, each about 3-4" in diameter that were cut into quarters, so everyone got a quarter of the tart - plenty!! THe shop personnel didn't make presentations or explain their items, but the guide did. It was a full 2 hours and I felt I got my money's worth.

Sue we are going in April and I have booked my daughter on the Fat Tire Bike Tour, its a four hour bike trip around the sights of Paris, its an easy ride, stopping for coffee and drinks along the way. You can do it either day or night. Sounds like it could be good fun for a group of students.

We took that tour with Iris from Paris Walks and it was very enjoyable...well worth the money for the treats and the information she gave us on Paris and Chocolates. We did the one that covered the chocolate shops on the Right Bank...I think they now do one that goes to the Left Bank...I will definitely do that one next time we're in Paris...if you like chocolate I think you'll enjoy it.

If you want to organize your own Paris "chocolate walk" it's very easy to do.

You'll find free chocolate walk routes as well as complete listings for chocolate and pastry shops by district here:

http://www.chocoparis.com/chocolate-walks/

Lutetia...thanks. I could see some wobbling by time get to last shop :)

My last high end chocolate shop I visited was out in the 16th, near appartment I was staying at. Award winner.

www.chocolat-chapon.com

I have done both the chocolate tour with Paris Walks and also with Meeting the French and prefer way more the Paris Walks one. Great history telling, great samples, much better quality and style of touring.

I have done quite a few tours with Paris Walks and they really are great fun.

It may be of interest to visiting chocolate lovers that Paris now has a chocolate museum:
Choco-Story, Le Musée Gourmand du Chocolat, 28 Boulevard de Bonne Nouvelle
75010 Paris.
http://www.museeduchocolat.fr

Have not visited, so can't say whether it's worthwhile. It just opened last month.

Thanks everybody for all the replies. Sorry I'm a few days late getting back. I'm sure my granddaughter will be glad to see these responses. The Fat Bike Tour sounds quite interesting, too - a good idea for college kids!

LOL, I'll have to fit one of these to our Paris itinerary!

Sue4, I did both the Chocolate Tour and the Fat Tire Bike Tour (at night). I highly recommend both. We also did the Fat Tire Bike Tour in Giverny, and although I loved both, preferred the Paris one. My husband and I were the only ones in the group of 20 who wore helmets! We are planning to do the London Parks bike tour this summer. Now, back to the Chocolate Tour -- we did it in Oct. 2008 with Iris, and she was fantastic. I also thought it was a little on the expensive side, but if I had done it on my own, I wouldn't have gotten the historical background and bits of information that she was able to provide. Plenty of chocolate to sample. In fact, my husband didn't eat all of his samples, so we took it back to the hotel and ate them later. Good luck.

Thanks, Freberta. I'll relay your post to my granddaughter. I might do the Chocolate Tour on my next Paris trip, since I'm a complete "chocoholic"! Unfortunately, I don't have a Paris trip in the works, as I don't want to leave my 2 old dogs at this point, but I'm really craving some of that Paris chocolate right now.

My family, along with some friends, did a fantastic "Chocoholic Tour" with Barbara Pasquet James of Paristalks ( paristalks.com ) back in June, 2007. Barbara is a delightful guide and really knows her chocolate. She gives other city tours and chats, as well. Barbara contributes articles about Paris culture, food, and lifestyle for publications and television. Our tour was six hours(!), and we learned about so much more than chocolate. I had been to Paris about a dozen times before, it was the first time for my significant other and our daughter. Our friends were living in Paris at the time. We all appreciated our time with Barbara. You can read more about her on her website, or "google" her name to find some of her articles. Her tour rate was very reasonable.

We also enjoyed a segway tour with City Segway Tours
( citysegwaytours.com ), and a Louvre Family Tour with Paris Muse ( parismuse.com ) which was expensive but worthwhile.

Bill
Maplewood, Minnesota

hi,

i'll throw in my two cents ... DH and i did the fat bike night tour in sept 2008 and the chocolate walk in october 2009. i would highly recommend both. yes, both were expensive but both offered perspectives that i wouldn't ordinarily get from riding a bike around paris on my own and/or visiting a chocolatier on my own. both times, we learned a lot and enjoyed ourselves. i'm not a chocoholic (i.e. it wouldn't be much to give up chocolate as a new years resolution) but i really enjoyed the pastry and chocolate samples that we got on the tour. guides for both tours were americans who had 'set up shop', so to speak, in paris. they were knowledgeable and enthusiastic. if you want more info, you can click on my name and dig up my old trip reports.

i forgot to add ... we also did a boulangerie/patisserie tour with meeting the french. it was really cool but a different experience altogether. if your granddaughter is pressed for $$, then this may be a good 'alternative' ... i believe the fee was something like 10E.

Thanks for these recent responses. They all sound like good options.

For anyone planning a chocolate walk in June, there will be free tastings of chocolate pastries at La Maison du Chocolat stores on June 3rd!

Details here:
http://tinyurl.com/yb4q5v9

Lilaki,
I'd like to know more about the Patisserie tours svp. merci