chutney

I have searched the forum and haven't found any recent feedback on walking tours in Paris. We will be in Paris for 5 days in September, following 7days in the Luberon, where we are planning on taking cooking classes. We are interested in a walking tour focused on food (ie; bakeries, cheese shops,etc.) We will be staying in the 6th. Any advice or feedback is most appreciated.

riesling

http://www.parisinsidersguide.com/wa...aris-food.html

I am researching the same and have come across this very helpful website.

Patty

Here's a recent thread http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...food-tours.cfm

avalon

Check out my friend Annne's blog a Foodie Froggy in Paris. Anne leads a culinary tour folloed byy a class and dinner in her Apt/ She is a delight and very knowledgible

http://afoodiefroggy.canalblog.com/

TPaxe

Paris Walks does wonderful tours which include gourmet and there is their chocolate and pastry tour as well.
Try Succulent Paris www.succulent-paris.com
Also this American living in Paris does market and culinary tours, http://www.ipreferparis.net

Printemps

Hi,
http://www.culinarytoursofparis.com/
I went on this tour last year and really enjoyed it. I did the Latin Quarter tour and think I will return for the Montmartre tour this year when I am in Paris. I read about it on Trip Advisor and think the good reviews were more than justified.

RJD

You might try my favorite tour company, Context Tours. We had a good experience with them in Rome including a wine walking tour. Here's their website: www.contexttravel.com/city/Paris

annhig

sorry to sound mean, but how are these "tours" different from what you could do for yourself?

for example, last time we went to Paris, we wandered around Montmartre and came across a lovely area with lots of foodie shops - a bakery, poissonerie, and fromagerie, for example, where we decided to buy some cheese to take home. they were tremendously helpful, let us try loads of different cheeses, and vacuum packed our choices.

you can buy a lot of cheese for €70.

nwtraveler

Bookmarking

misha2

Bookmarking

TDudette

Also bookmarking.

I love the idea of a cooking experience in France (or Italy) just to experience the shopping, the cooking and the eating in a new context.

As for needing a tour, if you read and retain, maybe you don't need one, but hub and I often took tours and enjoyed those led by well-trained guides. Plus we were able to cover more ground by not having to schlepp for tickets and directions.

annhig

Tdudette - cooking yes, by all means. a market visit and cooking afterwards - perhaps even better. but what i really don't get is paying more than a the price of a pretty decent meal per person just to be shown some shops/market stalls you could find for yourself, and be given few free samples and a cup of coffee.

if I am wrong in my impression of these "market tours" then please enlighten me. I've looked at several on the net and they struck me as very expensive for what they were.

paris1953

Cooknwithclass does a wonderful market tour followed by a cooking class...they do lunch or dinner. Lots of wine, lots of fun. Pricey, but you're eating top notch food.

Gretchen

This is the blog of a cyber=acquaintance from an old AOL board. She does tours and is a fine photographer, but at one time she also did a market and culinary gig. You might see if she still does. charming woman.

Gretchen

This is the blog of a cyber=acquaintance from an old AOL board. She does tours and is a fine photographer, but at one time she also did a market and culinary gig. You might see if she still does. charming woman.
http://www.aphotographerinparis.com/wordpress/

StCirq

I was going to make a comment similar to annhig's, but then I remembered that when I was doing culinary tours in the Dordogne and Provence, there were a remarkable number of people willing to pay very large sums of money to be taken to markets and shown food venues simply because they didn't speak French and thought that would impede their ability to understand things (and it certainly would) and they were intimidated by foods they'd never seen or tasted (not that there are so many of those in France, but some people aren't adventurous about eating - if you're with a confident, English-speaking guide who says "here, taste this!" it's easier), plus they just didn't want the hassle of getting places by themselves. In other words, people are often willing to shell out what seem to be exorbitant sums to have their hands held. Often, they come away from the experience thinking "This isn't so hard. I can do this on my own in the future!" So...maybe worth it for the uninitiated.

Plus, a good guide will, for example, upon finding fresh cherries at market, launch into a tale about clafouti, or upon finding a butcher, explain how the cuts of meat in France are different from ours - in other words, tell stories about food that enhance the experience.

And trust me, foodie guides do a lot of hard work! And they do it over and over and over again (and not infrequently with petulant clients, or clients who behave badly, or clients who walk so slowly or talk so incessantly it bogs down the schedule, or clients who want to dominate their time at the expense of others in the group...I could go on and on). I've never been so exhausted at the end of a day as when I was doing that (but if/when we move to France I hope to do it again).

annhig

st. cirq - i would never want to get in the way of someone earning an honest living, and i certainly don't see it as a soft option.

I quite see that a tour round a market or two, sampling the wares, seeing a few specialist shops, could be a lot of fun. I've done it myself, lots of places, where I do [and don't] speak the language. and I did do a tour, just like this, in Florence last year. but it only cost €30 AND it included lunch!

but paying €70+ just for an hour or two looking round a market and having a cup of coffee seems like madness. and that was about the cheapest I found in Paris when i did a search on the net.

StCirq

<<but paying €70+ just for an hour or two looking round a market and having a cup of coffee seems like madness. and that was about the cheapest I found in Paris when i did a search on the net.>>

I totally agree with that!

And if I broke down what I actually made on those tours by the hour, it would probably come to more like 7 euro an hour!

Gekko

The best ... Wendy Lyn of the Paris Kitchen

http://www.thepariskitchen.com/

Accept no substitutes!

Patty

annhig,
Paris Walks has one for 27 euro. I haven't taken it because it's never fit our schedule. I just checked for March and it still won't (takes place before we get there).

We'll probably take one with Meg Zimbeck this trip. She's supposed to post more details about their offerings next week http://parisbymouth.com/taste-paris-by-mouth/