Does anyone have a recommendation for a day tour of Paris? I'd like to visit all of the major sites. Thank you.

I haven't taken one, but the usual companies are Parisvision and Cityrama (and they are now the same company). I suppose they do that kind of overview tour as good as anyone, unless you had some small, private thing.

Of course there are walking tours that can be interesting, but those are more limited areas, you couldn't do one of those and see all the sites in Paris, you'll have to do a bus or minivan tour. This is their website http://www.pariscityvision.com/

I'll have to admit they seem pretty pricey to me, something like 162 euro for an all-day tour. It's 8 hours, but still. Maybe someone else knows one that is cheaper. I've seen some other companies, not as well known, and their rates for a full day tour weren't that different.

You're not planning to visit all the major sights in one day, are you? It's not possible unless you just look at them from the outside - a drive by.

You do need to understand that this is a tour sitting on a bus all day and you will look at the outside of most of the sights through a window - with prob)ably a quick visit to one sight in the morning and another in the afternoon.

There is no way you could visit event the MOST major sights in one day. (And given the elevator problems at the Tour Eiffel - that is out for any tour.

Lil, Whatever you do, try to take a Seine cruise, preferably a night.

I agree with NYtraveler above - the Eiffel Tower takes tooooo long.

I would definately book a cityrama tour, that way if the Eiffel Tower is available you won't have to wait in as long a line. My friend waited 2 hours a few years ago, in August, and and we had to leave to catch the last train to Versille so she did not get to go up. It would have taken 3 1/2 hours for her to get to do the elevator, look at the exibits, etc, on her own. The tours moved much faster.
I personaly like the tours, when it is your first time in the City. You get a good overview, the river cruise and hopefully the tower. Someday, maybe you can go back and do it slowly, when I first went, we just went like we were never getting to return, in later years, we did it more slowly. Enjoyed all the trips.

When I took my grandaughter to Paris we did a Paris Authentic tour in a Citreon - she loved it. It was a private tour and a great introduction to the city for her.
http://en.parisauthentic.com/paris-day-tours.html

Those all day tours from Cityrama aren't just driving by buildings looking at them from a bus window with 2 short stops. That probably wouldn't take all day. The one from Cityrama that costs 162 is all day, including pick up and drop off at your hotel, a guide, and lunch at the Eiffel Tower (not Jules Verne, sure, but the cheap place), a one hour boat cruise on the Seine, and you get out at various places for a while to see them (eg, Notre Dame and Montmartre). I also think it is a minivan, not a big bus, and does stop at other places and maybe even does a short visit in the Louvre, but I'm not sure of the exact itinerary, I would definitely find out if I were going to pay that much.

You could do all that yourself, of course, especially the boat cruise. I would never pay that much for a city overview tour, if I did do one, I would choose a half day one that was more of just a drive around the city, I would go to places on my own. I think those are much cheaper. I don't think 162 euor is a good value for an all day tour and I don't know why people do this so much, except a lot of people are too timid to try to tour foreign cities on their own, or come from a country and culture where that is what they expect to do, they are not used to doing their own thing.

Parisauthentic sounds interesting, but I checked their website and it appears they are only in French, but I didn't look that long to see. But they charge 80 euro for only 2 hrs or 199 euros for 3 hrs (that is per person). That is pretty expensive, also, even if more personal.

This is wonderful advice. I decided to forget about a tour. I'm thinking of a hop on hop off pass for a couple of days - so that we can get the history and catch our bearings without getting lost. Does that sound like it is a good decision? Thanks.

Many people like the HOHO buses but I've never done one since I don't like riding on buses and you don't get to see anything while you're on the bus; I'd much rather walk and go into sights. Just because you've done a bus tour doesn't mean that you won't get lost once you get off the bus. I would hate sitting on a bus for 2 days.

How many days do you have in Paris and what are your expectations. Do you have sights that you're interested in. Do you have a map? That will help with not getting lost.

To further adrienne's point, unless you have mobility issues you don't need to take any sort of bus or boat tour to see many (or any) of the major sites in Paris. Many of the most famous sites are within a 10 minute walk from the river. And Paris is not a very big city in terms of and area. For example, you can walk from Notre Dame to the Eiffel Tower in just over an hour and on the way you'll pass by the Louvre, The Orsay Museum, Place de la Concorde, Les Invalides, The Grand Palais and the Pont-Alexandre III, among other things.

The best part of visiting Paris is being on the street to experience the ambience. On a bus you'll pass by (if you even notice it) that charming café, or the store window with the attractive display, or the building with the great architectural detail that you'd like to contemplate.

I think you need to get a good detailed map of Paris so you can get an idea of its size and the distance between places. Websites like mappy.com will give you estimated walking times and distances. For those places too far to walk there is the excellent métro and bus system that can get you anywhere in the city quickly and efficiently.

I have found the hop on and off tours helpful at time!
I usually take them on my first day after traveling to fight the temptation to "rest" in hotel room. I get me an overview of the city and on several occasions have discovered sites to return to that I had not heard or read of that were of interest to me. This was the case recently in Nice.
Most of the other tours have become so expensive it is frustrating. I hate walking around with my nose in a book and possibly missing out on a lot of information ...
Achieving that perfect balance is hard.

Thank you. I like nanael's suggestion of the first day "orientation." It may make us feel less stressed that we have to get to every place through the whole trip, especially those places that people have said that it is a nice short photo opportunity but don't bother spending much time. I'm also taking everyone's advice to nix the rest of the tours. Ooooh, this is going to be very, very fun!