My family of four (2 adults& 2 teens) will be touring southern Britain in July. We are planning to take the Eurostar to Paris for a day-trip. Since we only have one day (10:30 am-8:30 pm), I susupect that the hop-on/off tour bus will not work for us. We are considering arranging a private tour for the day. Has anyone had any experience with the many day-tour companies operating in Paris? Has anyone used the hop-on hop-off bus tours?

Here is a link to another post that has good info. If you type day trip from paris from london in the text search above, you may find more info.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34498930

No on the buses, but the bateaux mouche offers great photo ops and a good orientation to the city. The go about every 20-30 min starting early in the day and going on from there. Local is as easy jaunt to Eiffle, Louvre,...

In rereading your post, I realize you might be interested in a private tour. Michael Osman is mentioned here often for a Paris guide, mostly in glowing terms. Do a text search here for reviews & hopefully contact info for him. BTW, sorry about my typo-my search was for day trip to paris from london.

I would very much suggest a tour guide. Michael is a very nice young man and gives a very good tour. Another pair who do tours can be found at www.parisphototours.com
They give all kinds of tours--not just photo ops. You will more than be repaid for maximizing your time.

Check out the Britrail Britainshrinker tours to Paris at http://www.britrail.com/cf_britrail/....cfm#Shrinkers

If you choose to go unescorted (which I recommend), get a good tour map and a Mobilis one-day pass from any RATP station. It gets you a day of unlimited public transport for €5.20 (this is ALWAYS cheaper than the Paris Visite card).