Since this forum has been very helpful with various aspects of our July trip to France, I thought I would ask another general question.

Where is it best to have guides? In Italy, we had one for ancient Rome, the Vatican, Florence and Pompeii. We were glad that we did. They added significantly to our experience.

In France, we are going to Normandy, Loire, Dordogne and Paris over a 3+ week period. I am quite sure we should have a guide and/or a tour in Normandy, but, what about the Loire? Are guides necessary for the chateaux? The Dordogne area....? I believe that in Paris there may be sights we would like to see with a guide…..which sights?

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

The Loire castles all pretty much have self-guided tours with multi-language audio cassettes so no need there. They may also offer in person guides at some times.

..I really dont think there is a need for a guide in France though I would saya guided tour of Chartres is magical. How is your French? If you do your homework, I think not necessary..many of the tourist attractions have audiocassettes. The guidebooks usually provide enough info if you prepare.

What we like to do is take short walking tours. Of course, Paris has many of them -- Paris Walks does several per week in English. Even small towns sometimes offer English language tours. It's worthwile to check with the local tourist office. The groups tend to be small, and the time commitment is not great. Quality varies, of course, but the cost is not large, and we always take away something that we wouldn't have known otherwise

Regarding the Dordogne, while I don't think you need a guide, you should be aware that at a lot of the historic and prehistoric sites tours in English are very limited - maybe one or two a day. At many of the castles, for example, you'll be handed a laminated sheet with explanatory information in English if you haven't signed up for, or can't wait for, the next English-language tour.
There's a good English-language walking tour of Sarlat you can sign up for through the tourist office. In off-season, it's only given once a week, though, on Wednesdays. I'm not sure about during tourist season.
If you do decide you need a guide, I'm at your disposal

Thank you for your “guide-replies”. It sounds as if there are a variety of options when seeing sights. I am concerned about getting the most out of our trip, but my French is minimal. Although, I started learning it at an early age; I have not used it at all over the years….. Languages are not strength of mine. My husband only speaks Spanish.

It is good to know that the self-guided tours are adequate for some sights (any that they are not?) From your responses, it is clear that we should find out about English speaking tours of various sights and plan ahead.

So far:

• It does not sound as if we need a guide in the Loire.
• We will seriously consider pursuing a guide (StCirq?) when in the Dordogne area.
• We will certainly try the walking tours in Paris.

Paris questions:

On arrival in Paris, should we find a guide or good “general” tour (any recommendations?) that takes us to the "big" sights in Paris to get our bearings or are walking tours, Paris maps and a guide book enough?

Are there tours at the Louvre? ….or other museums? In Florence, we felt we missed out on art we would have liked to see and learn about in the Academia and Uffizi Gallery when we visited them without a guide or tour.

The best way to experience Paris is to wade into it. It's a city full of wonders smaller than the Eiffel Tower on most any street. For an overview, the Seine tour boats are pleasant and pass by many of the "sites" -- worthwhile, even though the recorded commentary is lame. (Take sweaters unles there's a heat wave, it can be surprisingly cold on the river, even in July). As for buses, rather than be cooped up with a bunch of tourists and subjected to yet more lame commentary, try the plain-vanilla city buses, No. 21 or 72, for example. Those routes are interesting, and you can board with the tickets that you purchase for Metro rides.

Hi teach,

Guided tours in English in Sarlat are

"Juin, Juillet, Août et Septembre
14h00 le Jeudi" cost 5E.