Paris
 

Which tour group would be the best to use for day trips in the middle of May, for a couple in their 70's/

What tours in particular are you looking for? What do you want to see? Do you want a coach tour or a walking tour?

I always recommend day trips with www.walks.com

tours of all the famous sights in Paris, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph, etc.etc.

Coach tours

sorry I gave you a London site above. Not sure about coach tours but you could try: http://www.pariscityrama.com/

Mahkeenac, there are two big bus tour companies you can look at , well established and reputable.

Cityrama or Parisvisions. They both offer much the same ,, just choose whichever is cheapest. I have never used them for tours inside Paris, but have used them both for daytrips outside the city, one for Loire Valley and one for Brugges. For big bus tours, they are fine, with the understanding that you are on a bus with 40-50 other people, and that mulitple translations will be done as your fellow passengers may speak other languauge, perhaps for tour just inside Paris this is not an issue and its all english on one bus.

There are hoho buses too, hop on and off for one price,, open top buses circle 4 routes all throughtout Paris, stopping at every main tourist site , you can hop off explore site if your wish, then just hop on next bus ,, they come by every 20 minutes or so, I would recommend those over a bus tour,, where you mostly just do drive bys.

Mahkeenac, you might also check out VIATOURS in Paris - they are a large international company with many offerings for day trips.

I expect to use them in June for a transfer from GCG Airport to my hotel in the 6th. Price looks reasonable.

Enjoy Paris...

latedaytraveler,, Viatour is NOT a tour company, they are simply a middleman agency that sells other companys tours,, they sell Cityrama and Parisvisions, so most likely you will get a better price by checking out with them directly .

Using them for an airport shuttle is not a great idea too. Most shuttle companies are unreliable and over priced. In fact if you are three or more in your party a taxi is a better way to go , but frankly , I would just use the RER and metro,depending on where you hotel is it could be super easy, and the cheapest option.

Justine, thank you for your suggestion. I will check out Cityrama and Parisvision. I am traveling solo and prefer a transfer service.

At my age and stage with luggage, I am not interested in public transportation to my hotel in the 6th not far from the Seine.

Not sure why you need a tour company to drag you around to places like the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. There's no reason you can't just go there on your own, with something like the Michelin Green Guide to Paris and get as much or more out of the experience.

If you must, ParisVision is a reputable company. But really, you don't need to be hand-held in Paris.

StCirq, many people in their seventies have phyiscal issues of strength, balance, vision, and hearing. If they have not been to Paris before, this seems a reasonable way to see the major tourist sites without stress.

Much older Parisians no doubt get around fine, and these people probably do at home as well, but the combination of strange customs, jetlag, a different language, vastly different systems for using public transportation and taxis all add up to reasons why they might want to do this. Let us hope that the experience makes them comfortable enough to go back to their favorite places on their own.

We are a couple in our 70's and will be in Paris in May and both have knee problems so we walk about 2miles in the morning to see what we have planned for the day and after a long leisurely lunch we walk some more then take a rest in our apartment before going out for dinner which we usually plan to be somewhere close by. try to avoid metros as too many stairs for us but plan on using bus system this time. This is not our first time to Paris so we have seen all the tourist things. The Eiffel Tower is nice to see from a distance especially in evening...very crowded in that area with too many scam artists!