Paris chocolate walking tours
 

Saw an interesting article on chocolate shops in Paris: http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle...tml?page=3&c=y
which mentioned viator.com walking tours of chocolate and pastry shops in Paris.
Has anyone tried them?
Thanks.

I didn't go on a chocolate tour with Viator, but I did go on one in October 2008 with Paris Walks (www.paris-walks.com). I believe we stopped at three chocolate shops, and along the way we were given the history of chocolate and chocolate making by Iris, one of Paris Walks accomplished guides. My husband, not a chocolate lover, gave me his sample chocolates to eat, but because they were so rich I couldn't eat them all and saved them for later.

I have read good reviews of walking tours offered by David Lebovitz, an American chef based in Paris (www.davidlebovitz.com).

If you're feeling adventurous enough, you can also plan your own chocolate walking tour, especially in the 6th arrondissement, which has the greatest number of high-end chocolate shops. This website provides addresses, maps, hours and photos for many of them, as well as listings by arrondissement www.chocoparis.com.

Back in June, 2007, a few of my family and friends took a wonderful "Chocoholic Tour" of Paris with the delightful and energetic Barbara Pasquet James of ParisTalks
( paristalks.com ).

Barbara was quick to respond to my initial e-mail inquiry. At first, though, I thought her proposed six hour tour might be too long ( especially since we would have a young teenager with us ). After looking over Barbara's website some more, and reading some of her articles in different publications, I decided to book the tour, because it was clear that Barbara's tour would offer more than just her insights on chocolate. It was the first trip to Paris for two of us in our group, and it seemed like this would be a fun and interesting way to be introduced to the city.

We were a group of four, 40+ adults, plus a thirteen year old girl. Two from our group were living in Paris at the time, and my family of three came from the US to visit them.
Barbara met us at our hotel, and brought us via le Metro to
our first stop, Angelina, for some African hot chocolate and
Mont Blanc pastry. Wow! great start! From there, we went on to enjoy samples at ten different chocolate shops ( by my count ). We also made stops at the luxury food shops Fauchon and Hediard, where we picked up some incredible raspberries, as well as the mustard shop Maille at Place de La Madeleine. Barbara also made sure that my daughter, Madeleine, got to visit her namesake church. Later in the day, Barbara told us that she wanted to bring Maddie to the fun jewelry and accessory store, Michal Negrin, where Maddie was able to buy some pretty gifts for friends and relatives ( and herself ).

At lunchtime, we told Barbara that we'd like to do something
simple and light, since we'd been sampling chocolates all morning, so she brought us to a great sandwich place, Cosi, on rue de Seine. The bread was perfect. Absolutely delicious sandwiches!

The whole day sped by. Barbara is a fascinating person, and is very passionate about sharing her knowledge and love of
food and chocolate. I remember her staring at our faces as we
sampled the chocolates, and I sensed that she was truly hoping that we were enjoying and appreciating these sweets as much as she was. The hugs we received from her at the end of our tour felt genuine. My kid loved her.

If I ever return to Paris, I will be certain to contact Barbara to arrange another tour ( likely her Montmartre and/or Marais tours ). If anybody reading this is prompted to arrange a chocolate tour with Barbara, my advice is to not cut it short ( that is, less than Barbara's suggested six hours ). However, I would not recommend doing a six hour tour on your first day in Paris, especially if you've just done an overseas, overnight flight. Get at least a day of rest in first!

Oh...and...I thought Barbara's rate for the tour was very reasonable!

Also recommended: Paris segway tour with City Segway Tours
( citysegwaytours.com/paris ),
and Paris Muse Clues family Louvre tour by Paris Muse
( Parismuse.com ).

Bill

I also went on the Paris Walks Chocolate Tour with Iris as my guide and it was WONDERFUL - better chocolate than I had in Belgium.

A few days after my tour, I went back to Jean Paul Hevin with a friend and we tried their tea room's famous hot chocolate (a centuries old recipe or something like that)... wow. So rich, you can only stand a bit, but delicious and unique.

i too have gone on the chocolate walk with iris from paris walks. it was fantastic!! highly recommended. i'll be writing up more details in my trip report shortly...

Looking forward to reading about your experience, lilaki.

hi lutetia ... check out my (finally) completed report: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-october-9.cfm

lilaki, thanks so much for such a detailed report! It was a pleasure to read.

Anyone tried Context Travel's chocolate walking tours?
http://www.contexttravel.com/paris/t...nked-tours=yes