Hi all.

My wife and I will go to Paris for the first time next month. We will only be there 3 days. We are considering taking a full day tour on 4/12 (bus tour of major attractions, lunch at the Eiffel Tower, boat trip on the Seine). Specifically we are looking at tours by ParisTrip.com and Paris Visions. My French is poor and my wife's is nonexistent.

Has anyone taken these tours? Are they worthwhile? Do you have any alternatives to suggest? Any "gotcha's" to watch out for?

Thanks for the help.

take the red bus tour. you can get off and on at your leisure and they will show you all of the city highlights.

music, some think the tours are worth it but usually you have to get off and on the same day. that is often times not practical because you spend time at sights and then you have to wait for the bus. In my opinion,in three days you have plenty of time to hit all the major sights by walking at a leisurely pace. If you are reasonably fit, I would suggest this. I would still prepare for your trip with some strenuous walking the weeks before you go anyway. You will waste no time waiting on the bus and you can save the money. Everything in Paris is relatively close. Lourve, notre dame, st chapelle, palace of justice, orsay are all within a hale mile of eachother. cab or subway to the eiffel and the sacre cour. train to versailles and you will be fine. the boat tours are worth it and last about an hour. do the eiffel first thing in the morning for less line wait and watch the weather the night before. I have been to the top surrounded by clouds and I was pissed. sacre cour is best at dusk for a great view over the city. you can see place de concorde, champps elysees, and arc triomphe on a nice liesurely walk that will take about an hour to do. lastly, versailles can be done in a half day if you start first thing in the morning and i suggest the audioguide. just take the train to the last stop and you have about a 10 minute walk to the palace. signs or people traffic will lead the way. have fun oh yeah, book a room in a location near the city centre and you will make out better. try the regina or hotel de louvre for upscale and for good but basic hotel theresa. one more thing, buy a good travel guide like Eyewitness Paris and it will tell you everthing you need to know.

Music Man - I took the Paris Visions tour on my first full day in Paris. When I got to Paris I wanted to see every major site right away. By going on the tour I did I saw everything and then went back at my leisure to explore in depth. It included the Eiffel Tower, Bateau Mouche, Notre Dame, Louvre, besides seeing many attractions along the way. I thought it was money well spent.

If I wait until I get there, is it likely my hotel would be able to tell me where/how to locate a bus tour to Giverny? Which I'm hoping wouldn't be longer than 1/2 day. (sorry, incomplete sentence).

These tours are worthwhile for a first time visitor. You will get an overview of all the major sights. I suggest you take the city tour that has a live guide speaking and not one that gives you one of those pre-recorded guides in your language. Paris Vision and Cityrama are both okay. I took a city tour including lunch at Noces de Jeanette restaurant (2nd dist.) and Montmarte last month. My aunt's first time so that's why I booked this city tour. It's very good. It's in a minivan so you get a small group and they pick you up and drop you back at your hotel. Cost is a little steep at 100 euros per person but I found it was worthwhile. It's given by Euroscope and they have other tours-some not in a minivan but in the traditional large tour buses.

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If you want a highly persoanlized tour you might try getting Michael Osman. He'll take you anywhere you want to go ,spending the entire day with you, one set price for your group , whether it is 1 or 6. He'll lead you around the city like a native, hopping buses, metros or walking.

Even though we'd been to Paris 11 times before, he showed us things we'd missed or didn't understand enough to appreciate when our group of 5 used him last fall.

You can do a search on his name here or in Google to read the wonderful reviews he gets.

http://www.geocities.com/parisfinder/index.html

He can get booked up far in advance though!

Recommend Michael also.It will be a much better tour than the bus or a ParisVision tour--and not much more.

I imagine your hotel will have brochures of the standard bus company tours, most do. Both Parisvision and Cityrama have web sites, however, with descriptions, prices, etc. YOu pick both up on the Right Bank (Cityrama is near Concorde).
http://www.ecityrama.com/

http://www.parisvision.com
Their main office is across from the Opera Garnier, although I don't know if their buses leave from there.

Hop on/off bus tours:

http://www.paris-opentour.com/index_eng.htm

Hi MusicMan,
Several years ago we went to Paris (first time) for about 10 days. I booked a couple of Paris Vision tours at the beginning of the trip. (Booked them from home) One included Musee d'Orsay and the Eiffel Tour (with lunch there) plus other things. I really enjoyed it. We also went to the Moulin Rouge at night on one of the tours. I am very glad we did this. It takes the hassel out. Some people do not like tours like this but it was great for us since we were first timers. Then we could do some sightseeing on our own. Happy travels!
P.S. Even if your French is poor (I only learned a few phrases) you will be happy. I found if you just try you will be treated well.