Please share your experiences with Paris Vision bus tours outside Paris. We're specifically interested in the Loire Valley tour. Did you use onlne reservations/payment? Did they (with the pick-up feature paid for) show up at your hotel on time & drop you back off without problem? Was lunch ok or crowded and too touristy? Altogether, was it a pleasant experience and worth the cost? Thanks so much for your help!

CINDI
My sister & I went on the Paris Vision tour of Giverny & Versailles (+GV) ....It was wonderful!! I do not usually like tours...the sheep en mass...ugh!
We did the mini-van version...only five people on our tour. The mini-van version is a little more costly...but worth every penny. With the smaller vechical our driver could go on smaller country roads..we saw more than if we had been in a bus. Our driver was FLORE...she was delightful! The lunch was very pleasant..(wine included) The restaurant, Moulin de Fourges was in a beautiful location. I'd return!!
We were VERY pleased...I'll go out of my way to do another mini-van tour with them.
Paris Vision picked us up at our hotel. Another real PLUS...,because we were a tour...we went to the head of ALL lines!!
It was a very wonderful break to sit back & let someone else find the parking place!!

Thanks, Bailey! It sounds great. Has anyone tried one of the big bus tours?

Hi Cindi, my family did the tour to the Loire Valley this past Dec 24 and loved it. The tour guide was perhaps the best I've ever encountered. Three chateau were included in the trip with lunch. Lunch proved to be just okay.
Made the reservation the day before at the main office. Walked to the office the morning of the tour.
I would take it again with no reservations.
==Mike

I took a Paris Vision tour of some chateaux in the Loire Valley (we stopped at three), as well as the Versaille tour (1/2 day). Both were great experiences, well worth it to me b/c I wanted to get outside Paris but did not want to drive. Excellent tour guides on both--truly excellent. Concur with previous poster--Lunch was just okay food-wise but in a lovely setting. Warning--we got stuck in traffic during the ride back to Paris and were w/o a bathroom break for hours and hours and hours. Not very predictable, unfortunately but would have been better if the big bus had a bathroom (or they had given us a choice to lose a few minutes and stop).

I did the Loire trip in June. It was okay. As mentioned the lunch was okay, nothing special.

Good way to see alot.

I would recommend waiting until you arrive in Paris to book. You can easily book by phone (they speak English), by dropping by, or through the Concierge/Front Desk at your hotel. It's not necessary to book so far ahead, and your plans could change. And, it's better to check the weather forecast once you arrive.

We've used Paris Visions many times and have always been very pleased.

Hotel pickup was prompt (on return, they dropped us off at our dinner destination rather than our hotel at our request).

If the lunch is "just ok", what about tking picnic supplies for lunch? Anywhere to find a quiet spot outside near the restaurant? (Hopefully it wouldn't be raining...) Silly idea or good idea?

I've used Cityrama and they were also excellent (not to the Loire, however, so can't say specifically about that). I don't think you have any option regarding the lunch, I think it is included in the fee rather than optional, but check.