Tour Group Referal
 

Would like to go to Paris for 5-7 days with a small tour group (20 or 30). Looking for an agency to book with. Affordable yet thorough in touring main attractions and museums. First visit.

How many days would this be for? What time of year? You do want a guided tour of the major attractions of Paris, but do you also need hotels? Do you want to organize this directly with a local agency in Paris, or do you want to work with someone in the U.S.?

I have never done an organized tour for a whole trip, but I have heard a lot of nice comments about Rick Steve's tour groups. Check out his website to see if might be something you would like.

I think it will be difficult to find an escorted tour that goes only to Paris. Most combine Paris with other locations.

You could plan an itinerary for yourself and book day excursions in Paris with Parisvision, Cityrama, or other tour companies. They have tours covering the big Paris sights.

Paris Walks does very good 2-hour walking tours and they have a great variety of tours. They also do some museum visits and sometimes to a chateau or St-Denis. They have a regular schedule of walks and then each month have additional walks which vary from month to month.

You could book a private guide such as Michael Osman.

Some museums offer guided tours of their collections (the Orsay and Cluny do this) and there is a tour of Notre Dame giving an overview of Gothic churches and particulars of Notre Dame.

There are a couple of free Paris walks. The general tour covers all the main areas in 3.5 hours. There's also a Montmartre walk and a pub crawl.

There's a Paris Greeter service wherein volunteers offer their time, meet you, and show you their area of the city.

Fat Tire Bike tours with a guide are popular.

If you'd rather not create an itinerary from suggestions above then check with a local travel agency to see what they can offer you.

Actually, most of the large touring companies do "City Stays", more like a package deal with a couple of local tours included.

Trafalgar Paris Week
http://tinyurl.com/6s9bfn

Globus Paris Week
http://tinyurl.com/6ndsly

Both tours only include 1 day of sightseeing. The rest of the time you're on your own. They do 5 or 6 venues in one morning. Just a drive by really - not thorough as the OP would like.

rickh,

You might check out Air France's offerings:

http://www.airfrance-holidays.com/site_afh/index.asp

Byrd

again - the AirFrance packages are not comprehensive tours. They basically give you air travel /a hotel room/a map and a cruise.

Your best bet for "thorough" touring is to go to Paris and then take daily organized guided tours. But they will not be "affordable" if you are on a budget. Paris is a very accessible city - it is easy to do on your own and save a lot of money.

Rick Steves has a great Paris tour for first timers. You'll be able to return on your own with confidence.

http://tours.ricksteves.com/tours08/...rl/code/PAR08/