My husband and I will be arriving on 7/28, our first time in Paris, we'll be there for a week! Do you recommend that we tour Paris on our own, using the suggested walks in the travel guides, or is it a good idea to use tour companies with guides or without? I was thinking of doing the hop on/hop off bus on our first day to get acquainted with the city and maybe the batobus, and after that winging it, but what are the suggestions?

The answer really depends on your personalities. Some people like organized tours in a group. Some people like to relax on a seat and watch the city go by from a tour bus or excursion boat. Some people prefer a private guide to show them the city personally. And some people prefer to wing it entirely on their own.

If you know nothing about the city, going it on your own risks being very inefficient, but it also gives you a more intimate experience of the town. Taking a large tour shows you a lot that you might otherwise miss, but it's impersonal and may not match your interests. Using a private guide allows your touring to be personalized to your interests and makes good use of your time, but it's quite expensive.

If you are even thinking about a tour, why not contact Michael Osman for a personalized tour. He is VERY reasonable, VERY knowledgeable and a lot of fun. He will show you things that you wouldn't see/know otherwise. He is an artist so if he takes you to the Louvre or Orsay, you have a real treat. You can contact him at [email protected]. To really answer your question, we have done all of the variations at one time or another but I wouldn't take a tour company tour if you have a week. The hop on bus is a good idea for an overview.

I suggest some of both - freelancing and a tour. I would make the tours specific purpose with a narrow focus. Let me give an example based on experience.

We freelanced Versailles. That is not a problem. Two rail stations serve Versailles near the place - the Rer line takes you to Versailles Rive Gauche while the SNCF runs local trains to Versailles Chantiers from Gare Montparnasse.

The palace is often jammed to capacity in the mornings and early afternoon. I don't think you would be any worse off to tour the gardens and the outlying villas first and then enter the main palace later in the day, perhaps within 2 hours of closing.

(We arrived before the doors opened but it did is only a little good; the tour bus arrivals caught us at the King's bedroom.)

Later, we took a day tour to Vaux-le-Vicomte and Fontainebleau. In retrospect, the tour was excellent - perhaps the best value for the money in a tour I have found yet. Vaux is hard to get to anyway you go about without personalized transsportation, although Fontainebleau is an easy freelance.
The services of a truly expert guide of great knowledge was a decided plus.

Other sites, such as Notre Dame, the Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, the Rodin Museum, and a few dozen others can be visited on your own.

Getting look from a tour bus the first day might be beneficial. On the other hand, I find that the only way to find my way around Paris is to study bus routes and Metro lines as they relate to what I want to see and then go do it, with my trusty map.

(Without that map, I am helpless.)

I recommend doing as much as you can on your own for several reasons. I figure I am there to try and learn about Paris - the sights, the sounds, the activities, the practices of the people, and the daily activities that take place as people work and play in a great city.

For example, we set out one Sunday morning for Musee d'Orsay. We walked to Boulevard Raspail from our hotel to take a bus. We got to Raspail and found a huge street market in progress. As a result we got to the museum about an hour later than scheduled. Something else got trimmed off the schedule. I have no idea what got cut that day, but the memories of the street market are forever etched in my memory.

Another time, we were wandering along Champs de Mars toward the Eiffel Tower after having visited the Rodin Museum.
A young hotshot on a skateboard collided with an older woman (probably my age).
She did not take too kindly to the collision, so she proceeded to chew the hotboarder out with a withering blast. I have no idea what she said, but I understood exactly what she meant. Then as the climax of her tirade, she kicked the skateboard down the steps.

I hope she did not hurt her toe even though the skatebord did not go very far. (I thought it fortunate that Michelle Akers was not on the kicking side, or that board night have gone into the Seine.)

The point being is that if you are riding around in the cocoon of a tour bus, you fail to experience the sights and sounds of daily Paris.

Not everything you experience will be totally beneficial. I remember an unpleasant incident on the Metro with a man who was bombed out of his mind with something. He was screaming, pounding the walls, etc. To my surprise, the other riders ignored him.

At other times, a musician would suddenly pop on the train, play a little hoping for money, and then jump off before being caught. One sax player was so good I felt compelled to put money in his hat. Recognizing I was an American (which is easy to do) he played Yankee Doodle, which got him a few more euro.

In summary, I feel that a quick orientation is fine. But get out and see the city, get the feel of it. Not all of it is peaches and cream, but it is reality. Besides, if you are sitting on a blooming tour bus, you will not get the unrelenting temptation to visit about a dozen bakeries and sample the goodies. Now that is what Paris is all about: food!! Just don't pick up the fruit at a market.

(Paris is dangerous to your cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar, and waist line.)

If you'd like some "expertise" while visiting Paris, I strongly recommend the Paris Walks company. They're inexpensive, informative, at times amusing -- and you learn durng them (which you will not if you take the average "guided" bus tour).

I second the Paris Walks tours:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pariswalking/

We also had lots of fun on our Segway tour:
http://www.citysegwaytours.com/paris/
The same company does bike tours, which are highly recommended on this board.

The first time my wife and I went to Paris we 1)planned ahead as to what were must see 2) got a good map 3) took a bus tour so we could get a capsule look 4) used some of the info on Fodors (walks, etc) 5) got used to Metro by using it 6) tried a bus route So, the first time was an experiment for the future visit? and yes, WE WALKED A LOT! And ATE A LOT! Have fun.

I'm with Dave. I have been to Paris several times but am going with my sisters next week. We plan to take several walking tours. We have the walking books, cards, but we really like having someone show us things we would have missed or didn't realize was there. We'll also futz around on our own.

I'll second (third?) the idea of Paris Walks. I did a couple of them and found it nice to have someone telling/showing me things I would not otherwise experience. If I was planning this trip, I would do a Parisvision or Cityrama tour of Paris on the first day, to get a sense of what there is to see, where it is (roughly). I would also plan on exploring the neighbourhood around my hotel: find my cafe for my morning coffee/light breakfast, find my local patisserie for sampling sweets, some nice restaurants, take out food places, patio for end of day beer/wine. I would also plan one sundown cruise on the Seine (I like Vedettes du Pont Neuf, but there are others). During my days, I would plan an area e.g. today we'll do Rodin Museum and Eiffel Tower...do those sites, then wander around the neighbourhood...have a good map, know that you are always near a Metro station, so getting back to hotel won't be a hassle. If I was going to do a Paris Walks tour, after my morning coffee I would head to the rendezvous spot, and then wander that neighbourhood until start time...I try not to aveload days (today, we will see the Louvre) but rather mix in haingoing out time along with sites in a day, I find rushing to/from sites to be less of how I want to sample Paris. Plan on seeing one or two street markets, intersting and good food (perhaps a picnic?), think about doing an evening convert in one of the churches, St. Chapelle being a good one....

Although I personally dislike tours as I like very much to set my own pace and wander, to each their own. So my suggestion would be do what feels right to you. I wouldn't worry that without a tour you won't see enough of the city, though, or that it will be inefficient. You aren't going to see everything in a week, so I don't try. Just enjoy being in one of the most beautiful cities there is. (I fell in love with Paris almost the minute I stepped out of the RER station on the blvd. Saint-Michel and turning around and saw the Seine)

But if you do decide skip the tours, I want to suggest a book - Walking Paris, by Gilles Desmons - that I got for my trip to Paris two years ago. It has 30 walks laid out, each with a map, distance, estimated time, and lots and lots and lots and lots of historical/architectural/other detail about the buildings and sights along the walk.

I had a lot of fun (and my brother did too) playing tour guide to my wife and SIL using this book.

I second Michael Osman. He will get you oriented and is very flexible. Some of our walks were just that-walks-and our whole group of 7 (including 3-18 year olds)loved it. I have been to Paris a few times, but with Michael saw many things I had never considered visiting and had a ball.

Definatly suggest "Paris Walks" tours. Have used them (4) different areas of Paris and a great experience.

Sorry but I forgot to include web-site. Have a great trip--You will LOOVE Paris.http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pariswalking/

Thank you so much for the great suggestions! It may be too late to book Michael Osman, but we may give that a shot, and I'll definitely check into Paris Walks and the guides recommended. We are staying at the K&K Hotel Cayre in St. Germaine de Pres, and there is a Metro stop right by us, so we plan on using that a lot. I'm so excited, just two weeks to go!