Our Paris tours are private and may be customized, combined, lengthened or condensed.
The Right Bank Tour 4H
See the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs Élysées, the Place de la Concorde, the Tuileries Garden, the garden of the Palais-Royal, the Opera Garnier, Notre Dame Cathedral, City Hall, the Place de la Bastille and its modern Opera and up to Montmartre to see the Sacre Coeur.
The Left Bank Tour 4H
See the Eiffel Tower, Les Invalides, Saint-Germain-des-Pres, the Luxembourg Gardens, the Panthéon, the Sorbonne and the Île Saint-Louis.
Eiffel Tower
On a clear day, you can see forever! We suggest you see the most astonishing view of Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Your expert guide will disclose its history and how its primary purpose was the research into communications and radio.
Eiffel Tower Behind the Scenes tour (1.5 hours)
An extraordinary and totally different experience awaits you at the Eiffel Tower. This amazing steel structure can actually be toured from the inside. The tower was built for the International Exhibition of Paris of 1889 commemorating the centenary of the French revolution. In way of a competition, people were invited to submit their designs and of the 700 submitted, Gustave Eiffel’s was unanimously chosen.
On the tour you will visit the machinery room located under the structure and from which the elevators are controlled. It was interesting to observe that the color of the Eiffel Tower is brown, (it is now a registered color), and yet the colors of the machinery elevator room are in yellows, reds and blues.
You will also briefly visit the old military bunker under the Champ de Mars, formerly dedicated to radio. It served as a telecommunications tower during the world wars. Today, since 1918 the tower is used by French radio and since 1957 by French television.
On this tour you will visit the 2nd level from where you will have amazing views of the city. The tour ends here.
Louvre Museum
Enjoy a guided tour of the Louvre Museum, the most visited museum in the world. It welcomes as average of 15,000 visitors a day.
Visit the addition designed by the world-renowned architect I.M. Pei. The large glass and metal pyramid entryway opened in 1989 to accommodate the vast number of visitors to the museum. Since it opened, attendance has doubled.
See the remarkable collections. Experience the breathtaking Venus de Milo, the astonishing Winged Victory, the mysterious Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci and many other masterpieces.
The 17th and 18th century galleries feature the richest and most complete collection of original royal furniture, tapestries and carpets, silverware and porcelain, scientific instruments, watches, ivory and jewels.
Rodin Museum
The building with its lovely garden was originally built between 1728 to 1731 as a private home for a successful wig maker. It was later used as an office and a girl’s school. In the very early 1900s, the house, which by that time was known as the Hôtel Biron, was subdivided into rental spaces. French artist Auguste Rodin rented rooms on the ground floor to store his sculptures. The rooms became his studio. He entertained guests there and in the garden.
After many years, Rodin convinced the French government to allow the building to become a museum of his work. The museum opened in 1919, two years after his death.
The Musée Rodin contains most of Rodin’s most significant work, including The Thinker, The Kiss and The Gates of Hell. Many of his famous sculptures are displayed in the lovely garden.
The museum has also a room dedicated to art works of Camille Claudel, one of Rodin’s lovers and an artist in he own right. Paintings by Monet, Renoir and van Gogh from Rodin’s personal collection are also displayed.
Orangerie and Orsay Museums
Explore the amazing Musée d’Orsay with your private guide. The museum is housed in what was formerly railway station built between 1898 and 1900. This impressive Beaux-Arts building was transformed into a museum in the 1980s. It houses an impressive collection of French paintings, sculptures, photography and decorative objects produced between 1848 and 1914.
The collection includes many important works of the early Modern period. The collection spans the periods from neoclassicism and romanticism to impressionism, expressionism and art nouveau.
The Orsay has the largest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces in the world. Highlights include important works by Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Seurat, Sisley, Gauguin and van Gogh — as well as Ingres, Delacroix and Toulouse-Lautrec.
From here you will head to the Musée d’Orangerie, an art gallery of impressionist and post- impressionist paintings located in the west corner of the Tuileries Gardens next to the Place de la Concorde. Though most famous for being the permanent home for eight Water Lilies murals by Claude Monet, the museum also contains works by Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri Rousseau, Alfred Sisley, Chaim Soutine, and Maurice Utrillo, among others.
Notre Dame
Construction for Notre Dame began in the 11th century and took over 200 years to complete. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Paris and one of the best- known Gothic cathedrals in the world. The archaeological Crypt under the Parvis de Notre Dame was built to protect the ruins discovered during the excavations that began in 1965. The Crypt was open to the public in 1980 and displays elements from buildings constructed on the site from ancient times to the 19th century.
The tower visit is a trip through all the upper parts of the western façade, dating from the 13th century. Visitors will be able to get up close to the gargoyles and chimera built by Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century and the 17th century Emmanuel Bell. There are 387 steps to the top of the tower, so best to be in good shape.
Sainte Chapelle
Louis IX, who was to become Saint Louis, had Sainte Chapelle built in the 13th century in order to preserve and store the relics from the Passion of Christ in a safe place. The Holy Chapel (Sainte-Chapelle) is the jewel of High Gothic architecture. After he acquired these relics, among which was the crown of thorns, Saint Louis decided to have a chapel built that would be worthy of these holy objects. Constructed in six years, the Holy Chapel was finished in 1248. The building is a Palatine chapel, the upper part of which was reserved for the sovereign (a gallery linked the chapel to the royal suite) and in the lower part where lived the staff of the Palace. The lower chapel served as a base to the monument, whereas the upper one was designed as a monumental shrine where the relics were carefully kept. The exceptional stained-glass windows, two-thirds of which are in their origin condition, represent the most complete collection of stained-glass windows from the 13th century. Seriously damaged during the French Revolution, the Holy Chapel was remarkably restored in the 19th century.
Conciergerie
As the first royal palace in Paris, the palace de la Cité had its hour of glory under the Capetian monarchs, especially Philippe le Bel, who in the 14th century enlarged and transformed the building to make it the most sumptuous royal palace in medieval Europe and a symbol of his power. The hall of guards at the Conciergerie dates from this period, as do the huge soldiers’ hall and the kitchen built by Jean le Bon. In the reign of Charles V, at the end of the 14th century, French kings began to prefer the palaces at the Louvre and Vincennes to the Palais de la Cité. They thus entrusted the old
palace to the keeping of the Concierge, an individual who had extensive legal and police authority. The cellars of the building, which had for all practical purposes become a courthouse, were made into a prison. This function was confirmed over the centuries, and in 1793, the Conciergerie became the main prison of the revolutionary law courts. The rooms were rebuilt in the 18th century, and now house a historical presentation of the tragic hours of the Terror. Several cells have been reconstituted, including that of Marie-Antoinette.
Centre Pompidou
When it first opened in the 1970s, the Centre Pompidou, National Museum of Modern Art, was hailed as “the most avant-garde building in the world,” and today it still continues to pack in the art-loving crowds — about six million people visit it each year.
Conceived by former French president Georges Pompidou and designed by architects Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, this building originally opened in 1977, and it underwent a major renovation in 2000, which expanded and improved the space. The building’s exterior is very bold: brightly painted pipes and ducts crisscross its transparent facade (green for water, red for heat, blue for air, and yellow for electricity), and an outdoor escalator flanks the building, freeing up interior space for exhibitions.
Inside, the big attraction is the impressive National Museum of Modern Art, which is home to some 40,000 works from the 20th and 21st centuries — though only about 850 works can be displayed at one time. Whether your favorite is Warhol, Dali, Picasso, or Kandinsky, you’re sure to find your delight here. Be sure to see Calder’s 1926 Josephine Baker, one of his earlier versions of the mobile, an art form he invented. You’ll also find two examples of Duchamps’s series of Dada-style sculptures he invented in 1936. Outside, there is a large open forecourt, which is a free “entertainment center” often featuring mimes, fire-eaters, circus performers, and sometimes musicians. Don’t miss the nearby Stravinsky fountain, containing mobile sculptures by Tinguely and Niki de Saint Phalle.
Picasso Museum
Re-opened at the end of 2014, the art gallery is located in the Hôtel Salé in rue de Thorigny, in the heart of the Marais district and is dedicated to the work of the artist Pablo Picasso.
Famous Americans in Paris tour
A combination walking and driving tour with your English speaking guide.
Discover some of the historical sites where famous Americans lived, worked, and played. According to your wishes, a selection will be made among historical American figures such as Benjamin Franklin and his nephew (who built the first printing shop in Paris on rue Jacob), Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, John Paul Jones, and famous American writers, such as Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Mark Twain, James Fennimore Cooper, Longfellow, Thomas Wolfe, Truman Capote, Gertrude Stein, and Harriet Beecher Stowe. The areas will include the Concorde, the Tuileries (where the first manned hot-air balloon landed with Benjam in Franklin as witness), Palais Royal, and Saint-Germain-des-Près.
Marais Walking Tour
One of Paris’ most historic areas, the Marais (swamp) district has fabulous shopping and museums. Stroll along the rue des Francs Bourgeois with its boutique shops, stop at the Musee Carnavelet for a history of Paris and admire their lovely gardens, visit at the Place des Vosges
– formely the Royal Square – where Victor Hugo and Anne of Austria (wife of Louis XIII) and end up at the Place de la Bastille where the famous prison once stood.
Montmartre Walking Tour
Discover on foot, this hilltop village with its stellar views of Paris, and the majestic Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart) Cathedral.
Enjoy the best of Montmartre’s excellent bakeries, butchers and cheese shops. Taste flaky croissants, delectable pastry masterpieces, perfectly balanced chocolates, creamy cheeses, and many other culinary delights.
Enjoy the food, vitality, shops, sights and people of this vibrant neighborhood. Visit the beautiful Sacré-Cœur Basilica. See where Saint-Denis is said to have walked to leave his severed head. Discover the last working vineyard in Paris. Sit for your portrait.
Montmartre is known for its unconventional personality and energetic spirit. When rents were low, the area became a haven for artists, writers, poets, entertainers, actors and philosophers. Many moved away as the rents went up, but their spirit lives on.
Latin Quarter Walking Tour
Undoubtedly one of the most authentic districts in Paris. From the Sorbonne University to the Pantheon, via the church of Saint-Sulpice, generations of students and artists have contributed to its atmosphere. You will visit the places where Ernest Hemingway and Oscar Wilde wrote.
Victor Hugo Marais Tour
Visit Victor Hugo’s home, hear the story about the infamous necklace of the queen and other legends in one of the most fashionable districts in Paris. This is one of the oldest districts in Paris, with its numerous private mansions built in the 17th century around the majestic Places des Vosges.
Victor Hugo’s Notre Dame Cathedral Tour
With two of its most famous characters, Esmeralda and Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre Dame and the history of the cathedral. Visit Ile de la Cite and Ile Saint – Louis and the banks of the Seine. Peruse the multiple book vendors and stroll along the riverbank sidewalks shaded by weeping willows. Then visit the best ice cream shop in Paris !
Père Lachaise Tour
The Père Lachaise Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the city of Paris, (44 hectares (110 acres) and is reputed to be the world’s most visited cemetery, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors annually to the graves of those who have enhanced French life over the past 200 years. It is also the site of three World War I memorials. You will find tombs of major figures from the worlds of literature, theatre and music.
Half-Day at the Paris Flea Market (Saturday or Sunday only)
The most famous flea market in Paris — a complex of 2,500 to 3,000 open stalls and shops on the northern fringe of the city, selling everything from antiques to junk, from new to vintage clothing.
The history of the Flea Market goes back several centuries. It is inseparable from the history of the rag-and-bone men, who were to be found in the shadow of the so-called “fortifs”, or fortifications.
Known variously as “biffins”, “chiftires”, “crocheteurs” (pickers) or, more poetically, “pêcheurs de lune” (moon fishermen), the rag-and-bone men travelled through the city by night, searching for old objects that had been thrown out with the rubbish, which they would then resell on the local markets. Because they were often associated with the inhabitants of the “Cour des Miracles”, an area of Paris frequented by beggars and thieves, the rag-and-bone men were driven out of the city by the new city authorities towards the end of the 19th century.
Soon, these traders decided to group together, and it was not long before the people of Paris began to come to wonder at the displays of miscellaneous objects spread out on the ground just beyond the gate at Clignancourt.
As time went by, the number of curious visitors steadily grew, as did the number of traders. It became fashionable, for a genteel population of collectors in their Sunday best, to come and hunt for bargains among the bric-a-brac.
The Flea Market was born…
Catacombs of Paris
The famous underground resting place for the skeletal remains of approximately 6 million people. The government created the ossuary in 1786 to relieve the congestion and unsanitary conditions of the city’s cemeteries. The ossuary allowed the churches to empty their burial grounds. For decades, the churches piled and labeled the bones in the miles of passageways in limestone quarries, which were outside the city at the time.