Best of Paris Tour?

I did this tour a number of yesterday ago and loved it! At that time we were given a week long metro pass and a museum pass ( I Cannot remember how long that was), so during free time we could visit other museums. The guides werr wonderful; we had local guides at the Louvre and some walking tours.

The guide taught us to use the metro system so we could easily travel on our own. I have returned to Paris a number of times on my own.

It's a great tour and a wonderful introduction to Paris.

If money is no object, go for it! RS has great local guides and tour leaders, good hotels, and a well-planned itinerary.

If your budget is a concern then I'd weigh alternatives. A big advantage of a tour is the efficiency and convenience they bring in moving you from place to place. The bus meets the group when it is ready to go and drops you off at the next hotel where the rooms are ready. Contrast this to making your way to the train station and from train to hotel, along with figuring out the public transit system on both ends or springing for a taxi. And the transit schedule may not match your desired travel times. A few hours saved a day adds up. However for a city tour you stay in one hotel so all of that benefit is lost.

A RS city tour offers great local guides and your tour leader. But there are public tours as well as local guides for hire covering the same (heck, many of the local ones that work the RS tours are listed in his book and happy for business). So I'd say price out the hotel for the 7 nites and the cost of guided tours (and 3 dinners included in the RS tour) vs the RS tour at $3,400 per couple and decide.

(*) Note that like all tour companies 7 nites is not 7 days. The 1st "day" starts with a meeting late in the afternoon. And after breakfast on day 7 the tour is over.

I loved the Best of Paris tour! It made me feel truly comfortable in Paris. Besides history, architecture, transportation and art, our guide also instructed us on culture and what the French might expect for manners. While you can compare prices for the basics it's hard to figure the cost of the intangibles such as the guide having a farewell dinner in her apartment in Montmartre! (Darn it, they sold that flat!!)

I also think your plan is good. You have 3 different cultures in your plan so nothing will be similar! Sounds great to me!

My wife, son and I took this tour last June. It was our first trip to Europe. After three days on our own in London, we took the Eurostar across the Channel for the Best of Paris tour, which we absolutely loved. We had a wonderful guide -- Rebecca Berry -- and excellent local guides for neighborhood and museum tours. Every guide, without exception, was knowledgeable and personable. The tour included week-long Metro and museum passes, making it easy to go off on our own in free time. By the second day of the tour, we were hopping on the Metro and criss-crossing the city with complete confidence.

We stayed at Hotel de Londres Eiffel, which is pretty pricey when booking on your own. But it was a beautiful, cozy home base, a 10-minute walk to the Eiffel Tower and near the Rue Cler area. The Ecole Militaire Metro stop was about five minutes away. Lots of pleasant, cozy restaurants nearby and a nice, local neighborhood ambiance.

We had a really nice group of like-minded travelers in the tour group, several of whom we still keep in touch with. Breakfasts at the hotel were simple, but excellent. Group meals ranged from OK to excellent (on the final night). Besides the scheduled group dinners, we ended up going out with various members of the group several times, simply because we were enjoying each others' company.

I could go on, but the bottom line is that we had a great time on this tour. We learned a lot, had fun and were able to just relax and enjoy the grand feeling of being in Paris. Whatever premium we paid above doing it on our own was absolutely, 100-percent worth every penny.

We enjoyed the Best of Paris tour so much that we've booked our second RS tour -- Venice, Florence and Rome -- for next May. I can't wait for the next adventure, and still savor the memories of Paris.

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to share your tour experiences and suggestions-we so appreciate it!

We loved the best of Paris tour. The weekly museum pass & metro pass were a great perk. We saw tons and the pass really helped us get around in our free time. Very few people regret going on a RS tour. We just finished our 5th. Paris was number three & our first with our kids.