Hey all,
My girlfriend and I will be traveling to France this summer. We would really enjoy it if we could find a local person(s) in Paris and Lyon to hangout with, show us around and eat and drink with. Someone around our age, mid 20’s to mid 30’s. We do not want a sanitized tourist “tour”, rather, someone who will just take us in as friends. Obviously willing to pay. Does anyone know of such a thing (company, website etc.)? Or who to get into contact with?
While certainly not in your age demographic, the writer David Downie (Paris, Paris; A Taste of Paris; A Passion for Paris) does unique tours with or without his photographer spouse Alison. I have not engaged with him, but would surely like to. I found Paris, Paris an excellent read and a good primer.
Lots of info here:
Airbnb experiences is a great place for this. Many are local people who give specialized tours or other experiences - really nice.
Another good website for this sort of thing, that we have used all over the world, is eatwith.com. It's a website where people post eating and cooking experiences in private homes. You can have a cooking lesson in a private home or share a meal with a family or just a group of people from all over the world who have also signed up. Some of our best experiences have been through this.
Paris Greeters sound like exactly what you're looking for, and they're free: https://greeters.paris/en/
