Paris - RS memorized but should I add private or small group tour and if so which sites?

With 4-5 days in Paris, buy a Mueum Pass. In addition to the Louvre, my favorite musuems are Musee d'Orsay, home to the Impressionists, very small Musee de l' Orangerie filled with Monet's mural sized waterlilies, Musee Rodin, a sculpture garden, and Musee Marmottan, more Impressionists, Monet. The pass will also give access to sites such as Napoleon's Tomb. We have never hired a guide in Paris. Audio guides are better as you can go at your own pace.
Or use RS written museum guides in the guidebook. Enjoy Paris.

We did a private tour of the Louvre with Paris Muse. Expensive but very worthwhile in this massive place. Otherwise, we used R.S. and a few Paris Walks tours for outdoor sites.

Ultimately a matter of individual taste and style. I cannot think of any place we have visited where having a guide was an improvement, except a couple of places in Russia where they provided transport and thus made it easy to get around and the all day tour of the D-day beaches which we could have driven on our own but found it easier to let something else do the homework and carry us about. There is no place in Paris I would hire a guide. You have to reflect on what makes your own experience better.

I would not recommend a guide for Notre Dame as it is easy imho with the written info. I saw the Louvre with a guide on a RS tour then on my own with his written info on another trip. The guide did add a lot of worth to the visit.

We did a small group tour with City Wonders of the Louvre with wine tasting. It brought us to all the highlights and ended with a wine & cheese tasting down the street. It was the perfect first visit.
We also hired City Wonders for a small group tour of the Catacombs. It allowed us to skip the line, and gave us access to spaces that the general public wasn't allowed. Our guide was very knowledgeable and added a lot to the experience. We would not have enjoyed it as much without her narrative.

This is just my opinion, but I would consider a private / small group tour for the Louvre. I enjoy art museums but I like to have an explanation as well. Some museums make their collections accessible to novices like me -- the National Gallery in London, the British Myseum, the Prado in Madrid, the Metropolitan in NY. The Louvre is not in this category. It is immense, the collection is amazing, but there is no context. It's a museum I want to love, but never have. A private guide might make all the difference.

thanks everyone for all the hints - keep em coming EEF did you use the RS audio guide and think a tour with an actual guideeis a better way to go or are you giving a overall hint that it is better to use a tour guide? thx for your time!

My favorite tour was a bike tour with Blue Bike which gave me a good overlay of the city and made it easy to later use the Velib system. Buy the museum pass. Use the the audio guide at the Louvre, set it for highlights and it'll direct you where to go so you don't overdose on artwork. .

We bought the Museum Pass and felt that it was definitely a good choice. I liked that we didn't need to feel compelled to stay at each museum since they were included, so we dropped in a few out of our normal choices and enjoyed them, too. Also, while you're out across the city, a bonus is the museums are a sure option to have a bathroom stop, too.

We were in Paris several days, so we did outdoor sites the first day and then activated the Museum Pass beginning on our Day 2.