Viator Tours

Haven’t been on a Viator tour but understand that Viator is a middleman ( Viator is owned by TripAdvisor) and just sets you up with the companies actually conducting the tour. You’ll want reviews of companies and guides offering Eiffel Tower and Louvre tours. www.TourScanner.com has tour reviews and the museum’s www.LouvreGuide.com has guided tours from €9-€26 with admission another €15.

I have used Viator several times and they have all been excellent tours, I will continue to use them in the future.

(I have no vested interest in Viator nor do I work for them)

Took a Viator tour to Fontainebleau and Vaux le Vicomte and was very pleased with it.

I think there is a general sentiment here that personally crafted tours, by locals, are a better use of traveler money. But you specifically need a company with the capital to acquire scarce tickets, and arbitrage their value with tourists who, for example, did not plan far enough in advance. Feel free to use Viator.

I have used them for bus tours and private car excursions in various places. In one case, I told the car tour company that I HAD to buy the specific tour I wanted FROM VIATOR instead of from them, because it was not listed on their own website as a buyable item. They replied, "Yeah, we know." I once had to change a date with Viator and the online dialog evenually included "There is no charge for this change", which turned out to be true.

Viator doesn’t operate tours, they only resell tours. I believe it’s always best to cut out the middle man and book directly with the company that’s actually operating the tour.

I'll echo some of the other comments - I look at Viator tours via Trip Advisor and then I carefully read the reviews to get an idea of what the average review is and then I usually go to the actual tour operator's website to not only look at the tour but also see what other ones they offer. I realize that Viator is a middleman, but sometimes the cancellation policy has been more lenient through them than through the actual tour company, which sometimes is important to me. Or sometimes it's just easier to book a couple of tours though Viator and keep track of it that way.

Booking a tour thru a 3rd-party middleman works well…until it doesn’t.

Just like booking airfare thru a 3rd party online travel agency works…until it doesn’t.

At least with a museum tour or other short duration booking you’ve not sunk a lot of money into it if something goes wrong.

I’m not sure anyone has mentioned that Viator charges something like 25% of the tour fee to the tour company for it’s bookings.

Hopefully you can book your Louvre timed entry directly on their website.

Boy - Pam took the words right out of my mouth/keyboard!

When I find a small-group tour on Viator that looks interesting, I work hard to find the website of the actual company, and I usually succeed. When things go wrong, you don't want a tour operator to tell you that since you booked through Viator, you need to contact them.

Thanks everyone! I have used Viator in Italy with no complaints, but from now on will try to find the original tour operator. However, I really do like their cancellation policy. Thought I had time to book for Eiffel Tower as I’m 6 weeks out for dates needed. I have learned to book as early as possible!

Enjoy your travels!

Judy

hey hey jdschor52
you can also look at discoverwalks.com/ paris
look under speciality tours, scroll down
eiffel tower: second floor priority access
eiffel tower summit access with a guide
don't know your dates or how many people. the skip the lines is good but you still have to go thru security line and elevators. read fine print about bringing a bag or not.
looks like this goes thought getyourguide.com
we have been 3 times, but we booked before going few years ago. it just seems like so much more people are traveling to all over europe and wanting to see and do the same things everyone else wants to. just pack a lot of patience hee hee good luck
also on get your guide:
look at paris: fly over paris and the world in virtual reality. we did something like this is new york and vancouver canada. it was fabulous like you are right there in person.
aloha