Paris Bike Tour Reccomendation

Jeff... I have actually taken all the Fat Tire bike tours in Paris, and one in London.. over a period of five years or so , not all on one visit.. lol I have opinions on most of the tours, all are good, but some were great! I loved the one to Monets Gardens the most, and enjoyed the one in London the least. The Paris By Night tour was the most plain old fun. I also did the day tour ( yes , It is different then the night one) and the one to Versailles ( my friend loved this one , I liked it but being a history nut I would have loved more time in palace, she however enjoyed the picnic etc more) Which ones are you interested in? Are you looking a just a city tour for a few hours or something of a daytrip? If you can afford a private tour I can recommend another company. The guide/founder is an American man who is married to a French lady and lives just outside Paris.. on another forum I go on his tours are raved about for being unique,, you should see the photos.. but he charges a set price so for one person its pretty steep,, for a family or group of 4 or more its more reasonable. Anyways look it up just for fun.. French Mystique Tours..

Just back from Paris. Highly recommend Bike About Tours. Groups are small, bikes are new, and guides great. Also did this tour in 2010 and on return with a different grandchild considered no other tour company. This time we also did their Versailles Bike Tour which was great. High recommend this company and both tours.

I agree with Mary. Bike About Tours are great. I just did their tour to Versailles with 14 year old grand daughter, daughter and daughter in law and we all 4 enjoyed it very much. Our guide was fantastic.

We were in Paris last summer and did the Fat Tire tour. Anyone can do the tour; Paris is pretty flat, and the bikes have big soft tires. That said, your enjoyment depends a lot on the guide you get IMHO. We went to the Eiffel tower meetup and there was a guide there named Johnny who was a riot! Tons of personality! Back at the office they split us up into 2 groups and we got a guide that was very outgoing but somehow it seemed forced and not genuine. Nor did she really give a lot of history as we cycled around, although she did have some good anecdotes when we were in front of Les Invalides. Let me add that the "4 hour tour", in our experience, is really perhaps 2 to 2.5 hours of biking around. The way it worked our day is they had 2 guides at the Eiffel tower and as soon as they got the 1st group of 20 they went over to the office. The 2nd guide waited with everyone else until 11:15, although they have more guides back at the office to get back down to the 20-or-under group size. The guide gave us a Eiffel tower story while we waited. So in one sense that's part of the tour, the history lesson, but in another way its not biking around Paris. My advice is to get there 10-15 minutes early so you're part of the 1st 20 and head right out. I looked at my watch and by the time we walked to the office, paid for the bikes, got a bike assigned and seat adjusted, etc. and we were ready to actually head out it was noon. And there is a scheduled stop for lunch that takes another 30-40 minutes. To sum up, I was a bit underwhelmed by it and would not do it again if it was with the guide we had. However a different guide may be better; I suspect we would have had a better time with Johnny. Also don't forget to bring your RS guidebook for a discount.

Just got back from Paris with my family of five. I had planned the trip for many months. Fat Tire Bike tours web site and Rick Steves Paris book said "just show up". We planned on taking the night tour. We arrived about 15 min. before designated time, 7:00PM, and they said we needed reservations. Apparently they changed there web site since I looked.(So much for planning far ahead) Many people that had reservations were also turned away because they overbooked bikes. They were told to come back next week with a voucher they would be given. Not much help if you're not in Paris next week. Had really planned on this. Very disappointed.

Our group of 5 just showed up at the Eiffel Tour for the Fat Bike Tout (very end of May 2013), and came back for the night tour in early June, again without reservations. It sounds like in the summer high season reservations are the way to go. It would be very disappointing to have set aside 4-5 hours and not be able to go. These are group tours, so there is some time wasted getting everyone organized and accommodating the lowest common denominator. Regardless, we had a great time and learned enough to make it worthwhile.

Thanks to everyone who replied. Will make reservations with Bike About Tours as they meet our needs and schedule the best. Will report on our experience upon returning home. Merci!