I would love to take my mother (73) on a 2-week trip to France. Her one request is to visit the Louvre, but I know she will enjoy many of the other museums and historical sites. She would feel most secure in a tour group. However, she will not be up for anything more than light physical activity - walking no more than two hours a day. Any recommendations for such a tour that would not tax her too much would be much appreciated.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
The Louvre is really quite large. Even just covering one of the long wings can take hours. We just did this again this past September (and, we are close to your mother's age). If you head out to Versailles, again there is a lot of walking. Great things to see but a lot of walking. You can take a bus from the train station to near the entrance gate. Two museums that you may find interesting are l'Orangerie which is smaller and has two large oval rooms with the walls covered with Monet's mural paintings. Just beautiful. You can sit, relax and watch the whole thing. The other is the Musee D'Orsay. Again a bit smaller but lots to see. Good elevators. If your mother is like my wife, don't miss La Maison du Chocolate on Madeleine Boulevard. Great stuff.
Posted by
victoria, Canada
11507 posts
I suggest no tour, they tend to be tiring, especially since you are not on your own schedule. Paris is super easy to do on your own.
You can use the Hop on and OFf buses,, they circle around four routes throughout the city, they stop at every major sight, where you can decide to hop on or off at will( so when mom is tired you just stay on bus) They provide earphones with a basic taped commentary, so you do get a little info . Visit the Louvre several times, no need to cram it into one day. A museum pass may be a good idea, they come in 2, 4, or 6 day versions and offer unlimited assess to most sights, but not the Eiffel Tower, and offer line skipping at most sites but not all. Stay in a nice central hotel, when mom is tired she can just relax in a cafe and people watch for a bit. There are two main big bus tours you can look at for various daytrips,, they are not cheap, but they are not too tiring . Cityrama and ParisVisions, both are reputable. I have used the for a daytrip to tour the Loire Valley, your mom would probably like that ,, you visit three Chateaus, but inbetween she can rest on bus, at each site the guide takes you through, about 45 minutes ,, then gives you about 45 minutes of free time( your mom could just rest then ). Both companies are similar, just pick cheapest. Both have good websites, google away. You can visit several good places this way, but i would not suggest Versailles this way as they only seem to offer a 1/2 day visit there, it seems rushed
Posted by
Belcarra, BC, Canada
6 posts
I took my 90 year old mother to France for 12 days. We hired a car and first drove to the Dordogne where we stayed for 4 days in a gite in a small town near Sarlat. We were able to drive to little villages where Mum could walk for a short time and then rest as we did some scenic drives. We could cook some of our meals in the gite, and ate one dinner in a restaurant in Sarlat.
We then spent 4 days driving south and west and then north to Saumur, where we spent another 4 days in a gite--again cooking some meals and eating out for others and spending time walking in small villages and then doing scenic drives to rest. A short visit to Paris for the Louvre could easily work with this sort of itinerary. Mum LOVED it and found the small towns much easier to deal with than the big cities.