I’m interested in the "Best of Paris in 7 Days" tour. Could you please tell me what the group size and age is of the people who typically take this tour (I’m 31)? Also, I’m especially interested in history. Is this emphasized?
I took this tour in 2022. At age 31 you will likely be the youngest unless there is a family with children on the tour or a multigenerational group. Nevertheless, you will be a welcome addition. Tour size will not exceed 28. You will learn about the history of Paris, but I would say the tour focus is more on art and culture.
Hi and welcome to the forum,
Please read through the tour section (including daily itinerary and brief reviews) to get a better idea of what the tour includes.
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/france/paris
Additionally, browse through tour scrapbooks which were created by those who have taken Rick Steves tours.
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/scrapbooks/tour-alum-scrapbooks
RS tours are 24 to 28 members. When we did this tour there was a whole variety of ages including 4 single women in the 20-35 age range (my daughter was one of them, they had a great time getting to know each other and herding some of us older ones along.) It all depends, out of our 12 RS tours a majority of the tour members have been older retired couples but it feels like over the last couple of years that there’s been more people in the 30-50 age brackets and more single women. I think you will get younger people during the summer months. You could always check with the RS tour office, they’ve always have been helpful answering questions about their tours.
you might find this video helpful on the rick steves tours in general:
We did this tour some years ago, and loved it. It has changed some since then, but looks just as good, if not better, with perhaps more emphasis on history than there was when we took it.
Most of the tours we have taken have had a wide range of ages, although on balance, they skew older. We've been on tours with folks in their 20s, and occasionally with families with teens and tweens.
One of the great things about Rick's tours is the amount of free time. You'll have plenty of time to follow your own interests on your own, or with fellow tour members.
I'm taking this tour in April with my 15 year old daughter. I'm 42. We went to Italy with a tour (not RS) last year and my daughter was the youngest and the next youngest was a 19 year old traveling with his mother who was about my age. There was one other lady in her 40 , and most were 60s-70s. I think many tours will be mostly healthy retirees. The odd thing was , for me, that many of the adults didn't attempt conversation with my daughter, but the few who did, she really did enjoy talking with. She is very interested in history and art and we had a great time, and I am anticipating a great time in Paris in April. I'm looking forward to having very little travel time once in the city (doing a best of Italy meant a lot of bus time).
@pbscd, I think your daughter will enjoy the RS more because people enjoy talking to each other, regardless of age. I will add this comment, though. During my RS Adriatic tour, there was a teenage boy, and we were each other’s buddy for the “buddy check” to see who is missing when leaving on a bus, etc. Many times he was focused on his phone with ear buds which gave a visual indication he didn’t want to converse as much with the group. Since your daughter is interested, just make sure she’s being approachable to others in the group. It also helps to purposely sit by a variety of people at breakfast to get to know each other during the week. This advice applies to all age groups. ; )
Thank you, Jean! My daughter doesn't even have a phone, but she is quiet. She's currently reading a (very long) biography of Napoleon and getting even more excited for our trip. We've been watching Louvre videos, too. I wish there were more videos that talked about more than just the top 10, though.