I was ruminating on my Paris city tour. I think The biggest regret I have is the lack of time we spent at Montmartre. We were there and we had a special guide come and walk us down the hill telling stories, he was GREAT. But then we were at the bottom and tired and who wants to go back up. We should have gone up when the square opened and had time to shop the artists and then had a group meal at the cafe and THEN done the walk down.
Also our guide spent a lot of time of time at the "garden" district where the holocaust memorial is. We spent WAY too much time there. There was very little to see and she spent a lot of time on the memorial, which was just a plaque on a wall . She talked forever. Is it important ? YES. Was that area and the memorial worth 1/2 a day? NO.
Also the dinners that were chosen for us were just Ugh. They were not even memorable.
This was the Rick Steves Paris Tour.
Posted by
SE Pennsylvania
3163 posts
Was this the Rick Steves Paris tour?
It would be helpful to note that in the title.
Posted by
Bend, OR
1821 posts
We took this tour before Covid. Early morning, we walked up the hill in Montmartre slowly, as our local guide made multiple stops explaining the history of the area. We ended at the top not the bottom and were then free for the rest of the afternoon. I know for some of our members, going up the hill was a bit much. Maybe there were too many complaints and this portion was changed for your tour? And looking back at our pictures, we only spent a couple of hours in the Marais with a local guide. I do remember the guide talking about the memorial and what happened to the Jews in Paris which I thought was very interesting. I don’t remember her talk being overly long there. Again, after walking about the area with the local guide we were set free for lunch and the afternoon. So there was always a number of hours to do things that are of interest to you. I know that you have an opportunity to express your concerns about a RS tour you’ve just completed as they send out a survey. I hope you’ve done that.
Edit to add….I just checked the itinerary for the current RS Paris tours and it still looks very similar to what we did including going up the hill in Montmartre. Were you on something other than a RS tour?
Posted by
Massachusetts
1626 posts
Did you leave this feedback in your post-tour RS survey?
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
6960 posts
The guide spent half a day at that memorial? Well that's not right. You should definitely send a comment about that to the RS Tour office. Otherwise, unfortunately, no tour is going to satisfy everyone. It's really too bad that you didn't know about the funicular, which you could have taken you from the bottom to the top of the hill. Then you could have lunched and shopped to your heart's content in your free time.
Posted by
USA
353 posts
Half day on the whole walking tour or half day at the memorial? My experience was the former and I went this year in April.
Posted by
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, USA
16520 posts
From your posting history it looks like you took the Best of Paris tour in 2022? I'm sorry things from the tour are still on your mind.
The way your guide arranged things might have been different from others’ experiences. I did this tour in 2014 and we walked up from the Moulin Rouge area to Sacre Coeur and ended there with free time. It looks like that was Margie's experience too although both of us were pre-Covid.
For anyone reading who is scheduled for this tour and wondering....it would be very easy to ask your guide at the initial meet up what that day's schedule would be and then to go up on your own if you want more time there.
Posted by
USA
353 posts
Pam , that was my experience this year too..we finished at Montemarte with instructions on how to take the funicular down .
My tour guide posted the whole week's schedule our first day.
And this is all really making me wish I were signed up for another tour. :)
Posted by
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, USA
16520 posts
"Pam , that was my experience this year too..we finished at Montemarte with instructions on how to take the funicular down ."
@pbscd: I hoped you would see the thread and post your experience since I knew it was recent! I was making dinner or I would have looked for your awesome trip report, lol!!
Posted by
Bend, OR
1821 posts
One of my favorite tours and coincidentally we just chatted with a couple last Wednesday at our B&B while in San Francisco and found out they’ve taken the tour twice they liked it so much. It’s amazing the places you meet former RS tour members….
Posted by
Portland, OR
127 posts
My husband and I spent 6 days in Paris and found it fairly easy to plan and wander the city on our own. Our only mistake, fresh off the metro from the airport, was to exit the wrong side and get a bit turned around trying to find our apartment, but we managed and we had a wonderful experience. I think sometimes big cities can be overwhelming for people, but we found it to be exhilarating to be able to wander about and spend as much time at a museum or neighborhood as we wanted. This also just happened to coincide with Palm Sunday, and unknown to us, as we are not religious. My husband wanted to hear the organ play at Notre Dame, so we attended Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral. We didn't realize it was Palm Sunday until the pagentry began. This was 2018, the year before the fire. It is still one of the most amazing experiences of all our travels.
No matter your travel style, tour, or independent, or a little of the two combined, do what makes you happy.