Are Tours in Paris Worth It?

You’re heading to Paris and wondering if you should just go for it on your own or jump into some tours? Solid question, and I get it. But trust me, tours in Paris are totally worth it. Let me break down why, so you can make a smart call when it comes to how you explore the City of Light.

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Pro Tip:

• Bookmark our Paris page on your mobile phone or desktop. It has restaurant recommendations, free and paid things to do, and much more.
• See some of our top Paris tours for a memorable trip.

Are Tours Worth It in Paris?

Short answer: Hell yes. Exploring Paris with a local is a game-changer. The city’s packed with history, art, and culture, and no matter how much you think you know, a local guide will drop knowledge that’ll level up your experience. You’ll catch details and stories you’d miss on your own.

Find What You Came To See

How do you find what you want to see in a place you’ve never visited? I also reserve a local guide when visiting museums with other art gurus and historians. A guide’s job is to guide you from artwork to artwork and fill in the knowledge blanks.

Reserving a guide is the key to getting to know an attraction instead of just seeing it. If you have a substantial budget, you’ll be best served by a private guide. If you want to find value for money, small group tours (SGTs) are ideal. SGTs are the most popular products we run.

We don’t run large groups, but if you are very limited on budget, we recommend jumping onto what you can afford to expand your knowledge base.

Skip the Lines

Skipping lines is also a massive benefit. Admission lines to megamonuments can take hours to actually enter. Wasting your precious vacation time isn’t ideal, so make sure to book a skip-the-line tour. You’ll almost always have to wait in some security line, which makes sense. I don’t think I want to visit an attraction where I can skip security these days.

Great Tour Guides

The essential element of a tour is the guide. I’ve seen excellent guides make a pile of rocks exciting and watched others botch the Louvre. Great guides normally flock to companies that run small group tours and pay well. We do both, so if you love your guide, remember to tip them!

Small Group Tours

Gone are the days of big groups of tourists roaming around cities like sheep. Today’s great tour companies run tours of 10 to 20 people and often closer to 10.

You can rest assured that 99.9% of our tours will run with groups below 20 people. The ones that are above 20 people often access areas that have no other tourists. These are great reasons to join a tour.

Not ready to book a tour yet? Check out our guide to Paris for more info.

What Are the Disadvantages of Tours?

Guided tours in Paris can be great, but they come with a few drawbacks that might detract from your overall experience.

1. Group Tether

You’re tied to a group, which means no wandering off to explore that charming side street or cute café you just spotted. You’re on their schedule, not yours.

2. Rigid Timing

Tours start at specific times. If you’re late, tough luck—you might miss it entirely with no refund. That’s a bummer if you hit a traffic snag or metro delay.

3. Crowded Experience

Big groups can mean big headaches. It’s harder to hear the guide, snap photos, or have a quiet moment to soak in the sights. Plus, navigating crowded spots with a herd isn’t much fun.

Want more freedom? Explore Paris on your own! Download the Paris Metro app for all the public transport info you need, or use Bonjour RATP to buy metro tickets online. This way, you can roam the city at your own pace, linger where you like, and have a more personalized adventure

Which Attractions in Paris Need a Tour?

Paris is full of unmissable bucket-list attractions that you’ll want to visit. It would be best to see as many as possible on your trip, but which monuments merit a tour? Here is my list of the top attractions you’ll want to reserve a tour of in Paris.

Louvre

The Louvre is the world’s largest and arguably greatest museum. Hundreds of thousands of paintings, sculptures, mosaics, cornices, and more line miles of corridor in a gallery that’s considered art itself. So, is a tour of the Louvre worth it?

The Louvre contains 25% of Da Vinci’s known works of art, including the Mona Lisa. A guided tour isn’t even a question. If there is one place you must visit with a guide in Paris, it’s the Louvre.

Book your tour of the Louvre in advance. The Louvre is changing the way it receives tours and guides in 2023. There will be fewer tours going inside to relieve crowds and improve the experience for all. If you want a tour of the Louvre and see the availability, you should book it asap.

Not ready to book a tour? Find out if a Louvre Museums tour is worth it.

Versailles

Once you have your Louvre tour booked, you should have Versailles on your radar next. You may be wondering if a tour of Versailles is worth it. The history, construction, and folklore of Versailles make it a great place to visit with a local guide.

Also, getting to Versailles from Paris is possible with mass transit but easy to get wrong. You can take a train to Versailles from a few places in Paris, but there are two stops for Versailles, one of which is within walking distance.

It is something the savvy traveler can figure out, but you can avoid the guesswork with a tour guide. From there, reserving tickets for Versailles can be complicated and the lines are tough. Even if you have tickets, you may have to wait in line to get inside—with a guide you can enter much faster. The benefits are plentiful, which makes a Versailles tour attractive.

Not ready to book a tour? Find out if a Versailles tour is worth it.

Musee d’Orsay

Musee d’Orsay is a must-visit museum in Paris, located just across the Seine from the Louvre. You can cross the Ponts de Arts, aka Love Lock Bridge, to get to the Musee d’Orsay after your visit to the Louvre.

Musee d’Orsay is the home of Impressionism, which started in Paris during the 19th century. The museum was once a train terminal and is now home to famous works by Van Gogh, Renoir, Manet, and more.

The ideas of impressionism make a tour of Musee d’Orsay attractive because there’s so much emotion and depth to each piece. A guide will help you dive into the time period and general mindset of each artist. They were generally rejected by the art scene of the time and battled to be recognized.

Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower is one of our most popular tours in Paris and is often combined with a river cruise of the Seine. There are many options for visiting the tower, including climbing the stairs, taking an elevator, visiting three different tiers/floors, and even having a Michelin-star meal. So, is a tour of the Eiffel Tower worth it?

With so many options, making a decision can be tough. To make it easier, here are three options that travelers and bon vivants love:

• Privileged Access Eiffel Tower Night Tour: Includes a Seine river cruise and a visit to the tower at its most romantic time—nighttime!

• Twilight Magic: Eiffel Tower Summit Tour: Also includes a Seine river cruise, but your access to the Eiffel Tower heads all the way up to the summit, which is Paris’ best view. It’s very exclusive and sells out fast!

• Eiffel Tower Summit Tour with Climbing Access: This summit tour includes tickets to the summit, but you’ll have to climb 600+ steps to get to the 2nd floor first! This is a great way to see the entire tower and do it for a reasonable price. It’s perfect for a cool day in the spring or fall.

Not ready to book a tour? Check out our best Eiffel Tower tours to take and why.

Paris Catacombs

The Paris Catacombs are the most exciting ossuary in Europe. They’re home to millions of skeletons you can get up close and personal with. You may want a guide here so you don’t get too scared! So, is a tour of the Paris Catacombs worth it?

The line to the Paris Catacombs is infamously long, which makes a tour very attractive. Not only that, but the engineering of the catacombs is a story in itself. It’s truly a story of engineering meets artwork brought to life by the right cataphile guide!

Not ready to book a tour yet? Read more about the Paris Catacombs.

Other Popular Tours in Paris

Not ready to book a tour? Check out our best Paris tours to take and why.