Boutique Tours in Paris – Discover the Secrets of the City of Lights with Francophile

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I come to France every chance I get, and to be honest, I don't really like traveling alone. So, following repeated requests from my "Francophiles Anonymous" friends, I started giving boutique tours of Paris in small groups in a relaxed atmosphere. Fortunately, I don't make a living from these tours, and their sole purpose is to provide me with good company and to finance the cost of the trip (if I have a few euros left at the end, they are immediately invested in the site, in order to provide you with a better user experience).

When can you travel with me to Paris?

I am happy to announce that my longing for the City of Lights has taken its toll and I have bought myself a plane ticket to Paris . I will be in the City of Lights from December 6th to 28th, 2016. Part of my stay will be dedicated to discovering parts of Paris that I know less about (yes, even Francophiles discover new places in Paris every time they visit), but on some days I would be happy to travel with you. These days I am working on a precise schedule and will publish it when I am finished. However, in the meantime, you are welcome to contact me via email (tchazanov@gmail.com) or Facebook and I would be happy to see if I can travel with you when you are in Paris.

Why should you travel with me?

Tours to the most special places

I'm sure that like everyone else, you've already visited the Eiffel Tower , passed by the Louvre, winked at the Mona Lisa , and even visited EuroDisney. With me you'll discover the special places in Paris that most tourists don't get to. Together we'll discover hidden passages, secret palaces, and even an 18th-century building that was used as a brothel. I promise that by the end of the trip, not a single Parisian secret will remain hidden from you.

The stories behind Parisian beauty

For me, one of the greatest pleasures of traveling is getting to know the culture and history of the place. With me, you will discover that behind every building, square, or dish lies a spicy story. And so, as we wander through the palaces, squares, and hidden gardens, we will observe and discover where the finance minister who built a staircase for his wife's lovers lived, why women are seated with their backs to the wall in restaurants, and where the marquise who poisoned her husband lived.

A taste of French cuisine

No trip to Paris is complete without a visit to a food market, a worthy boulangerie, a patisserie dating back to the 18th century, and a chocolatier whose pralines are a bit like talking to God. And if you’re still hungry, I invite you to join me for dinner at some of my favorite restaurants, which I’ve picked up with tweezers during my many tours of the City of Lights.

Small groups and lots of good vibes

The ideal trip for me is a trip with friends. A small group of people with an insatiable hunger for everything related to France. A group with whom you travel from morning to night without the guide being busy “counting hours”. People who have come to see, taste, experience, laugh and most importantly, have fun together. This is why I prefer to guide relatively small groups so that I can give each and every one of you my full attention and make sure that the trip with me becomes an experience you will never forget.

Boutique Tours in Paris – A Few Words About the Places We Will Travel to

Marais District

My favorite place in Paris is its palaces, which, beyond their beauty and splendor, contain many stories, such as those of theThe Flying Lover, The Fatal Marquise And the woman who took the The Virgins of Louis XIVBut in this district there is not only splendor and history but also small boutiques, great restaurants, divine patisseries, and wonderful gardens in which to eat the cakes we bought there.

Les Halles and Palais Royal area (1st-2nd arrondissements)

Church of Saint Eustache – View from the inside – Photo source: Wikipedia

We will begin the trip with a journey back in time and discover some of the oldest houses in Paris. We will continue through Montmartre Street with its many culinary attractions and discover one of the most beautiful churches in Paris (and if we are lucky, we will listen to its organ). We will continue through some of the most charming passageways in Paris towards the Palais Royal , where we will meet one of the first restaurants in Paris and a former Israeli singer who sells antique teapots and pipes.

Île de la Cité and Île Saint-Louis

A half-day trip that will start at the Pont Neuf and understand why it is responsible for a complete urban revolution without which Paris could not be Paris. From there, we will stroll through the picturesque Place Dauphin, visit the bird market (on Sunday) and discover some magical alleys near Notre Dame, which most tourists miss, which is a shame. After we finish visiting the Ile de la Cité, we will move on to the Ile Saint-Louis and discover some of the most beautiful palaces created in the 17th century. Oh, and if you are good children, there is excellent ice cream at the end of the route…

The Latin Quarter

We will walk in the footsteps of Hemingway, Sartre and other intellectuals and discover the best cheese shop in Paris, a 17th century poison laboratory, a jazz club that was once a revolutionary tribunal and the first café in Paris. And of course, how can we do without the Luxembourg Gardens … If you want to have dinner with me, we can go hang out afterwards at a special wine bar located in an ancient wine cellar where a surprise will be waiting for us.

Montmartre

This is a tour that starts in the afternoon at the bottom of Montmartre and we will walk in the footsteps of Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso but also Amelie . In the evening we will eat at one of the restaurants in Montmartre that has not yet become a tourist trap and then we will go to my favorite cabaret in Paris and end the trip with an evening of chansons as usual! Please note: the price of the tour includes entrance to the cabaret but does not include the meal.

A journey through the gardens – from the Tuileries Gardens to Parc Monceau

We will start in the courtyard of the Louvre and from there we will go to the Tuileries Gardens and discover the palace that no longer exists. Later we will visit the gastronomic temples of the Place de la Madeleine and then we will walk through 19th century Paris in the footsteps of Marcel Proust and many others. We will end the tour in my favorite garden in Paris: Parc Monceau.

From Place de la Concorde to the Paris Opera

A trip that combines breathtaking beauty, culinary delights and fashion. From the charming Place de la Concorde, we will visit the Madeleine Church and the many culinary shops that surround it (who said Fauchon and stayed hungry?). From there, we will stroll along Rue Saint-Honoré with its many high-end fashion shops towards Place Vendôme, one of the symbols of Parisian chic. We will end the trip at the Paris Opera, which in my opinion is one of the most beautiful buildings in the City of Lights.

Christmas Paris (only takes place in November and December)

This tour is essentially a “Place de la Concorde to the Opera” tour, but extended. In addition to everything written above, we will also visit the Champs-Elysées Christmas market and the Galeries Lafayette and Prentien department stores, which feature beautiful display shops.

Boutique trips outside Paris

These are trips that I do by reservation only, in which we will go outside of Paris and visit some of the most charming and lesser-known castles in Ile-de-France, such as Puss in Boots ' castle, the castle where whipped cream was invented, or the castle that inspired the Palace of Versailles.

Sounds interesting. How do you join?

To join one or more of my tours, you are welcome to contact me on Facebook , or via email . Since I am not in France all year round, I highly recommend registering on the site so that I can send you information about new tours and activities by email.

More on the subject

• Missia, Queen of Paris, Part 3: Leading and Supporting, Supporting and Leading
• Paris to the rhythm of salsa by an anonymous Francophile
• Les Halles, the culinary shopping center of Paris