Frequently Asked Tour Questions
Q: What's the difference between your custom tour and a regular group tour?
The custom tours are created according to what you want to see, while regular Secrets of Paris walking tours are pre-planned and can't be changed. Custom tours are only for you (and your family or friends), while regular group tours are open to anyone (but never more than five people). The custom tours are priced by group, not per person.
Q: Can you book a hotel for me?
Nope. I review hotels for a living, so to avoid any conflict of interest I avoid booking rooms for guests.
Q: Can you recommend a hotel near the Louvre? Give us a list of budget bistros? Tell us where to go dancing? Suggest a few trendy clothing stores? Help me research an article about Paris ?
Of course I can! My travel planning and custom itinerary services are available here.
Q: Why can't you just answer a few quick questions for free? Surely it only takes a moment to recommend your favorite restaurant!
The short answer is that this is how I make a living, and I don't have time to work for free! I get dozens of information requests every week from tourists, students, people who want to come live in France, and even other travel writers looking for help with their research. The only people who get free advice are my friends, family, and former tour guests. If you're on a budget, there's plenty of free information and recommendations in the Resource Guide and Secrets of Paris newsletter archives, but you have to find it yourself!
Q: How do I reserve a tour?
Contact me by email to reserve your place on a scheduled tour or to plan a custom tour. All reservations require a credit card deposit (through PayPal) of €25 for regular tours and €50-€100 for custom tours. Dates fill up quickly in the summer, so be sure to reserve as soon as you're sure of your dates!
Q: What form of payment do you accept?
I accept credit cards for the deposit and cash for the balance on the day of the tour. Euros only, please (gone are the days when dollars could be used everywhere, alas). I'm also willing to barter for airline tickets!
Q: What is your cancellation policy?
- Regular Tours : Deposits are non-refundable, but can be used towards another tour as long as you give at least seven days advanced notice of the cancellation.
- Custom Tours : All custom tour deposits are refundable up to 20 days before the start of a tour (minus a 5% handling fee).
If I have to cancel a tour, all deposits are fully refunded. Remember your manners and call or email if you can't make it to a tour!
Q: Why can't you give a tour to my group of 20?
All of my tours are interactive in the old-fashioned sense, meaning I like to have a conversation with my guests, answering questions and getting to know each person. This isn't possible with a large group. Plus I can't take large groups into all of the little places that I think make my tours so special.
Q: What happens if the weather is bad?
Tours take place rain or shine, heatwave or snowstorm (which are, to calm your concerns, rare). I don't like to freeze, get drenched, or melt either, so be assured that I'm always prepared to adjust tours for your comfort and mine, whether it's ducking into the historic covered passages to escape the rain, an unexpected stop for ice cream to cool off, or warming our hands and tummies with a glass of vin chaud!
Q: What should I wear?
Whatever makes you comfortable, especially for the walking tours. If there's somewhere on tour that has a dress code, I'll let you know in advance. More importantly, try to carry as little as possible. No shoes in the world will help your feet if you're carrying around unnecessary weight!
Q: Why are your tours so expensive?
While not the most expensive tours of Paris , it's true they are at the top of the range. This is because I plan and lead every tour myself (instead of sub-contracting them to others) and I only offer tours to small groups (larger group tours always cost less).
When you take a Secrets of Paris tour, you get a guide with years of experience writing about the city for guidebooks, magazines and newspapers. You get the expertise of a real local who lives in Paris full-time, as well as an American who understands what it's like to experience the city as a visitor.It would be very easy to just offer the typical Paris history tours, pointing out monuments and reciting important dates. But I prefer to dig deeper and create tours that really reveal the city's souls today, not just glorify its past. But of course this is much more work. The places where Hemingway drank will never change. The places where the hip and stylish Parisians drink today changes every few months!
Finally, Secrets of Paris tours are part of the French limited liability company, Fleur de Lire EURL. Your tour price includes the hefty 19.6% Value-Added-Tax, and takes into account our somewhat hefty business taxes -- hey, someone has to pay to keep Paris looking good! Tour companies which are not registered to do business in France (or who do it "under the radar") are not subject to these taxes, and can therefore charge less.
** Note: It’s hard to travel abroad when the US Dollar is in the doldrums, so Secrets of Paris custom tour rates have not changed since 2006.**
