Private Tours in Paris and Day Trips from Paris

Paris Highlights

A first-day overview that links the city’s landmarks in one route: the Île de la Cité and Notre-Dame, the Louvre courtyard and the Tuileries Garden, the Place de la Concorde, the Champs-Élysées and the Arc de Triomphe, ending with a view of the Eiffel Tower. Short metro rides connect the walking stretches, so the pace suits most visitors. This tour stays outdoors, which makes it easy to combine with a museum tour on another day.

The Louvre, room by room

A private Louvre visit counts as a group visit: the slot and the group tickets are bought through the museum’s professional ticketing, so your guide makes the booking. The route is built around what you want to see, for example the Egyptian antiquities, the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace, and the Italian painting galleries with the Mona Lisa. The museum is closed on Tuesdays. Individual ticket prices are on our Louvre tickets page.

Musée d’Orsay and the Impressionists

The clock of the former Orsay railway station

The former railway station on the Seine holds one of the largest collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painting, including Manet’s Luncheon on the Grass and Degas’s Little Dancer. While the museum’s renovation works continue, every visitor must reserve a time slot in advance. Licensed guides use a priority pass reserved for them, valid for a party of up to six, and groups of seven or more are not admitted on Sundays, so larger families should plan a weekday.

Île de la Cité: Notre-Dame, Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie

The island where Paris began: the cathedral square, the royal chapel of the Sainte-Chapelle with its stained glass, and the Conciergerie, once a royal palace and later a revolutionary prison. A professional guided visit inside Notre-Dame requires a reservation with the cathedral, rented headsets and a licensed guide, so your guide secures a slot before the date is final. The walk around the island and along the Seine needs no booking.

Montmartre, the Sacré-Cœur and the Place du Tertre

The hill of the Sacré-Cœur basilica, the Place du Tertre where painters still sketch portraits for visitors, the streets where artists once lived and the small vineyard on the northern slope. The route has stairs and steep lanes; if anyone in your group needs an easier way up, mention it in the request.

The Marais and the Place des Vosges

A walk through the district of aristocratic town houses (hôtels particuliers), the arcaded Place des Vosges and the old Jewish quarter around the Rue des Rosiers. It can include the Musée Carnavalet, the museum of the history of Paris, housed in a sixteenth-century town house in the Marais.

Les Invalides and Napoleon’s tomb

Napoleon’s tomb under the Dôme des Invalides

Napoleon’s remains were brought to the Invalides in a state ceremony on 15 December 1840, and the church beneath the golden dome became his mausoleum. One ticket covers the Dôme church and the tomb, the Army Museum’s permanent collections, the Musée de l’Ordre de la Libération and the Musée des Plans-Reliefs. The museum is open daily and closes on 1 January, 1 May and 25 December.

Versailles: palace, gardens and Trianon

The Hall of Mirrors, first stop of the Versailles day

A full day allows the state apartments and the Hall of Mirrors in the morning, the formal gardens after lunch and the Trianon estate of Marie-Antoinette in the afternoon. Guided groups enter with group tickets and a licensed guide; from April to October a gardens supplement applies. The palace is closed on Mondays. Individual ticket options are on our Versailles tickets page.

Giverny: Monet’s house and gardens

Monet’s house, the flower garden and the water garden with the Japanese bridge and the water-lily pond, followed by the village and the Musée des impressionnismes. The house and gardens are open only from 1 April to 1 November, so this trip is seasonal. Some operators pair it with Auvers-sur-Oise, known as Van Gogh’s village.

Champagne: Reims, Épernay and Hautvillers

Vineyards around Épernay

About two hours by road from Paris: Reims cathedral, where French kings were crowned, a champagne house cellar in Reims or on the Avenue de Champagne in Épernay, and the village of Hautvillers, linked to Dom Pérignon. Cellar visits and tastings are booked and paid separately. Some of the best-known houses, such as Moët & Chandon and Veuve Clicquot, close to visitors in January and February.

Loire Valley châteaux: Chambord and Chenonceau

Château de Chambord

Chambord, the largest château of the Loire, with its double-helix staircase, and Chenonceau, built across the River Cher, with Amboise or Cheverny as a third stop if time allows. Chambord charges a higher ticket for visitors from outside the European Economic Area. The day starts early: the drive takes about two hours each way, or the high-speed train reaches Tours in about an hour.

Normandy D-Day beaches

Omaha Beach, Normandy

Omaha Beach, the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer overlooking it, and the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc, with a museum stop depending on your interests. The cemetery holds more than nine thousand American soldiers, and its Wall of the Missing lists over fifteen hundred names. Normandy is about three hours by road, or two and a half hours by direct train to Bayeux or Caen.

Mont-Saint-Michel

Mont-Saint-Michel from the bay

The medieval village and the Benedictine abbey on the rock. Access to the village is free, and the free shuttle Le Passeur runs to the causeway; only the abbey charges admission. The climb involves many steps. This is the longest day trip on the page, and many travellers prefer to stay a night in Normandy and combine it with the D-Day beaches.