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| *Travel Tips>>>General - France Travel Tips |
How is the best way to see Paris France? Guided tour or independed.? |
Travel Info How is the best way to see Paris France? Guided tour or independed.? Travel Tips Independent. You can always book guides when you want them - for the museums for example. Guided city tours on a bus are also readily available. This way you can have a guide when you want one and do your own thing too. Don't worry too much about not speaking French, in the tourist areas speaking English will be enough. (The French will only be a lot more friendly if you make the effort to speak French.) Doing it on your own gives you the chance to do it on the cheap too - most travel agencies do not offer stays at hostels nor do they accomodate for people who want to self-cater. Others Take a quick guided tour first, make notes of what you wish to see more of then go back to the places that interest you independently. If you speak the language (ie French) I would go it alone. Nothing sensible about tagging along behind a lot of people who will dawdle at things you're not interested in, and vice-versa. Have a good holiday! You might take a quick bus tour to get your bearings. The most important thing to do is to learn how to navigate the Metro--then you OWN the city! My brain It depends on several things. The first is time. If you are just passing thru Paris for a day or two a guided tour may be the most efficient way to see all the "must see" sights. Next, how much time do you want to invest in learning about Paris before you get there? For many people, myself included, visiting a city for the first time means that I spend three or four times as many hours studying my destination than I will actually spend there. I study every website I can find, read all the guidebooks, learn a bit of the language, and create an itinerary lisiting everything from sights to restaurants that I might need. Even when going to someplace I know, I check sources to see what's new. If you don't have either the time or inclination to do this than a quided tour may be useful. What do you want from your visit? Guided tours by their nature tend to be superficial, hitting the high spots, the famous sights, the great photo ops. If you want to connect with the real Paris, know the city rather than just see it, you're better off on your own. Hope that helps you decide. A 1-2 hour bus tour is great bc you can see all the highlights and then decide what you really want to see. A guided tour longer than that is unnecessary because you can use the Metro (subway) to go to all the attractions you want. Speaking some French definitely helps, but even if you do not, most cashiers at the tourist attractions know some English and most storekeepers will try to communicate with you if you are trying to buy something. Nobody will refuse to sell you things just bc you don't speak French. Many of stores (eg dept stores, supermarkets) are self service with prices marked so you don't even have to speak. If you go on a guided tour, you should know that the tour guide will steer you to stores where the storekeepers pay the tour guide a percentage of the sales to the tour group-- thus you might not be getting the best prices. You will notice the words "entree libre" on the doors of many stores. This literally means "come in freely" meaning you can window shop. |
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