Many visitors will want to see the top attractions in Paris, especially if it’s your first time, however, there are some original ways you can do this. We also encourage discovering the less touristy sides of the city and experiencing it as a local. One of the best ways to achieve this is by taking a unique guided tour and, luck would have it, there are LOTS of cool tours in Paris. From spooky to thrilling and from learning about inspirational women to the city’s vibrant African communities, here are our top picks for unique tours to take while visiting Paris.
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(WA=Wheelchair Accessible)
Image Courtesy of Viator
Discover the exceptional women who’ve influenced Paris
This walking tour of the Left Bank highlights the fascinating, renowned women who have impacted French history. Starting in the Luxembourg Gardens, you’ll discover the statues of 20 French queens and prominent women over the centuries, which provides the perfect foundation for the topic. Leaving the gorgeous gardens, your expert-guide will lead you through the quiet streets of the area, stopping at sites linked to other important women such as Genevieve, the patron Saint of Paris who’s said to have saved the city from Barbarians, and Marie Curie, the acclaimed scientist honoured in the Panthéon. By the end of this unique Paris experience, you’ll have a different perspective of the city and its inspiring women.
Learn more about the Great Women of History Walking Tour | 5th and 6th Arrondissements | WA
Image Courtesy of Viator
Spend a day learning about Black history in Paris combined with a tour of the Little Africa district
This six-hour tour follows in the footsteps of important Black figures who left their mark on Paris while also visiting the heart of its current-day African communities. The tour begins with breakfast at the famed Left Bank café, Les Deux Magots, once the meeting place of creatives including James Baldwin and Richard Wright. Journeying through the streets of Saint-Germain and the Latin Quarter, you’ll learn about other sites connected to significant African and African Americans who spent time in this historically bohemian area. You’ll then travel up to the multicultural Goute d’Or district, located in northern Paris close to Montmartre. Weaving through the area’s streets, you’ll encounter a crossroads of African fashion, design, and spices and soak up the buzz of this vibrant, very living neighbourhood.
Book Book a day of Exploring Black Paris Tour | 5th, 6th and 18th Arrondissements
Hunt down the best street art in Belleville with an artist
Among the unique things to do in Paris, we highly recommend visiting the artsy, edgy neighborhood of Belleville. There are many reasons to explore this hilly northeastern district – and discovering its street art scene is high on that list! What better way to get to know its street art than in the company of a local artist? These unique tours to take while visiting Paris include Belleville’s best street art masterpieces and also cover the area’s creative, bohemian, and rebellious past (and present!). The art and vast murals are constantly changing and your artist guide will know exactly where to take you. After your experience, you’ll see Paris with new eyes, and keep on the lookout for other examples of its street art as you tour other neighborhoods.
Read more about Belleville Street Art Tour with an Artist | 20th Arrondissement
Image Courtesy of Retro Tours
Laugh your way through the Louvre in a comedy tour of the museum
Visiting the Louvre doesn’t have to be a serious experience, especially if you join one of these one-of-a-kind comedy tours of the museum. Cedric Verdure combines his experience as a licensed guide and stand-up comedian on what is certainly among the most fun tours in Paris. As you work your way around the museum, Cedric reveals the entertaining backstories of both famous and lesser-known artworks. Who knew the Mona Lisa could be funny? She is thanks to the clever and surprising anecdotes provided on these unique tours to take while visiting Paris.
Join a Laugh your Way through The Louvre Tour | 1st Arrondissement | WA
Take in the city from a different vantage point on a vintage sidecar tour
Skip those double decker tour buses and discover Paris’s top sites in a more unique way… by vintage sidecar! Accompanied by an experienced driver-guide, these cool tours of Paris zoom you around the city’s most famous monuments and avenues while your guide tells you about their history and shares fascinating anecdotes. Lasting between 40 and 90 minutes, you can choose from several options which could include the Champs-Elysées, the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, Les Invalides, Montmartre, and the Latin Quarter. For a more romantic experience, select the “City of Light” by night tour, a magical way to experience Paris that also includes a glass of champagne in front of the Eiffel Tower. Très romantique.
Hop Aboard a Vintage Sidecar Tour of Paris | Various Arrondissements | WA
Image Courtesy of Shakespeare & Company
Travel back to the 1920s on a tour of the Lost Generation writers of the Left Bank
Another original vantage point to explore the Left Bank, this tour delves into one of Paris’s most renowned literary periods: the 1920s. During this period writers, artists, and Jazz musicians gravitated towards what was then the city’s bohemian hotspot, la Rive Gauche, or the Left Bank. Led by a literary expert, you’ll see where Ernest Hemingway lived and wrote his early works. Nearby you’ll peer at the residence where James Joyce completed his masterpiece, Ulysses. You’ll also visit the original location of the legendary bookstore Shakespeare & Company bookshop, a meeting point for many of these writers. The tour ends in the perfect place – where these Lost Generation writers spent many nights back in the era: at one of the historic Montparnasse cafés. Here you can enjoy a drink and feel like you too are living it up in the literary heyday of the 1920s.
Read more about Paris 1920: Lost Generation Writers of the Left Bank Small-Group Walking Tour | 5th and 6th Arrondissements
Get a little spooked out on a haunted Père Lachaise Cemetery tour
The final resting place of over a million people, including scores of famous personalities, Père Lachaise Cemetery is one of the most unique places to visit in Paris. You can learn about the history of the cemetery, alongside its more macabre tales and those of its eternally slumbering residents on this haunted Père Lachaise tour. Taking the narrow pathways of the cemetery, you might pass by the tombs of Oscar Wilde, Marcel Proust, Edith Piaf, or Jim Morrison… and possibly encounter some ghosts along the way. If you don’t witness paranormal phenomena yourself, your guide will reveal some of the spookiest stories the cemetery holds.
Dare to be scared on the Haunted Père Lachaise Cemetery Guided Tour | 20th Arrondissement
Exclusive Montmartre Experience with Private Vineyard Tasting, Skip-the-Line Museum Tour, & Sacré-Coeur
So, you’ve decided to visit Montmartre, but want to have a more unique experience – then this tour is for you. Many visitors to Paris don’t realize there used to be vineyards covering the hills of the city and there are actually a few left! This tour grants you exclusive access to the Montmartre vineyard, which is normally closed to the public. Over un verre de vin, a glass of its wine, you’ll learn all about the vineyard’s history and its importance to the area’s heritage. You’ll then visit the building above the vineyard, now the Museum of Montmartre. A lesser-visited gem, you’ll learn how it was once an art studio of numerous famous painters (including Renoir no less!), in addition to the area’s connections to Paris’s cabarets like the Moulin Rouge. A trip up to Montmartre wouldn’t be complete without passing by its white basilica, Sacré-Coeur. You’ll hear cool facts about the church and of course, take in the splendid views it grants over the city.
Discover the Exclusive Montmartre Experience with Private Vineyard Tasting, Skip-the-Line Museum Tour and Sacré-Coeur | 18th Arrondissement
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