traveldk.com

The most popular tours in Paris are on the River Seine and plenty of options are available. The long-established Bateaux-Mouches operate daily with regular daytime and evening dinner cruises but there are many other similar companies.

Tours are available on a wide range of themes and in several languages; Paris Contact and Paris Walks are two of the leading English-language companies. Also check out the website www. paris-expat.com

Several companies now offer guided cycling tours, with multilingual guides, including night-time tours, medieval Paris and as far afield as Versailles.

Less well-known than river trips, these tours take you into the fascinating backwaters of the Paris canal system.Commentaries will often only be in French, but they may include English if there happen to be many English speakers on board.

Numerous bus tours are available – the main tourist office on the Champs-Élysées (see Office de Tourisme de Paris) is the best place to begin. It has all the brochures and can also book any of the tours for you. Tours usually last up to two hours but many of the companies allow you to hop on and off at any of their stops.

Promenades Gourmandes offers tailor-made French- or English-language tours of the city’s markets, food shops, kitchenware shops or anything else in Paris that is of food-related interest.

Paris City Hall organizes tours of parks, gardens and cemeteries, for groups or individuals with a specialist interest. Ask at the tourist office at Pyramides or telephone direct.

Pay a guide to direct you to the best shops and you can then choose from a range of themes.

American company Paris Through Expatriate Eyes runs several tours through the streets of Paris and within some museums, revealing many secrets even Parisians don’t know.

Sports fans can take a guided one-and-a-half hour tour of the huge Stade de France, where the 1998 World Cup Final was played (see Football Cup Final) and where numerous operas, rock concerts and other major sporting events take place throughout the year.