Getting A Move On – The Top Walking Tours of Paris

As we've often said, the best way to see Paris is on foot. But even better is to see it on a walking tour led by someone who knows the city inside and out. What better way to learn about the city, its food, its history, and its culture? A guided tour gives you a leisurely yet insightful sense of the City of Light. We always learn more and have more fun on a good tour. Let's start out by looking at the top ten walking tours.

The 10 Best Walking Tours of Paris

To make your choice easier, we present the top ten walking tours in Paris — loved by our readers and recommended by us. There's a chocolate and pastry tour, two gourmet food walks, a creepy night perambulation, even a skip-the-line walking tour of the Louvre. All of these activities will make your Paris visit both more fun and more informative.

Are you ready, boots?

Food & Wine Tours

Food + Wine + Paris. Try to separate them, it's an illusion. That's right, they go together. So, naturally there are walking tours of Paris that cover food or wine or both.

Chew on this selection of the best of those tours that include chocolate & pastries, French wine & champagne, the best cheeses of France, and getting behind the scenes at a Parisian boulangerie

Walking the Paris Neighborhoods

Paris may seem like one city, but it is actually made up of quirky and distinct quartiers, or villages. A perfect way to get to understand the variety of the city is to learn more about one of the historic neighborhoods.

That's why we like walking tours that concentrate on one of these unique corners, that really gets into the neighborhood where you can learn its history and visit its hidden corners.

Classic Walking Tours

This selection of top-rated walking tours that give you a chance to see the Paris essentials, the key monuments, museums, landmarks and cathedrals. Like all the tours we approve of and recommend in these articles, these are conducted by expert and informative guides. And, like most Paris activities, they should be booked, online, before you leave home.

Unusual Guided Walks in Paris

Paris has a lot of depth — that is, it has a lot of history, a lot of things have happened, a lot of people have lived here. Therefore, there's lot of opportunity to do and see something a bit different, and the particularly applies to guided walking tours.

We like the history of Paris, so tours that take us to the vestiges of previous eras are interesting to us. Things like a tour of the Paris of the French Revolution, or Paris in World War II. Whether your interested in movies, fashion, or the lifestyles of the rich and famous (dead) Parisians, theres a walking tour for you.

Walking Paris History

"Walking Paris History" — may sound like a Bob Dylan song, but to us it means that the City of Light is also the City of History. Paris has been around a long, long time, so there is a lot of history to explore. You can't help be aware of the depth of history wherever you walk in the city, wherever you look, and a guided tour makes those artifacts come alive.

Here we review walking tours of Paris that focus on distinct periods of its history, from the French Revolution to World War II.

Discover Pere Lachaise Cemetery

Unexpectedly, this turned out to be one of the best walking tours we've ever been on in Paris. "Unexpectedly" because… well, it's a cemetery. But what a fascinating place, containing the graves of so many famous (and infamous) Parisiens. Pere Lachaise is vast, stretching over 110 acres, so it was a real advantage going with a guide who took us directly to the most interesting sites and fill us in on the background and history. Read our complete review to learn more.

What could be more fun than putting a little bit of darkness into your visit to the City of Light? We've selected a handful of walking tours we think you'll like — tours that are all about the eerie, the fantastic, the underground of the city, and about the nighttime. You're allowed to hold hands!

Photography Walking Tours

There is no city more photogenic than Paris. What better place to learn to improve your photography? A walking tour with a professional photographer who knows the city well gets you to some of the best-known sights, but also to photographers' secret locations, where you'll be able to shoot sights rarely discovered by tourists. Of course the whole point is that, all the while, you'll be getting tips on sharpening your technique!