Europe travel: Five top Paris tours to keep on your radar

Whether its a sunset cruise in a classic car or a visit to the city's quirkier sights, there are plenty of tours to help you explore Paris. Photo / 123rf

Saving up for a dream trip to the City of Light? Add these unique tours to your wish list, writes Tiana Templeman.

See all the major highlights - in just one day!

If you're in Paris for a good time, not a long time, it can be impossible deciding what to do. Should you visit the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre, Sacre Coeur Basilica or Notre Dame, take a Seine river cruise, explore a classic neighbourhood or simply stroll around the city?

The good news is there's no need to choose, as a Paris in a Day tour lets you see all these things and more in – you guessed it – just one day. While visiting all these iconic attractions in just nine hours might sound impossible (not to mention exhausting), it's pretty easy when you're with a local who knows all the shortcuts. The tour runs in an order that minimises crowds and includes metro transport, skip-the-line access and an expert local guide who shares fun facts and interesting stories along the way.
Cost: $269 for adults; $253 for children. takewalks.com

Tour Paris in a Citroen 2CV

It's a match made in heaven: a jaunty Citroen 2CV and the city of Paris. As a tour vehicle, this classic French car adds a certain je ne sais quoi and its compact size makes negotiating the tiny alleys of Paris' arrondissements a breeze, especially with a handsome Frenchman behind the wheel. Tours are available from 11am to 10pm but the best time to book this one-hour spin around the French capital is just before sunset.

Whizzing around the streets in a classic Citroen 2CV is a fun way to see Paris, especially with a local behind the wheel. Photo / Tiana Templeman

As the fading light bathes the historic buildings of Paris in a soft glow, your classic transport zips down famous streets and around the Arc de Triomphe with its radiating avenues and white-knuckle thrills. As the sun sinks below the horizon, you'll drive towards the Eiffel Tower, pulling up just as the lights come on and dance up and down the city's famous landmark. There's time for photos with your shiny 2CV before the trip back to your hotel.
Cost: From $130 per car for a one-hour tour. 2cvparistour.com

See history come to life at the Museum of Fairground Arts

Musee des Arts Forains, or the Museum of Fairground Arts, proves you're never too old to ride a carousel. However, you may be too young. Back in the late 1800s, when bicycles were more expensive than horses, adults would line up to ride bicycle carousels that were powered by their feet and reached speeds of up to 60kph. You'll find one of these carousels at this museum, which has one of the largest collections of antique amusement rides and games in the world. Even better, you can ride it – but only if you're aged 13+.

You can also see (and hear) a rare Hooghuys fairground organ, ride other historic carousels, play original sideshow alley amusement games and learn about life in Europe in the 1800s on an interactive two-hour tour. English language tours are available during the summer months, with an English transcript provided at other times of the year.
Cost: $30.60 for adults; $20.85 for children. arts-forains.com

Spend an eerie evening in Paris

Discover a darker side of a Paris on a spooky ghost tour that ventures into historic buildings and down winding alleyways to show you a side of the city that doesn't make it into the tourist brochures. Your ghoulish guide is an expert when it comes to the sinister and seedy side of Paris, back when people were burned at the stake and sentenced to death in the Palais du Justice. It didn't matter whether you were a king or a pauper, no one was safe from the flashing blade of the guillotine.

Explore the city's spooky side on an evening ghost tour. Photo / 123rf

Walk in the footsteps of the plague that ravaged the city in the mid-1300s, listen to tragic love stories and scare yourself silly with gruesome tales of ghosts, gore, murder and mayhem. You'll be looking over your shoulder on the way back to your hotel after this hair-raising night out.
Cost: €34.20. citywonders.com

Explore a neighbourhood with a local – for free

Whoever said "you don't get something for nothing" has obviously never been to Paris. The city is part of the Global Greeter Network, an international organisation that runs free sightseeing tours conducted by passionate volunteer guides in cities around the world.

Paris is full of stories behind the facade, and there are a range of tours to help bring them to life. Photo / 123rf.

In Paris, our guide was a retired professor who showed us around Montmartre, where he had lived for more than 30 years. Pierre didn't just have the perfect name, he also had a folder of fascinating historical photos and the communication skills of someone who has spent their life teaching. Much to my surprise, he also shared my passion for the impossibly romantic movie Amelie, and shared behind-the-scenes stories about the Montmartre filming locations that only a local would know. Greeter tours are about more than simply seeing the sights, they also offer a fascinating glimpse into the heart and soul of a destination and the locals who make it great.
Cost: Free. Bookings essential. greeters.paris