Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
up). Kid-sized bikes are available, as are nifty tandem attachments that hook on to a parent's
bike.
On the day tour, you'll pedal with a pack of 10-20 riders, mostly in parks and along bike
lanes, with a lunch stop in the Tuileries Garden (tours leave daily rain or shine at 11:00,
April-Oct at 15:00 as well, no minimum number of participants required). Livelier night
tours follow a route past floodlit monuments and include a boat cruise on the Seine (April-
Oct daily at 19:00,March daily at 18:00,endofFebandall ofNovTue,Thu,andSat-Sun at
18:00, no night tours Dec-mid-Feb). Both tours meet at the south pillar of the Eiffel Tower,
where you'll get a short history lesson, then walk six minutes to the Fat Tire office to pick
up bikes (helmets available upon request at no extra charge, for contact info see listing on
here
). They also run bike tours to Versailles and Giverny (reservations required, see website
for details). Their office has Internet access with English keyboards.
Fat Tire's pricey four-hour
City Segway Tours
—on stand-up motorized scooters—are
novel in that you learn to ride a Segway while exploring Paris (you'll get the hang of it after
about half anhour).These tourstake nomore than eight people at atime, soreservations are
required(€85,dailyat9:30,April-Octalsoat14:00and18:30,MarchandNovalsoat14:00,
tel. 01 56 58 10 54,
www.citysegwaytours.com
).
TripUp Pedicab Tours
You'll see these space-age pedicabs
(cyclopolitains)
everywhere in central Paris. The hard-
pedaling, free-spirited drivers (who get some electrical assistance) are happy to either trans-
port you from point A to B or give you a tour at a snail's pace—which is a lovely way to
experience Paris (€40-50/hour,
www.tripup.fr
).
Weekend Tour Packages for Students
Andy Steves (my son) runs
Weekend Student Adventures,
offering experiential and active
three-day weekend tours for €199 designed for American students studying abroad (see
www.wsaeurope.com
for details on tours of Paris and other great European cities).
Most of the local guides listed earlier will do excursion tours from Paris using your rental
car. Or consider these companies, which provide transportation:
Paris Webservices,
a reliable outfit, offers many services, including day trips with
English-speaking chauffeur-guides in cushy minivans for private groups (price depends on
tour, use promo code “PWS52K13” and show current edition of this topic for a discount on
tours and airport transfers—discount not valid on services they book for you through other
