20 walks in the Paris I love, self-guided directly from your cell phone

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20 walks in Paris that I love: the best way to get to know Paris “at heart”, in detail. You won’t find a more exhaustive, complete “method” of visiting Paris. Especially since we’ve designed our walks to be short, effortless and punctuated by relaxing pauses of your choice, between the 15 to 30 points of interest per walk that you should see in Paris “in situ”.

Our 20 Paris walks, complementary to the visits of the”Must-See”

What’s more, our 20 Paris walks organized by Visiting Paris By Yourself (VPBY) don’t compete with the must-see museums, monuments and cathedrals – on the contrary, they complement them. In fact, each one starts just outside these exceptional places, so that you can relax after your attentive but noisy visit. No need to waste time on transport to get to your next stop, our walking itinerary will take you where you want to go, in the open air, learning a lot from the Points of Interest (15 to 25 per walk) located in these streets. It’s not by car, metro or bus that you’ll be able to appreciate so many of the interesting things that describe what Paris really is.

Visiting Paris with Visiting Paris Guided Walks

Visiting with a professional guide who accompanies you is supposed to be the best way to do in-depth sightseeing. But it comes at a cost, and has to be part of a fixed program: the availability of your guide at a specific time and meeting point fixed in advance.

That’s why we’ve opted for a solution that includes all the advantages of a well-thought-out visit to Paris: a stress-free way to get to know Paris on the move, detailed information that’s equal to or better than that of a “human guide” thanks to our walks recorded on your phone, at a price that has nothing to do with taking part in a guided tour.

Another important point is that our meticulously prepared guided walks, with the precise commentary and jokes that a “human” guide can provide, are available on your cell phone, 24 hours a day.

Self-guided walks starting at the gates of monuments, museums and other “Must-See” sites

The starting point of each walk is at the exit of the “Incontournables“: the proposed walk, rich in historical, anecdotal and other information, is also a way to relax by walking after 2 hours of visiting overcrowded and noisy museum halls.
What’s more, each walk ends at the gates of another monument, museum, etc., which you can visit if you wish. But in the meantime, as the walk progresses, you haven’t wasted a minute on transport, and you’ve picked up a wealth of additional information “in situ” that you’ll never see or experience if you limit yourself to the “monuments” alone.

Our walks that are more than just “walks

Our walks don’t just mention places or addresses you’ve come across on the street. Each route is chosen according to the importance and number of points of interest you may encounter. Each point of interest is detailed as a “human” guide would be, with a choice of 3 or 4 levels of information available:

• the basic information, like adresses, GPS coordinates (to come back easily if you need later), access (metro, RER etc.)
• a short description plus access conditions for building to be visited (monuments, musées, cathédrales, etc.)
• and finally an access to a “professional” database for those who are curious about details and eager for knowledge, historical or anecdotal complements.

If you would like to find out more about our self-guided walks, simply click on “Self-guided walk so easy to use, by VPBY“.

Each walk : 1.5 and 2.5 km (1 to 11/2 miles), takes about 2 hours

Each Self-Guided walk is between 1.5 and 2.5 km (1 to 11/2 miles), takes about 2 hours, and usually starts at the exit of your hotel, a monument, a museum or a church, or at least near a major point of interest. This choice is intentional in order to relax after the visit of a museum for exemple where the density of attention that indoor visits require.

You can start or end a walk at any point along the itinerary because you get its location (also GPS coordinates) and the way to return to your hotel. And you can continue it the next day, if you wish.

VPBY guided walks also a source of additional information

Each guided walk not only includes 15 to 25 historical or anecdotal points of interest along the route. It’s also information on the practical possibilities (opening hours) and conditions (prices) for visiting the monuments, museums or churches you’ll come across along the chosen route.

Each of our walks also informs you of places to rest (gardens and parks), or find stores for shopping and specialties (patisseries, restaurants, takeaway wines, gifts and other typically French products). These are grouped together in “Pauses détentes” or “Relaxation beaks” (Coffee breaks, Restaurant breaks, Galleries, Souvenirs, Shopping, etc.) distributed along the itineraries followed by each walk. Recommended stores are rated (from 1 to 5) for quality, price and welcome, based on the experience of previous tourists. Please note that not all “Relaxation Breaks” are currently available on certain walks, as they are currently being edited/verified.

Starting points for walks in the Paris I love guide

The starting points for our walks are located “at the gates” of well-known monuments, museums and buildings, i.e. almost everywhere in Paris. They can also be located at the door of your hotel, on request.

Departure and arrival points are as follows:

Le Louvre
Musée de l’Hôtel de la Marine (Place de la Concorde)
Tuileries (Jardins, Place Vendôme)
Place de la Concorde
Arc-de-Triomphe de l’Etoile (Place Charles de Gaulle)
Trocadéro (Palais de Chaillot)
Tour Eiffel
Opéra Garnier (et Grands Magasins Bld Haussmann)
Ile-de-la-Cité (Sainte Chapelle, Notre Dame et Conciergerie)
Pont Neuf (Croisière sur la Seine)
Musée Pompidou (Quartier du Marais)
Bastille (Croisière sur les Canaux de Paris)
Butte Montmartre (Sacré-Coeur, Place du Tertre)
Pigalle (Musée des Romantiques, Moulin Rouge)

Please note that our walks are “reversible” to facilitate your planning or the location of your hotel in Paris: they can start at the gates of monument A and end at those of another monument B. Conversely, with a simple click, you can choose to start at B and end at A. The order of the Points of Interest you must follow is then automatically reversed.

The Paris for Tourist is criss-crossed by all our promenades

In this way, the whole of Paris Touristique is “meshed” with our walks, enabling any visitor to explore in detail the whole of the capital that interests them. What’s more, the interlocking circuits allow you to tour the whole of Paris without stopping – if you’ve got enough breath and energy.

Finally, this “Paris to see” network has another advantage: since all our walks cover the whole of Paris for Tourists, and each of them starts at the gates of monuments, museums and other must-sees, by using each of our walks one after the other, you’ll have converted the whole of what you need to see in Paris. Hence the use of our walks as the “basis” for organizing your stay in Paris. Note that in your planning, you can count on being able to do, per half-day, one of our walks to which can be added a visit to a monument or museum (See also 1 to 10-day stays – under construction).

Time and investment to build a network of 20 walks in the Paris I love

The completion of such well-documented and comprehensive walks means that we have to stagger the completion of some of them. All this requires a great deal of time and investment. That’s why access to our walks is not free. We ask you to make a small flat-rate contribution per group or family (whatever the number of participants), equal to the purchase of a single ticket for a guided tour. Your contribution will enable us to extend the network of walks and keep them up to date over time.

Please note that we regularly offer even more attractive special promotional conditions – just follow the news on our site to take advantage of them.

The available walks at your disposal

We have organized (so far) 10 walks in Paris. Others are currently being tested. Remember: each walk can be done in the order shown below, or in reverse order (with a simple click) to choose the starting point closest to your hotel.

The walks below are in English. For those who prefer to follow the walks in French, all are also available in that language (Click on the French flag):

Walk from the Opéra-Garnier to the Lafayette department store and the Place de la Concorde
Stroll on Ile-de-la-Cité of Paris, 800 years of history
Promenade from the Louvre to Place de la Concorde, passing through the Tuileries and Place Vendôme
Walk from Palais-de-Chaillot to Arc-de-Triomphe via avenue George-V
Walk from the Eiffel Tower to the Palais-de-Chaillot via Place d’Iena
Walk from Museum of Montmartre to Pigalle via Moulin-Rouge
Walk from Musée Pompidou to Bastille via Marais
Montmartre hill self-guided stroll on to the top of Paris
Walk from Pigalle to Sacré-Coeur via the south of the Montmartre hillock
Walk from Arc-de-Triomphe to Place-de-la-Concorde via Avenue des Champs-Elysées