Frequently Asked Questions for Paris Tours

We are open every day of the year except for the following:

• December 13th and 25th
• January 10th, 17th, 24th, and 31st

We have a limited tour schedule on Bastille Day (July 14), Fête de la Musique (June 21), and the final day of the Tour de France. 

All of our tours have specific meeting locations and times. After making a reservation you will receive a tour confirmation email that outlines all of the important details including meeting point.

BIKE TOURS

• Paris Day Bike Tour: Approximately 3.5 hours
• Paris Night Bike Tour: Approximately 4.5 hours
• Versailles Bike Tour: Approximately 8 hours
• Monet's Gardens Bike Tour: Approximately 8.5 hours
• Best of Paris Bike Tour: Approximately 7 hours
• VIP Versailles Bike Tour: Approximately 8.5 hours
• Off the Beaten Path Bike Tour: Approximately 2.5 hours

SEGWAY TOURS

• Day Segway Tour: Approximately 3 hours
• Night Segway Tour: Approximately 2 hours

SKIP THE LINE TOURS

• Skip-the-Line Louvre Tour: Closing Time with Mona Lisa: Approximately 3 hours
• Skip-the-Line Louvre Tour: Approximately 2 hours
• Skip-the-Line Versailles Chateau & Gardens Tour: Approximately 4.5 hours
• Behind the Scenes Versailles Tour: Approximately 7 hours
• Skip-the-Line All-Access Catacombs Tour: Approximately 1.5 hours
• Skip-the-Line Notre Dame Towers & Sainte Chapelle: Approximately 3.5 hours

EIFFEL TOWER TOURS

• Skip-the-Line Eiffel Tower Tour: Approximately 2 hours
• Skip-the-Line Eiffel Tower Tour with Summit Access: Approximately 2 hours
• Skip-the-Line Eiffel Tower Sunset Tour: Approximately 2 hours
• VIP Access Skip-the-Line Eiffel Tower Tour: Approximately 2 hours
• Champagne River Cruise & Skip the Line Eiffel Tower Visit: Approximately 3.5-4 hours

WALKING TOURS

• Classic Paris Walking Tour: Approximately 3.5 hours
• Latin Quarter Walking Tour: Approximately 2 hours
• French Revolution Walking Tour: Approximately 2 hours
• Montmartre Walking Tour: Approximately 2 hours
• Père Lachaise Walking Tour: Approximately 2 hours

FAT TIRE APPROVED TOURS

• Day Trips
  • Normandy D-Day Beaches Day Trip: Approximately 14 hours
  • Loire Valley Castles Day Trip: Approximately 12.5 hours
  • Champagne Region Day Trip: Approximately 10.5 hours
• Food Classes
  • Wine & Cheese Tasting Lunch: Approximately 2 hours
  • Macaron Baking Class: Approximately 3 hours
  • Croissant Baking Class: Approximately 3.5 hours
  • Market Tour & French Cooking Class: Approximately 6 hours
• Other
  
  • Eiffel Tower Photo Session: Approximately 30 minutes
  • Moulin Rouge Show with Champagne & Seine River Cruise: Approximately 5.5 hours

No, our tours run rain or shine, and we have rain ponchos available for sale in our office. We will gladly buy them back from you if they are not used during your tour! We encourage all guests to consult the weather forecast and plan your dress accordingly.

Our bike, Segway, and walking tours do not enter the monuments due to time constraints, with the exception of our Best of Paris Bike Tour. These tours are designed to enjoy the city from a broad perspective, so that's what we're going to do! 

Our Best of Paris Bike Tour includes a visit inside Notre Dame Cathedral with your tour guide, and ends with a 1.5-2 hour Skip the Line visit inside the Louvre Museum before cycling back to our office. 

If you would like to tour the inside Paris's famous museums and monuments, please consider our Skip-the-Line tours. These tours help you save precious vacation time while you visit the city's most sought after attractions.

VIEW ALL SKIP THE LINE TOURS HERE

Absolutely! We have loads of families join us and we're a great family activity. Children under 16 years old must be accompanied by an adult on the tour. It is necessary however that any person planning on taking our bike tours to have at least some experience riding, and should be comfortable riding in a group.

Please note that certain tours require children to be more confident on a bicycle, and you can find information regarding skill level guidelines in the FAQ section of individual tour pages. 

We offer multiple bike options for children depending on their age, size, and riding ability. You can view our bikes here:

• For children up to 12 years old or 45kg (100lbs) without good bike handling skills we offer 2-wheeled tandems that allow the passenger to pedal or coast, without having to maintain a high level of balance. All riders over 45kg (100lbs) must ride their own bicycle. We have various sized city bikes to accommodate just about every size of rider, from extra small 20” wheeled bikes for riders that are 3.3ft (100cm) to extra large for riders up to 6.5ft (198cm). Unfortunately, we do not have adult tricycles, adult tandems, or bikes with training wheels for adults or children that have balancing issues, or that may be less confident in their riding ability.

• Trailers and Tandems are the same price as bikes, where as baby-seats are free. Due to limited availability please book baby seats, trailers, tandems, 20” and 24” wheeled bikes in advance.

• Please Note: All extra-small 20 inch and small 24inch bikes are equipped with both hand brakes and pedal brakes.

Keep an eye on our employment page for up-to-date hiring information and to submit an application.

If you are having problems finding the meeting location for your tour, please call us at +33.1.82.88.80.96 and our staff will be happy to help you find your way.

All of our tours operate rain or shine, and we encourage our guests to check the weather a few days prior and dress accordingly. We have rain ponchos available for sale in our office that we will gladly buy them back from you if they are not used during your tour!

We will do our best to reschedule your tour if extreme weather conditions prove hazardous, at the discretion of our guides. Reservations may be rescheduled subject to availability. Fat Tire Tours will reschedule reservations free of charge for requests submitted at least 72 hours in advance. 

Absolutely! We have loads of families join us and we're a great family activity. Children under 16 years old must be accompanied by an adult on the tour. It is necessary however that any person planning on taking our bike tours to have at least some experience riding, and should be comfortable riding in a group.

Please note that certain tours require children to be more confident on a bicycle, and you can find information regarding skill level guidelines in the FAQ section of individual tour pages. 

We offer multiple bike options for children depending on their age, size, and riding ability. You can view our bikes here:

• For children up to 12 years old or 45kg (100lbs) without good bike handling skills we offer 2-wheeled tandems that allow the passenger to pedal or coast, without having to maintain a high level of balance. All riders over 45kg (100lbs) must ride their own bicycle. We have various sized city bikes to accommodate just about every size of rider, from extra small 20” wheeled bikes for riders that are 3.3ft (100cm) to extra large for riders up to 6.5ft (198cm). Unfortunately, we do not have adult tricycles, adult tandems, or bikes with training wheels for adults or children that have balancing issues, or that may be less confident in their riding ability.

• Trailers and Tandems are the same price as bikes, where as baby-seats are free. Due to limited availability please book baby seats, trailers, tandems, 20” and 24” wheeled bikes in advance.

• Please Note: All extra-small 20 inch and small 24inch bikes are equipped with both hand brakes and pedal brakes.

• Our city tours are very casual, with only slight elevation gains, on varying surfaces from smooth gravel to pavement. It is necessary however that any person planning on taking our bike tours to have at least some experience riding, and should be comfortable riding in a group.

We ask that all guests arrive no later than 15 minutes before the scheduled start time.

For our Paris city tours, this gives us time to get all of our guests fitted correctly for bikes, use the restroom prior to tour, purchase a bottle of water, and a chance to get comfortable on your bike before we take off. 

For our Versailles Bike and Monet Gardens Bike Tour, this ensures that we depart Paris in a timely manner. We do not have the luxury of waiting for guests who are running late, or catching them up after the fact.

It's imperative that all guests arrive on time, so please arrive with plenty of time! 

If you are having problems finding the meeting location for your tour, please call us at +33.1.82.88.80.96 and our staff will be happy to help you find your way.

All of our tours operate rain or shine, and we encourage our guests to check the weather a few days prior and dress accordingly. By joining us on a Skip-the-Line tour, you avoid standing in line outside in the rain! 

We will do our best to reschedule your tour if extreme weather conditions prove hazardous, but at the discretion of our guides & ticket availability.

Access to the summit of the Eiffel Tower is occasionally (very rarely) closed due to extreme weather conditions. We apologize for any inconvenience and do our best to notify guests of this as soon as we find out. 

Group size varies by tour but we generally limit the size to no more than 20 guests per tour guide.

Absolutely - these informative tours are great for all ages. Certain tours include discounts for children as well.

If you have a stroller, please note that you may not be able to take it into all of the museums. Please feel free to send a message to our Customer Service team if you have any specific questions about which museums can accommodate a stroller. 

For our walking tours, we limit the group size to 16 guests per tour guide.

All of our tours operate rain or shine, and we encourage our guests to check the weather a few days prior and dress accordingly. We will do our best to reschedule your tour if extreme weather conditions prove hazardous, but at the discretion of our guides & Segways.  

Due to time constraints, we won’t have time to go inside of any museums or monuments on our walking tours. These tours are designed to enjoy the city from a broad perspective, so that's what we're going to do! Besides, there's always some people that want 10 minutes in the Louvre and others that want 3 hours. If you are looking to tour inside Paris' famous sites, please see our Skip-the-Line tours. These tours offer you priority access into the city's most sought after attractions.

Yes! These tours are a great way for kids to learn about Paris and have fun while doing it.

We like to maintain a leisurely pace during all of our tours, but please plan accordingly for elements outside of our control, such as weather.  We recommend bringing along a water bottle for our walking tours.  

• Our Classic Walk is 4 miles (6.6 kilometers) and lasts approximately 3.5 hours.
• Our Latin Quarter Walk is 1.9 miles (3.2 kilometers) and lasts approximately 2 hours.
• Our French Revolution Walk is 2.3 miles (3.7 kilometers) and lasts approximately 2 hours.
• Our Montmartre Walk is 1.8 miles (3 kilometers) and lasts approximately 2 hours; this could be considered our most strenuous walk as the majority of the tour is uphill.

CANCELLATION POLICY

We offer 100% refunds on all tours if the reservation is cancelled more than 72 hours (3 days) before the scheduled tour. We do not offer refunds for any reason once we are within 72 hours of the scheduled tour.

Bookings of 10 or more guests require seven days notice for cancellations or rescheduling. 

RESCHEDULING POLICY

Reservations may be rescheduled subject to availability. Fat Tire Tours will reschedule reservations free of charge for requests submitted at least 72 hours in advance. 

Please note that for Skip-the-Line Tours, rescheduling flexibility is heavily dependent on the availability of tickets. 

• For requests submitted within 72 hours, the following fees will apply:
  • 15% rescheduling fee for requests submitted within 48 to 72 hours of the scheduled tour departure time
  • 25% rescheduling fee for requests submitted within 24 to 48 hours of the scheduled tour departure time
  • 50% rescheduling fee for requests submitted within 24 hours of the scheduled tour departure time

Please note that the Tour de France Bike Ride cannot be rescheduled as it is only offered one day a year!

RESCHEDULING POLICY EXCEPTIONS

Our Rescheduling Policy does not apply to the following Fat Tire Approved Tours:   

• Skip the Line Louvre - Closing time w/Mona
• Skip the Line Louvre Tour
• Wine and Cheese Tasting
• Market Tour & Cooking Class
• Macarons Class
• Croissant Cooking Class
• Picnic Lunch
• Eiffel Photo Session
• Normandy Day Trip
• Reims Champagne Region Day Trip
• Loire Valley Castles Day Trip

All of our tours operate rain or shine, and we encourage our guests to check the weather a few days prior and dress accordingly. We have rain ponchos available for sale in our office that we will gladly buy them back from you if they are not used during your tour!

We will do our best to reschedule your tour if extreme weather conditions prove hazardous, at the discretion of our guides. Reservations may be rescheduled subject to availability. Fat Tire Tours will reschedule reservations free of charge for requests submitted at least 72 hours in advance. 

For our Segway tours, we limit the group size to 8 guests per tour guide. If your party has more than 8 people, you will be split up for safety reasons.

All of our Segway guests must be of 12 years of age or older, and all guests under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian 18 years or older. No exceptions.

All Segway riders must weigh at least 100 pounds (45 kilograms) and not exceed 260 pounds (118 kilograms).  

Unfortunately, due to the risk to both child and mother, pregnant women are not allowed to participate on our Segway tours.

We’ve found that our guests pick up on how to ride a Segway within the first 10 minutes, but we like to take 20-30 minutes to explain the machines, demonstrate the best riding techniques, and then allow time to practice before heading out to see the sites. We like to ensure that every guest feels 100% confident before beginning the tour. While riding a Segway is fairly leisurely, you will be on your feet for the duration of the tour.

We will make every effort to accommodate last minute requests, however we recommend you book private tours no less than two weeks in advance.