Origins of Paris : A Latin Quarter tour in Paris - bc9673ac77641458d2e874a29a494a45
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Origins of Paris : A Latin Quarter tour

  • 2.5 hours
  • City Highlight Tours
  • Paris
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Your local for this experience

Experience hosted by Lucien

  • Private Tour
  • Carbon Neutral

Discover where the beating heart of Paris is located, at the Latin Quarter! Learn why this historic neighborhood has such a strong influence on how Paris developed as one of the most romantic cities in the world! A bohemian's hidden gem that will stay close to your heart!

Destination
Paris, France
Category
City Highlight Tours
Duration
2.5 hours
Transport mode
Walking tour
Available languages
Français, English
Included
  • Private guide

6 reasons to book this tour

  • Visit two of the most beautiful parks in Paris
  • Walk by timeless local bookstores
  • 100% private and personalized
  • Learn about this timeless neighborhood
  • Stroll through bohemian little streets
  • Spot beautiful hidden gems along the way

What you can expect

Origins of Paris : A Latin Quarter tour in Paris - bc9673ac77641458d2e874a29a494a45

( If possible, if you want to book less than 8 days before, please send me a message to ask me if I am available before making the reservation, even if the site indicates that I am available.

Thanks a lot!)

It was in the heart of the Latin Quarter that Paris was built thousands of years ago. With some Roman ruins remaining and a bohemian atmosphere, you will feel like you are walking through time as you discover the most beautiful gems that make this 5th arrondissement the true soul behind Paris.

Far from the touristy crowds, you will feel the true authenticity of this charming neighborhood making you feel like a local instantly!

Before, the Latin Quarter was the backbone of the French intellectuals that would gather here. And today, it is a lively district frequented by a bohemian crowd of thinkers and students who express their 'joie de vivre' in the picturesque cafés.

With beautiful sights all around, you will immerse yourself in the true vibe of the neighborhood. By walking through the beautiful gardens, such as Le Jardin Luxembourg and Le Jardin des Plantes, you will empathize with the many impressionists who spent their day painting this breathtaking scenario.

If you are into architecture or want to learn more about important monuments in the area, I got your back!

I will show you beautiful monuments, such as the Cluny Abbey, the Panthéon, and the beautiful church Saint Etienne du Mont.

This experience is for everyone! For those in love with romance, you will observe the most idyllic hidden streets that have made this neighborhood background of many movies. Or if you are into history, I will tell you all about the history of this magical place. And if you're into food, you will not miss out on all the tasty restaurants and cafés!

As simple as this, if you are into Paris, this experience is all you are looking for!

Let me know how I can personalize this experience for you for an even more perfect time in the city of love.

This is the plan

Check out the plan below to see what you'll get up to with your local host. Feel free to personalize this offer with Lucien.

  1. Meeting point

    Meet at Place Saint-André des Arts - Paris to start your journey

  2. Itinerary

    This is what our experience could look like, but it’s not set in stone! Once you book, you can chat directly with your host to make small tweaks to suit your preferences.

  3. Starting Point

    Meet your guide in Place St André des Arts.
  4. Stop 1

    Stroll by the Rue de la Harpe, an old and charming little street
  5. Stop 2

    Walking down the famous the Boulevard St Michel, built by the celebrated Mr.Haussmann
  6. Stop 3

    Time for the hidden gems: the Clunny Abbey and the ruins of the Romans
  7. Stop 4

    Pass by La Sorbonne, the oldest university in France
  8. Stop 5

    Feel the lively vibe at the Place de la Sorbonne
  9. Stop 6

    Visit the Garden of Luxembourg: one of the most beautiful places in Paris
  10. Stop 7

    Admire the Le Panthéon: a very important French monument
  11. Stop 8

    Don't miss out on the beautiful church St Etienne du Mont
  12. Stop 9

    Get recommendations at the cute place de La Contrescarpe and the delicious street Mouffetard
  13. Stop 10

    Appreciate the Arènes de Lutèce : the remains of old romans arena
  14. End of the Tour

    Goodbyes at the Jardin des Plantes
  15. Make it yours

    Want to tweak the itinerary? Book directly & chat afterwards with your host to adjust highlights, skip stops, or make small changes to fit your preferences.

    Book risk-free: Cancel within 24 hours for a full refund.

    Need something special? Personalize your experience for more time, alternative locations or a completely tailored plan.

I can personalize this tour for you

I can personalize this tour for you

  • Tell me your preferred date and group size
  • Tell me your preferences and wishes so I can customize the tour for you
  • Wait for my personal offer in your inbox!

Flexible cancellation policy

  • Feel confident booking

    Cancel within 24 hours for a full refund. Even up to 7 days before your experience, you’ll receive a refund, minus the service fee.

  • Change of plans?

    Reschedule your experience to a date and time that works best for you.

  • Loved by travelers worldwide

    Simple and flexible – your plans, your way.

Reviews from guests

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Sandra Cheryl🇵🇭 Philippines
24 December 2024
We absolutely loved our walking tour with Lucien. He was engaging, thoughtful, accommodating and informative. Christmas Reunion in Paris
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Wayne🇳🇿 New Zealand
22 December 2024
Lucien was a fountain of knowledge and catered for our family group of diverse ages by the information he shared. We may have walked over 7kms but it was an easy stroll filled with laughter and sightseeing.Fun and knowledgeable
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Lisa🇺🇸 United States
4 October 2024
Lucien was an absolutely brilliant guide. We booked two tours with him (Latin Quarter and Les Halles originally). Not only was he gracious when I made an error on both days about where we would meet, he even agreed to change the tour to fit our needs at the last minute. Lucien had a playful wit, lovely countenance and he is very knowledgeable about the “off the beaten path” history of Paris. Our first tour was in the Latin Quarter, which gave us a depth of ancient Parisian charm. I can’t recommend him enough. Thank you Lucien!Truly Delightful
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Bridget🇺🇸 United States
28 July 2024
Lucien is a very knowledgeable tour guide. We had a great experience on his tours in Paris. We enjoyed the Latin Quarter tour immensely. Paris is such a big city, focusing on a smaller area was a treat.Great tour focused on history
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Marie Andree🇨🇦 Canada
1 June 2024
Lucien est un guide très intéressant et très compétent. Quelle belle visite du quartier Latin nous avons eue! Assez intense sur le côté historique, comme nous le souhaitions! Nous avons appris plein de nouvelles choses et apprécié chaque moment. À réserver sans hésiter!Excellente visite
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Bing 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
21 February 2022
My friend and I took our teenager child to Paris for a 4 day break. We had Lucien as our guide for the Louvre, Versailles and a few hours city tour around the Latin quarter. He’s informative, very passionate with what he’s doing. He went extra mile to give us on directions and recommendations of restaurants. We all enjoyed the tours very much. Would highly recommend him. Enthusiastic guide
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Unknown
26 December 2021
We had the fortune of having the guide for the two of us. This made the whole walk a lot more personal. We did get to see Paris from a different vantage point. It was an excellent tourA good tour on a lovely morning
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Jeanine🇺🇸 United States
21 October 2021
Lucien is a gem; so fun and clearly a big history buff. We had a great time trekking around the Latin Quarter and saw lots of sites we'd never visited before. One of our favorites was an ancient church with relics of Saint Genevieve. There was also time to take a break for coffee at a nice cafe. We will definitely book with Lucien again when we visit Paris!Loved the Latin Quarter
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Thomas🇺🇸 United States
9 October 2021
Our guide was excellent. He was knowledgeable, patient and friendly.
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Jeroen🇳🇱 Netherlands
13 August 2021
Lucien is an enthusiastic guide with extraordinary knowledge of the history of Paris. He took me and my 3 teenage children through Quartier Latin and showed us many beautiful and unexpected spots that we would never have seen otherwise, all the time telling stories of the history and answering our questions. We thoroughly enjoyed our tour with Lucien.great historic tour through Quartier Latin
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Angela🇬🇧 United Kingdom
7 January 2020
Lucien is an excellent tour guide! My family and I (2 adults and 3 children aged 14 to 10 year-old) booked 2 tours with Lucien: - "Skip the queue visit of the Louvre". Lucien pre-booked tickets for us at short notice and in a very busy time of the year. It was extremely easy dealing with him to make arrangements via the app and he always responded immediately. On the day we enjoyed not only all the knowledge he shared with us but the fact that he tailored the tour for the needs of the children. We visited the medieval walls underneath the museum, a part that we wouldn't have necessary have seen otherwise. The highlights he selected for us were spot on and he managed to gave us insights of art history spanning form the classical period to modern art. All was easy to appreciate. The visit to the Louvre would have been completely different without his expertise. - "Origins and history of Paris". Lucien took us on a wonderful trip to the past. We discovered traces of Roman Paris and looked at streets and buildings in a different light. My children could follow his explanations easily and related to what they had learnt in school. He is knowledgable, enthusiastic and well organised and this made our first trip to Paris the most special! Not the same without Lucien!
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William🇺🇸 United States
7 August 2019
Lucien did a wonderful job of introducing us to the Latin Quarter and its history. He was also both willing and able to answer my many questions. If you take this tour, be sure to request Lucien!A historical tour de force!
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Richard🇺🇸 United States
4 July 2019
Loved the tour through the Eglise Saint-Etienne. A passionate guide
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Barbara🇺🇸 United States
3 July 2019
Lucien gave us a great tour of the Latin Quarter!! He took the time to really customize the tour for us and went the extra mile at the end by making sure to leave us close to the location we were going to next. He was knowledgable, attentive, funny and made us feel very special. Barbara
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Wendy🇺🇸 United States
6 June 2019
Lucien was a wonderful tour guide. At our request he planned out a tour of both Latin Quarter and Marais with a break at a local cafe for lunch. His tour was intelligent and well planned out. Lucien had a wealth of history and other information to share with us. He kept our teenagers engaged and was open to questions throughout the tour. We would happily book again with Lucien when we back in Paris. Merci Lucien!Wonderful Tour of Latin Quarter & Marais
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John🇺🇸 United States
8 April 2019
Lucien is a great knowledgeable guide with a good sense of humor. We highly recommend him. We did tow tours, on Highlights and Latin Quarter. If you take the latter tour, make sure you bring up Francois Villon, and you will get some entertaining perspectives on student life. Lucien moves at your pace, and will tailor to your interests, so every tour is a unique experience.The true heart of Paris: A Latin Quarter tour
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Barney
13 January 2019
It was a wonderful walking tour of the beautiful city of Paris delivered in an authentic way. We centralized our tour in the beautiful Latin district. Honestly, it is a great opportunity to get the know the ins and the outs and the know how's of the history of the area, whilst maintaining the charm and the romance of the experience . There is no other way for us to put it but Lucien was a true gentlemen. It was both a very fun and informative tour and if we ever do this again we will be looking him up to discover other areas of Paris - thanks you Lucien and Happy New Year from Barney and Faiza :DThe true heart of Paris: A Latin Quarter tour
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Patricia🇨🇾 Cyprus
29 December 2018
Lucien was the most lovely and knowledgeable companion one can wish for. We enjoyed with him discovering Quartier Latin like walking with a friendAn informative adventure
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Yvonne
16 October 2018
Lucien is een geweldige gids die met ervaring, met humor en een persoonlijk tintje erg veel weet te vertellen. We hebben ervan genoten!!Geweldige gids!
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Denise🇳🇱 Netherlands
8 October 2018
Door de interessante verhalen van Lucien hebben we veel leuke plekken van Qaurtier Latin gezien. Het is echt een aanrader om deze tour te boeken! Leuke tour door Quartier Latin!
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Debra🇺🇸 United States
30 August 2018
We had a wonderful tour of the Latin Quarter with Lucien. He was very knowledgeable about the history of the area and I can’t believe how much we covered in just a few hours. I highly recommend Lucien.Lucien was fantastic
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Stanford🇺🇸 United States
26 June 2018
This was a very good two hours with Lucien. Lucien has a history background so we got a good background as we walked about. We also got comments on student life, student protest and a facts and stories that made the tour most interesting. Lucien had good command of English. It was great... two hours with a knowledgable host with just the two of us....dlLatin quarter tour
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Katherine🇺🇸 United States
29 May 2018
Our family enjoyed an engaging tour of Paris with Lucien. We had been studying WWII and it was so interesting to see how Paris was directly involved. One of the highlights of the tour were the examples of photos from magazines and newspapers published during the occupation of Paris and then realizing Lucien had brought us to the exact site the photo was taken. He pointed out similar landmarks from the sites and photos and then pointed out memorial plaques and bullet holes that still exist on those same buildings today. He captured the interest of our children throughout the tour. We cannot recommend him enough to anyone, young or old! If you want to learn more about Paris than only what is published in guide books, Lucien will truly make the city come alive for you! Liberation of Paris
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Maria🇺🇸 United States
23 May 2018
We enjoyed very much touring Paris with Lucien. He was pleasant, knowledgeable and funny.Best welcome in Paris
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terri🇺🇸 United States
11 May 2018
Lucien was wonderful. Knowledgeable, funny, I learned many things I did not know and stories only locals would know. A real pleasure. Wonderful
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Naomi
21 February 2025
We had a fantastic private tour with Lucien who brought the bloody and brutal history of Paris to life with spell binding stories. He is a passionate story teller who loves his home city and I recommend everyone to take this unique tour. Lucian is a character with a great sense of humour, you will not be disappointed! He is happy to adapt the your to your needs as a group. A wonderful memorable experience for our family! Highly recommended private tour
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Erika
8 February 2025
Lucien guided us through Paris from the Louvre to Versailles with ease. He had thought of every detail and made us fall in love with France. He is extremely professional with excellent communication starting from our first message until the end of our tour. He provided recommendations for our entire stay, not just during the tour. We highly recommend Lucien!Lucien was the best part of our visit!
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Ning
19 January 2025
The Paris Saint-Oeun flea market can be overwhelming! In fact, my husband and I have bern there many times. Our tour with Lucien made all the difference! He’s smart and interesting as well as flexible. He helped us find a beautiful, hand-carved statue of the Virgin Mary … even though his speciality is a market overview rather than finding specific items. Wonderful tour! Flea Market with Lucien!
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Deborah🇫🇷 France
13 January 2025
Great time walking around the flea market with Lucien. He was patient and filull of knowledge. Convivial and enthusiastic
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Johann
8 January 2025
Great, fun, informative tourGreat tour of the Louvre
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Cheyenne
7 January 2025
I absolutely LOVED my medieval tour with Lucien. He is very knowledgeable and easy to talk to. Felt like I was exploring Paris with a friend. I will 100% book more tours with him in the future. Highly, highly recommend. Lucien was INCREDIBLE
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Gina🇭🇰 Hong Kong
5 January 2025
We booked Lucien for our visit to the Lourve, and we definitely found the right person! We were late and Lucien was able to get us in quickly which was amazing! He was very enthusiastic about everything in the Lourve, our 2.5 hours tour was way too short! Lucien gave us a very interesting and informative tour which was exactly what we were looking for! My daughter is 11 years old and she thoroughly enjoyed the tour. Lucien was very easy going, he was happy to show us the sections that we were more interested in (which was not in the itinerary). We highly recommend Lucien and will definitely book another tour with him for our next visit. Merci beaucoup Lucien!Fantastic guide!
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Gibran🇺🇸 United States
27 December 2024
Lucien gave my family and I a wonderful tour of the Orsay Museum. He is knowledgeable and makes the tour engaging. Would definitely recommend. Wonderful guide
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daniellespiegel
23 December 2024
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Iris🇺🇸 United States
5 December 2024
Lucien was very knowledgeable and friendly and was quite passionate about French history. However, we thought we would be provided with more past and current Jewish life in Paris. This was just a very small part of the tour. We also expected more time in the Marais. Jewish Tour
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Karen🇺🇸 United States
29 November 2024
We enjoyed this tour with Lucien. It’s fun for us to learn the history of the cities we visit and Lucien did a great job of that. He was also happy to answer our questions about life as a Parisian and had a quiet sense of humor as well. Thank you, Lucien!Enlightening Tour
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Ted🇺🇸 United States
23 November 2024
Lucien knows French history better than anyone I've ever met in the states. Fun and smart - great tour - he's passionate about France! Smart & Educational
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Mark
18 November 2024
Lucien is an excellent guide and tour leader. Our topic was La Commune de Paris de 1871 - slightly off the beaten path. Lucien is knowledgeable about the history and able to relate it to the actual locations where it happened. I would strongly recommend Lucien for anyone looking for a tour firmly grounded in research and facts. excellent tour
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David
16 November 2024
It was an incredibly miserable day with rain and cold and Lucien turned it around for us. He was incredibly knowledgeable, funny, charming and the perfect guide. We would highly recommend him.
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Edward
4 November 2024
Lucien took my two teenage sons on his tour. Both are studying Napoleon for 'A' level. They were riveted by the experience, finding Lucien to be an informed, amusing, engaged and engaging guide. He brought a touch of quirkiness, which kept them amused, and even sent them a list of links to Napoleon-related films afterwards. Thoroughly worthwhile experience. First class tour with a real enthusiast
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Peg🇺🇸 United States
30 October 2024
Although we had communicated in advance that we were going to be late, and called Lucien several times while we were en route, asking him to please wait for us, he did not wait. He made a judgment that there would not be sufficient time for a good tour. We believe it was up to us to decide if a shorter tour was still worth it. We had paid in full for three hours of his time, and we expected at least the remaining hour and a half. We are very disappointed that he did not wait for us. We have requested a partial refund. Sorry - were unable to connect with Lucien
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Leslie🇳🇱 Netherlands
28 October 2024
We really enjoyed our Paris WWII Resistance tour with Lucien. He is clearly passionate and knowledgable about the subject and we enjoyed getting to know him a bit. Fantastic!
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Kathy
11 October 2024
Lucien was awesome to work with. Even before we arrived in Paris he was very responsive, gave us lots of recommendations for purchasing tickets ahead of time and great dinner spots. Once we met up with Lucien he was full of Paris history. We loved getting to hear stories and learn as much as we did and we never felt overwhelmed it was the perfect amount of detail. We also visited a basque restaurant for lunch with Lucien and the spot did not disappoint. As our day winded down he even taught us how to use the metro. If we come back we will 100% be booking with him again.10/10 would highly recommend
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Lisa🇺🇸 United States
5 October 2024
Lucien is a charming Parisian guide. We reserved two tours with him and he was prompt with communication, forgiving when I asked for a change of plans last minute and accidentally navigated to the wrong meeting point… twice! His “off the beaten path” tours are worth your time! He provides a unique experience of what most tourists would miss out on. He is delightful, funny, enthusiastic about his work and very knowledgeable. We saw several large tour groups on our journey and I kept thinking how glad I was that we booked a personal experience instead. If you’re hesitating… don’t! Do check on the weather, dress accordingly and prepare ahead for a 2.5 hr walking experience you won’t regret. The value of the experience for the price is worth every penny. Thank you Lucien! Captivating and Witty
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Lyn
4 October 2024
We joined Lucien for a 3 hour tour , “The Liberation of Paris” on a cold morning in the Luxembourg Gardens. We enjoyed Lucien’s commentary & insights & found him to be delightful & knowledgeable.A morning with Lucien in Paris
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Colleen
3 October 2024
Lucien was very knowledgeable. We had a great time! Only correction: 3 hours was about 30 minutes too long.Liberation and resistance
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Annette
1 October 2024
I thought I knew a bit about Mont Marte, having visited a few times before, but Lucien brought so many new perspectives and stories. He obviously likes his job, which comes across in his story telling and enthusiasm for the area. It was really well paced. He is funny, interesting and great at managing a mid to large sized group. I took two initially-resistent teenagers and they loved it. A highlight of our Paris trip. Highly recommend. Please make sure you approach him about payment - he is a bit shy to ask for a tip. Seeing Mont Marte through new eyes
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Mary🇺🇸 United States
24 September 2024
We enjoyed our tour with Lucien. He is very knowledgeable about French and European history, which he wove into stories about the places we visited. We have a better understanding of the link between the architecture and monarchies in Paris. If you enjoy history and period stories, Lucien will provide a very enjoyable tour. Exploring Paris
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Meg🇺🇸 United States
21 September 2024
We had a great tour! We enjoyed weaving through the city and learning about the history behind buildings and statues we otherwise would have just walked by. Lucien was also funny and engaging, we liked his little personal stories as much as we liked Napoleon’s! So many hidden gems in plain sight!
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Taylor🇺🇸 United States
19 September 2024
We absolutely loved our tour with Lucien. One of the people in our group was a history buff yet we all found the tour fascinating. Lucien is SO knowledgeable about not only WWII but history in general. We had such a great time and would definitely book with Lucien again.Fascinating tour with a fantastic guide!

Withlocals experiences
are always

Private & personalizedNo strangers, just you. Fully customize your trip to your needs.
With a local expertFrom historical facts to the most up-to-date health regulations.
Without the crowdsExperiences designed to take you away from the crowds towards authentic local spots.

More about me

*I advise you to contact me before making a reservation to be sure that I am available.*

My name is Lucien and I have been a professional guide since 2017 . I have been a school teacher for a short time before, I wanted to continue to share my passion about history and nice things... and now I am a "guide conferencier" : I am an licenced guide and I can guide you in museums and everywhere you want in Paris.

I can guide you to the Louvre for exemple or to the other museums in Paris ( as long I prepared them).

I would certainly like to tell you everything I know about the history of Paris! In fact, it will be hard to stop me.

I like to say I am in a typical parisian : big mouth, complains a lot but of course eventually very charming.

I prefer to talk about Paris behind the postcard : the reallity of a life in a complicated city, the complex history of my country...And I won't be very good if you are only looking for fancy things and fashion!

I am more specialized in the medieval center: I can do tours like the Île de la Cité; the Latin quarter ; Les Halles; Le Maris ; Saint Germain des Prés, Montmartre; a bunch of other stuff. . . But I also like to go to the flea market in St Ouen (I live nearby).

I can guide you in the Louvre, and the Invalides and I can prepare other museums if you have a specific request.

Please send me a message if you want information about a visit.

If you request a personalized tour, I will be happy to prepare something for you!

I do all my sightseeing on foot. I don't have a vtc license: please don't ask me to drive you! But if you really want I can find a private driver, but I think that in Paris the best is always to walk during my tours.

I am happy to adapt my work to children but I am not a babysitter. I'm not a personal shopper, but I'll be happy to recommend some places. I'm not really a foodie, but I know a lot of delicious restaurants and can recommend a lot.

I am a professional full time freelance licenced guide : I am very proud of my work. I really try to do the best I can for the guest and to personalise everything I can. This is why I prefer sometimes to refuse to do a tour if I don't have time enough to prepare or if I realise I won't be good for the subject that is requested!

Important detail: Withlocals lets the guide decide what to do in this situation so I commit here to respect what I write here:

- in case of delay of the client I would like to be very clear, I do not wait more than 30 minutes without having received news and any refund will be refused.

- if you notify me of your delay it is imperative to do it by the chat of Withlocals, or by sms (preferably by whatsapp), in any case in writing.

I can adapt if it is possible and do not worry I always look for a solution: the tour can be shortened, or even rescheduled later.

However I no longer accept situations like saying : "we arrive in a few seconds"... and letting me wait more than an hour (it is very specific but it happened to me several times). The guide is not going to wait indefinitely, it is a question of respect.

In case of absence on my part, the client will be entitled to a full refund of course. This is a rare situation but I always prefer to cancel a tour if I am sick or too late rather than the client having a bad time.

I am freelance, which means that I can have a transport problem, be sick, or have made a stupid mistake in the program.

And I am much better at organizing myself to be completely honest!

In case of a problem on my part I always try to contact the client in advance, first on the withlocals chat, then by text or whatsapp, then by making a call.

When I can't come I always try to get a replacement for me with a competent guide that I trust. When a replacement is possible the tour will not be considered refundable.

Thank you very much for reading so far!

Other experiences with Lucien

€58.82per person