Segway tour of Paris

I will be traveling with my two teenagers. They found the Segway tour of Paris. It is very pricey but we%26#39;re camping so it could be our crazy splurge of the trip. What do you think? Will we see the highpoints? I was just reading the info on the on and off bus which sounded like a good option. We will also only be there 2 days - day one overview see the sites and day 2 back to what looks most interesting.

Thanks, Becky

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I think it%26#39;s a lot of fun, but not at all a necessity if you are short on money. In your shoes, i would splurge on something else. Or do the bike tour (same company, Fat Tire) which is less expensive and same info.

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I suggest the night tour on the segways rather than the day tour. One reason is that I don%26#39;t think you will see quite as much as you would on the on-and-off bus. However, it is very important to see the lights of the city. It is so beautiful at night. As part of the lights, you get to see the Eiffel Tower twinkle. I think it is a must. As far as the actual segway ride itself is concerned, it is a blast. Your kids will love it. It isn%26#39;t only about what you see but is also about what you do! The segway ride combines both doing and seeing in a way that you will all have a memorable time. I strongly recommend it. They say you can just show up at the recommended site but I do not suggest that. I encourage you to make a reservation on line. If there aren%26#39;t enough segways available, you would lose out and you have no flexibility in your schedule because of your short time in Paris. Check out two sites which lead you to the exact same set of segways/tours: Fat Tire Bikes and viator.com. Sometimes the prices differ between these two companies but they are in fact referring to the exact same place.

As far as the daytime is concerned, I would recommend a bicycle tour of the city or an electric bicycle tour of the city. I think a bicycle tour would likely see more of the %26quot;Main%26quot; sites than the electric bicycle tour would which travels all over the city.

I just think a bus ride is more boring to teenagers than actually %26quot;doing something%26quot; to see Paris.

P.S. I don%26#39;t know where you are camping but be sure it isn%26#39;t in Bois de Bologne Park!

Have a great trip.

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The Segway tours are great fun, particularly the opportunity just to enjoy riding a Segway! You%26#39;ll see plenty of Paris sights, but not all the %26quot;highpoints%26quot;, and there%26#39;s not much commentary along the way.

We also prefer the night tour, as you leave in the daylight and return after dark when the lights have been turned on all over.

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I suggest you try the bike tour,, we did the night bike tour, but apparently the day bike tour is very similar. The night bike tour included a night boat cruise, so that was fun. I think your kids would think its a hoot riding through the streets of Paris, I know everyone on our tour had fun.. The nice thing you do not need to reserve ahead, so if weather is bad , or you just have a change in plans, its no big deal. It was about 28 euros for the bike tour, so a good budget activity to fill an evening or day.. We used Fat Tire, but there are others. We were happy with Fat Tire.

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Thanks for all of the great feedback! This is an amazing resource.

Regarding camping - we are planning on camping at Huttopia at Versailles. Does anyone have a point of view on this campground? I%26#39;ve heard it is an easy train into Paris.

Many thanks for the helpful information!

Becky

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Check out what time the latest train is from paris to your campground. When my son was 15 years old I took him to Paris for 11 days. We stayed in Vaux-sur-Seine at a lovely pensionne. This town is 25 minutes by train northwest of Paris. It was horrible because my son wanted to do things in the evening and we had to get back to the train station in time to catch the train. It just ruined our evenings. You have two teenagers too. Unless the train runs very late, I don%26#39;t recommend that you stay outside of Paris proper. Dinners are served late in Paris. Music, etc. starts after that.

Is there a way you could stay at a budget hotel or a pensionne in Paris? There are some places which are quite inexpensive. How much will the campgrounds cost for the 3 of you?

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Do they rollerblade?

The Friday night rollerblade excursions look like great fun! If you get the Travel Channel, this was recently featured on Samantha Brown%26#39;s Paris show.

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Thanks for the helpful information. I hadn%26#39;t thought about how late the metro runs. I checked and it looks like they run until almost midnight which should be late enough for us - they are young but I am not! I%26#39;ve email the camp ground to see about transportation between the metro and the campground.

We will be paying 29E per night/3 nights for the 3 of us - I doubt we%26#39;d find room for that in Paris.

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I%26#39;m glad you are checking out transportation between your campground and the train station. I forgot to tell that part of the story for us. When we would arrive in Vaux-sur-Seine in the evening, the train station in that small town was already closed. There were no taxis waiting there and we didn%26#39;t have a cell phone so we had to walk back to the pensionne, an uphill venture, basically in the dark. It was NOT my idea of a good time. Mind you, we loved this pensionne. I had designed an all-immersion French trip for my son and the owners of the pensionne didn%26#39;t speak English. It was beautiful, had a pool, and we met people from all over the world each morning at breakfast. It was cheaper than staying in a nice place in Paris. But the inconvenience was so not worth it that I wouldn%26#39;t do it again.

So: unless the campground is near the train station, it is smart to make sure you have a way to get there after you return from a very busy, tiring day in Paris.

Good luck. I hope your plan works well for you.

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I have another thought for you. The train isn%26#39;t cheap, especially compared to buy a carnet of tickets to be used on public transportation within Paris proper. If you think of 3 train tickets to Versailles morning and evening for 2-3 days, as opposed to one relatively inexpensive budget hotel room, I%26#39;m not sure how much you will end up saving. That would be true probably even if you purchased Mobilis passes or some discounted way of traveling on the train. Have you figured out the dollars and cents of it yet?

By the way--I was born and raised in St. Louis Park and almost my entire family is still there. Minneapolis is beautiful.

Feel free to message me if you want additional help.