Answered
Paris Food Tours — Questions and Answers
Every question a reader sends before booking one of the best food tours in paris, grouped the way they actually get asked: book it, work out whether you can eat it, check that it suits the people you are travelling with, then find out what Paris itself is doing that day. Every answer is drawn from what the listings state or from a source named on the page that owns the fact.
Booking and cancellation
Do I need to book a Paris Food tour in advance?
Yes. Every walk here caps its group — most between nine and twelve — and the Marais and Montmartre departures close first. Book three to five days ahead between April and October, and a day or two ahead the rest of the year.
Can I cancel a Paris Food booking?
Yes, and in full, on all but one of them. Almost every tour listed here refunds completely if you cancel at least 24 hours before it starts, which is the operators' own policy rather than ours. The exception is the Marais tasting tour that starts at the Enfants Rouges market, which asks for three days.
Which tour is the exception to the 24-hour refund?
The Le Marais District Original Food and Wine Tasting Tour. Its listing gives two different windows — three days in its summary line and two days in its policy text — so treat three days before the walk as your deadline. Every other walk here refunds in full at 24 hours.
Do I need a Paris Food reservation, or can I turn up?
You need a reservation. None of these walks takes payment at the meeting point, and six of them need a minimum of two guests before they run at all. A Paris Food reservation also holds your place in a group that is often capped at twelve.
How far ahead does a Paris Food booking confirm?
Usually straight away. Most listings here confirm at the moment you book; two of them — the Saint-Germain tasting walk and the sommelier-led cellar tasting — say confirmation can take up to 48 hours, subject to availability. Allow for that if you are booking the day before.
How many people will be on the tour?
Between nine and twelve on almost every walk. The Eating Europe Marais tour caps at nine, most walks cap at ten or twelve, and the two seated tasting rooms are the outliers — one takes twelve, the other states a maximum of twenty-six. The day trips to Champagne run in minivans of eight, with one exception that states twenty-three.
Can I book a Paris food tour for a large group?
Up to the cap, yes, and one walk is private. The private Marais walk takes your party alone up to eight; the shared walks take bookings up to their stated maximum. For anything larger, book a second departure rather than trying to fit one group into a walk built for twelve.
Can I change the date after booking?
Cancel and rebook, in almost every case. The operators here do not publish a date-change process, and the free 24-hour cancellation is what makes it painless. Do it more than 24 hours out and you are refunded in full, then book the day you want.
Is there a minimum number of guests?
On six of them, yes — two. The Eating Europe walks and the Do Eat Better walks all need two guests before they run, and will contact you to rebook or refund if the departure does not fill. Everything else takes a single booking.
Food, drink and what your diet allows
How much food do you actually get?
More than most people expect, and often enough to replace a meal. Many of these listings describe the fare as a full meal or lunch rather than tastings, and the highest count on the site is fifteen tastings on one Montmartre walk. Reviewers on almost every listing say some version of come hungry.
Will I need dinner afterwards?
On the full-meal walks, no. Where a fare is sold as a meal or a lunch rather than as tastings, tastings, it is built to stand in for one, and travellers regularly report skipping dinner. The two-hour tasting walks and the seated wine tastings are lighter, and you will want something later.
How much wine is included?
Wine is poured on all but a few, and the amounts are stated. The private Marais walk names three glasses, the two seated tastings pour five and six, and the Champagne day trips run to six, seven or more. The morning pastry walk pours coffee rather than wine.
Can I do a Paris food tour without drinking alcohol?
Yes, on every walk that pours. Non-alcoholic options are offered as standard on the Secret Food Tours and Do Eat Better routes, and the Loire day trip pours grape juice for anyone under eighteen. Say so when you book so the stops are ready for it.
Are vegetarian options available?
On several, and the listings say which. The Do Eat Better walks and the private Marais walk all state that vegetarian options are available, and the Eating Europe walks say they will do their best. The rest do not commit either way, so ask before you pay.
Can vegans join one of these walks?
Rarely, and several operators rule it out in their own words. The Secret Food Tours walks state that vegan diets cannot be accommodated, Do Eat Better says its Marais walk does not suit vegans or the lactose intolerant, and Devour says the same. Nothing here is sold as a vegan food tour.
Are these tours suitable for coeliacs or a gluten-free diet?
Mostly no, and the reasons are stated. Devour says outright that gluten cross-contamination makes its walk unsuitable for coeliac disease, and the Secret Food Tours listings say gluten-free diets cannot be accommodated. Bread and pastry are the spine of a Paris food walk, which is why.
What about lactose intolerance?
It is ruled out by name on two of them. Do Eat Better's Marais walk states it is not suitable for lactose-intolerant guests, and Devour does not recommend it. Given that cheese appears on almost every route here, treat a dairy intolerance as a reason to pick the wine tastings or ask first.
I have a severe food allergy. Can I still join?
Usually not, and the operators are explicit about it. Eating Europe says its walks are not suitable for severe or life-threatening allergies, Do Eat Better says the same for safety reasons, and Devour requires an allergy waiver at the start. Contact the operator before booking rather than on the day.
Can children come along?
On most of them, and many publish a child fare. Most of the listings here carry a child or youth age band with its own price, starting as low as three or four years old, and two operators let under-fours join free without food. The seated wine tastings and the Champagne days are eighteen and over.
Who these walks suit, and who they do not
Is there a family food tour in Paris?
Several of these work as one, though none is sold under that label. The Do Eat Better walks take children from six with an adult fare from eleven, the Original Food Tours walks take youths from three, and Devour takes children from two. A family food tour Paris parents actually finish is the one with the shortest walk, not the most tastings.
Can teenagers drink the wine?
No. The minimum drinking age is eighteen and several operators state it explicitly, pouring soft drinks or grape juice instead. Teenagers are welcome on most of the walks; the glass is not.
How much walking is there?
Two to four kilometres on most walks, spread over three hours with frequent stops. The operators describe a moderate pace with regular sitting or standing breaks, and the walking is the point rather than an obstacle. If that is too much, the two seated tastings involve none at all.
Is Montmartre difficult to walk?
It is a hill, and most of the Montmartre listings say so themselves. One warns that the itinerary has ups and downs along the hill, another that it can be a little bit of a steep way up, and a third mentions short bursts of stairs. Wear shoes you can climb in, or pick a Marais walk instead.
Are any of these walks wheelchair accessible?
Four of them, and three are in the Marais. The Eating Europe Marais walk, the Original Food Tours Marais walk and the private Marais walk are all described by their operators as wheelchair accessible, with the transport and surfaces described the same way. Not one Montmartre walk is.
Can I bring a pushchair?
On about half. Several say stroller accessible in their own accessibility notes, and Devour says outright that its walk does not suit pushchairs. The Marais routes are flatter and better for it than the Montmartre ones.
Do these tours work for solo travellers?
Yes, and reviewers who travelled alone say the group made it easy. Twenty of the catalogue take a single booking with no supplement; six need two guests before the departure runs at all. The seated tastings are the most sociable, because everybody is at one table.
Are there Paris Food tickets to buy at a door?
No. There is no gate and no booth: the bakeries, market halls and bistros these walks visit are open to anybody who walks in, and what you are booking is a guide, a route and the food. The fare is the whole cost.
Paris itself: tickets, Mondays and the weather
What are Paris Food ticket prices, and do they include admission?
Fares run from $80 to $413, and Paris Food ticket prices in the admission sense do not exist. Not one of these fares covers entry to a Paris monument — the Louvre ticket, the Panthéon and the Moulin Rouge show are all outside them. The one exception is outside Paris, where the Loire day trip includes entry to Chambord and Chenonceau.
Do these walks run on Mondays?
Yes, but the markets do not. Paris food markets close city-wide on Mondays, and on 1 January, 1 May and 25 December, so a Monday walk leans on bakeries, fromageries and bistros instead. Book a Tuesday-to-Sunday slot if the market hall is what you came for.
What happens in August, when Paris shuts?
Less than you have been told. The compulsory bakery closure rota was abolished in 2014, so shops now stagger their holidays voluntarily and the tourist-area cafés and bistros stay open. Independent bakeries still take one to several weeks off, and one reviewer's tour did lose a shop to it, so a guide who can swap a stop is worth having.
What if it rains?
The walks run anyway. Some of these listings state that they operate in all weather conditions and two more name a raincoat in what to bring, because the eating happens indoors and only the walking between stops does not. If the forecast is bad, the seated wine and cheese tastings never step outside.
Where do these tours meet?
At twenty different places, and that is the thing to check twice. Most walks meet at a named metro exit, a café front or a market door — Saint-Paul, Anvers, Pont Marie, Mabillon, Place Blanche — and the guide carries a coloured umbrella or a branded bag. Three of the Champagne day trips collect you at your hotel instead.
What should I bring?
Comfortable shoes, an appetite and something warm for a cellar. Several operators name walking shoes and a raincoat in their own what-to-bring lists, one asks for a passport or ID card, and the Champagne and Loire cellars sit at about ten degrees all year even in July.
Still deciding which one?
Every Paris walk and day trip side by side on hours, group size and what the fare actually covers.
If your question is about a particular quarter, the quarter guide goes deeper, and the dish list defines everything you are likely to be handed. For the practical side of a departure, see planning your visit, or start from the Paris Food Tours grid.