FAQ
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
WHO ARE THE GUIDES AT PARIS RUNNING TOURS?
Rare gems! Authentic Parisians who have always lived in Paris. Excellent runners who have participated in most of the Parisian races (and won some of them). They speak French and English of course and can relate their city’s history, urban development and architecture. They are true ambassadors of Paris.
I AM NOT A VERY GOOD RUNNER, CAN I STILL RUN WITH PARIS RUNNING TOURS?
Yes. Anyone who wants to run with Paris Running Tours is welcome! It is not necessary to be a professional runner to run with Paris Running Tours! The guide will adapt to your pace and can stop whenever you wish for a breather.
WHAT HAPPENS IF I CAN’T MAKE THE DISTANCE?
This hardly ever happens, because there are many breaks and the pace is made to suit the runners (or the slowest runner when there are more than one participants). Some parts of the route may even be done walking. If someone is really tired and wishes to stop, the guide will help him or her to return to the hotel or residence, whether by metro or another means of transport.
WHAT ABOUT THE DISTANCE? WHAT ABOUT EXTRA TIME?
All our tours are based on a distance of 5 miles /8 km (except for the “Corporate”, “GPS Drawing” or “According to your wishes” tours).
They generally take more than 2 hours as we like to take our time to enjoy the route. Depending on your time constraints, curiosity, wishes, and pace, the tour can even last more than 3 hours.
There is no such thing as “extra time” for us – our goal is for you to fully enjoy the visit, and going deeper into your discovery of Paris is our pleasure.
If the indicated tour duration (2h+) is exceeded, there will be no additional charge.
If you need to stick to the proposed duration because of another appointment or activity immediately afterwards, we will of course make sure you are back on time. Please let us know before the tour in the field “Any other comments”.
If you would like to run a different distance or for a different duration than those proposed, please select the “According to your wishes” option on the BOOK NOW page.
DO YOU MAKE STOPS?
Even if our tours are done running, we propose to stop to take photos or to appreciate the places that deserve more explanations, for example, the Concorde Square or the Pantheon (even if the guide gives a “running-commentary” on Paris).
If someone wishes to run without stopping, to carry out a training plan for example, we can arrange to not stop for breaks (but still take photos during the tour!).
The tour is done respecting safety and traffic lights.
WHAT HAPPENS IF IT RAINS?
Rain is not necessarily a drawback for visiting Paris, as long as it is light rain. If it is raining too heavily, we will propose another date. If you cannot make it on that date, you will be refunded.
IS THEIR AN AGE LIMIT FOR THE TOURS?
There is no age limit for the tours. Nevertheless, if a minor (under 18) wishes to run alone with the Paris Running Tours, he/she must be brought by an adult to the departure. In the same way, the guide will bring the young runner back to an adult.
I DO NOT SPEAK FRENCH, DOES THE GUIDE SPEAK MY LANGUAGE?
Our guides are all French and, even if they have a charming Parisian accent, they do speak English perfectly.
The tours are therefore conducted either in French or in English according to your needs. We also have a guide who also speaks Italian or Hebrew.
HOW DO YOU JUSTIFY THE PRICES?
The tours proposed by Paris Running Tours are 100% private (except for exceptional operations). Before the tour, the guide takes the time to prepare a tour which is specially designed for you, which starts and finishes at your place of residence, which goes past the places you want to see and which is adapted to the pace of the tour. Once you have arrived, the guide will have all the maps and documents to complete the information given orally and which will be given to you at the end of the tour. And last but not least, the guide is a Paris aficionado, he knows all its secrets and all the hidden nooks and crannies and will take pleasure in revealing them to you the whole way along the tour. You will go home with unforgettable memories, your head full of knowledge, some unique documents and photos!
Why don’t you take a glance at our Instagram and Facebook pages, our blog to get a better idea? Look also at the TripAdvisor excellent reviews.
WHEN WAS PARIS RUNNING TOURS SET UP?
Paris Running Tours was officially set up in 2008 (company name registration: 14/02/2008) by Francis Gérard (thanks to him). The activity only really started officially in 2010 with the birth of the Paris Running Tours site (see also the blog on which the first articles appear in May 2010). Paris Running Tours was bought in 2014 by Jean-Charles Sarfati who has been the main guide since 2010.
HOW LONG MUST A TOUR BE BOOKED IN ADVANCE?
There are no rules: book as soon as you can, Paris Running Tours will check the availability of the guides and contact you immediately after to tell you if the tour is possible at the desired date and time. Some periods are more popular (weekends, holidays, summer) but we generally find a solution to suit your request. If you wish to run tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, we will do our best to meet your requirements.
WHAT MOTIVATES THE PARIS RUNNING TOUR GUIDES?
They like their city more than everything, they like to run and as aficionados, they will do everything they can to make you enjoy the visit and appreciate Paris. They all have another professional activity and are guides at Paris Running Tours for pleasure.
WHY CHOOSE PARIS RUNNING TOURS?
Other tour companies do running tours in Paris. What makes Paris Running Tours so unique?
Paris Running Tours customize the tour for you.
- You choose the date that suits you: guides are available all week, all year and they get back to you very quickly. It is preferable to reserve your tour in advance but, if we are free, you can request a tour from one day to the next.
- You choose the time that suits you: we are available all day. We recommend running in the morning and from a certain time because of the opening times of certain parks and passages but we can run earlier or later (specify in the comment box when you book),
- We come to pick you up at your residence (except for thematic tours), we create your route: we make a unique route from your residence going past the most interesting places on the way,
- We print maps for you: your route is prepared for you, printed and locates you in Paris, the guide will carry them during the tour and will give them to you at the end of the route,
- We complete the maps with historical representations of Paris to help you to understand the history of the city.
- You have an entirely dedicated guide: he ensures your security the whole way along the route, adapts to your requests and gives you precise answers to your questions about Paris,
- The tour follows your pace: the guide will run at your pace and ensure your comfort during the tour (it is not a group tour where the runner must follow the guide or adapt to the group’s pace),
- We take care of your photos: the guide has a camera with him to take photos wherever you wish (of Paris, with or without you, running, etc.) and as many as you want.
- We send the photos and other information about the tour on the same day: the guide will send your photos (using DropBox or another Internet means), your GPS track, links related to the places that you visited or to illustrate the questions you asked on tour,
- You can even have a summary of your tour: it could, if you wish, be featured in an article in the Paris Running Tours blog which would give you a great souvenir of your tour and that you could share with your loved ones.
In Paris, we give precedence to quality rather than quantity to establish a unique relation with you. “Low-cost” is rarely synonymic of quality.
Most of the other companies propose group tours or “standardized”, pre-established circuits whereas Paris Running Tours offers you a circuit which is specially designed for you according to your place of residence and your choices and can also show you less well-known but just as interesting places.
Paris Running Tours is a totally independent company. Contrary to other companies, it is neither a franchise, nor an AirBnB membership to, nor an entity of a Tour operator. We are pure “craftsmen”.
With Paris Running Tours, you can be sure to have authentic Parisian guides who have lived in Paris for years (more than 50 years for some of them!). Paris flows in their blood because they were born and raised there and studied and run there! They have witnessed the evolution of art and architecture in Paris, for example the construction of the Louvre pyramid in the 1980s, the birth of the Orsay museum and the famous “Buren Columns” in 1986, the birth of the Quai Branly museum in 2006 or the wrapping of the Pont Neuf bridge in 1985 by the artist Cristo…
See our Instagram and Facebook pages, our blog to get a better idea? Look also at the TripAdvisor excellent reviews.
Our visitors often tell us that running with Paris Running Tours was the highlight of their stay in Paris!
WHAT CAN I LEARN WITH PARIS RUNNING TOURS?
When running, you have the advantages of a walking tour, all places may be accessed, but in addition, you cover a distance which enables you to see and appreciate the different aspects of the city, to make connections between different places, to take note of priorities for your visit and places to return to.
Indeed, Paris is a city with more than 2000 years history and by covering the distance of a Running Tour circuit, you will be able to understand:
- How Paris has grown,
- What Paris was like during different periods of its history,
- How Paris tried to rise out of the urban jungle of the Middle Ages,
- How Paris radically changed in the mid-19 th century,
- How Paris took advantage of its eight universal exhibitions and what is left standing,
- How Paris was marked by its different Kings and how to recognize the buildings that they left us,
- How Paris has always looked for harmony,
- How Paris was overthrown by the French Revolution (which started in 1789),
- How other « revolutions » have also changed Paris …
- In a nutshell, how history has affected Paris and then discover all the places where the historic events took place (do you want to know where Joan of Arc was wounded when trying to regain Paris from the English? Discover the place where King Henry IV was assassinated? Where the Royal Family was imprisoned during the Revolution? Where Queen Marie-Antoinette spent her last moments in a prison cell?)
The guide is happy to speak to you about all this during our Paris Running Tours.
He will give you advice and tips to make your stay in Paris as enjoyable as possible.
En effet, Paris est une ville qui a plus de 2000 ans d’Histoire, en couvrant la distance d’un circuit de Running Tour, vous pourrez comprendre :
- Comment Paris a grandi,
- Comment Paris était pendant les différentes périodes de son époque,
- Comment Paris a essayé de se sortir de la jungle urbaine héritée du Moyen Age,
- Comment Paris a radicalement changé au milieu du 19ème siècle,
- Comment Paris a profité de ses huit expositions universelles et ce qu’il nous en reste,
- Comment Paris a été marqué par ses différents souverains et connaître les constructions qu’ils nous ont laissées,
- Comment Paris a toujours été à la recherche de l’harmonie,
- Comment Paris a été bouleversé par la Révolution (celle qui a débuté en 1789),
- Comment d’autres « révolutions » ont aussi changé Paris, …
- Bref, comment l’Histoire a façonné Paris et connaître tous les endroits où des événements historiques ont eu lieu (voulez-vous savoir où Jeanne d’Arc a été blessée en tentant de reprendre Paris aux Anglais ? Connaître l’emplacement où le roi Henri IV a été assassiné ? Où la famille Royale fut mise en prison pendant la Révolution ? Où est la dernière cellule de la Reine Marie-Antoinette ?)
Le guide est heureux de vous parler de tout cela lors de nos Paris Running Tours.
Il vous donne aussi des conseils ainsi que des trucs et astuces pour profiter au maximum de votre séjour à Paris.
AS WELL AS PARIS, I AM GOING TO VISIT OTHER CITIES, WHICH OTHER RUNNING TOURS DO YOU RECOMMEND?
Discover the list of our main partners: here, among which you will find other Running Tours.
How does it work ?
The guide will come and pick you up at your place of residence in Paris, your hotel or building (or a defined location for thematic tours). The tour will also take you back to your residence. Before starting, he will make a brief presentation of Paris, its geography, its history and of course, your route!
You have a precise question about Paris? Your guide will be attentive and will answer your questions whenever you wish.
After the tour, the guide will send you an email with the photos, the itinerary and any interesting links so that you may keep lasting memories of your running tour!