We drive visitors around Paris and the Île-de-France every day, and the same questions come up in the car every week. These guides are those answers, written out: what the rules actually are, what things actually cost, and where the official source says something different from what you read online.
Where the best option is a train rather than a car, the guides say so.
Shopping in Paris and living outside the EU? You are owed money back — but not the 20% you are expecting, and not if you check your bags before the kiosk. The threshold, the arithmetic, the deadlines, and the two mistakes that void a claim.
Service has been included in French prices by law since 1987, so tipping is voluntary and small. What is customary in cafés, brasseries, starred restaurants, taxis and hotels — and why the card machine will not let you add anything.
RER B, Roissybus, the regulated taxi flat fare, ride-hailing or a private car. Real journey times rather than best cases, what each costs, and an honest answer to which one suits your arrival.
A licensed guide-conférencier and a private chauffeur are separate professions under French law, and only one of them may lead you through the Louvre. What each may do, and how to read a “private tour” quote before you pay for it.
Late April to early June, and September to mid-October — and the reasons why. What closes in August, the weeks Fashion Week doubles hotel rates, and the handful of days each year when the roads across Paris simply shut.
Three stations are called Versailles, and they are 10, 20 and 25 minutes' walk from the gates. Which train, when the Palace is closed, how long the estate really takes, and when a car is worth it.
127 starred restaurants in the 2026 selection, nine of them with three stars. How the tables are actually released, how far ahead the good evenings go, and the weekday lunch that costs a third of dinner in the same kitchen.
Europe's busiest business aviation airport, eleven kilometres from the centre and closed to scheduled traffic since 1980. How an FBO arrival runs, what customs involves, and the one detail transfers go wrong without.
Le Jules Verne at 125 metres with a Michelin star, Madame Brasserie at 57, a champagne bar at the summit. What each costs, how far ahead to book, and an honest answer on whether the view justifies the bill.
362 kilometres and four and a half hours each way. What a day trip really involves, why the train has only a few buses a day, when to stay the night instead, and how the tides decide your date.
The garden closes from November to March, which catches out a great many winter visitors. When to go for the wisteria and when for the water lilies, the train to Vernon, and how to turn a half day into a full one.
130 kilometres east, and the one day trip where the drink-driving law decides how the day is arranged. Where the UNESCO cellars are, how to book the houses, and grandes maisons versus growers.
If you would rather not solve a transport problem after a long flight: Paris car service and private chauffeur, airport transfers, and private days out of the city — Champagne, Normandy, Versailles and Giverny.
Call and ask. We would rather tell you the train is quicker than sell you a car you do not need.