FAQ – Frequent Asked Questions

English, French, and Spanish.

On the other hand, private tours are designed for one party only: a single group of people who know one another and book the tour together, such as a family or a group of friends. The tour booked is not open to anyone else. In a private tour, as in a public tour, the itinerary and the content of the tour are predefined, but the customers can choose the schedule of the tour function of the calendar of availability of the guide. Furthermore, in a private tour, the pace of the tour and the level of activity can be adapted to the audience by its dedicated tourist guide, who provides them with undivided attention.

Customized tours are even more exclusive than private tours. As private tours, they are designed for one party only and are not open to anyone else, but they are much more exclusive as they are designed specifically to fit the customer’s request. In customized tours, the tourist guide often comes to pick up his guests in the hotel. The more exclusive customized tours are called bespoke tours.

At last, semi-private tours are based on an ambiguous marketing concept. These are actually public tours but are restricted to a very small of customers. You are, therefore, with other clients whom you do not know at all, but they are very small in number. This gives a real comfort of visit and a little latitude to the guide to adapt to his audience and have the possibility to answer some questions. Typically, these kinds of visits are organized in large museums like the Louvre with mini-groups limited to 6 people.

Depending on the case, the private tours are directly bookable online via the corresponding page of the tour for a maximum of 6 or 10 people.

There are two cases.

(1) The museums where the mini groups are limited to 6 persons by the museums themself.
(2) The outdoor tours are limited to 6 or 10 persons, depending on the case.

Beyond these numbers, you won’t be able to book online. Contact us in this case, and we will check if we can organise a tour for you.

No monument or museum tickets are always extra. When you have to buy a museum or monument ticket for a tour, we clearly indicate it on the tour page.

Yes, our tours are always led by a qualified, official, licensed guide holding the Guide-Conférencier card (the highest-level French guiding certification).

To become an official tourist guide in France, you must pass a bachelor’s degree, knowing that many tourist guides also have higher diplomas. In France, an official tourist guide is called a “guide-conférencier,” his guide-conférencier professional card can demonstrate his agreement (his license). This card is the only way to recognize a true licensed tourist guide. The tourist guides need to show their card to enter for free in the French museums and monuments, and they are obliged to wear it ostensibly in most big French museums like the Louvre or Orsay. You can learn more about all these matters on Yves’page, the Broaden Horizons tourist guide in Paris.

No, we don’t offer free tours. These are not so “free” as they are based on remuneration by tip only—something that the “guides” of these “visits” repeat all along these kinds of “tours.” At Broaden Horizons, we concentrate on the content of our tours and our customer satisfaction. An official licensed tour guide always leads our guided tours.

Yes, each time we are available, it is possible to reserve a guided tour all year round with a large schedule flexibility from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Nevertheless, even if the outside tour is possible during the low season (which in France is wintertime), it is prudent to focus on indoor tours during this period of the year.

Better book early. Availability (subject to confirmation) is shown in the tours’ calendars.

On each private tour page, a red button gives you access to our reservation page, which contains our calendar of theoretical availability. From there, you have to follow an easy online four steps process:

• (1) Ask for a tour: Choose a tour date & time and enter your details
• (2) Receive availability confirmation email with a payment link
• (3) Pay by credit card
• (4) Receive a tour confirmation email with the precise meeting point 

Step (2): We respond rapidly (generally in less than 24 hours), and the answer is usually positive. You have a limited time to pay for the tour, generally 24 hours, but this may vary. For example, for a last-minute tour, the period is shorter.

No, we do not have physical points of sale in shops. Our guide tour can only be purchased online.

There is no online booking on the same day, but you can always try your luck by contacting us by e-mail or phone.

For the security of your online payment, we use Stripe, a world-recognized specialized service provider.

No, this is not possible. The private tours can only be paid in advance by credit card online. This is to protect us against “no-shows.”

No, we convey the thru price of our tours. We don’t add hidden costs at the last moment. If you have to add extra cost to the price of the tour, it is clearly indicated from the beginning on our pages.

Sorry, but we have a no-refund policy. Once booked, a tour is not refundable. For more details on our cancellation policy, please check the specialized section on our “Rates & Conditions” page.

You can see the meeting point for your tour in the final confirmation email you will receive in answer to your tour payment.

Your guide knows your name, which is enough for him; he won’t control your confirmation email (voucher). Nevertheless, you better come with your confirmation email (voucher), as it has the meeting point and your guide’s contact phone number on it.

First of all, good shoes are mandatory as we walk a lot on our… walking tours. What’s left is a matter of common sense. It is always prudent to have a bottle of water, and depending on the circumstances, you should bring what you need to protect yourself from the sun, the cold, or the rain.

Our guided tours start “rain or shine.” They are maintained, whatever the weather; please come with adequate clothing for the weather!

We prefer to use laminated paper documentation  (mostly in big A3 format). Paper has the advantage of not being subject to breakdown, not shining in the sun, and working even when it rains. We are quality-oriented; we don’t “show” information on smartphone screens.

Yes, you can leave reviews on our TripAdvisor or Google My Business profiles.