Tour Details
Duration
2.5 hours
Product Type
Tour
Venues
- Marché d'Aligre
- Marché Beauvau
- Various specialty shops around Marché d'Aligre
Photos & Highlights
- Be hosted by a food expert as they share the real tastes of French local market food and wine
- Unique, personal tours for the intentional traveler
Select a date
Tour Description
What better way is there to experience a bit of French local life than spending the morning at the market? Often overlooked by tourists and much coveted by locals, Marché d’Aligre boasts an array of items from flowers to fruits, produce to pastries, with just about everything in between.
During this Paris market tour, you will hop from stand to stand in the company of your local host. They will introduce you to shopkeepers, give you the history behind various French delicacies, and show you how to order some of the best specialties around. You might taste some treats along the way while stocking up on others in preparation for a small end-of-tour picnic. Should you choose, you can wash it all down with a glass of French wine.
You’ll leave this food tour with both a newfound knowledge of local eating habits, as well as a belly full of tasty treats. But more importantly, you will have spent the morning living a truly French experience, as the local market traditions are alive and well in this part of the world.
- You want to live, eat, and drink like a Parisian for a morning
- You want to learn how to pick out the best produce, including cheese, charcuterie, and products, from any French market
- Cheese and charcuterie–learn how to find the best!
- Pastries and produce–discover what Parisians typically pick up when they head to the market.
- Wash it all down with a glass of wine (alternatives available for non-drinkers).
- These tastings are generous and should replace a meal, but you are in Paris, why would you want to skip a meal?
- You will be visiting local establishments that are often family-run, hours and availability may vary.
- Dietary restrictions should be shared in advance to possibly adapt the tour. This tour can be adapted for gluten or dairy allergies. It would be doable as a vegetarian, but we do not recommend this tour for vegans.
- If you are looking to learn more about Paris before your visit, check out our online lectures.
- Bathrooms are available at the covered market
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Wheelchair accessibility
- The market and surrounding areas are wheelchair accessible
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Service Dogs
- Service dogs are allowed in the market and surrounding areas.
- For more information about Context tours, please visit our FAQs.
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Can I participate in your small group food walks if I have food allergies?
Yes. If you have any specific allergies/intolerances, please indicate these in the notes section when you are booking,g and your expert will do their best to accommodate.
Book with confidence — see Context's flexible cancellation policy here.
Where You'll Start
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248 Reviews
Reviews can only be left by Context customers after they have completed a tour. For more information about our reviews, please see our FAQ.
It was a wonderful experience -- just what we hoped for to start our visit to France .
Joanne
Reviewed on:
Sep 17, 2014
We thought it was a waste of money and not what we were expecting. I guess we were expecting interaction with vendors and pre arranged tasting at their stalls. Very little was spent on food given how much we paid. Examples 2 peaches for 7 people, 1 baguette for 7 people. Had we realised we'd have just bought an extra baguette for ourselves. Yes there was pate and cheese left over but we ran out of bread and you can only eat so much pate, would have also liked some extra variety of food. To be fair we were asked what we did and didn't like we just didn't realise there'd be so little. I guess we felt we could have walked around and purchased the same food for ourselves for a picnic at a fraction of the price. We have been to farmers markets in Bordeaux in Lyon and also at Montparnasse in Paris so thought we would be paying for something "extra" that we couldn't do ourselves but that wasn't the case. Also, I think it would help if the cafe you meet at was actually open. We expected Alisa to know if it was open or closed and it seemed silly suggesting a coffee there if you arrive early in the booking email when its closed for the Summer. We had planned on having breakfast there first but had to find somewhere else. We also expected because it is Summer that Alisa would be on top of which stalls would be open/closed and some pre-work would be done. I realise most companies are charging around the same price for walking/market tours and perhaps this is something for newcomers with no confidence to purchase themselves who have never been to a French market before. This was our first trip to France, maybe if this tour was at the beginning of our trip and not at the end we may have felt differently about the content but not the price. We just felt there was no value for the money spent. We could have had a really nice lunch with wine for the cost of the tour.
Leesa
Reviewed on:
Aug 21, 2014
Enjoyed the tour, however, it would have been nice if more places were open given the August time frame.
Ronette
Reviewed on:
Aug 18, 2014
