Your own party, your own pace and your own language on a hill with 222 steps in it. Three listings where private is the product, and five more that sell it as an upgrade.
The ninety-minute walk from Rue des Abbesses, with a private upgrade offered on the same booking. The shortest way on this hill to have a guide entirely to yourselves.
From $37 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
The back-stairways walk, also bookable as a private departure. Two kilometres at a relaxed pace, a croissant from an award-winning bakery, and the viewpoints local people use rather than the signposted ones.
From $41 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
A guide who is yours alone for two and a half hours, in any of six languages, on the fullest route on the hill. Runs whatever the weather.
From $65 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Sold as a shared walk with a private option on the same listing, so you can size the group to your party without changing operator.
From $46 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
The same two-and-a-half-hour route, capped at twelve and priced per seat rather than per party. Six languages, a minimum of two guests, and a full refund or another date if the numbers do not come.
From $65 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Five and a half hours: two and a half in the Orsay's Impressionist rooms with all entrance fees included, then private transport up to three hours on the Butte. Six languages, six travellers maximum.
From $237 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
A semi-private group leaving the Moulin Rouge kiosk, with forty-five minutes at the basilica — longer than any other walk gives it — and warm bread from a local bakery inside the fare.
From $111 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Your party alone with an internationally certified sommelier at a restaurant on Place du Tertre: five French wines, a dessert wine, a cheese and charcuterie board and a dessert. Ninety minutes, sitting down.
From $118 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Private and semi-private tours from $65 a head, refundable in full up to 24 hours before you start.
Check availabilityThe same streets, walked with a guide who is talking only to you. On this hill that buys three specific things: the pace, because the gradient affects everybody differently; the language, because two of these listings run in six; and the route, because you can stop at the vineyard for twenty minutes or skip Place du Tertre altogether. Three of the listings below are private products in their own right. The other five are shared walks whose own listing offers a private upgrade, and they are here because the upgrade is a real option and not a different tour.
222 steps and a 130-metre climb affect a group of twenty very differently from a group of two. On a private walk nobody is waiting for you and you are waiting for nobody.
Two listings here run in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian and Russian. Across the whole catalogue only three products offer anything beyond English, and they are all in this group.
The most consistent thing travellers say about the small-group and private walks is that there was time to ask. On a shared walk of twenty-five, there is not.
These are priced per person, so a party of four pays four times $65 rather than a single party rate. Against $37 a head for a shared ninety-minute walk that is roughly double for double the time and a guide of your own.
The choice is between control and cost, and the numbers are closer than most people expect once there are more than two of you.
| Private and semi-private | Shared walking tours | Best for | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price band | $65–$237 | $23–$75 | Parties of three or more comparing per head | From $65 |
| Who is with you | Your party, or a cap of 12 | 14–25 strangers | Anyone who wants to ask questions | From $65 |
| Languages | Up to six | English, mostly | Travellers who would rather not work in English | From $65 |
| Route flexibility | Yours to adjust | Fixed | Repeat visitors who want to skip the obvious | From $65 |
| Length | 1h30–5h30 | 1h30–2h30 | Anyone who wants more than two hours | From $65 |
Check availability from from $37
You get: a guide to yourselves or a group of twelve, the language of
your choice on two listings, and a route you can influence. The Orsay day adds museum
entry and private transport between the two halves.
You don't get: hotel pickup on any of them — two listings say so in
capitals and recommend a taxi. Gratuities are optional and excluded everywhere.
Note: one semi-private listing needs a minimum of two guests before it
will run at all, and offers a full refund or an alternative date if it does not.
Price band: $65 to $237 per person.
Duration: ninety minutes for the wine tasting, two and a half hours for
the walks, five and a half for the Orsay day.
Booking window: a week in summer, and longer for a language other than
English.
Meeting points: the Blanche metro exit for the walks, Place du Tertre for
the tasting, and the Orsay's main entrance for the museum day.
Weather: two listings state in capitals that the tour runs rain or
shine.
If you are travelling alone or as a couple on a budget, a private tour is the most expensive way to see a free neighbourhood. The shared Montmartre walking tours cover the same ground from $23, and the reviews for them are just as strong.
If what you want is lunch as well as a walk, none of these includes food except the wine tasting. A Montmartre food tour caps at ten or twelve people, which is nearly private, and feeds you.
And if your reason for going private is the crowd rather than the group, book the dawn walk instead. A private guide does not empty Place du Tertre at eleven in the morning; an early start does.
Private and semi-private walks on the Butte, in six languages, all refundable up to 24 hours before you start.
Check availabilityMontmartre guided tours and every other departure on the hill are listed on Montmartre Paris Tours.