To offer a selection of Paris tourist attractions, I had to give a lot of thought to your requests, which were asking me for my suggestions and recommendations for places to see and things to do in Paris.

This was kind of a departure from my initial objective, which was to facilitate your own Paris discovery by sharing all the Paris travel tips I know, and some I still discover along the way.

But through your requests, I realized that there is just as strong, and maybe an even stronger need from people interested in a little guidance, particularly in picking the best things to see, places to go or reputable operators of Paris tourist attractions and sightseeing services.

Indeed, which Paris tours and sightseeing options are most worthwhile given time constraints during a limited Paris vacation? It makes sense to address that question. Why waste half of your vacation trying out things that for the most part you know nothing about, if you can get reliable recommendations from people who have been there, done that and bought the t-shirt, right?

Just a reminder: You can do a self-designed Paris visit without the need for a paid tour service. But, this information is very helpful to people who prefer a thoroughly researched, low frustration and error-free tour experience carefully put together by professional tour operators.

Saving time and aggravation while enjoying maximum information and flexibility of choice are the greatest advantages the respective fees provide you with.

Now, let me first say that no matter what your preference, I think you should try to get at least an overview of the whole of Paris, which as you’re about to find out, is not that hard to do. To give you expert touring information in doing so, I decided to sort through the best available Paris tourist attractions services, and recommend only what I would personally enjoy taking part in.

So, without further ado, let me introduce you to my Paris tours partners, Viator.com. (Viator is latin for traveler; cool name!) I hope you will find them to your liking as much as I have. Viator.com is one of the premier and largest travel attractions providers in the world.

Most importantly, they offer superlative Paris tours and sightseeing amenities covering everything you could possibly want to see in or around Paris, and beyond. I had enjoyed some of their Paris tour features in the past, not knowing that I would one day team up with them.

Our first Paris tourist attractions feature is best used for a great all around introductory visit to Paris. It is the Paris open-deck bus feature available in their All Hop-on Hop-off Tours in Paris section. Passes are offered in one or two-day options, and give you unlimited use of 4 different routes.

All routes are interconnected so you can spontaneously hop off, explore whatever your heart desires and then hop back on. Stops are located in the vicinity of all Paris tourism sites. This is the ultimate way to cover the main Paris tourist attractions before setting out to visit more specific places in detail (museums, monuments and specific sites of interest).

I. Even if you decide against hopping off and on, the Paris Grand Tour route gives you a fantastic start to your Paris tours with an itinerary that covers most of the big stops:

The world renowned Louvre museum, the Tuileries Garden, the majestic Paris Opéra Garnier (note: Paris has another great opéra house at La Bastille), the Conciergerie, the illustrious Notre Dame cathedral, Place Saint-Michel, Sainte Chapelle, the awesome Orsay museum, Place de La Concorde, the entire Champs Elysées strip with the Arc de Triomphe, and not to be outdone, the iconic Eiffel Tower, and much more.

2. You’ll find the trendy neighborhoods of Le Marais and Bastille on the Bastille-Bercy itinerary, which also includes Centre Beaubourg next to Les Halles, and charming Ile Saint-Louis, one of the two islands in the middle of the Seine river (the one next to it is Ile de la Cité, the birthplace of Paris).

3. The stunning Sacré-Coeur basilica, Montmartre and the famed Moulin Rouge are part of the Montmartre-Grands Boulevards.

4. The Montparnasse Tower atop the Montparnasse neighborhood, Saint-Germain-des-Prés and the legendary Quartier Latin with the Panthéon, and the Sorbonne (best known section of the Université de Paris complex) will be featured in the Montparnasse Tour.

Don't worry if it all seems a bit overwhelming. You’re traveling to a foreign city! Included in the Paris tourist attraction package are individual earphones with recorded tour commentary in English. Get all the details for open-deck Paris tours here.