Paris Saint-Germain Food Tour: 10 Tastings, Chocolate & Macarons

What's Included

Meeting and pickup

Itinerary

• 1
  Saint-Germain-des-Pres

  Saint-Germain Chocolate & Pastry Trail — starting at 2 Rue Notre-Dame des Champs. Group option: A delicious introduction to the sweeter side of the Left Bank. Follow your guide through Saint-Germain’s tempting bakeries and chocolate shops, discovering the stories behind French sweet traditions. Enjoy 10 advertised tastings, with selections that may include a freshly baked welcome bite, delicate macarons, chocolate, buttery shortbread, cream-filled choux, salted-butter caramels and a surprise specialty. The assortment and participating shops change with availability. This is a tasting walk, with individual sweets and sampling portions rather than 10 full-sized desserts. Photo: colorful macarons, tempting pastry windows and your first delicious Paris bite.

  45 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 2
  Church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés

  Finish where medieval Paris meets legendary café society. Look up at the ancient bell tower of a church whose abbey origins reach back to the 6th century. Long before the neighborhood became famous for writers and cafés, this was a royal burial place. Today, its stone silhouette makes a memorable finale to your sweet discoveries. Both options finish outside, with cafés, boutiques and Métro connections close by. Photo: a final Paris portrait beneath the historic tower.

  2 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 3
  Boulangerie Poilâne

  Private tour only. World-famous bread—and the sweetest little “punishments.” Step into the story of a family bakery founded at this address in 1932, where a wood-fired oven remains central to its identity. Its celebrated Punitions—French for “punishments”—are wonderfully buttery biscuits with a mischievous name. Enjoy 3 selected bakery tastings, planned as a croissant portion, a Punitions biscuit and an apple-tart portion. This is a delicious introduction to the quieter craftsmanship behind everyday French baking. Photo: golden pastry against Poilâne’s distinctive brick shopfront.

  10 minutes • Admission ticket included
• (Pass by)

  Private tour only. Where a pastry legend made his Paris debut. Discover the boutique Pierre Hermé opened in 2001, his first in Paris. Named World’s Best Pastry Chef in 2016, he approaches pastry through unexpected combinations, precise textures and flavors that linger in the memory. Admire the seasonal creations before enjoying your included macarons later at the Odéon café. Photo: jewel-like pastries behind the window of a celebrated Paris address.

  Admission ticket free
• 4

  Private tour only. Four famous faces and a playful Parisian nickname. Meet the fountain’s 4 bishops, celebrated for their powerful preaching. None became a cardinal—a detail behind the French wordplay surrounding its nickname, the fountain of the “four cardinal points.” Designed by Louis Visconti, this grand fountain turns the square into a magnificent open-air stage. Photo: cascading water, sculpted lions and the church towers rising behind you.

  5 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 5

  Private tour only. Two towers that refuse to match. Stand before one of Paris’s most impressive churches and discover why its 2 towers look different. Construction of the present church began in the 17th century, but changing architects and interrupted ambitions left a façade full of personality. Your guide introduces its artistic connections and the neighborhood’s monumental side. Photo: a striking portrait framed by the mismatched towers.

  5 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 6

  Private tour only. A Paris street that becomes an open-air book. Discover 100 lines of Arthur Rimbaud’s Le Bateau ivre, painted across a long wall in 2012. Rimbaud wrote the poem while still a teenager; here, his extraordinary imagination becomes part of an otherwise quiet neighborhood street. It is an unexpected little encounter with literary Paris. Photo: follow the flowing handwritten verses toward the Luxembourg quarter.

  5 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 7
  Jardin du Luxembourg

  Private tour only. A queen’s garden, now part of everyday Parisian life. Trade pastry windows for elegant paths, green chairs and beautiful garden perspectives. Created for Marie de Médicis, Luxembourg became a beloved setting for reading, conversation and watching the world go by. Enjoy a short walk through its northern section, where royal ambition meets one of the simplest Parisian pleasures: spending time outdoors somewhere beautiful. Photo: green chairs, garden paths and a palace-worthy backdrop.

  10 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 8

  Private tour only. A little Florence in the heart of Paris. Admire the palace commissioned by Marie de Médicis in 1615, with architectural inspiration drawn from her native Florence. What began as a royal residence now houses the French Senate. Seen from the garden, its balanced façade provides a magnificent contrast to Saint-Germain’s intimate streets. Photo: the palace rising beyond the garden’s formal perspectives.

  5 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 9

  Private tour only. A hidden theatrical scene reflected in water. Discover a shaded fountain whose origins date to around 1630. Look beyond the reflections to find a dramatic mythological scene: the giant Polyphemus watches the lovers Acis and Galatea. Its long pool and sculpted backdrop make this one of the neighborhood’s most memorable photo settings. Photo: your own Paris postcard beside the fountain’s mirror-like water.

  5 minutes • Admission ticket free
• (Pass by)

  Private tour only. A grand stage with a remarkable survival story. Admire the classical columns of a theater first opened in 1782 and rebuilt after fires in 1799 and 1818. Its elegant square reveals another side of the Left Bank: theatrical, intellectual and full of anticipation. Photo: a cinematic entrance beneath the monumental columns.

  Admission ticket free
• 10

  Private tour only. Two macarons, one drink and a celebrated pastry imagination. Savor creations by Pierre Hermé, World’s Best Pastry Chef in 2016. Enjoy 2 selected macarons, with possible flavors such as Ispahan—rose, raspberry and lychee—or Mogador, combining passion fruit and milk chocolate. Pair them with one coffee or hot chocolate from the included selection. Seating is subject to availability, with takeaway as the alternative. Photo: colorful macarons and a delicious pause on the Boulevard Saint-Germain.

  10 minutes • Admission ticket included
• 11

  Private tour only. Brittany’s buttery temptation, reinvented in miniature. Discover the creations of Georges Larnicol, Meilleur Ouvrier de France in 1993. His signature Kouignette, introduced in 2003, transforms Brittany’s famously buttery kouign-amann into an irresistible individual pastry. Enjoy one selected Kouignette tasting, with caramelized layers that make the first bite particularly memorable. Photo: golden pastry spirals and a shop window made for sweet-toothed explorers.

  10 minutes • Admission ticket included
• 12

  Private tour only. Cobbles, old shop signs and revolutionary whispers. Slip away from the boulevard into a narrow passage once alive with the ideas and arguments of Revolutionary Paris. In 1791, a contemporary journalist celebrated this little street as a place from which powerful new ideas had emerged. Today, its cobbles and intimate scale offer a delightful change of pace. Photo: a tucked-away Paris scene beneath historic shop signs.

  5 minutes • Admission ticket free
• Le Procope (Pass by)

  Private tour only. Coffee, conversation and ideas that changed France. Discover a Paris institution tracing its story to 1686, associated with thinkers including Voltaire, Rousseau and Diderot. Its history captures the moment when cafés became places to debate, exchange ideas and imagine a different world. This is an exterior storytelling stop; food and drinks here are not included. Photo: the historic façade of one of Paris’s legendary meeting places.

  Admission ticket free
• 13

  Private tour only. The delicious bustle of everyday Saint-Germain. Wander past lively terraces, food shops and tempting windows on one of the neighborhood’s most atmospheric streets. Here, shopping for something delicious and lingering over a café terrace feel like essential parts of the day. Photo: flowers, café tables and the cheerful movement of Parisian street life.

  5 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 14

  Private tour only. A small caramel with a wonderfully big reputation. Taste the sweet-salty craftsmanship of a house whose signature caramel was named Best Sweet in France in 1980. Henri Le Roux later celebrated his business’s anniversary with a caramel measuring 567.85 metres! Enjoy 2 selected caramel tastings, including the celebrated salted-butter style when available. Its signature recipe combines soft caramel with pieces of nuts. Photo: tiny wrapped treasures against a charming Saint-Germain street.

  10 minutes • Admission ticket included
• 15

  Private tour only. Four trees, five lanterns and a perfect little Paris scene. Discover a former abbey courtyard transformed into an intimate square. 4 paulownia trees surround a central lamp with 5 lights, creating a setting that feels almost designed for a film. This quiet corner is a lovely reminder that some of Paris’s most memorable places are also its smallest. Photo: an effortless Paris postcard beneath the central lanterns.

  5 minutes • Admission ticket free
• (Pass by)

  Private tour only. An artist moved here to shorten his walk to work. Discover the address where Eugène Delacroix settled in 1857, bringing him closer to his painting commission at Saint-Sulpice. His former home and studio now form a museum devoted to the artist. Your guide connects this quiet façade with the monumental church encountered earlier. Photo: an artist’s Paris address tucked beside the picturesque square.

  Admission ticket free
• 16

  Private tour only. A celebrated chef’s passion, transformed into chocolate. Explore the chocolate world Alain Ducasse established with his Paris manufacture in 2013. The house makes chocolate from cacao beans in Paris, controlling the transformation from roasting through to the finished chocolate. Enjoy 2 selected chocolate tastings, such as a smooth ganache and a nutty praline. This boutique is a tasting address; the production workshop is elsewhere. Photo: beautifully presented chocolates and a small moment of delicious anticipation.

  10 minutes • Admission ticket included
• Café de Flore (Pass by)

  Private tour only. Where a café table could become a writer’s office. Discover a café whose history reaches back to 1887, forever associated with Saint-Germain’s intellectual life. Its literary prize, founded in 1994, keeps that connection alive. Hear how conversation, creativity and hours spent over a café table helped shape the neighborhood’s identity. Photo: the famous sign and terrace—instantly recognizable Paris.

  Admission ticket free
• Les Deux Magots (Pass by)

  Private tour only. A café famous enough to have its own literary prize. Discover the institution whose 1933 literary prize first honored novelist Raymond Queneau. Its unusual name comes from 2 decorative figures inherited from the shop that occupied the premises before the café. Enjoy a final glimpse of Saint-Germain’s celebrated café society before finishing beside the church at #2. Photo: the legendary terrace with the historic neighborhood unfolding around you.

  Admission ticket free

Additional info

• Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
• Service animals allowed
• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
• Suitable for all physical fitness levels
• The group option lasts approximately 2.5 hours, with up to 15 guests. Shop selection, itinerary and tasting order may vary depending on opening hours, seasonal availability and conditions on the day.

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