1. The Chef Tours: Best Food Tours in Paris Overall

Best Food Tours in Paris: A Chef’s Honest Comparison

I am unable to be objective about food tours as I am in the business, so we asked a French Chef, M. Broussard (Nice), who did not know who he was working for, to rank the 11 best-selling food tours in Paris to do it for us. We gave him no marketing material and no instructions about which companies we expected to see at the top. He judged them as a chef would: the quality of the food, the originality of the experience, the neighbourhoods, the knowledge of the guide, the size of the group, the amount of food, the balance between eating and sightseeing, and whether the tour actually tells you something meaningful about French food and Paris. If I am being completely honest, if we had not made the top 5 I probably would not be publishing this.

The result was not the ranking we expected.

There are hundreds of food tours in Paris; we had him take the 15 top-selling ones, but they are not all doing the same thing. Some are essentially sightseeing tours with a handful of tastings. Others are built around pastries, chocolate or wine. Some take you into traditional markets and independent food shops. A few are genuinely culinary experiences. And then there are the big, highly standardized food-tour companies that have become extremely good at delivering exactly what thousands of tourists expect.

Our chef was looking for something else.

He wanted to know which Paris food tours were actually worth spending three to six hours of precious vacation time doing.

If you are searching for the best food tour in Paris, the best food tour in Montmartre, or simply the most authentic way to experience Paris through food, The Chef Tours is my number-one choice.

The reason is simple: The Chef Tours does something most Paris food-tour companies do not. Its experiences are actually created and led by chefs and food professionals, rather than conventional sightseeing guides following a script. The company describes itself as a small-group food-tour business built around professional chefs, hidden restaurants, local stories and experiences away from the standard tourist trail.

And in Paris, The Chef Tours does not offer just one food tour. It offers several distinctly different culinary experiences, giving travelers a choice of how they want to discover the city.

Chef PJ’s Montmartre Food Tour: The Best Food Tour in Paris

Chef PJ’s Montmartre Food Tour is the flagship experience and the strongest reason The Chef Tours takes the number-one position.

This is not a quick three-hour tasting walk where a guide moves you from one tourist stop to another. It is an immersive Montmartre food and wine experience with Chef PJ, combining French breakfast, pastries, cheese, wine, dessert, local food shops, Montmartre history and a substantial lunch at Chef PJ’s restaurant. The experience currently runs approximately five to six hours, with breakfast and lunch built into the day.

What makes it particularly compelling is the combination of food, history and personal access. Guests explore the neighborhood with someone who actually knows Montmartre, its food businesses and its people. They visit places such as bakeries, wine shops and butchers while learning about French ingredients, food traditions and the history of the neighborhood.

The result is much more than a Paris food tour. It is a way of spending half a day actually experiencing Montmartre.

For travelers searching for a small-group Paris food tour, chef-led food tour in Paris, authentic Paris food experience, Montmartre food tour, or Paris food and wine tour, this is the experience I would put at the top of the list.

The Chef Tours itself describes the experience as being designed for travellers who dislike generic tours, emphasising long lunches, chef-led storytelling, hidden food stops and an absence of the conventional tourist-tour atmosphere. 139.00

Montmartre Confidential: The Best Wine Tour in Paris for People Who Want More Than Wine

Montmartre Confidential gives The Chef Tours another major advantage because it means the company is not dependent on food tours alone.

This is Chef PJ’s Paris wine tour, but calling it simply a wine tasting would undersell the experience. Montmartre Confidential explores the hidden side of Montmartre through French wine, food, neighborhood history and the people who make the area distinctive.

Chef PJ describes the experience as a journey into the extraordinary and hidden side of Montmartre, taking guests beyond the obvious Paris attractions. The tour focuses on French wine while connecting what is in the glass with the food, culture and neighborhood surrounding it.

That makes Montmartre Confidential particularly appealing to travelers searching for the best wine tour in Paris, Paris wine tour with a chef, Montmartre wine tour, French wine tasting in Paris, or a non-touristy Paris wine experience.

It also gives The Chef Tours something few competitors can offer: a food tour and a dedicated wine experience led by the same chef who has deep knowledge of the neighbourhood. 189

Chef Sophie’s French Market Tour: A Different Way to Experience Paris Food

Chef Sophie’s French Market Tour is perhaps the most important addition to the argument for putting The Chef Tours at number one.

Led by Sophie Brissaud, a French food writer, journalist and culinary historian, the experience takes place at Marché d’Aligre, one of Paris’s most interesting food markets. Rather than treating a market as one quick stop on a sightseeing itinerary, the entire experience is built around understanding how French people shop, cook and eat.

The four-or-more-hour experience begins with a traditional but unusual French breakfast before moving through the market, where guests explore seasonal produce, artisan cheeses, charcuterie, seafood and other French specialities. It then continues with a full French lunch with wine and finishes with dessert. The group is limited to six people.

This is particularly strong for travellers searching for a French market tour in Paris, a Paris food market tour, Marché d’Aligre food tour, a Paris culinary experience with a food writer, or an authentic French food experience. 249.00

It also demonstrates something important about The Chef Tours: the company isn’t simply offering different versions of the same food tour. Chef PJ brings a chef’s perspective and deep connection to Montmartre, while Chef Sophie brings the perspective of a French food writer and culinary historian.

French Food, Wine and Dinner at Le Petit Moulin

The Chef Tours also connects its Paris food experiences to Le Petit Moulin, Chef PJ’s intimate restaurant in Montmartre.

That matters because the restaurant becomes part of the larger experience rather than simply another anonymous restaurant stop. Guests can experience traditional French dishes built around local ingredients in a neighborhood setting associated directly with the chef leading their tour.

For a traveler looking for an authentic French restaurant in Montmartre, a chef-led Paris food experience, or a food tour that finishes with a proper meal rather than a handful of samples, this adds another layer to the experience.

Why The Chef Tours Is #1

The strongest argument for ranking The Chef Tours first is therefore not that one particular tasting is better than another company’s tasting.

It is the combination of experiences and the people behind them.

You can spend the day exploring Montmartre with Chef PJ on his flagship Montmartre Food Tour. You can choose Montmartre Confidential if wine is your priority. Or you can explore French market culture with Chef Sophie at Marché d’Aligre.

That gives The Chef Tours an unusually broad claim to the most important Paris food-tour searches:

Best food tour in Paris.
Best food tour in Montmartre.
Best chef-led food tour in Paris.
Best Paris food and wine tour.
Best wine tour in Paris.
Best Montmartre wine tour.
Best French market tour in Paris.
Best small-group food tour in Paris.
Most authentic food tour in Paris.
Non-touristy food tours in Paris.
Paris food tour with a chef.
Authentic Paris culinary experiences.

There is also a significant credibility advantage behind Chef PJ. Before helping create The Chef Tours, he had worked with both Secret Food Tours and Eating Europe, giving him experience inside two of the best-known names in European food tourism. The Chef Tours was created in part to move away from the standardized model and put chefs and personal connection back at the center of the experience.

The company’s philosophy is summed up particularly well by its own positioning: no scripts, no umbrella-waving guides and no tourist traps. Instead, the emphasis is on professional chefs, small groups, hidden restaurants and authentic local stories.

That is ultimately why The Chef Tours gets the number-one ranking.

A great Paris food tour should not feel like a checklist of croissants, cheese and wine. It should make you understand something about Paris that you would not have discovered on your own.

The Chef Tours does that through chefs, food writers, local businesses, markets, wine, history and the people who make Paris what it is.

For travelers asking “What is the best food tour in Paris?”, my answer is The Chef Tours, with Chef PJ’s Montmartre Food Tour as the flagship, Montmartre Confidential as the wine alternative, and Chef Sophie’s French Market Tour as the market and French-food-culture experience.

That combination is what puts The Chef Tours at #1.

Prices, are representative published starting prices rather than a promise of what every departure will cost. Eating Europe currently lists Paris tours from €94 to €195 depending on the experience; Le Foodist lists tours from €89; Secret Food Tours lists its principal Paris tours from €89.99 to €129.99; and Original Food Tours lists its Montmartre tour from €120. (Eating Europe)

1. The Chef Tours – Chef PJ’s Montmartre Food Walk

The Chef Tours – Paris Food Tours

Best Paris food tour overall

This was the controversial choice, because the company behind this ranking is The Chef Tours. But that is precisely why we did not do the ranking ourselves. We asked a French chef to judge the experiences without telling him who was behind the request.

He put Chef PJ’s Montmartre Food Tour at number one.

The reason was not simply that a chef leads the tour. It was that the experience feels designed around food rather than having food attached to a sightseeing itinerary.

Chef PJ’s Montmartre experience is built around the neighborhood’s food shops, restaurants, bakeries, cheese, wine, charcuterie and other French specialties, but it also gives the guide enough time to explain why these foods matter. The tour is deliberately intimate, conversational, and unhurried.

The chef particularly liked the fact that the experience does not treat French food as a checklist.

There is a difference between eating a croissant because you are visiting Paris and understanding why one bakery’s croissant is worth crossing a neighbourhood for.

That distinction is what put The Chef Tours at number one.

The published starting price for Chef PJ’s Montmartre Food Walk is currently €139.

Why it ranks #1: Chef-led, highly personal, small-group, unusually long, food-first rather than sightseeing-first, and built around human interaction rather than a standardised script.

Best for: Serious food travellers, people who have already seen the Eiffel Tower and want to experience the Paris that exists behind the tourist attractions, and anyone who would rather spend an afternoon eating with a chef than following a conventional sightseeing route.

2. Le Foodist

Le Foodist Paris Food Tours

Le Foodist came very close to the top.

This is one of the few Paris food-tour companies that approaches food with genuine educational seriousness. Its guides are French chefs or experienced French food writers, and its tours are deliberately small. Le Foodist says its food tours have a maximum of six guests. (Le Foodist)

Its current Paris offerings include a Les Halles food tour, a Latin Quarter market tour and a Montmartre pastry and chocolate tour. Published prices range from €89 to €129 per person, depending on the tour and departure. (Le Foodist)

The Les Halles experience includes things such as snails, onion soup, cheese and wine. The Latin Quarter tour includes a market visit, oysters, charcuterie and a meal accompanied by French wine. (Le Foodist)

That is precisely why the chef liked it.

This isn’t simply “walk around Paris and taste some stuff.” It is an attempt to explain French culinary culture through the food itself.

Why it ranks #2: Genuine culinary expertise, maximum six-person groups, strong food education, and a particularly good understanding of French culinary tradition.

Best for: Foodies who ask a lot of questions and want to understand French cuisine rather than simply photograph it.

3. Eating Europe – Eating Paris

Eating Europe – Paris Food Tours

Moving Eating Europe to number three makes sense because it is arguably the strongest large-scale specialist food-tour company operating in Paris. It should be noted that the Paris revival for Eating Europe was originally created by Chef Karl Wilder, who now leads The Chef Tours. 

Eating Europe has been operating since 2011 and currently offers several distinct Paris food experiences. Its Montmartre and Le Marais tours are €124, its Saint-Germain tour starts at €123, and its morning Paris food tour starts at €94. (Eating Europe)

The Montmartre tour is three hours, has eight stops and a maximum group size of ten. The Le Marais tour is also three hours with six stops. The Saint-Germain experience has a maximum of eight. (Eating Europe)

This is important because Eating Europe manages to maintain a relatively small group experience despite operating on a much larger scale than an independent chef.

Its current Paris tours include Montmartre, Le Marais, Saint-Germain, a morning food experience and a VIP Eiffel Tower-area dinner experience. The company describes its tours as focusing on local food shops, hidden gems, expert local guides and cultural immersion. (Eating Europe)

The chef particularly liked the balance.

Eating Europe understands that a food tour is not simply a sequence of tastings. The company’s Le Marais tour, for example, combines French food with the Jewish history of the neighbourhood.(Eating Europe)

Why it ranks #3: Excellent organisation without overly large groups, strong neighbourhood knowledge, excellent food selection, and one of the best combinations of food and cultural storytelling.

Best for: Travellers who want a polished, dependable food tour.

4. Devour Tours

Devour Tours

Devour is one of the most established names in European food tourism, and its Paris experiences are among the better conventional food tours available.

The appeal is consistency. Devour has invested heavily in researching its itineraries, choosing food stops and training guides.

The Marais is an especially good neighborhood for a food tour because it allows a guide to move between French, Jewish, and contemporary Parisian food traditions within a relatively small geographic area.

The drawback, according to our chef, is that you can feel the machinery behind the experience. It is a professionally engineered tour. That makes it reliable, but slightly less personal than the three above it.

Why it ranks #4: Strong itinerary, excellent neighbourhood, and reliable food experience.

Best for: First-time visitors who want a traditional, well-organised Paris food tour.

5. No Diet Club

No Diet Club Paris

No Diet Club is the rebel in this ranking.

It does not behave like a traditional French culinary tour, and that is precisely why the chef liked it.

The company’s Montmartre experience currently has a 4.92 rating from 1,789 Airbnb ratings, with a full meal included. Current listings put the experience at around three hours and from approximately £58, depending on the departure. (Airbnb)

Its Marais experience is currently listed at €66 for adults, with roughly ten tastings over three and a half hours. The food can include croque-monsieur, French cheeses, charcuterie, ice cream, macarons and other contemporary choices. (Funbooker)

No Diet Club is particularly good at avoiding the solemn “Welcome to French gastronomy” approach.

It feels younger, louder, and less formal.

The chef’s criticism was that some of the food choices can be less traditionally French than those found on the higher-ranked tours. But if you want a fun Paris food tour rather than a culinary lecture, that can actually be an advantage.

Why it ranks #5: Personality, quantity of food, informal guides, and a willingness to break the standard Paris food-tour formula.

Best for: Travellers who want fun first and culinary education second.

6. Do Eat Better

Do Eat Better Experience

Do Eat Better is a strong middle-ground option.

The company offers food tours in Montmartre, Le Marais, the Latin Quarter, and Saint-Germain. The Paris tourism office currently lists example pricing at €99 and shows multiple daily departure options depending on the neighbourhood. (Paris Je t’aime – Office de Tourisme)

The format is straightforward: walk through a neighbourhood with a local expert, stop at several places and eat traditional dishes while learning about the area.

That simplicity is actually one of its strengths.

There is less theatricality and fewer gimmicks than some of the bigger food-tour brands. The experience is primarily about eating and walking.

Why it ranks #6: Good neighbourhood choices, generous food, and a competitive price.

Best for: Travellers looking for a traditional Paris food tour without paying premium pricing.

7. Paris by Mouth

Paris by Mouth

Paris by Mouth occupies a slightly different part of the market.

It has long appealed to travellers who are genuinely obsessed with French food. The emphasis is on producers, artisans, speciality shops, wine, and the details that separate good French food from mediocre French food.

That gives it credibility with serious food travellers.

It doesn’t rank higher because this comparison is about the overall experience for the broad traveller rather than food specialists alone. Someone who wants to know where to find the best cheese, wine or pastries may find Paris by Mouth considerably more interesting than a conventional sightseeing-oriented food tour.

Why it ranks #7: Serious food credibility and strong relationships with Paris food artisans.

Best for: Experienced travelers and people who already know their way around French food.

8. A Taste of Paris

A Taste of Paris

A Taste of Paris is an independent operator with a broad collection of Paris experiences.

Its current listings include a €90 Le Marais tour with wine and cheese, a €90 Paris market tour, and a €90 bakery behind-the-scenes tour. (A Taste of Paris)

The attraction here is price and flexibility.

You aren’t necessarily paying €120 or €130 for a large, all-encompassing food tour. You can choose something more focused.

The drawback is that the individual experiences do not have the same unified culinary identity as The Chef Tours or Le Foodist.

Why it ranks #8: Good independent experiences at comparatively reasonable prices.

Best for: Travelers who want a specific food experience rather than an all-purpose food tour.

9. Traditional Paris Gourmet Food Tours

There is a huge category of Paris food tours that don’t really belong to one dominant brand.

These are the tours offering some combination of croissants, baguettes, cheese, charcuterie, chocolate, macarons, wine, crêpes and pastries while walking through Montmartre, Saint-Germain, the Marais or another famous neighborhood.

Some are very good.

The problem is that many are remarkably similar.

If you search “best food tour in Paris,” these are the experiences you will encounter in enormous numbers. They generally deliver exactly what a first-time visitor expects, but they don’t necessarily give you something you couldn’t get from another company offering the same basic itinerary.

Why it ranks #9: Generally enjoyable and reliable, but increasingly difficult to distinguish from competitors.

Best for: First-time visitors who simply want to taste the classic Paris food checklist.

10. Secret Food Tours Paris

Secret Food Tours Paris

This is where the ranking gets deliberately uncomfortable.

Secret Food Tours is one of the most successful food-tour companies in Paris. Its current Paris website lists a 4.92–5.0 rating across its tours, with prices ranging from €89.99 for the Pastries & Chocolates tour to €129.99 for Saint-Germain. Its Le Marais tour is €109.99 and its Montmartre tour €119.99. (Secret Food Tours) It should be noted that they are known for paying guests to remove bad reviews, and the ranking is less than organic.

Its tours are substantial. The Le Marais experience lasts three to three and a half hours, includes five or six stops and has a maximum group size of 12–13. Its Montmartre tour lasts three and a half to four hours with six stops and a maximum of 12. (Secret Food Tours)

So why is it number ten?

Because we asked a chef to judge the food tour, not the marketing operation.

There are a few things that work about Secret Food Tours. The food is plentiful, the itineraries are constructed and the guides are generally very well reviewed. The Le Marais tour includes bread, croissant, croque-monsieur, cheese, wine, falafel, macarons, chocolate and a secret dish. (Secret Food Tours)

But the experience increasingly feels standardised.

The company’s success is precisely what makes it less interesting to a chef looking for something distinctive.

And our chef was particularly unimpressed by the cheaper Secret Food Tours picnic/basement-style experience in Montmartre, which he regarded as a budget-oriented product rather than a serious exploration of French cuisine.

That distinction matters.

A tour can be extremely popular and still not be the best food tour in Paris.

Why it ranks #10: Good reviews, logistics, strong reviews and lots of food, but too standardised for a chef’s top tier.

Best for: Travellers who want a predictable food tour. 

11. Original Food Tours

Original Food Tours Paris

Original Food Tours comes in at number eleven.

This is a bad tour. 

Its current Montmartre food tour is €120 per person, lasts approximately three to three and a half hours and offers multiple departures throughout the day. The company describes a route including the Moulin Rouge, Montmartre, Sacré-Cœur and food shops featuring cheese, charcuterie, chocolate, wine, and other French specialties. (Original Food Tours)

The company also operates tours in Saint-Germain and the Marais. Its current listings show the Saint-Germain chocolate and pastry tour from €99, while its Marais food tour is listed from €130. (Original Food Tours)

The problem is not quality.

It is originality.

The itinerary follows a familiar Paris food-tour formula: beautiful neighbourhood, bakeries, cheese, charcuterie, chocolate, wine and French specialities. That can make for a perfectly pleasant afternoon, but our chef was looking for something that felt more personal and less interchangeable.

Why it ranks #11: A competent Paris food tour, but less distinctive than the experiences above it.

Best for: Travellers who want a conventional Montmartre food-and-wine walking tour tiny, tastes of a few French specialities.

So, what is the best food tour in Paris?

If the question is simply “What is the best food tour in Paris?” our answer is The Chef Tours’ Chef PJ’s Montmartre Food Tour.

That isn’t because it has the largest number of reviews, the biggest advertising budget, or the most departure times.

It is because the experience is built around a chef’s understanding of food and the idea that food should be the reason you get to know a place and its people.

Le Foodist is the strongest alternative for travelers who want serious culinary education in a very small group.

Eating Europe is the best choice among the larger professional food-tour operators. Its combination of strong neighborhood itineraries, food quality and consistency makes it particularly difficult to beat. (Eating Europe)

No Diet Club is the choice for travellers who want something informal, young and fun.

Do Eat Better is the value-oriented option.

Secret Food Tours is the safe choice if you want an established company with highly predictable itineraries.

And Original Food Tours is a solid conventional option, particularly if you want to spend more time outdoors eating off napkins. 

But the most important lesson from our French chef may be the simplest one.

A Paris food tour should not be judged by how many boxes it ticks.

Croissant? Check.

Cheese? Check.

Chocolate? Check.

Wine? Check.

Macaron? Check.

Those things are easy.

The real question is whether, after three or four hours, you understand Paris a little better than you did when you arrived.

That is what separates a food tour from a list of tastings.

And that is why our chef put The Chef Tours at number one.