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Paris ROCKS!
This is a fantastic way to see all of the famed sites of Paris, but from a popular music history perspective! As we tour places like the Marais, Place Vendôme, the Bastille, the ‘Left Bank’, Montmartre and the Pigalle, the Seine embankment, and Père Lachaise Cemetery and Boulevard Saint Germain, you’ll not only hear about the French adventures of the Beatles, Stones, Hendrix, Clash, Pink Floyd, Sex Pistols and other rock bands, but, if you don’t already know them, also learn about seminal French musicians like Johnny Hallyday, Serge Gainsbourg, Francoise Hardy and even Edith Piaf. Paris saw the birth of Be-bop and ‘Hot Club’ jazz! Our day also follows in the footsteps of the great 'Doors' singer, Jim Morrison, exploring his life here and examining the mystery of his death and burial in Paris exactly 40-years ago.
We meet at the regal George V hotel. Many bands have stayed here over the last five decades but perhaps its most famous claim to rock fame is that it was while staying here that the Beatles learned they’d achieved their first USA Number One! Then on to another sumptuous Paris hotel with Rock connections, the Ritz in the beautiful Place Vendôme. Nearby is the Olympia Concert Hall (the Beatles only played the Cavern and the Star Club in Hamburg more often). This has hosted legion of bands and your guide will enthrall you with stories of Hendrix, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and French rockers like Johnny Hallyday. Nearby we have the Paris Hard Rock Café and site of the original Paris 1950s rock club known to Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochrane. Then, after visiting the night-life district of the Pigalle, we visit Jim Morrison’s grave in Père Lachaise, and have time to see others like Edith Piaf, who lie buried in this incredible place. We keep to the Morrison theme with a visit to the Place des Vosges and Jim’s flat in the Marais.
Then crossing the Seine river, we spend time exploring the ‘Latin Quarter’, home of the Sorbonne university and long the hang-out of the Parisian bohemians and intellectuals in cafes like Les Deux Magot on the Boulevard St-Germain, jazz clubs and boutique hotels used by the stars. Amongst many other sites of interest, you’ll see the club where Morrison died, the hotel he stayed at (where Oscar Wilde died), and perhaps sit in the same seat as Jean Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Picasso, Ernest Hemmingway or Johnny Rotten (!) to enjoy a coffee!
With a tour finish near to the Notre-Dame Cathedral, and just a short distance from the Louvre, you’ve only the Tour Eiffel to add to the list to be able to say you’ve seen the majority of Paris’s great icons!
This tour is walking and Métro with guide throughout.
REGULAR SEASON: 1 April - 31-October
Departure Days: Saturdays
Departure Place & Time: 10.00, George V Métro station
Return Time: approximately 17.30, St-Michel Métro station
PRICES: $70.00 USD per adult / US$ 45.00 child (A child is defined as aged 12 and under.)
Tour cost includes Métro ticket.
It’s only rock & roll but we like it!
These tours are operated by Access All Areas (GB)!
Identifying, preserving, protecting and promoting the UK’s rock heritage
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