Thank you to our visitors for these great moments shared in 2018!
If you too, you come to Paris, we will be very happy to run with you. Join us and discover Paris with authentic Parisians guides who will take you on the best running routes in Paris and who always have tons of secrets to share with you:
Discover Paris Running Tours’ behind the scenes
What happens when you book a Paris Running Tour? Discover the backstage of Paris Running Tours. How is the circuit of your tour prepared? All our tours are personalized for you, we have fun taking care of your circuit, preparing the best running routes in Paris, providing you with the best explanations to help you discover and understand this beautiful city, its history, culture, architecture, urban planning, etc. in short, we will make you understand all the aspects of the capital! If you too, you come to Paris, we will be very happy to run with you. Join us and discover Paris with authentic Parisians guides who will take you on the best running routes in Paris and who always have tons of secrets to share with you:
Come and discover the Parisian Street Art with us
At Paris Running Tours, we love all aspects of Paris and there are many, History, Art, Culture, new trends, street furniture, new events, etc. We like to share all this with our visitors. One of the things we like to introduce you to is the Street Art (or “Street-Art”) that flourishes everywhere in Paris. New works of art regularly appear in the different districts of Paris, as above, with this recent work by Seth in this old district of Paris, Seth who often paints children as here. Thank you to our runners from Switzerland, on this Sunday, October 7, 2018, Christine, Morgane, Marie-Eve and Nathalie! Thank you Christine for introducing us to “the whole team”. We were very happy to meet you again for a tour. Here are some other examples of Parisian “Street Art”: You will certainly remember that for a certain period of time (~2008-2015), the “Pont des Arts” had become the “Love locks bridge”. Find the changes of the Bridge in this article, old article now. Before moving definitively to transparent panels to replace the grids, Paris allowed street artists to cover the bridge with artistic works. We like the one in the following photo which represents the Paris Coat of Arms in an original way: Next Sunday, October 14, 2018, it will be the race of the 20 km de Paris. The theme of this year’s race: “Street Art”! If you too, you come to Paris, we will be very happy to run with you. Join us and discover Paris with authentic Parisians guides who will take you on the best running routes in Paris and who always have tons of secrets to share with you:
Follow us on the run, discover the beautiful sites of Paris
Thanks to Kendra and Michael, Anne and Valentine, Craig, Andrew and Gina, Elizabeth and David (happy to see you again), James and Angela! If you too, you come to Paris, we will be very happy to run with you. Join us and discover Paris with authentic Parisians guides who always have tons of secrets to share with you:
Meet Kristine again for a new visit of Paris and go deeper with Pauline on a walking tour.
It is always a pleasure to meet runners who come to do tours with us again. This was the case this August with Kristine with whom we had already made two visits of Paris, ~8 km in 2014 (remember: “Place des Victoires” with Kristine) and ~20 km in 2017. This time, we did a 9 km tour following new running routes in Paris. Paris Running tours makes you discover new places each time (it is the advantage to know Paris by heart ). For example, we stopped in front of what was the home of the artist Serge Gainsbourg. Some “graffiti artists” regularly come to pay their tribute to the singer-poet, here, above, with a fresco representing him with Jane Birkin. New running routes in Paris, new buildings or curiosities to discover, for example, here in the Marais, with this old horse butcher’s converted into a fashion store and which keeps its old facade: As we passed Saint Germain des Près, in front of the Faculty of Medicine on rue des Saints-Pères, we stopped to observe the various medallions on the façade. They represent every imaginable method of healing, from the most esoteric to the most scientific, for example, below, exorcism! Two days later, Kristine asked us to do a walking tour. She wished that Pauline, whom she accompanied, could enjoy a cultural stroll in Paris with Paris Running Tours. Pauline knew Paris at the time of existentialism. Since, in Paris many creations have appeared, such as Daniel Buren’s “Deux Plateaux” or Jean-Michel Othoniel’s “Kiosque des Noctambules”: The beautiful running routes in Paris as well as the walking tour, done with Kristine and Pauline: Thank you so much Kristine! Thank you so much Pauline! Looking forward to meeting you one day, we will always have plenty of beautiful places in Paris to make you discover… If you too, you come to Paris, we will be very happy to run with you. Join us and discover Paris with authentic Parisians guides who always have tons of secrets to share with you (if you wish a walking tour, specify it in comment in the reservation form):
Souvenirs of recent strolls with Paris Running Tours
Among all the beautiful encounters that Paris offers us, here is a small selection of photos taken during some of our Paris Running Tours at the end of June: splendid views of the Seine, amazing fountains, famous monuments, surprising contemporary works of art, unique banks (Paris being the only city with two rows of booksellers along its river), streets with little known secrets, magnificent royal bridges, impressive churches and cathedrals… All this makes our visitors… and our guides very happy! If you too, you come to Paris, we will be very happy to run with you. Join us and discover Paris with authentic Parisians guides who always have tons of secrets to share with you:
Contemporary art in one of the oldest companies in the world. With Daniela.
Daniela came from Switzerland to rediscover Paris with Paris Running Tours. During our race, we went from one surprise to another, discovering both very old institutions and very recent artistic innovations, as Paris knows how to propose them very frequently. The city perfectly combines modern art and historic buildings. We can cite many examples, the sculpture Réséda by Jean Dubuffet at the “Caisse des Dépôts”, the Saint Merri Church and the Stravinsky Fountain, the Louvre Pyramid… Today, it is within the “11 Conti Monnaie de Paris” (Paris Mint) that we discover a very original work, created by the artist Suboh Gupta. Indeed the “Monnaie de Paris” regularly exhibits the works of contemporary artists. It is however one of the oldest companies of the world still in activity. Created in 864 by Charles II, said “Le Chauve” (the Bald), to realize the currency of Paris. It has been minting French coins for over 1150 years, and still today… the Euros we have in our pockets! The “Monnaie de Paris” is located 11 quai de Conti, in a neo-classical palace built in 1775 and rebuilt identically after being burned down during the Paris Commune in 1871. See the 11 Conti – Monnaie de Paris, whether for its architecture, the visit of its museum which offers breathtaking views of its art workshops, or its exhibitions of contemporary art. Paris Running Tours recommends it. We continue on our way (Daniela is more used to mountain races and yet we run at good speed on the Parisian pavement) and surprise, we meet another work of Contemporary Art very recently installed: This time, it is the very old “Conciergerie” that houses a new installation, “Détournement” of Stéphane Thidet, who diverts part of the water from the Seine to bring it into the Conciergerie (in a controlled way… if we think of the floods that have invaded the place). The water is then returned to the Seine via the waterfall that we see on the photo. A little later, we cross the Palais-Royal and admire nature exploding in spring: The Royal Palace also presents Contemporary art works, the famous “Columns of Buren”(see here), too modern for some in 1986 (the creation caused a scandal)… It is also where the “Conseil Constitutionnel” (Constitutional Council) sits: Running does not prevent us from passing through the beautiful covered galleries of Paris, here the Galerie Vivienne completed in 1823 (and which, a little degraded, is being restored): After the oldest company, we stop in front of the oldest house in Paris, the house of Nicolas Flamel and his wife Pernelle : If you too, you come to Paris, we will be very happy to run with you. Join us and discover Paris with authentic Parisians guides who always have tons of secrets to share with you:
Follow this Paris Running Tour
Thank you Claire, François and Patrice for this nice run in Paris! If you too, you come to Paris, we will be very happy to run with you. Join us and discover Paris with authentic Parisians guides who always have tons of secrets to share with you:
Other discoveries of Paris with Sarah
At Paris Running Tours, we are really happy to see runners coming back to run with us. Sarah from Great Britain is one of our faithful visitors. In this month of March, we meet again for the 5th time, and it is with great joy! Each time, we create a different route. This time, we had chosen to move away from the center of Paris to join the magnificent Bois de Boulogne and its superb lakes (the wood belongs to Paris). The “Bois de Boulogne” as we know it corresponds to one of the many developments in Paris realised by Baron Haussmann, commissioned by Napoleon III. Here, for the “Lac inférieur” (Lower Lake) that we can admire in the picture above, Napoleon III’s idea was to draw inspiration from the Serpentine River in Hyde Park. This artificial river could not be built as desired, the engineer in charge having forgotten a six-meters vertical drop that would flood the lower part and dry the upper part! To rectify this error, an “upper” lake and a “lower” lake were created, the smaller one (“Lac supérieur”) discharging through a waterfall into the larger one (“Lac inférieur”). Two beautiful artificial lakes. To reach the Bois de Boulogne, we took the avenue Foch: Avenue Foch is the widest avenue in Paris. It starts at the Arc de Triomphe and ends at the Bois de Boulogne. Marathon runners know it well, it’s the finish of the Paris Marathon! It is also a creation of Baron Haussmann, wanted by the Emperor Napoleon III to give a direct access to the Bois de Boulogne. Initially called “Avenue de l’Impératrice” (the Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III), then Avenue du Bois de Boulogne, it was named Avenue Foch after the First World War. Avenue Foch is one of the most expensive avenues in Paris (see the French version of the Monopoly…). It was for a long time a very popular walk where the high society liked to show itself. Look at the small postcards above (by clicking you can enlarge the picture). Nowadays we can see a lot of runners… The avenue is very quiet on this Tuesday morning… At the end of avenue Foch, we can discover one of the last two Guimard covered edicles (we talked about it with Lysa, here): On the way back, we met one of the best-known authors in France, Jean de La Fontaine. All French or francophone children learn the Fables of La Fontaine at school. Here is the famous fable of the Crow and the Fox: [tabs slidertype=”top tabs”] [tabcontainer] [tabtext]Le Corbeau et le Renard (French)[/tabtext] [tabtext]The Crow and the Fox (Anglais)[/tabtext] [/tabcontainer] [tabcontent] [tab] Maître Corbeau, sur un arbre perché, Tenait en son bec un fromage. Maître Renard, par l’odeur alléché, Lui tint à peu près ce langage : « Hé ! bonjour Monsieur du Corbeau. Que vous êtes joli ! que vous me semblez beau ! Sans mentir, si votre ramage Se rapporte à votre plumage, Vous êtes le Phénix des hôtes de ces bois. » À ces mots le Corbeau ne se sent pas de joie ; Et pour montrer sa belle voix, Il ouvre un large bec, laisse tomber sa proie. Le Renard s’en saisit, et dit : « Mon bon Monsieur, Apprenez que tout flatteur Vit aux dépens de celui qui l’écoute. Cette leçon vaut bien un fromage, sans doute. » Le Corbeau, honteux et confus, Jura, mais un peu tard, qu’on ne l’y prendrait plus. [/tab] [tab] Master Crow perched on a tree, Was holding a cheese in his beak. Master Fox attracted by the smell Said something like this: “Well, Hello Mister Crow! How pretty you are! How beautiful you seem to me! I’m not lying, if your voice Is like your plumage, You are the phoenix of all the inhabitants of these woods.” At these words, the Crow is overjoyed. And in order to show off his beautiful voice, He opens his beak wide, lets his prey fall The Fox grabs it, and says: “My good man, Learn that every flatterer Lives at the expense of the one who listens to him. This lesson, without doubt, is well worth a cheese.” The Crow, ashamed and embarrassed, Swore, but a little late, that he would not be taken again. [/tab] [/tabcontent] [/tabs] Thank you Sarah for this new beautiful stroll, see you soon! If you too, you come to Paris, we will be very happy to run with you. Join us and discover Paris with authentic Parisians guides who always have tons of secrets to share with you:
Paris Running Tours is 10 years old! With Evan, Jennifer and Ava
Today, Wednesday, February 14th, 2018, is the birthday of Paris Running Tours! 10 years*! Paris Running Tours celebrated its 10th anniversary with a very nice family: a great run in Paris with Evan, Jennifer and their daughter Ava, used to accompany her parents during their daily sports outings in the beautiful landscapes of Michigan. Despite the freezing cold, we were able to do a nice 14 km tour of Paris, alternating running with the stroller and Ava’s little escapades to stretch her legs and enjoy the pleasure of running. It’s time to stretch our legs: *Paris Running Tours is 10 years old! It is with great pleasure that we made our 1454th running tour today, 10 years after the official creation of Paris Running Tours with the trademark registration at INPI (“Institut National de la Propriété Intellectuelle”) on February 12th, 2008. But how did it all start? Two passions, running and Paris I really started running in 1995, of course in Paris, my city and with the joy of creating a multitude of different routes for my training and enjoy all the beautiful aspects of this great city. When I was running, I wondered if it was not possible to introduce the city to sports tourists in this way. From time to time, I came across runners who were obviously looking for their way into the city. Yes, running tours in Paris, why not? But how to do that? At the end of the 1990s, the Internet was not as available as it is today, how can we make ourselves known then? Waiting outside with a placard? Not very effective… Work, family, competitions, the idea remained in a corner of my mind… until in 2010, I read a small article in a running magazine, praising the discovery of Paris by running. A Paris Running Tours company offered guided tours in Paris. A runner among my acquaintances, Francis Gérard, had created Paris Running Tours and started the visits in 2007, with the official creation of Paris Running Tours in February 2008. In spite of a busy job in a big company, I immediately offered myself as a guide for the early morning tours. Francis and I became friends with great ambitions for Paris Running Tours. The activity really got off to a good start in 2010. Thanks to our first site, we began to be known and have the pleasure of sharing our expertise of Paris with our visitors from all over the world: here, for example, in 2010, with Caroline (coming from Hamburg): Paris Running Tours was one of the first companies in the world to organize running tours, the first in Paris. Unfortunately Francis left us and to perpetuate this wonderful adventure, I took over the responsibility of Paris Running Tours. The team has grown, we are now four of us, all having another activity and being Paris Running Tours guides by passion. Since then, the idea has been taken up a lot, many Running Tours have been created and it is very pleasant to discover the cities of the whole world thanks to running guides. Paris Running Tours has remained independent, as it is neither a franchise nor part of a large agency, nor dependent on large groups. We are still a small team driven by our passion for Paris and running. It is always a great pleasure to share our expertise and experience (10 years!) with all our visitors. Thanks to all the runners who have placed their trust in us, thanks to Impossible to quote you all here, but each tour was and is exceptional, a new adventure, a beautiful encounter every time. Many of you have come back to see us over the years and we are delighted of that. Our tours are private tours with tailor-made tours, we come to pick you up at your hotel or residence: Thank you all for these wonderful years spent with you, thank you for your kind TripAdvisor feedback who show that you love our tours and who push us to continue sharing Paris with you for a long time. See you soon! Jean-Charles, main Paris Running Tours guide, with all the team If you too, you come to Paris, we will be very happy to run with you all. Join us and discover Paris with authentic Parisians guides who always have tons of secrets to share with you: