When it comes to taking a tour of the world’s favourite city there’s not much that beats a glass top bus on which you’re served fine wines and Champagne and gourmet style food while you leisurely cruise the avenues and boulevards of Paris taking in every legendary landmark!
Bustronomic tours of Paris – restaurant on a bus!
Quite why no one ever thought of bustronomic tours like this before I don’t know because the concept is genius.
Tasteful – in every sense of the word. Elegant, posh, chic – there are many words I would use to describe the tour I took with Bustronome one Friday lunch time. It’s also friendly and a huge amount of fun, with a bit of a party atmosphere on the tour I took which made it even better.
The options are for lunch or dinner throughout the year, and the menu changes according to the season. You hop on the bus in the shadow of the Arc du Triomphe, welcomed by a friendly member of staff, seated on the top deck at your reserved table and offered an aperitif before heading off round the streets of Paris to enjoy the sites in slick style.
The food was tremendous, better than in many swanky restaurants but then it is prepared by a top chef. The wine list is superb. I opted for a tour which included red and white wine with the meal and was really impressed at the calibre as well as the price. A four course meal of gourmet standard, two generous glasses of wine, water and coffee plus a magnificent tour of the city for 85 Euros – worth every centime (April 2016). And, I’m not the only one who thinks that. On the table next to me were the McGarrity and Lawson family from Belfast. The McGarritys were on their second tour, having loved the night time trip, they wanted to do a day time one and brought their friends with them. “We absolutely loved every minute of both tours” they said.
You get a different perspective when you’re a bit higher up. As we passed the Louvre, I was acutely aware of the sculptures and fretwork of the building in a way I hadn’t been on foot. You notice the architecture of buildings in a different way when you’re a few metres up in the air. I looked down into restaurants filled with people at cramped tables and felt a bit smug about the room I had at my table for two! The Eiffel Tower, Opera Garnier, Musée d’Orsay, Notre Dame, the Champs-Elysées and pretty much every famous landmark was en route. There’s something very special about raising your glass to these icons.
I also saw little streets I didn’t know existed and made a note to go back and find them, like I say, up there on the top of the bus (the kitchens and cloak rooms are on the lower deck) you see things differently. What’s more, it doesn’t matter if it’s cold or hot outside, the bus has heating and air conditioning and our lovely host (all the staff speak English), Marc, made sure the temperature was ambient – and perfect!
Talk about take a tour of Paris in style, my trip with Bustronome blew me away with its fabulous fine dining menu, wonderful wines and the chance to take in the major landmarks of the city of light in luxury and, it has to be said, with a lot of panache!
Book your Bustronome tour of Paris at: www.bustronome.com
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