Tour Conditions | French Mystique Tours

How Our Tours Operate

For the full day countryside tours where we meet at the bike rental store in Paris to get the rental bikes we will cycle from the bike store to the train station and bring our bikes on the train to the countryside. After our tour we will bring our bikes on the train back to Paris and then cycle to the bike store to return the rental bikes. There are additional per person costs for these tours of €30 for each rental bike. There are also additional per person costs for these tours for the round trip train tickets. We also meet at the bike rental store in Paris for the 3 Hour Custom Paris Tour and for this tour there are additional per person costs of €15 for each rental bike (no train travel for this tour).

For ''The 3 Hour Marne River and Bois de Vincennes Tour'', ''The 3 Hour Paris's Nearby Countryside Tour'' and ''The Marne River Tour'' we will meet in my town of Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, located in a suburb just outside of Paris (prices for the RER A train tickets from and back to Paris for these tours are noted on the ''All Our Tours'' page of the website). Bikes are included in the tour cost for these tours (no additional per person rental bike cost).

You will be provided with directions/instructions to take the RER/métro from wherever you are staying to either the bike rental store or Saint-Maur-des-Fossés.

Tour conditions

Note that all tours are private tours and are not open to the general public. Thus, there are no regularly scheduled tours on specific days/dates open to the general public. It is also not possible to join another tour group, whether or not you are an individual or group seeking to share the cost of a tour with others. Tours are only done upon request.

For most tours we will meet at the bike rental store in the 2nd arrondissement in Paris. For the Marne River Tour, 3 Hour Marne River and Bois de Vincennes Tour and 3 Hour Paris's Nearby Countryside Tour we meet at the RER A station Le Parc de Saint-Maur outside of Paris. Detailed instructions to take public transport (métro and/or RER trains) to the meeting place will be provided once a tour has been booked.

Tour Request Date Reservations

I need to be able to accommodate tour requests for calendar dates throughout the year so when making a tour request inquiry you must request a specific date for which you'd like to reserve a tour. Once you've read the "Important Questions" page of the website you'll notice that you can request back-up rain dates (or additional dates you'd be available if you'll have a flexible schedule), but these dates are only available if I have no other tours reserved on those dates.

If you would like to make a deposit to reserve a specific tour date but need to time to decide on a tour that is not a problem. A deposit is only required to reserve a specific tour tour date, not to confirm a specific tour. It is only necessary that you have chosen a tour at least a week before your tour date.

Tour Costs

The tour costs noted for each tour are for an entire group and are not per person costs. In other words, if you are a single rider then you are responsible for the full tour cost whereas if there are 5 members in your group then the tour cost is split between the five of you. The tour price for any tour is the same whether there is one rider or several riders in a group. Additional per person costs are listed below each tour description and in tour summaries.

Payment policy

Payments are done as follows:

- A deposit of 50 % of the tour cost at the time of booking. Once you have requested a specific date to do a tour I'll send you a link to make a deposit by debit/credit card to reserve that date. If you would like to make a deposit to reserve a tour date but need time to decide on a specific tour that is not a problem. I only need a deposit to reserve a specific date, not to confirm a specific tour. As long as I know at least a week before our tour date which tour you have selected that is not a problem.

- The balance of the tour cost is paid in cash (not credit/debit card nor Paypal) on the tour date. Payment for rental bikes is also paid in cash on the tour date. Cash payment is only accepted in euros (not your local/home currency).

- For those tours where there may be supplemental fees, these fees must be paid in cash (not credit/debit card nor Paypal) on the tour date. Cash payment for supplemental fees is only accepted in euros (not your local/home currency). These are fees usually associated with (but not limited to): 1) groups of more than five tour participants. 2) tours where additional touring time over the allotted touring time limit is required/requested.

For the full day long countryside tours where we bring bikes on trains tour participants will each pay for their own train tickets, which can be purchased either from ticket machines or at a manned ticket window (with a credit/debit card).

Cancellation and refunds (especially relevant in regards to rain/inclement weather)

A full refund of your deposit will only be provided in any event where:

- French Mystique Tours has to cancel a tour (highly unlikely and only in case of personal emergency)

- a tour is canceled due to inclement weather (see below)

So what happens if there will be rain/inclement weather on your tour date? Don't worry. I understand that most people are not going to enjoy being outdoors spending several hours biking in the rain. If the forecast calls for rain on your tour date and you'd like to cancel your reservation you'll receive a full refund of your deposit. French Mystique Tours (Bruce) will leave the decision up to you to cancel your tour if the weather forecast predicts rain/inclement weather on our tour date. If rain/inclement weather doesn't bother you and you are the type of person/people who enjoys cycling in a torrential downpour then I will be happy to proceed with our tour as planned. My primary concern is that my customers are enjoying themselves on my tours but I understand that most people are not going to enjoy spending several hours cycling in the rain.

With that being said, there is a protocol/procedure for refund of your deposit in the event of rain/inclement weather on your tour date and here is how that works. It is important to check your email each evening starting 3 days before our planned tour date as I'll keep you posted in the event there may be rain/inclement weather on our tour date. I will inform you of the forecasts but they are often not accurate in regards to predicting precipitation in northern France. Forecasts for the Paris region often change every 12-24 hours so even the night before a tour the forecast for precipitation could be wrong for our tour date. I never cancel tours due to rain but I merely give customers the latest info I have in regards to forecasts and leave the decision to cancel up to customers (with a full refund of your deposit if you decide to cancel due to possible rain). The decision to cancel needs to be made the night before our tour in order to receive a refund of your deposit. This is why it is especially important that you have your cell phone turned on the night before our tour date. If there has been a last minute change in the forecast the night before our tour date I will call you on your cell phone after I have seen the latest tv weather forecast, between 8PM and 10PM. But if you don't hear from me via email/text/cell phone prior to our tour date then we are all set for our tour as planned.

There is one other circumstance in which you will be granted a full refund of your deposit and that would be in the event that there is a disruption of public transport that will affect our tour. This would likely occur as a result of planned maintenance/repair works, an unforeseen accident which disrupts transport service or in the event of public transport strikes (which unfortunately do happen from time to time and can't be predicted).

French Mystique Bike Tours

private bike tours in and outside Paris