I’m a big fan of walking tours. When I arrive in a city I like to do one right away — food, history, art, whatever — because they’re the fastest way to learn a place, get your bearings, and ask a local for practical tips. Over the years I’ve taken hundreds of tours, and one company that consistently stands out is Context Travel.
Context was founded in 2003 and I first used them in Rome in 2010. What sets them apart is their use of subject-matter experts rather than general guides: historians, architects, art historians, chefs and other professionals with MA or PhD-level backgrounds who bring deep knowledge and primary-source context to their tours. That expertise shows up in the details you won’t hear anywhere else.
On a recent trip to Paris I joined Context’s WWII history walking tour. Even though I’ve spent a lot of time in Paris and read widely about the city, I knew relatively little about daily life in Paris under occupation. The three-hour tour took us from Saint-Germain through the Luxembourg Gardens, into the Latin Quarter, across to the Marais and finished at the Hôtel de Ville. As we walked the guide walked us forward in time, explaining the rapid fall of France, how the German occupation settled into Parisite life, and how the Resistance developed and operated.
My guide, Gil, exemplified the Context approach: he’d lived in France for years, had a degree in politics and literature, and had been guiding for over a decade. He carried photos, documents, and first-person material that made the story tangible. We stopped at buildings used during the occupation — some now ordinary businesses or hotels but once sites of the Gestapo or of administration — and he explained the arc of collaboration, repression, persecution of Jews, and the eventual cracks in German control as Allied victories elsewhere changed the balance. The tour culminated at Hôtel de Ville and the narrative of liberation in August 1944; personal photos and documents brought those moments to life. I finished feeling I had a real, grounded understanding of that period in Parisian history.
That kind of deep, expert-led experience is why I recommend Context. Many tour operators offer excellent experiences, but Context’s model of pairing scholars and practitioners with small groups creates a different depth of learning. I’ve taken Context tours in museums and neighborhoods — walking down New York’s 42nd Street with an award-winning architect was another highlight — and the consistent throughline is the richness of the guides’ knowledge.
Context is well suited to travelers who want more than surface-level sightseeing: long walks, museum deep dives, and thematic tours that can run two to three hours or longer. They primarily offer private tours, which are great for families or small groups, but there are also joinable group departures and a growing library of audio tours if you prefer to explore solo. They operate in more than 70 cities and cover both famous highlights and off-the-beaten-path topics.
If you plan to visit Paris and want to get the most from a historical tour, Context is worth considering. A few practical tips to plan your trip: use a comprehensive flight search engine such as Skyscanner to compare carriers and sites; for budget lodgings check hostel booking platforms like Hostelworld, and for guesthouses and inexpensive hotels use Booking.com. Don’t skip travel insurance — it protects against illness, injury, theft and cancellations. Popular options include SafetyWing for budget-minded travelers, World Nomads for mid-range policies, Insure My Trip for travelers with specific needs, and Medjet for additional medical transport coverage.
If you want a deeper, budget-friendly guide to Paris beyond tours, consider picking up a practical Paris guide focused on itineraries, budgets, non-touristy restaurants, markets and safety tips. But for a meaningful, contextual walk through a complex period of Parisian history, an expert-led Context tour is one of the best ways to learn and see the city with fresh eyes.
