Q: Can you help me plan my upcoming trip to Paris?
A: Personal travel planning sessions with Heather can be scheduled at least six weeks before your trip. Prices start at €300. Learn more about travel planning services here.
Q: How can I get my business, service, product or event listed on Secrets of Paris?
A: While Secrets of Paris can’t be an exhaustive listing of everything there is to see and do in Paris, we welcome all suggestions for listings that fit the following basic criteria:
- Events: Paris events that promote local culture, artists or activities with a preference for events accessible to non-French speakers (for example, an author reading in French only probably wouldn’t be included, but a vintage photography exposition would). Please send us a short 2-3 sentence description of the event in ENGLISH, along with: dates, times, address, price and a link to the website of the event through our contact form.
- Businesses: Secrets of Paris prefers to promote locally owned shops, restaurants, bars, and hotels that share our community values (local, sustainable, ethical, and/or ecological). If you’re the owner of a business in Paris that you think would be of interest to a predominantly Anglophone community of residents and frequent visitors, send us a short description with the address, phone, opening hours, and a link to the website.
- Services: We’re always on the lookout for independent guides, drivers, photographers, translators, personal shoppers and other tourism service providers catering to the Anglophone community. If you don’t have an office or shop open to the public, please send us a link to your website along with your full name, phone number, email, and SIRET number (you must be registered to do business in France), and availability to meet in person for an interview.
- Products: Made in France (exceptions for vintage or upcycled/artisan products), sustainable, ethical, environmentally friendly, or truly unique. Books written in English about Paris or France are also considered if available in Paris bookstores.
For all queries please use the contact form here.
Q: Do you accept guest articles? Even if we pay you?
A: No, never. All of the articles on Secrets of Paris are written by Heather and Secrets of Paris Correspondents. There are no native ads, advertorials, branded content, or sponsored articles of any kind.
Q: How do I become a Secrets of Paris Correspondent or Intern?
A: We’re always on the lookout for regular contributors who LIVE IN PARIS, understand French, and are interested in uncovering the city’s best secrets. It helps to have basic photography skills, background knowledge in a specific topic, or insider access to write about subjects that aren’t already published on every other Paris website. Previous writing experience or a willingness to be edited is a plus. Internships for university credit in journalism, tourism or communications are also possible for two to six months. Send your bio or CV, contact details and availability to meet for an interview to us here.
Q: Our group would like a tour of the city and the top museums and monuments. Can you organize this?
A: No, Secrets of Paris is not a tour operator, nor do we offer generic tours for groups that any other tour company in Paris could happily organize for you. Our private tour services are limited to special requests for individuals and groups of six or less who are looking for something not offered by other travel companies.
Q: I’m a travel agent/tour operator based outside France who is looking to send you tour clients. Do you work on a commission basis?
A: First, we only work with businesses based in France. Second, we don’t take (or give) commissions on any services we recommend to our clients because they are paying us for impartial advice.
Q: We have a cool new travel platform! Would Secrets of Paris like to contribute original content/list your tours/create a profile for it?
A: No, merci. But if you’re an editor looking to commission well-paid articles or other content from professional, Paris-based journalists and experienced travel writers, please send your assignments, rates and deadline information to us here.
Q: Can I reprint an article or image from Secrets of Paris as long as I give you credit?
A: Generally, anyone can use the “share” buttons to share our content on social media. For articles, you can use up to three sentences plus a link to the full article on Secrets of Paris. Photos can only be used to accompany these excerpts, as long as there is a direct, clickable link to the Secrets of Paris for the full article. Other requests can be made here.
Q: I’ve always wanted to move to France and become a travel writer. Any advice?
A: Unless you’re independently wealthy enough to support yourself while living the dream in France, travel writing alone usually doesn’t pay enough to make a living, especially if you’re looking to make your living in Paris. Getting a working visa is a long and complicated process, but not required if your stay is less than three months per year. So I would suggest renting a place for those three months and test the waters, meet the locals, and take the time to find out what it would actually take to live here full time as a writer. You might also be interested in joining one of the annual Secrets of Paris Travel Writers Workshops, where you’ll meet several writers who made the move themselves!
Q: If you’re a professional writer, why are there so many typos?
A: We don’t have the heart to fire our copy editor. Oh wait; we don’t have a copy editor! 😮 We’re working on that. In the meantime, don’t hesitate to let us know when we’ve made unforgiveable spelling or grammar boo boo’s (note for grammar geeks: we’re using US English).
Q: It seems like there’s a lot of outdated content, why don’t you delete it?
A: When the Secrets of Paris website was started in 1999, it was originally just a place to publish the archives of the newsletter and articles that Heather published elsewhere. In 2004 the calendar and blog were added to share the latest news and articles. So it always served as a sort of content archive while continuously adding new articles with the latest information. Why not delete the older stuff? Partially because we’re nostalgic, but also because the site is a digital snapshot of Paris over two decades, documenting all of the changes in technology alongside the changes in Paris itself. Some content has indeed been deleted, but we love re-reading articles about the hottest nightclubs in 2000 (none are open today), photo essays of student protests in 2005 (back when even one molotov cocktail was a rarity), and the announcement of the first smoke-free restaurants as the ban arrived in 2008. Many of the older links no longer work if the venues have gone out of business, but where possible we’ll link to the Wayback Machine (the Internet Archive) so you can see the original site. In any case, all articles clearly indicate the date when they were last updated, so use your own judgement when reading a recommendation from 2010, and try not to hate us too much for the horribly tiny and fuzzy archive photos taken back when digital camera resolution was less than 2 megapixels! 😉
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