Greeters: Up Close and Personal City Strolls Offered by Local Volunteers in France and Beyond

Greeters is an international volunteer organization dedicated to welcoming visitors by providing a free service that fulfills multiple objectives:

- To welcome visitors in English or another language that the volunteer greeter may share with the visitor
- To introduce visitors to a city through the eyes of a local, who is both passionate about the charms of the city and knowledgeable about its past and present
- To pass a few hours together on a fun walk about town that inevitably concludes with a mutual feeling of friendship and appreciation after starting the experience as total strangers.

Founded by a New Yorker in 1992, Greeters has spread through the United States and internationally across a host of countries. French cities are well represented in this group with dozens of options. Greeters’ mission is to encourage cultural understanding and appreciation through the enthusiastic participation of local resident-volunteer hosts, who really know their cities. No payment is required for this enchanting personal service, however, one can often make a donation on the website through which the walk is reserved. I recommend that you do so should you decide to give this experience a try! To find a greeter in a participating city, enter the city name and “greeter” in the search box of your web browser of choice. If greeters are active in that location, the local volunteers’ website should appear. Log onto www.greeters.fr to find your French Greeter in one of many participating locations.

After entering the greeter website, a questionnaire directed to a visitor usually asks about preferred dates, times and language(s), centers of interest, number in your party to a maximum of six, any special needs, etc. While it is a good idea to submit a request at least a month in advance, the assignment of a greeter and confirmation of the details may not be forthcoming until the week before your requested date.

If your level of French is up to it, this experience can immerse you in the language for a few hours, with a safety valve in the form of your Greeter’s knowledge of English, as needed. You, too, will be surprised by the richness of this experience, where the warm and enthusiastic company of a volunteer Greeter over the course of a few hours counts as so much more than a mere “greeting.” Indeed, the Greeters’ motto could not be more apt: "Come as a visitor, leave as a friend."