Paris City Vision launches the City Tour in augmented reality

To bring a true asset to bus tours in Paris, Paris Experience Group offers – from January 14, 2020 – to tourists in town to discover Paris in augmented reality.

Aboard Paris City Vision buses, tourists (and Parisians wishing to re-discover their city in a new light!) can enjoy the HistoPad, a GPS-localized tablet allowing travelers to enjoy an augmented and interactive tour of Paris.

Developed by Histovery, HistoPad will propose, free of extra charge (!) rich and exclusive contents about over 35 sites and monuments in Paris like the Louvre, the Panthéon, the Opéra Garnier, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe or even Notre-Dame de Paris: 360° views, archive videos, 2D sliders and even interactive 3D views. Rather nice to discover what’s happening inside the buildings without leaving your seat!

• To be read
• Tips for the week of November 25 to December 1, 2024 in Paris: free or inexpensive outings
• What to do in Paris and the Paris Region in November 2024? Our tips and ideas for outings
• Free Museums and Monuments to visit in Paris and the Ile-de-France region, good ideas for outings

Every time the bus drives past one of the monuments sets on the route of this 1h30-city tour, travelers can discover views from different time periods, exclusive images or 3D reconstruction adding some extra content to the discovery of emblematic places like the Panthéon or the Paris Opera. Time travel is definitely possible!

Available in 10 languages, this tool is said to revolutionize the way one visits the French capital! And a tour 2.0 the editorial board tried prior to the opening. Our verdict: we are 100% in! Using HistoPads is really interesting and brings a true asset to the tour completed aboard a bus. Extra info really useful to truly get the story of Paris and that updates according to the events, like the fire of Notre-Dame, included in the tour and bringing another vision of the monument.

We particularly enjoy the possibility to see what the building looks like, enabling tourists who don’t know the city to better grasp what’s about thanks to the explanations. In a nutshell, this is the ideal complement when visiting Paris… Let’s go, friends, shall we?

Please note that it's been over 4 years since our last visit, so the place and experience may have changed.