Sonja B.

I’ve been a tour guide in Paris for over a decade, but guiding has never been just about facts or dates for me. I guide the way I draw maps: by paying attention. I love helping people notice the small details: a street name, a façade, a shift in scale, and then watching Paris suddenly make sense, as history, architecture, and daily life start to overlap. I keep my tours curious, story-driven, and fun, with room for surprising details and moments of lightness. I also treat each visit like a conversation rather than a script, adapting to your questions, interests, and pace. For me, guiding is a kind of translation: turning a complex city into something readable, human, and memorable.

Sonja is a Paris-based guide with over a decade of experience. Trained in architecture, she brings a strong sensitivity to space, proportion, and urban composition, approaching Paris as a living structure shaped by the people who built and inhabited it. Alongside her guiding work, she is also a mapmaker and illustrator, creating hand-drawn maps that explore the relationship between place, memory, and movement. She has guided thousands of visitors in Paris and climbed the Eiffel Tower more than 800 times, while staying deeply curious about how even familiar places continue to reveal new stories.

Jinchan Shokudo is one of Sonja’s favorite discoveries this year: a small, unpretentious Japanese izakaya in Paris with a truly Tokyo-like atmosphere, thoughtful sake, and a warm, lived-in feel. It’s the kind of neighborhood spot she loves recommending to guests who want to experience Paris beyond the monuments.