Hi Frank,
'Faire une visite' is mostly used for touristy visits of attractions or monuments.
Nous avons fait une visite guidée du Louvre = We had a conducted tour of the Louvre Museum
You can use 'faire une visite à quelqu'un' for to visit someone, but you are more likely to use 'rendre visite à quelqu'un' or simply 'aller voir quelqu'un'.
You might say, "J'ai fait une petite visite à ma soeur en passant.", meaning, "I dropped in to my sister's while I was passing."
Hope this helps!
There are several ways in French to express that you visited someone.
Marie rend visite à sa copine. -- Marie pays a visit to her friend.
Marie vas voir sa copine. -- Marie goes to see her friend.
Personally, I am not sure about "faire une visite". I guess it is OK but I don't know for sure. Aurélie would have to chime in on that.
-- Chris.
Correction of a typo: "Marie va voir..." (not vas voir).
Sorry about that.....
-- Chris.
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