To love Paris and to think ‘Paris syndrome’ is a myth?

I don't like it, then I'm not a fan of French culture or big cities so the combination doesn't work for me. I'd much rather Bruges, Ghent, or one of the Nordic cities.

I agree with what you’ve said OP - but my experience of Paris is limited.

One thing they really need to do is sort out the Gare du Nord, though. It’s grim, especially compared to St P International.

I didn't like Paris, sorry! I can't really put my finger on why, I just felt underwhelmed. There was a horrendous smell around the Eiffel Tower too.

There are some lovely towns near to Paris though and I didn't find anyone rude. The only place people have been rude to us is Italy but I still love it!

I'm not a capital city person really, I prefer non capital cities like Seville, Istanbul and Krakow. I do love Budapest and Rome though for nice capital cities.

Paris is heavenly. I won’t have a word said against it….

I’ve never heard of Paris syndrome but I love Paris, it’s so beautiful and cool and so easy to navigate. I’ve been loads of times and never not loved it. My fave city by a mile.

I guess the closest analogue is the reaction lots of British and American tourists have to visiting India

Exactly! And it was mainly pre-internet as well, so much harder to research, no Google maps or online translation.

If you were a British or American person from a monocultural area, whose only experience of Indian culture was Mughal art and some of the fluffier period dramas about the Raj, your reaction to being suddenly thrust into the middle of Delhi's main bazaar (with jetlag, and nobody around who spoke English) would be probably pretty similar to Paris Syndrome.

Interestingly I noticed that the trend in Paris for the Olympics has been very much away from paved spaces, and towards “English-style” park planting. The area around the base of the Tour Eiffel looks light years away from what it looked like a couple of decades ago when it was a bare paved plaza - now it’s a garden. Lots of the parks which used to have just the traditional French gravel have now been replanted with grass and plants that are clearly influenced by Northern European sustainability trends - bee gardens, wildflowers and lots of verbena bonariensis. The angry French traffic has also been partly shoved out of the way for big Dutch-style bike lanes and pedestrianised areas.

The city also seems to have adopted very Anglophone fashion trends in food and culture - loads of adverts partly in English, menus full of Scottish beef artisanal burgers, bread and butter brioche puddings with English custard and and Heston Blumenthal style stuff, eg. earl grey tea mousses in everything. Plus a lot of Spanish and Italian style deconstructed tapas, feta and watermelon and burrata salads. It was markedly hard to get actual traditional French style bistro food because the trend in Paris seems to be very much away from that right now! Which is something of an odd experience if your reference point is Paris ten or twenty years ago!

I hadn’t realised what “Paris Syndrome” was in relation to Japanese tourists, so that was interesting to learn. I guess the closest analogue is the reaction lots of British and American tourists have to visiting India. I’ve known a fair number of friends, both from the U.K. and the US, who have booked a trip that they think is going to be like a Bollywood film; and upon landing in India have been so horrified and overwhelmed by the whole experience that they’ve got on a flight straight back home again.

It's dirty and chaotic places, like any big city. But there's so much that's beautiful.
Rude Parisians are a myth IME; been a few times and find people professionally polite at worst, and at best warm, friendly, helpful.
I think it helps if you observe French slightly formal manners – be sure to say hello when you enter a shop, say thank you for every little interaction etc, use 'Madame' and 'Monsieur'.

I love Paris and never found the people rude but it probably helps that I can speak basic French

Completely agree. I love Paris.

@bostonchamps I'm a SW Londoners, where is the amazing pocket where only tourists are annoying? 😆

I agree OP - I love Paris - everyone has been friendly to me! I can speak French pretty well though so wasn’t shouting at people in English 🤦🏼‍♀️

Grittier areas are par for the course for big cities and it didn’t bother me. I was supposed to go for my 40th but it was peak Covid and I was gutted

I bloody love Paris and had a lovely time with DD when we last went a couple of years ago.

I don't love Paris, but don't hate it either, it's ok. Rather beautiful and no dirtier than any major city, IMO.

Parisians are fine, and I don't speak French. You 'Bonjour' them and they'll be civil enough. But tbh I dislike fake, overblown, superficial politeness and 'manners' with a pass-agg inner sighs of Brits and Japanese. Enough of the endless thank yous, pleases, might I trouble yous and other pointless yakking, just get to the goddamn point already. I much prefer E. Europe, Netherlands or Scandinavia in that regard.

And if someone watched that saccharine tripe on Netflix and expect Paris to be exactly like that, they need their heads examined.

I absolutely love and will always love Paris. My biggest mistake is not migrating there.

I love Paris, and have done for about 35 years since the first time I went there as a teenager with my parents.

I've never found the stereotype about Parisian rudeness to be even remotely true. In general I've always found Parisians to be very charming, especially if you're willing to make the effort with a few words of French.

I think that, in general, big cities - especially capital cities - just overwhelm some people, especially if they're not used to them. I've heard people complain about Barcelona, New York, London and Rome for all the same reasons I've heard them complain about Paris, but it's nearly always people who aren't used to big cities and just find the pace and the noise, and the general vibe of people who live and work in that environment, a bit of a culture shock.

I think 'Paris Syndrome' was actually originally meant to refer specifically to Japanese tourists, which is understandable because the whole difference in culture and behaviour between Japan and France, especially Paris, is just huge and overwhelming. I think quite a lot of Europeans experience a similar feeling when they visit Tokyo.

Paris is awesome. If I lived in the South East of England and was able to get there by train in a few hours I’d be there all the time!

I enjoy spending time in most European cities though. Have had great holidays in Berlin, Amsterdam, Krakow among others. Also think London is great and am sad that circumstances meant I had to turn down an opportunity to work there.

I love Paris. Went there for my honeymoon 35 years ago and been back loads. It will always be special to me.

Similarly I don’t understand people being underwhelmed by Venice, saying it smells etc. it is ridiculously beautiful, magical at night, and I’ve never found it smelly even though have only ever been there in summer.

My french is crap, but I make an effort every time. I do feel shame-faced when waiting staff respond in English but I still have a go! I don’t find people rude at all.

Whilst I’m on here, I might do a mini hijack! We normally stay in the Marais or St-Germain. Should we be more adventurous and stay in a different area next year? I don’t really want to be near the Champs-Élysées and find the areas near sacre-coeur a bit seedy. But I would love any recommendations. Restaurants and cafes, some nice shops, and beautiful architecture. Though tbf that’s a lot of Paris covered I know!

Yes but they hate rudeness even more. Someone failing to say “bonjour Madame/Monsieur/etc” on entering a shop/resto etc is almost guaranteed to piss them off before they’ve even started demonstrating their French language skills, or lack of.
Because being rude to people is such brilliant customer service!
As I say, I haven't been to France in years and this thread isn't making me want to go back.
I holiday in places where they know how to be nice to other human beings (mainly because they, themselves, are genuinely nice people).

I go every spring with my adult daughter. It is ‘our’ place and we absolutely love it. It is so easy to get to from London where we live. The only thing I would say, is that I prefer the tube to the Metro!

I am bias because I am from Paris. but thank you for your post, it fills my heart. Happy Friday!

We go to Paris every year and stay in the 4th arrondissement (the Marais). Lots of nice restaurants and shops and just across the Seine for Notre Dame. The Marais is still full of small streets and historical old buildings.

Yes but they hate rudeness even more. Someone failing to say “bonjour Madame/Monsieur/etc” on entering a shop/resto etc is almost guaranteed to piss them off before they’ve even started demonstrating their French language skills, or lack of.

I’ve lived in Paris twice (and visited many times for both leisure and business when I wasn’t resident). I actually love Parisians (and the French in general) but they themselves openly admit that they can be utter dicks when they want to be. They’re quite proud of it. My French boss actually said to me when I first moved there last time “I’m horrible and I’m proud to be horrible”. And indeed he was for my first few months. 🙄And then he realised that my French is actually pretty good, that I’m not a complete Anglo-Saxon heathen (by French standards) and that I actually appreciate many things about French culture/lifestyle and know how to conduct myself, and I was “in”. He turned into one of the most loyal and supportive friends and colleagues that I could ever wish for. When my employer eventually decided that I had to move back to London he said “we will fight for you!!” We’re still friends. And he can still be a dick (he wouldn’t consider himself French if he wasn’t a dick occasionally). When I travel from London to his Paris home for dinner parties/etc with him and other former colleagues/friends, he always makes me blind taste the wine and guess what it is (so far I’ve got it right every time much to their surprise/delight). They like to test my “Frenchness” as they now consider me “almost French”. 🙄😂They were very suspicious about a cheeseboard of English cheeses I took over but ultimately proclaimed “they smell so bad they could be French!”, refused to let their children eat sausages from The Ginger Pig at Borough Market (didn’t trust that English food wouldn’t poison French children) and were very dubious about trying Nyetimber sparkling wine (concluding that “it’s better than bad French champagne”). They were utter arseholes to some of my expat friends that I tried introducing them to (huge mistake on my part!) because the expats didn’t fully appreciate/understand ‘the secret French rules’ (like the importance of saying bonjour when entering a shop!). Like I said, the Parisians can be dicks. But loveable dicks.

As for Paris itself, whenever I arrive off the Eurostar and head down into the metro, I also take a deep breath in and smell that unique mix of stale piss and burning rubber and think “yes, the smell of Paris, I’m back!!!”

As for Paris syndrome, I had to Google it. What a load of tosh.