To have found certain parts of Paris edgy

I lived in Lyon for 6 months and can highly recommend it for a weekend for some of the things people go to Paris for - food, architecture, museums, bit of shopping. Not in winter though - it's near the Alps and I have never been so cold.

There are a couple of places to avoid but they are quite small.

I stayed in Pigalle as a teenage art student and it was rather eye-opening.

I hated Paris and would never go back.
It's the only city I've felt unsafe in.

If anyone finds Paris rough and dirty they're not going to like Marseille.

I fucking love Marseille.

Yeah, you definitely get a work out on the steps 😬 My major beef with the Metro is that it isn't laid out as efficiently as the Tube- there's lots of journeys where you have to make 2 changes, vanishingly unusual for the Tube.

But as compensation you get those beautiful cast iron elevated lines....the no. 2 from Barbes- Rochechouart to Stalingrad, that one in the South from Bir- Hakeim, the 5 where it crosses the Seine on the Viaduc d' Austerlitz and plunges straight the the first floor facade of the Gare d' Austerlitz...

And the names....pure poetry. Reamer Sebastopol, Marcadet- Poissoniers...

I was on the Metro the other day and some lad started playing his stupid tinny music loud. Was really impressed by the amount of other passengers who swivelled their heads and fixed him with a death stare. He turned it off sharpish 😊

Yeah, I watched Emily in Paris already knowing the city well, and I was pretty shocked by how much they'd sanitised and Disneyfied it.

It certainly is real.

We went to Paris 12 years ago and I actually thought it would be somewhere I'd love to live when we retired.

Went back last year and hated it. It looked dirty and rundown in so many once lovely areas and I actually felt really unsafe.

The area around the station was always a bit sketchy but was ten times worse. Couldn't wait to leave the place!

I love Paris but it has always smelled of urine. Great wafts of it every so often, especially in the metro.

I live in Paris and there is a lot to love, especially once you venture away from the Eiffel Tower and other big landmarks/tourist attractions. But yes, there are some very pissy smelling areas, there are a lot of beggars on the metro and people sleeping in tents. Gare du Nord is horrible, Chatelet is an absolute hole - although has some great, cheap places to sit and people watch with a glass of wine- and there are an awful lot of shoplifters you need to be conscious of. But it’s one of the great cities of the world - I feel the same way about London and New York, they aren’t perfect and they all have issues with homelessness and crime too, and yet I love walking around them. But then I’ve also lived in cities outside of Europe which had much, much bigger problems with crime, femicide and poverty, so perhaps I am bit desensitised and quite blasé about cities like Paris where in general you can freely walk around without fearing for your life. I dunno, I think Paris is great but you do have to realise before going that it’s not all croissants, romance and trips to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

That reads like a joke! Can’t believe it’s real!

I like a neighbourhood where it feels like there's life and you could pop out and get a pint of milk/a nice coffee etc. Several of my corner shops are cornerstones of our community; the staff know their regulars and did home deliveries in Covid, look out for people etc.
Anyway, those parts of London just feel empty and soulless to me. I don't know how else to say it. I'm glad you had a different experience, but that's not mine.

this is what happened to the Japanese student who stayed with us, I think, quite common:-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_syndrome

I’ve been there about 15 times with family and friends, been all over. Hate me now but I actually find it a bit boring. But I also find some parts of London boring and way too touristy now. Some Parisian parts I like some I don’t. Like I said my British aunt lives there has done for past 10 or so years. One of her friends makes and sells guitars there. She’s an ex model so in with that scene (music and so on). My DB and his wife love it there and stay in less well known suburbs (don’t ask me where I just see photos on fb).

Yep. That’s Paris. It’s a big city.

I have lived in Paris and visited about a good 10/15 times. I love it!

And after the bombings terror attack I think. Some of Paris seemed very quiet and our travel plans including American friends were already booked. They were scared to go but it was fine.

This was from londres.

On another city my nana used to have au pairs from France (wealthy girls who barely did au pair tasks no cleaning or anything 🤣) who took my teenage mum back to Montpelier for Les vacs. I mentioned to mum something about Marseilles once and she said it was a rough dirty unsafe sailors town and not to go there! That was all! Think her French friends told her this or she went once and found out for herself. It’s probably perfectly nice but I’ve never been!

My French friend from Calais who lives in London rarely goes to Paris. Must ask why. She had a flatmate called Eloise who she said was a typical Parisian snob. She’s now in Dubai. We had foreign students once and a very rich boy Guillame lived in Opera. He may still live there but he’s married now. Couldn’t cook and used to eat tubs of chocolate ice cream and go out drinking until he spent all his money in London 🤣. His dad was sadly killed in a motor accident but family owned chain of resorts in campagne (countryside).

Only time Gare Du Nord was safe was near and during Olympics due to lots of security

What were you expecting? Emily in Paris tweeness? Any large city has its rough areas that are best to be avoided and most large stations tend to be somewhat sketchy at the best of times.

@Davros there was apparently plans to redevelop Gare du Nord and clean up the surrounding area (a bit like the clean up that happened around Kings X - St Pancras) but it was cancelled.

Paris is the most horrible filthy city I've ever visited and I've been fortunate to travel a lot. I would never return

I am a die hard, life long Londoner so I accept that my experiences and opinions might be skewed! I don’t think our mainline stations are like the hell hole of the Gare du Nord described here and I don’t think the areas around the stations are crime ridden grot holes. I’m thinking Kings X/StP, Liverpool Street (being upgraded), even Euston doesn’t feel unsafe just ugly and impractical. I was swarmed by urchins once near the Termini station in Rome. We fought them off with the help of a passing local.

They did try to mug us though.

Would you feel safe in Westminster?
I think most people would probably says yes but actually, Westminster is the most dangerous borough in London due to the high number of visitors.
Crime stats alone don't always give you the whole picture.