Why do so many British people seem to dislike Paris / France / French people on here?

[ShoeSearch]

For the sake of clarity, I am not British and I am not French. I love Paris and visit France frequently, I think it is a fabulous city.

Yet I see time and time again Paris being cited as the worst place people have ever been etc. And I wondered why there's such an animosity towards it. Is it historical? A sort of general 'not getting on with the neighbours' type of thing.

Because I honestly don't recognise some of the descriptions of Paris that I read here - 'filthy, unsafe, smells of wee, full of rude people, etc'

It's baffling and I'm curious about it.

I've lived in Paris and absolutely loved it and I visit frequently and always have a good time there.

I have gorgeous memories of Paris in the early 00’s. Like, really movie-like days wandering along the Siene, hanging around in cafes, romancing beautiful men in dark overcoats.. I think like all capital cities it’s too crowded now and so many tourists but it still has a place in my heart.
And can deal with gritty- where I grew up makes Paris look like Disneyland anyway 😀
I don’t speak amazing French but found people willing to engage and speak French back to me.
I must say though, I find the French in general very reserved and not very smily or humorous, but that’s more in Northern France, not just Paris. Southern French are warmer and nicer.

And the Gare du Nord is a dark, dirty nightmare! If you’re travelling via Eurostar, the contrast with St Pancras is colossal.

I love France and have never actually met any unpleasant French people, except possibly blokes who might barge into you in the street in Paris and have not even come across many of those. Au contraire, French people are generally most polite, more so than we Brits.
Paris is OK, but I wouldn't rush back. I prefer smaller towns and the countryside. I've experienced no animosity whatsoever for being English, but I do speak reasonable French.
DH (not really a French speaker but he tries) had a slightly different experience when he took his DF to Arromanches, Normandy. His DF had landed there on D-day plus 5 and stayed for a couple of months building the floating docks and guarding POWs. DH and his DF were in a bookshop looking for D-day stuff and were treated very abruptly, even inexplicably rudely.
Until the staff realised they were British and not German. Then it was all profuse apologies and smiles. This was in the 80s; it seems wartime memories still run deep.

I have dual nationality French/British and I don't like Paris or the Parisians.

Not uncommon for French people to feel the same :) because the city has a (well-deserved) reputation for being home to entitled, rude and arrogant people.

I always found Paris less safe than London and the 'banlieues' are truly awful.

I'm glad I saw it (twice) but have no desire to return. That box is ticked now. Anyhow, I think that going to a big city anywhere (Rome, Paris, London, etc.) as a tourist can be challenging in a sea of similar visitors all wanting to see the same sights.

It's a big capital city like many others. Good bits and bad bits. It is overhyped like other cities too. But everywhere is becoming just so crammed with visitors that the experience can be a bit unpleasant sometimes no matter where you go. And yes, we are all part of that too.

For me, the solution is to do city surfing either end November or late January/early Feb. In November the Christmas season hasn't started, and in the other it's over! The numbers are still there, but to a much lesser extent, and the local people seem to have a lot more time and patience.

I do enjoy going to France, I prefer Rouen, Lyon, Nice, Perpignan, Bordeaux, the Basque country (Bayonne) Strasbourg and Alsace any day over Paris. Vive la France.

I'm French and have a very big family in France. I've lived between the UK and France my whole life and I don't encounter any hatred from French people towards the British. I have however always heard how much British people hate French people. Banging on about the war etc. The only gripes I've ever heard in France regarding British people are about the ex pats who live here and don't bother to learn the language. One lady proudly told me she'd lived in France for 17 years and couldn't speak any more French than to say it was a sunny day. 🙄 That's all she'd bothered to learn in 17 years. And she isn't alone unfortunately. I encounter countless Brits who only mix with other Brits and don't bother to integrate in any way or learn the language. So ignorant. I'm always delighted to come across those that have made an effort though. You're living in the country so why be here if you can't be arsed?
I love Paris and have a lot of family and friends there but it's very like London. Full of tourists and overcrowded, run down in places and lots of pickpockets.

I absolutely love France, Paris, the South, the North, the middle. Such a vast and beautiful country. Lovely impossible language.

There are cultural differences and I think that might be the root of the problem? It probably works both ways. When in France - even with my awful French - I find greetings (especially in shops and restaurants, but everywhere really) are so important. I think if you don't start off this way with every single interaction, it's perceived as rude. It's just not the British way, so we take their response (to that perception of rudeness) to heart. We (usually) didn't mean to be rude.

I was in Paris for a few days recently and it was wonderful. Like all cities it has its dark side and I'm no stranger to that as a Londoner. But mindful greeting and an effort at the language seems to make a difference even there.

I adore France. I’ve never met an unpleasant French person apart from on a trip to Paris when I felt really threatened as a young woman alone. I went back ten or so years ago and loved it.

A bit strong... Thought the cunt was merely a bastard?

😁

If this thread is about Paris, then I've only been there a few times - the usual tourist places but last time, we stayed in part of Paris that I don't think could possibly exist in London and I saw things that I have only ever seen in travelling in much poorer places.

However, I love my holidays in France. French campsites, the countryside, the supermarkets, the villages, the space on the roads..Just so nice and France is just one of my favourite countries to holiday in.

I’m Irish and I’m so sorry but I’ve been to France probably about ten times and have experience after experience of people just being horrible! People won’t answer you in English and they scoff at the French. My friend lived there a few years and found the same even though to our standards she was quite fluent.

Gosh. I went last week on a study trip. My French, German and Italian are very basic, but i tried. Normally all 3 languages in 1 sentence. I get muddled. Everyone was very kind and polite, as I butchered my way through sentences. I was surprised - haven't been to Paris in near 30 years. I found the Parisiens i met to be friendly and warm.

I felt incredibly unsafe when my sister and I visited Paris for a weekend last year. The French seem very angry all of the time, not very inviting or welcoming/friendly in any way. I’ve been a few times, for several different reasons/holidays and never particularly enjoyed France.

I'm a Francophile and Paris is my favourite city.

I've been to Paris, and to Cologne. Cologne wins hands down for me. In Paris I got the distinct impression that British tourists were to be tolerated at best. In Cologne the Germans were really friendly and welcoming, appreciated our paltry efforts with their language and replied in faultless English. Ironic really, when you consider that Paris was liberated by the Allies (including the British) in WWII, yet the RAF practically flattened Cologne.

My daughters' school did French exchanges and German exchanges. One daughter (who was studying German) was a bit concerned about negative reports from friends about previous exchanges, but the teacher said, "Oh, that was France, you're going to Germany, you'll be fine!" And that proved true for her group as well, the ones going Germany got on much better than the ones who went to France. We had 2 German girls to stay and they were both delightful.

The only negative, I suppose, was that the Germans spoke English so well that my girls didn't speak much German.

(I know you shouldn't generalise about a nation, but that was their experience).

Paris is way friendlier than it used to be - I went once in my teens and encountered rude people but every time I've been as an adult it's been fine. I think the French in general are very misunderstood - once you learn a bit of the language and understand that it is a more formal culture and that there are certain things you need to say and do then they are lovely in my experience.

What the heck is this obsession about the war? I doubt anyone under the age of say 60 even thinks about it in relation to tourists in their country.

I haven’t been to Paris since an exchange trip at 14 - OK except for Maman, who was endlessly complaining about ‘Les Algeriens!’ - and the fact that there was no lock on the bathroom door, and Papa once walked in on me in his droopy old Y Fronts! 😱😂
However have been many times to a BiLs huge place in semi rural Burgundy where the locals are always friendly and welcoming. And my rusty A level French seems to go down well.

Never had an issue in France, DH speaks quite good French and I am ok though not amazing. A man in Normandy hugged and kissed us and gave us free brandy when he found out DH Grandfather had been part of the D Day landings.

@zenai Normandy has an entire tourist industry based around WW2. The man that hugged us Father had been liberated by the British as a child and was still alive.

I was there myself in September last year. The Normandy beaches and all around that area is the right place for remembrance of the war. I was referring to a passing comment by a pp that it was unusual for France to appear to dislike the British, but the Germans do not, considering the sides each country took in the war. That's all.

I love the architecture of Paris and even the rats, but I don’t speak any French so I just feel like I’m waiting for people to get annoyed with me. I leant Japanese in school and not French, so even if I learn a couple of French words, in the heat of the moment my brain panics and pulls out a konichiwa. In other countries where I haven’t spoken the language I can get by with a smile, pointing at things and handing over money and everyone is happy, but in Paris I felt like nobody had the patience for this. And I can understand why, but it does put me off visiting.

I love Paris. I do find it beautiful, and an amazing walking city with fantastic food provided you do a bit of research and avoid the tourist trap places. I'm there probably about 3 times a year.

Was there recently in our Paris office for a few days and was thinking that the city seems to be quite a happy, prosperous place these days - probably helped by the fact the weather was stunning. I'm not saying it doesn't have issues, but so do New York, where I was born and raised, and London, where I live. I have been groped/harrassed on the street, but otherwise don't find people rude, and in general they're very tolerant of my decent but far from fluent French. St Pancras is more majestic than Gare du Nord, for sure, but GDN is having a bit of modernisation and I didn't find it too bad last time.

On the flip side, society is quite rigid and it does seem to me that racism endures there in a way that's unacceptable.

I am over 60 and we went to Cologne in the 1980's.

I moved here after Brexit. Best thing that ever happened to us. I’m just outside (15 mins by fast train) and bloody love it. So much going on. Beautiful city. I don’t feel unsafe. Metro is quick and air-conditioned. GDN is fine; I really don’t see the issues.

I love that my local supermarché has a tank with live lobsters and crab in their fish section, that I can book a doctor or dentist appointment for the next day via my app, and that the pavement pickings when people chuck out their rubbish on collection day includes real wooden wine boxes, just perfect for my balcony!

There is of course some ridiculous Parisian snobbery, mostly from the Instagram comedians, who sneer at those of us living in the banlieus. I also knew Paris very well before I arrived, and spoke passable French.