What's Paris like?

[nervoustraveller1]

Never been. Want to go. I'm a Londoner and have explored a lot of central London.

Please tell me, what is Paris like?

Living in London, you must know that it's almost impossible to answer a question like that. How would you answer "What is London like?".

Like London it is a big, diverse city and you are going to find beauty, history, culture and buzz. You are also going to find some fairly unpleasant bits. If you like cities at all, why not just go and explore and see what you can find? It's definitely not a particularly dangerous city in the general scheme of things.

Paris is incredibly atmospheric and has striking architecture, with iconic sights. I like it, but I’ve always found it far dirtier than other big cities and with way more graffiti and petty crime - that said, as long as you keep your wits about you, you should be okay, confidence is key. This is really important in and around Gare du Nord, which is notorious for a reason.

I also find Paris much more of a sprawl than other big cities, and while the heart of the city is easily covered by foot, you’ll probably need a travel card and Citymapper. The metro can get really busy, interchanging between platforms and lines can get quite claustrophobic, more so than the tube, in my experience.

Service can be brisk, Parisian servers don’t like ditherers, but if you’re polite, decisive, and have a stab at speaking French, you’ll be grand.

It is beautiful in the 'don't touch anything!' way of a grand, white, iced wedding cake. Very much for show.

The area around Sacre Coeur was frightening with pick pockets and scammers. The train station area felt the same. It was hard to relax.

The Louvre and Versailles were amazing and worth the trip.

I dont ever feel the need for a return visit to Paris, although I love other areas of France.

I used to live there. I'd say avoid the north part (Monmartre and upwards) - which is often cheaper to stay in but also much unsafer.

Bastille used to be cheap for eating out and drinking but also less safe.

Eiffel Tower area +champs Elysees can be a rip off. Though I do really like the champs elysees partly because that's the area I lived in.

There are some nice parts though, I used to love cycling around bois de boulogne (there are a lot of prostitutes there - but they don't harm anyone), le marais, st German des pres are pretty and also cheaper to eat out as they are further from the big attractions. One of my favourite attractions is the catacombs.

The metro is not a nice as in the UK, though l1 is OK. And it's a lot easier to walk between places there.

As others have said homelessness is a bigger problem there.

Parc des buttes chaumont is also very pretty and a nice break from the crowds, though I wouldn't stay in that area

The whole point of travelling is to explore places to make up your own mind

Paris is of course fabulous and a very walkable city

Hence its popularity

Go

It’s a proper city, like London. It’s gritty and real and beautiful and challenging and amazing.

I don't think you can beat your first time in Paris as there is some iconic thing to see around every corner. It's not somewhere I'm ever desperate to go back to and the people are often rude, dismissive and seem to dislike anyone not from Paris - but so much great stuff to see and easy to walk around. Definitely worth seeing once.

Hanging around gate du nord at night is the same as hanging around King’s Cross, penn station or Rome termini at night. Not nice. There are some arrondissments which are grittier and dirtier than others but frankly if you’ve never been, you’ll manage to avoid them in a short visit. It’s tiny compared to London and metro stops are very close to each other - if you sit at the front of the train you can often see the lights of the next station while sat at another. That means it’s very walkable and the walking is lovely. It is expensive but all major cities are. I would recommend that you avoid going u til after the Olympics because there is a lot of building work frantically going on to clean the place up in time and prices are jacked up massively for accommodation- even metro fares are set to double. I adore Paris and go every year, and if you were visiting London for the first time you’d probably stick more to Soho, south Ken and Westminster etc than Mile End, Streatham and Harlesden. Similarly, you’ll stick around the 1st - 6th, 9th etc rather than heading to some of the grittier outer areas. It’s glorious - go and enjoy.

Paris is really beautiful and has some amazing attractions for tourists (the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Champs Élysées, the Sacré-Coeur, a cruise on the Seine etc. etc.). Versailles is outside Paris but it's just a train ride away and well worth a visit. If you have kids, there's the added appeal of Disneyland Paris. There's history, architecture, art, fashion, romance, good food - what's not to like?

The first time I visited (almost 30 years ago), it was fairly easy to visit everything. We pretty much turned up, paid our entry fee and walked in. I visited again a few years back and there were massive queues for everything, which took away from our enjoyment. You'd probably need to pre-book everything now. Having said that, the first time we went was October and the second time was June, so maybe it's just a lot busier in the summer.

Paris is divided into different districts called arrondissements. Some of them are nicer than others. A quick google will show you the arrondissements and a bit of information about them.

You need to have your wits about you, same as any big city. There are hagglers in some areas and they can be quite aggressive. I saw a guy pull a knife out of a backpack near the Metro at Sacré-Coeur, which was pretty scary.

If I ever go back to Paris, I'm going to skip the attractions and just enjoy the city - bars, cafes, shops, parks, food markets etc. Lots of walking but no queues.

I occasionally go for work, and usually try to fit in a bit of "me time". I'm in Paris now actually. I enjoy the food, and historical buildings and sights, I like to just wander around the streets in the centre. And I love listening to French language even though I understand very little. Shopping is a bit "meh", I prefer London. What's seriously off-putting is the number of homeless, smell of urine in the streets, tauts and dodgy souvenir sellers constantly bothering you, and in general I feel the need to be in constant alert, especially around Gare du Nord (if you arrive by Eurostar) and the north of Paris in general.

I live on the outskirts of Paris, about 20 mins from the centre. It’s beautiful. I love it. I still visit London a few times a year, but have no desire to return.

I travel on the metro alone at night after a night out, and don’t feel unsafe.

Buy a 2 day ticket for the Batobus Seine river taxi boat

You can buy directly from them online and use the QR code thing they give you on your phone abs it activates once you first use it

Go online to see the various stops

www.batobus.com/en

If you really paid €18 for a baguette, then more fool you. There are plenty of places in Paris where you can get the formule (prix fixe) lunch for between 15-18 Euros for 2 or 3 courses!

OP, if you decide to visit, my top tips are:
a) Don’t bother with Tour Eiffel. Visit Tour Montparnasse instead. Much cheaper and easier to visit. Better views.
b) Visit le Petit Palais on your way down Champs Elysees. Free museum with fab art and sculptures, good cafe, courtyard garden and decent loos.
c) Many monuments and museums are free the first Sunday of the month, including Versailles. Book months ahead for the popular ones.
d) Book Bouillon Julien for a decently priced meal in stunning Art Nouveau room, or Bouillon Pigalle for convenient to Montmartre meal. Always check out restaurants offering formules at lunchtimes; this is where Parisiens on their lunch breaks will spend their luncheon vouchers (yes, many still get a lunch allowance).
e) Vedettes de Pont Neuf is my favoured boat trip for visitors.
f) Check out the fashion expos. Galerie Dior is beautiful. Iris van Herpen currently on at Musée Arts Decoratifs. LV Dream is still on, and is free (just book a slot).

Finally, if you can visit before June, do splurge on the Éphémère Notre Dame. Brilliant VR experience worth every penny.

Like every other major city across the globe.

If that was reason enough not to travel none of us would ever leave our home towns.

not a fan of the city... busy, unfriendly, racist encounters, dirty, expensive, traffic is insane

love the art and would go again and again just for that

Don’t go this year OP, they are all in for the Olympics.The security will be crazy, as well as the ( hopeful) prices.

I went 21 years ago. I thought it was lovely (although I didn’t have a lot of foreign countries to compare it to at the time) be prepared for the quirky sense of humour of the French/Parisians 😂

Its my favourite city that I had the pleasure to visit. Exciting, full of culture, and wonderful food. Everyone I encountered were friendly and didn't seem to mind my awful attempts at french.
I would love to go back in the next few years.

Negatives: Dog Shit Hole. Plenty of homeless about. Graffiti everywhere. The Metro drove me insane (and I'm a Londoner too). Bloody expensive restaurants. So...a lot like London actually. Oh, and try and book the Eiffel Tower to avoid the INSANE queues.

Positives: The Eiffel Tower. The art museums. The tarte tatin. The sport of trying to cross the road at the Place de Concorde. The Catacombs are cool. The Luxembourg Gardens. The Galleries Lafayette department stores. The Bateau Mouche. The unique Parisian rudeness. The book shops on the Seine. The patisseries! The Louvre (but get there early).

I went to Rome last year which also was a graffiti, dog shit, urine soaked, metro-baffling mess but it was ROME so also great! Every European city has its problems, I wouldn't single out Paris, in particular.

Heavenly and I would live there in a heartbeat.

I quite like Paris but you have to be prepared either to walk a lot or get the Metro. Like most capital cities it's spread out. And plan your days accordingly. Yes, there are pickpockets in some areas so watch for that. Like most capital cities it's expensive so factor that in. But you can easily pick up a sandwich in a Monoprix/Carrefour if you don't want to splurge on a cafe sandwich or just buy a baguette, some butter/pate and salad and make your own. The falafel restaurants in Le Marais are reasonable too, so you can make that a cheaper lunch/dinner option.

The best thing to do is avoid the dodgy areas. This time of year is perfect too as much quieter, plus they'll be gearing up for Easter so you can get oefs de Paques. If you like day trips and have the time, then a nice day trip is Versailles or Giverny (Monet's house), both take under an hour to get there by train. I find it hilarious that most of the neighbours in parents holiday home in SW France and my pas du nord Calais friends who live in UK, they almost never go to Paris when they go home, no particular reason, and if they do, it's a tourist thing. I guess they treat it as we treat trips to London here.

I'm another one, used to be fluent in French, but have lapsed in recent years, as long as you at least make an effort to speak some French, then the French appreciate that.

My English aunt does live there and has done for the past 10 years, she has a studio in the 12th arrondissement.

Montmartre is nice, the suburbs are very dodgy. French people are ruder than English people and I’m French! Lots of crime where our friends are from but the arty places are very nice (and expensive haha), really good if you like Toulouse lautrec or history and things.

Yes watch the Frenchies on YouTube!

It’s a beautiful amazing city OP, I’m going in a few weeks.