To think Paris is overrated?

[BorgQueen]

I’m here now and just not feeling it. The insane heat isn’t helping but everything is just annoying me to the point of rage. The Metro is horrific, the bus routes I’d so carefully researched are not running because of road works. We’re spending more on ubers than anything else. Walking around is problematic, so many pavements blocked off where we want to walk, I honestly feel cursed. If we didn’t have the Louvre booked tomorrow, I’d have come home early.
We visited Notre Dame and were herded around like cattle, you couldn’t move freely and it was horrible, packed in like sardines.
We went to the BHV department store afterwards and planned on going to up to the top floor cafe, no escalators or lifts were running and the downstairs toilets were blocked off, I almost cried.
Went to see the Eiffel tower sparkle and it was like a circus with multiple Police chasing the scammers/tat sellers around Trocadero. Loud music playing, it was like the 7th circle of hell crossed with a rave.
Thankfully our hotel in St Germain is lovely with great aircon but I don’t think I’ll ever come back to Paris.

August is a terrible time to visit Paris, I'm sorry it's been so awful, OP. We've had several lovely autumn and winter trips so I'd recommend that if you can bear to give it another go. We stay in Le Marais which is interesting and touristy without being crazy.

I was about to say the same. My town has roadworks everywhere.

Nobody works in the school holidays you see and nobody needs to get anywhere (and I think, although that is patently not true in the UK, it is more or less true in France in August!)

Getting Ubers is nuts though. Just walk, they can't block off all the pavements. Or cycle - Paris is super*-cycle-friendly now.

*sorry to people on other threads saying they hate people using the word super!

Oooh - where would you recommend please?

Agree that it’s gone downhill; so much graffiti.. I’d go to the St Germain and Montmartre areas (but watch out for thieves in the latter), Musee D’Orsay, Shakespeare & Co bookshop and Notre Dame. The rest of the time I’d spend in a cafe 😄

I quite like Paris but it can get a bit samey. The tat merchants around Eiffel Tower and so on. But generally I quite like it.

The Louvre visit has been the highlight , we were among the first 100 people inside this morning at 9am and enjoyed Winged victory, Mona Lisa and Liberty with hardly anyone else around. Hugely disappointed that one side of the sculpture wing was closed but the Egyption gallery was empty and rivalled the British Museum. It’s an absolute maze though and the maps inside are back to front so it’s very confusing. The cafe overlooking the Pyramid was very good.
The Carousel area underneath the Louvre was utterly insane by 1pm when we came out, you couldn’t move. So many huge foreign tour groups, especially Japanese and Mexican.
We had to come in August, I had an easyjet credit that needed using and it was my 60th.
We’ve done London, Athens, Dubrovnik, Spilt, New York, Venice, Verona, Berlin and Kracow in August with no issues at all but also no heatwave.

It’s 34° currently and absolutely brutal.
Going to see the eclipse later at the Arc de Triomphe.

I’m glad we stayed in St Germain, it feels very safe.

’Just walk’? It’s 35 fucking degrees. We walk around at night, around St Germain, across to Tuileries to see the Olympic balloon go up, down to Invalides - but in the daytime? Not a chance.
I’ve got through 6 dresses/ bralettes and 9 pairs of knickers in 3 days, everything is soaking after a few hours.

Put them in the wash

YABU

No one in their right mind voluntarily goes to Paris in August. There's a reason all the locals decamp to their summer homes for the month.

I love Paris. As others have said, you are really there at the wrong time in the heat. I also think you are going to the wrong places. I love London too, but not eg Oxford Street or Leicester Square. You need to find the quieter spots.

Vienna, Tallinn, Athens, Warsaw, Lisbon, Berlin. Loved all of them! And of course Rome!

IMO Paris is the best city in the world, but probably not in August in a heatwave!

I get how those experiences would have been frustrating. Come back in the spring and give it another chance!

I live here and I love Paris in August, but only if you head away from the big tourist sites - so Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre would be off my list. You can watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle from afar (Belvedere de Belleville would be my choice for a viewing spot), I'd pick the Petit Palais and Musee Marmottan over the Louvre and while the newly renovated Notre Dame is maybe a must-see, Paris is peppered with beautiful churches (Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in rue du Bac - is a teeny, tiny favourite of mine - just behind Bon Marché). BHV is a disaster and a sad, sad story of deliberate mismanagement and running it into the ground - no Parisian would go there now. It actually gives me Backrooms vibes (if you've seen the film). The rooftop at Galeries Lafayette is a much better bet. You need to get off the tourist treadmill and off the metro too - wander the streets of St Germain out from your hotel towards the Jardin Luxembourg or towards the river, turn off the main drag and find a shady terrace in a quiet square. Paris is incredibly walkable - follow your nose, see where it takes you and then take the metro home if you feel you've walked too far.

Find lovely cafes on quite street /in little squares - ChatGPT might be your friend here.

Avoid the main tourist sites - you can get beautiful views of the tower sparkling from other bridges along the Seine. Don’t walk down the main thoroughfares- use quieter side streets to get to your destination.

You can find Quiet Paris and Pretty Paris in plenty of areas. Hope the rest of the trip goes well.

I’d always understood that Paris in August is best avoided.
I used to work for a Paris-based company so travelled frequently - the central part of town is beautiful, if crowded, but a lot of it felt very urban, concrete and large scale/unwalkable. I didn’t feel very safe there - so much graffiti. There are still many beautiful parts though, the food/coffee/champagne is amazing. I loved having meals outside with colleagues.

Going to see the eclipse later at the Arc de Triomphe. Another heaving tourist hotspot in the middle of a six lane road. The sun is in the sky - you can see the eclipse anywhere.

Before I read the thread, respectfully I just want to say you are wrong. HTH. 😂

TBF it does sound like it hasn't been ideal. I have been 4 times and loved it and still love it and plan to go in March or April again. Many people are underwhelmed by it though and the things that have gone wrong and making it uncomfortable cannot really be planned for. I hope it gets better OP>

1. with school when I was 14, fell in love with it and planned my life in Paris on the coach on the way home. I can't even remember much about 'Paris' from this trip just how I felt.
2. Went with my mum, can't recall a great deal about this either other than I liked it.
3. Took DS for his 8th brithday at his request in January. I was on the tightest budget ever and we walked all the way from Notre Dame to Eiffel Tower, went up for the first time, toured the Louvre as a residence not a museum had a nice local dinner, stayed in the smallest hotel. Missed our Eurostar and cried because I had no more money but they just put us on the next one. Loved it.
4. Went for my birthday last year but o account of all the other trips, went to Versailles and stayed there, absolutely sweltering (my birthday is tomorrow) but splurged on a nice hotel and promptly forgot to buy tickets so did the gardens and estate as well as the mini palaces.

Next trip I have:

• Pere Lachaise Cemetary
• Musketeers walking tour (worked out by me and Chat GPT)
• Victor Hugo's house

I was in Paris twice last week and found the Metro (and trains) to be much cleaner, more reliable and cheaper than anything we have here. First visit we stuck to the narrow, shady streets of the Marais, I'd recommend lunch in the courtyard of Musée Carnavalet. 2nd trip we queued for 40mins to get into Notre Dame but spent 90mins inside, quietly watching the Veneration of the Crown of Thorns on our way out was remarkably moving even though I'm an atheist who only wanted to see the architecture & renovations.

It's lovely in October

If you are doing the Eiffel Tower, Louvre and Notre Dame in August, I think you're doing it wrong 😅

They are all the massive tourist hotspots and it's the middle of summer so yeah, I'm not surprised you're not having a great time.

Paris is all about the little shops, galleries and cafes and really just wandering the streets and soaking up the atmosphere. Find some quieter places to go and just be for a while.

I went to Victor Hugo’s house last time I was there. Very nice.

I always like the Pompidou centre.

I’ve been to Paris at different times of year including August in a heatwave. I’ve loved it every time. We never bother with the Metro and just wander. It’s all about soaking up the atmosphere and finding little squares and cafes. In this heat I found visit little churches to be a nice pastime. Or sitting in shady public gardens.

Don't the all famously leave in August.

I wasn't wowed with Paris though was some considerable years ago I went - but it was a very packed weekend staying with friends and I think they tried to do everything with us or left us to queue while they had a break - and plane back was delayed - it was exhausting and not as interesting for me as many UK cities have been.

Kids have been on school trips where everything was organised - boat trips and coaches and loved it but not in August.

If you want to avoid the obvious places this has a rooftop terrace with a great view. And it's a very interesting building https://www.imarabe.org/fr

I always like the Pompidou centre. Me too, unfortunately it is closed for five years for renovation.