Why I didn’t love Paris

I’ve been to Paris three times, and none of them have managed to change my opinion of the city. I’ve been twice as a child (once with my parents when I was 10, once when I was 13 with school) and once with Fiona in November 2022, which I’ve written about in my how to spend time in Paris if you love photography post, and I just-really don’t like Paris.

As a child I think the city was totally lost on me-most kids aren’t too fussed about the history of a city or going to the top of the Eiffel tower-and as a teenager we only had a day there, as most of our time was spent at Disney. I was hoping this trip would change my mind but it turns out it absolutely didn’t.

The city is known for being romantic, with it’s beautiful views, food and wine, for shopping with it’s many designer shops and for fashion, and I guess I just don’t get any of those things really. The romance I can understand but I’ve never been to the city with a partner so that side has been wasted on me. Fashion isn’t my thing, I wear what I find comfortable and look good in and probably couldn’t name more than a couple of designers so I’m out. I’m so fussy with food you won’t catch me eating a lot of the traditional French stuff. Definitely no frogs legs or snails for me! The three main attractions of the city, are not for Laura.

Paris is, undeniably, a very beautiful city in places. Sacre Couer and the surrounding area, most of Monmarte, is a photographers dream and who doesn’t love a nice shot down the Seine or of the Eiffel Tower? There’s plenty of street art in the city too if you know where to look and I could probably spend a fair bit of time wandering with my camera but I just don’t feel relaxed here. Fiona told me a few times that I should put my phone away (and I don’t love a city where I have to be so cautious, because that doesn’t come naturally to me, and I like to use my phone a lot on a trip)

Paris’ Metro is too confusing for me, much like the U Bahn in Berlin and the Tube in London, I just can’t get my head around it, which is definitely another reason I’m not a fan of the city. Give me somewhere smaller, where I don’t need to use as much/any public transport or where there’s just a couple of lines, and I’m much happier. Cities like Amsterdam or Wroclaw are much better for me, size wise, than somewhere like Paris or Berlin.

It likely didn’t help that one of our two days in the city, it rained, A LOT. I was cold, wet and grumpy, we queued for a museum in the rain, and didn’t get much time to wander taking photos because of the rain. For me, wandering and taking photos is one of the main reasons I take a trip.

I would, probably, go back to Paris if I had a reason, if it made sense as part of another trip or if someone I was travelling with had a burning desire to see the city. I didn’t hate it, I just didn’t love it either. For me, there’s so many cities I’ve yet to visit that revisiting one I’m not a fan of just doesn’t make sense.

Have you been to Paris? Let me know what you think of the city in the comments