I Had a Bad Time in Paris: Here’s Why

I visited Paris in late December 2025, and I had a bad time. Paris is absolutely beautiful, but I found it to be a very frustrating city to travel in.

My experience was marred by insane crowds, the disgusting number of smokers, and being sick the entire trip. It didn’t help that everything was very expensive.

Under different circumstances – visiting in a less crowded season, while healthy – I might have enjoyed the experience more.

Overall Impressions

I’d give my time in Paris a 4.5/10.

The museums are world class, there’s tons to do, and the city is incredibly beautiful.
Crowds are shoulder-to-shoulder in most places, including museums, Christmas markets, and other tourist attractions, and there are lines for everything, from restaurants to museums to bathrooms.
Food was overall pretty good (bakeries were the highlight), but very expensive, similar to New York prices.
Cigarette smoke made it hard to be outdoors.

If I’d visited during off season (Sept – Nov or Feb – Apr), I might’ve enjoyed it a lot more – But during most of my time in Paris, I was actively excited to go home, which is not something that happens to me often when traveling.

Food

Bakeries

High floor for quality of bakeries, particularly croissants. There is a pretty wide spread of prices, from 2€ to 5€ for a croissant.

Ritz Le Comptoir: Best chocolate croissant of the trip (5€). Iced chestnut madeleine (5€) wasn’t good. Can skip the very long line by getting takeout.
Maison Courcelle: Pretty middling croissants for France, but still decent. Good value for money (~2€).
Pierre Hermé: Good macarons, very expensive (~3€). Praline flavor was delicious, vanilla was way too sweet.
Abra Patisserie: New bakery with inventive desserts (e.g. cheesecake shaped like a Baby Bell cheese). Sesame almond croissant didn’t really taste like sesame, wouldn’t really recommend.
A. Lacroix Pâtissier: Reasonably priced and reasonably good. Pretty good hazelnut cake, not too sweet, nothing special.

Coffee

Coffee was overall very good (and expensive) in Paris – Average cost for a small espresso drink was ~5€ (lattes were ~7€).

Motors Coffee: Good flat white.
HUG Bingsu Coffee: Decent cold brew and a good spot to work (laptop friendly).
Base Coffee: Nice cortado, very strong.
Lampa: Good cappuccino.

Restaurants

I mainly ate Asian food, since it tends to be faster and more casual. Food was good, but nothing blew my mind. I spent ~20€ per meal.

Gawa: Good salmon avocado roll. Momos were pretty good, but not authentic (no sauce).
X Lagrange: This place may have given me minor food poisoning. Food was also among the worst I had on this trip.
Thai Caffe Market House: Decent pad thai and massaman curry, but too expensive for the quality.
Ravioli Nord Est: Fantastic pork & shrimp dumplings and a good lunch deal. Soup dumplings weren’t good (tasted artificial). Long wait time for takeout.
Katsu Katsu: Beef udon was underwhelming (stringy beef, noodles had weird texture) but prices were good.
Izakaya Ramen: Great pork gyoza. Beef udon was too salty and the soup was made from prepackaged flavoring, but the beef was really good.
Di Como: Pizza was not bad overall, but also reminded me of pizza from the school cafeteria (cardboard crust).
Shokudo Irasshai: Very mixed bag experience. The food is fantastic (loved the chicken teriyaki, chicken katsu curry, seasonal mocktail, salmon donburi), but they brought us raw chicken a total of three times before they finally gave up and replaced it with another item.
Patang: Fantastic butter chicken and daal tadka, very fast service. The cheese naan tasted a bit odd.

Museums & Tourist Attractions

I strongly recommend getting the Paris Museum Pass, which covers many of the major museums and tourist attractions in and near Paris.

Depending on the number of museums and attractions you plan to visit, it can save a lot of money compared to paying for each experience individually.
At several museums and tourist attractions, it also lets you get faster access by joining a shorter line.

Museums

Louvre (Timed reservation required)

It was worth it to visit at 9am to beat the crowds. We were in line at the Carrousel entrance (recommended for being more efficient, and to wait indoors instead of outside in thee cold) by 8:25am, and were second in line. Doors opened promptly at 9am.
Recommend visiting Wings of Victory and Denon Wing (Italian Renaissance) first, before things get too busy. Walking through the Denon Wing (trying to get to a different gallery) at 1pm was a terrible experience (shoulder to shoulder crowds).
Mesopotamian Wing was a highlight. Got there around 10:30am and there were very few people. Seeing Darius’s Gate was really cool.

Conciergerie (Timed reservation recommended)

The Conciergerie is a castle-turned-prison. It housed a number of famous prisoners during the French Revolution, including Marie Antoinette.
Personally this was a really interesting museum for me because of my interest in the French Revolution. There are some great historical exhibits about notable figures and personal experiences in the prison.
I visited at 10am, right after visiting Sainte-Chapelle (the two are right next to each other). The Conciergerie was not as crowded as other museums.

Musée D’Orsay (No timed reservation needed with Paris Museum Pass)

This was a fantastic museum to visit as a big fan of Impressionism.
I got in line around 9:10am. The museum opens at 9:30am and no reservations are needed for Paris Museum Pass (PMP) holders. The line moved very quickly for PMP holders, and slowly for people without a ticket.
Would recommend arriving right as the museum opens and heading straight for the 5th floor where most Impressionist works are housed – It gets crowded very quickly.

Musée de l’Orangerie (Timed reservation highly recommended)

One of my personal favorite museums in Paris, known for its exhibits of Monet’s water lilies rooms. I appreciated that the museum felt less overwhelming than other museums in Paris, as it’s very small and contained.
There are two rooms with water lilies – The first is very busy and crowded and second room is much quieter. The lower level has some interesting but skippable exhibits.

Versailles (Timed reservation required)

Personal highlight of the trip.
Seeing the sun rise over Versailles and the light flood into the gardens was beautiful.
Made a reservation for 9am (when it opens), got in line right at 9am, and made a beeline for the Hall of Mirrors before it got ridiculously crowded. Afterwards, took it slow and doubled back to see the other rooms.
I also really enjoyed walking around the gardens and grounds near Versailles.

Crypte Archéologique de l’İle de la Cité (No reservation needed)

This was a hidden gem and surprising find during my trip – The Crypte houses archaeological ruins of Paris and the Seine from Roman and medieval times.
The museum has interesting and informative exhibits and artifacts about the ancient history of the city that often feels overlooked compared to the main tourist attractions. The bonus is that it was not crowded at all.

Tourist Attractions

Eiffel Tower (Timed reservation highly recommended)

The Eiffel Tower is not included in the Paris Museum Pass, so tickets have to be bought separately. The ticket website is confusing and difficult to use, one of the most poorly designed websites for a major tourist attraction I’ve seen.
There was a long line to get in (30 minutes) even with a reservation – The line without reservations was way longer.
We visited at 4:30pm (30 min before sunset) to experience golden hour, sunset, and evening at the tower. Highly recommend visiting at this time.
We got stair tickets for the second floor. Summit tickets were sold out, and it was too windy the day we went anyways. The climb to the second floor and tower itself wasn’t too busy.
The grounds near the tower were extremely crowded after sunset.

Sacré-Cœur

I didn’t enter the church, but visited for views during sunset. The sunset is beautiful, with the light hitting the church, but crowds are ridiculous, to the point where you can’t pass on the stairs for several minutes because there’s no room.

Sainte-Chapelle (Timed reservation highly recommended)

Very beautiful church, famous for its stained glass windows. The church is small, so only spent about 15-30 minutes here.
Visited with a 9am reservation, was in line around 8:30am. 9am is a good time to visit to reduce the crowd factor, but in the winter the sun doesn’t light up the stained glass until a bit later.

Panthéon (No timed reservation available)

Church with historical exhibits, sculptures of important figures in French history, and war memorials, built on top of a crypt where important people in French history and culture are buried (e.g. Victor Hugo, Marie Curie).
I spent about an hour. Overall enjoyed my visit here, and it wasn’t as crowded as some of the other spots.

Arc de Triomphe (No timed reservation available)

Came just before sunset. I didn’t think the views near the Arc were particularly impressive at sunset.
The line to get in (even with a Paris Museum Pass) looked extremely long and wasn’t moving at all, so didn’t bother to line up, just walked around the exterior and left.

Place de la Concorde

Place de la Concorde was where public executions were held during the French Revolution – There is an obelisk standing where there used to be a guillotine.
I really liked the view of Place de la Concorde from the terrace near Musee de l’Orangerie – It’s a great spot for sunset, with good views of the Eiffel Tower.

Hôtel des Invalides (No reservation needed with Paris Museum Pass)

Church and burial place for important figures in French military history, including Napoleon. Each tomb felt very dramatic, especially Napoleon’s, which is housed in a massive coffin in the center of the building.
The line was long but moved quickly. It was crowded inside.

Christmas Markets

Generally quite a touristy experience. Food and souvenirs sold at the markets are pretty expensive, but there are some nice items to buy.

Tuileries: Largest and most touristy of the Christmas markets I visited. Had carnival rides and games, along with the classic food and souvenirs.
Notre Dame: Small market, very crowded. Found some nice postcards.
Eiffel Tower: My least favorite market, shoulder to shoulder crowds, only one entry / exit point. So unpleasant that I only spent 5 minutes here before leaving.
Hotel de Ville: Smaller market, more focused on souvenirs than food. Less crowded.

Other Experiences

Watched the Contrasts Ballet at the Opera Garnier

This was an extremely poor experience, and to be honest, it felt like a scam on the part of the opera.
We got tickets for the 4th floor (30€, second cheapest tier).
The seats were easily the least comfortable seats I’ve ever been in – I had problems with leg room (my knees would easily hit the people in front of me), and I’m 5’2″ with short legs relative to my height. There was no space between you and the person sitting next to you. The seats are hard (no cushions), and the seat back is completely flat, which causes back pain. My legs were falling asleep in the entire time and I eventually had to stand.
The dancers were very good, but the ballet itself wasn’t enjoyable due to weird music and lack of storyline.
Our entire section had cleared out by the point of the first intermission – the seats were so uncomfortable that everyone decided to go home.

Croissant class at Studio Patisserie

Great experience, worth it even though it was expensive ($125 USD). The instructor was fun, engaging, and helpful.
The class lasted 3 hours. We made 8 croissants (4 classic, 4 chocolate), experienced the entire process from dough to proving to shaping to baking, and got a croissant recipe to take home.

Safety and Cleanliness

Safety

Generally, I felt very safe walking around, even at night. The streets are pretty empty before sunrise and after 10pm, but I never felt threatened.
Paris is known for being one of the pickpocket and phone snatching capitals of the world, so I stayed alert, didn’t use my phone while walking around or on the metro, and used zipper pockets.

Cleanliness

The city center and main tourist areas were decently clean. There is some trash lying in busier areas, and there was dog poop everywhere on the sidewalks.
In neighborhoods that are slightly further out from the city center and tourist attractions (e.g. Batignolle), there was way more trash on the sidewalks (as well as more graffiti).

Walkability and Public Transportation

Public Transportation

Convenient, frequent, clean, and very well-connected, but not as easy or advanced as expected due to the ticketing system.
The ticketing system is confusing and outdated. There is no credit card tap to pay. Bus / tram tickets are separate system than the metro / RER tickets. You can’t add both bus / tram and metro / RER tickets on the same card, so I had a mobile card for my bus / tram and airport tickets, and then had to pay 2€ extra for a physical card for my metro / RER tickets.
Transportation was generally a bit expensive (2€ for bus / tram, 2.50€ for metro / RER). Tickets to and from the airport were wildly expensive (14€) for a 30 min (ORY) to 40 min (CDG) ride.

Walkability

Paris is a highly walkable city. There are good walking signals and sidewalks in pretty good condition (even, no broken cobblestone).
However, sidewalks were frequently not wide enough to accommodate the crowds.

People and Crowds

People

Overall, people were surprisingly nice. Some tourists (including French tourists) were rude – Blocking sidewalks, bumping into people, trying to cut the line, etc.
It was easy to communicate and get around in English, although some people did try to humor me and my broken French.

Crowds

This is the primary reason I had a bad time in Paris.
Crowds were insane. People start lining up about hours before things open. Several tourist attractions – Louvre (certain wings), Notre Dame, and some Christmas markets were shoulder to shoulder.

Other Notes

Air Quality

Air quality is terrible in Paris.
There is a strong haze from pollution, but not noticeable when breathing, unlike in Guatemala or El Salvador.
The number of public cigarette smokers is absolutely terrible and actively made my experience worse.

Cash

All of the bakeries and restaurants I visited accepted card. A few vendors were cash only or had a cash minimum.

Where I Stayed

Location: 1st arondissement, near the Rue de Rivoli.
The Airbnb I stayed in was comfortable and really thoughtfully organized, and the host was very kind and welcoming.
Pros: Convenient, walkable, extremely well connected on public transportation, lots of major attractions and food options nearby. Surprisingly quiet (side street off of Rivoli).
Cons: Quite touristy (huge malls and big American chain restaurants), very crowded.

Tips and Learnings

Arrive early (as soon as things open) for busy museums and attractions.
Paris Museum Pass was worth it for lower cost and for skipping lines.
Getting reservations for museums and attractions was very important to guarantee entry and to reduce wait times.
Travel off season to have a better experience than I did!
Figure out what’s worth versus the lines and crowds to you – For me, that was not the Christmas Markets or the Italian Renaissance wing of the Louvre.
Spend time doing less touristy things and exploring side streets – The touristy streets were a nightmare due to the crowds and the number of smokers, but there were many quieter and more pleasant streets. The croissant class was an absolute highlight of the trip.

Final Thoughts

Last time I visited Paris, I was 15 and didn’t really appreciate the art, culture, and food. I remember thinking Paris was overrated and not super enjoyable.

I thought going back at 25, I’d enjoy the city a lot more. I was wrong. It’s a beautiful city and I did really appreciate the museums and the history, but because of how crowded the city was and how long the wait time for everything was, I felt like it was just a difficult place to exist without feeling stressed or frustrated.

I was hoping to return to France soon to hike the Tour du Mont Blanc within the next few years, but now those plans are on hold for the near future. Maybe France and I just aren’t meant to be.