London vs. Paris

Visiting:

Both London and Paris are the most exciting places to visit. London wins here because of the language, entertainment(broadway) etc. London is the number one tourist destination for Americans and Canadians.

Living:

However, it is a completely different picture if you want to live in London. Cost of living is very high in London compared to Paris. In London, we need to pay rent every week. London's cost of living is 4 times higher than Paris.

London , the key point to this city is that it has a language that is universal whereas French is not. English people are friendlier in comparison to the French .

Very well written .Once i was in French village on a bus tour and had to wait 30 minutes before a shop owner understood i was asking for a pack of biscuits .

For entertainment London is Great 2 thumbs up because in London you can enjoy yourself 24/7 but Paris in my opinion for entertainment is dead

Obviously, Jerry, you haven't been to the cinema in Paris (to see an English language film) or to a jazz club.

Give it another go, mon ami ;)

In Paris you can go to cafés, the Eiffel Tower, shopping for cute French clothes, and so many other things. I love both cities, and London is fun, but so is Paris.🇷🇺🇬🇧

Both English and French are global languages in the sense that they are spoken all across the world.. But talking about degrees, of course english is by far the most spoken.

When that is said, i am of the opinion that it is the visitors responsibility to accommodate and not the resident. No english speaker should assume that people will understand them when speaking english.

A bit ironic given that biscuit is a French word.

Ever thought of learning the language?

Dude your comparisons are pretty bias and you didn't really touch on really important points as transportation and services!

In terms of transportation, London comes on top overall (I'd say since 2000) as the tube has been undergoing plenty of upgrades and the stations are really clean. Paris has pretty dirty stations, but many of them are very arty (Art Noveau). But Paris has an advantage of having metro stations everywhere (so your never far from one) and the delays are fewer than London.

As for the language factor, many in Paris speak English, even if they don't like it. You can pretty much communicate in English and go about your business fine, and if your more open you can easily start learning some basic French (which is very easy really).

Paris has a very vibrant entertainment scene, but it's pretty Parisian, unlike London entertainment which is pretty universal. And London stays up longer while in Paris after a certain time the city goes dormant.

But Paris architecture trumps London's by MILES. In every Arrondessement you have such an amazing neighborhood feel, something which you never get in 'central london'. And this takes me to my final point.

London and Paris are designed in COMPLETELY different ways. London is a city whose center is a financial, social, cultural and economic hub but no one live in the center, everyone goes back to the suburbs (zones 2-6) and more to live. The suburbs are nice, but they don't have that urban feel to them. Paris is full of Parisians, in all of its 20 Arrs, so you meet normal people who live in Paris and go to their butcher and their cheese guy and all those amazing things. In London you just don't get people living, they are all working. Londoners managed to turn their center into a merely work and tourist place and they all went to the suburbs (including me), so ultimately comparisons between the cities will not work I think.

Ok you said that Paris have aechitectural trumps what London don't have why you don't just take the look at the Surburbs surranding the central Paris I found them quite frighten. Don't just visit the ouristic routes of Paris Where you can't found a white french men around because it is highly habituated with arabs and blacks or Chinatown they say that paris has one of the Europes biggest Chinatown you ca found

Some good points here, @Kay. The distance between metro stations in Paris is shorter than on London's tube and you're right when you mention that in central Paris you're never far from the metro.

In terms of navigating the systems, London is easier as it gives a geographical direction (North/South) not just the name at the end of the line. I always had to write down the steps I was taking on the metro so as not to get lost.

Paris buses are good but London buses are THE TOPS, no question.

Re. restaurants, the author of the article obviously hasn't experienced the 'London saloon', a type of bar where everyone puts down their pint when you enter. London can be parochial. It's not just one great big cosmos.

And Paris is a far better city to visit as a single person. In London, some places just don't want to serve you if you're on your own or they try to give you two of everything just to hammer home your 'loneliness'. In Paris, I have never had this experience and I've often got chatting to the waiter/waitress or, on occasion, other diners. Try chatting to other diners as a single person in London and they either think you're a pervert or mentally ill. Nice.

As for architecture, I tend to agree with the author though I have to say that every time I return to Londres, the sight of the red terraces with their mainly disused chimneys warms my cockles.

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner.....