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

@Afuah - Your post is more on France vs UK. You seem to forget that the Bugatti Veyron is German, not French, as it is owned by VW. I could argue that London is better due to it being a global financial centre and having a much larger population however this has nothing to do with tourism.

Paris is outstanding for its architecture - Eiffel Tower, Invalides, Arc de Triomphe, Sacre Coeur and Louvre are some examples.

London offers both a traditional and modern atmosphere with the London Eye right next to the Houses of Parliament (big ben). It also offers huge sporting and entertainment venues such as Wembley Stadium, O2 Arena, Royal Albert Hall etc.

Bugatti Veyron headquarter is Alsace, France so it own by the French...

London attractions are boring and ugly while Paris attractions are extremely beautiful and eciting... Paris is beautifully structured.. i can not see London is beautiful even it is the financial capital of the world.... France is very rich also finace is not important...

Please do not mention that London eye. It is very common even in Paris there is a Big ferris wheel...Only english people are saying London is beautiful but i disagree it is beautiful since i proved that Paris is far beautiful than London... london is like a town ....Even Rome or New York is beautiful than london....

A month ago I've visited both places. London is expensive as ****. Not sure how they live like this there. Compared to New york, London is around 3-4 times expensive. Paris is expensive too, but not like London. At least we can see great places in Paris, what is in London? Big nothing tower? Bye bye London, I am not going to London again.

"It is the British versus the fashionistas in a battle to win the maximum admirers!" - hey...what was that?

"It is because of this reason that London is amongst the top tourist destination as everyone finds it easier to communicate."... Ok, i like the "EVERYONE"... Ce n'est pas notre faute si tu ne parles pas franças!

I'm from Peru, I find that London is so cool it makes you almost forget how expensive it is, also the people are very friendly compared to other big cities...

But Paris vs London, it's like comparing Albany(New York) vs New York City !!!

Paris to me is the most beautiful city in the world, and thrust me I've been around

Has anybody noticed how everyone who says paris is better says " Paris is far beautiful than London" - define beautiful. Maybe more beautiful in your eyes, even going so far as to say Forbes is ranking cities by beauty as though it's possible - what are the criteria? "London attractions are boring and ugly" and "Big nothing tower" come on most of the people here who prefer paris say vague things like "paris is the most beautiful city" and abuse LONDON while those who support LONDON merely state what they like about LONDON. I certainly do not want people like Britney to go to LONDON! "Only english people are saying London is beautiful but i disagree it is beautiful since i proved that Paris is far beautiful than London... london is like a town ....Even Rome or New York is beautiful than london...." I am sure you're a troll or something

sure you don't want me to take you seriously.

I think London is a mix of beautiful architecture and has deferent cultures and is the leading financial centre in the world. It has everything so let paris be more beautiful it hasn't got anything else - it's just... beautiful (don't say i agree)

Paris is the best, I've been to both the cities, but Paris is simply beautiful.

London, being 4 times bigger than Paris, obviously has so much more to offer the visitor. Someone mentioned the beautiful architecture in Paris. Well, a little over a century ago Houseman demolished 75% of Paris to build his dream of a uniformed open beautiful city. London, on the other hand is an architectural dream. Nowhere else on earth will one find a medieval pub next to a gothic cathedral next to a Gergian mansion opposite an art deco apartment block next to a Victorian library next to a Norman church opposite a state of the art skyscraper. An all singing and dancing open-air living museum of history and life. Lets also remember how, when London, New York and Paris were bidding for the rights to stage the 2012 Olympics Paris quickly withdrew its claims of being the most cosmipolitan city after looking at London's statistics. New York, whose original bid claimed was the most multi-cultural melting pot in the world with over 200 different languages spoken in it's streets each day....never mentioned it again when they found out that something like 350 languages are spoken in the streets of London each day. See you all at the London Olympics in 2012.

Since when is London bigger? Paris has at least 1 million more people.

Paris is a beautiful city, but, truth is, London has the edge over Paris for many reasons. Main reason being London's diversity. In terms of Diversity of the Population, Paris doesn't even come close. With Over One Third of Londoners born abroad, and just over half being what could be classed as "ethnic" or at least "partly ethnic". Recent statistics estimate that over 3/4 of native Londoners have Irish ancestry. London has : - Most Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Nepalis & Sri Lankans outside their respective countries. - Europe's largest Chinese & Filipino Communities - Europe's 2nd Largest Vietnamese Community (Well Done Paris for getting at least one) - Most South Africans, Nigerians, Zimbabweans, Kenyans, Ghanaians, Mauritians, Tanzanians & Ugandans outside respective countries - Europe's largest South American population outside Spain - Europe's largest Caribbean Community - Europe's largest American & Canadian Communities - Most Polish outside Poland (Used to be Chicago) - Most Lithuanians, Latvians, Czechs, Slovaks & Cypriots outside respective countries - By far most Irish outside Ireland - Paris has a slightly larger Portuguese community, but the Portuguese population in Paris is now ageing and shrinking, whilst the Portuguese in London is increasing like never before. Same goes for Spaniards & Italians. In terms of Architecture, London can boast Gothic Cathedrals, Greek-Inspired Theatres, Victorian Houses, all side-by-side with Art-Deco Apartments, Modern Skyscrapers and shabby Brick Masterpieces. Lets not even get started on Financial Status. Or Business Hub (Over 100 of Europe's 500 largest companies have their HQ in London). Or the fact that London is the most visited city in the World - because it offers something for everyone. Now for the killer - there are 22,000 Brits in Paris, compared to 200,000 French in London. BTW - I am not even a "Native Londoner" myself. I am Half Portuguese, plus one quarter Italian, and one quarter (ahem) French.

Yes, but Paris has more blacks and arabs than London, making it more diverse. I should know... I am a London born Ghanian. Sorry, but Paris has much more black or brown faces in it. In London, you only see blacks in the '' hood '' In Paris, they are everywhere. I spent a weekend at the plush Hotel Plaza athenee and saw groups of arabs, senegalese and whites greeting each other in the lounge. You will never see that at the Dorchester in London. There are more blacks in France than the UK. They are part of France and proud of their culture, that is not the case in London. BTW, there are Ghanian, Nigerian and other Africans here. Hands down, Paris wins.

The women in Paris are divine and the men............oh la la la la. People in Paris look and live well. The french live longer than the brits. No one here was pork fat - unlike the UK. There are now tons of Asians in Paris.

Black, white or Brown, people from Paris are just 10x better looking, sexier and better dressed than washed up people from London.

Paris wins, and this is coming from a North London girl. Paris wins In every way, shape or form. London has nothing that Paris has, but Paris has everything that London does not, like Chic women and Chic men. They do not do chavs and beer belly, cockney speaking, pie and mash eating men out in Paris. Paris girls do not walk around with juicy couture, ugg boots, orange tans, pushing babies around. They have no Katie Price or The only way is essex style ' women ' out here.

"London, being 4 times bigger than Paris, obviously has so much more to offer the visitor."

So Sao Paulo, Brazil "obviously" has even more to offer the visitor.

PARISIEN Can't speak English FRANCE= CHINA OF EUROPE !!!!! dirty and unkind people

Most people from Paris can speak some English, and it's not hard to learn some basic French. I already knew English and Spanish when I went to Paris, so that could have helped, but I could have a basic conversation in French after a week. And they are friendly people. You probably just met a girl that was ooh la la that broke your heart in Paris. Don't judge everyone by one person.

French is the most romantic language in the word... London Zone 2 to Zone 6 are ugly that why it is only rank no.10 of the most beautiful cities in the world.... Paris is the most beautiful city in the world... LOndon is very dirty also from Zon2 to Zone 6...

The biggerness of London became ugly.. There were no attractions outside zone 1...... Paris is mega city also so it is not small. ..UK ranks only number 6 of the most visited countries while France is the most visited country in the world...therefore... The winner is always Paris .... And London can not win over Paris and that's the reality between Paris and London... Paris always wins over London....

Gosh the arrogance of some people on here astounds me. I also notice how people who seem to have a preference for Paris, seem to like to call us Londoners "washed up" how dare you. Thanks for making such sweeping generalizations, but then again, after hearing about how impolite parisians are, and experiencing it first hand on here ALONE, maybe that is right!

The fact that you say that Paris has everything that London doesn't, while Paris may have a lot of art, you can't deny London has a lot of that as well, as someone gave an example above. You can choose to eat whatever dish you want, be it chinese, mexican or indian or italian to name a few, and yeah, we have areas mixed with art and modern, so what? A lot of modern building can be quite beautiful, but we also have a lot of old buildings. There are places you can go to, plenty of them, where the scenery is gorgeous, so don;t you tell me that London is ugly, if anything that attitude you have is ugly.

To say you only get chic men and women in Paris is a total lie, the mere fact that you think everyone walks around in french designer clothes is laughable. And while I agree that fake tans and such are less than attractive, you cannot say that there are no attractive people in London, that not only is ignorant, but also, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

@Gemma, London has full of art stolen from other countries. Not sure how you can be proud of the stolen stuff...

Every country has their national museums loaded with plunder!

When you talk about arrogance, it seems to me that many of the comments made on behalf of Paris is made by many not from Paris. There are also many comments against Paris like "dirty" etc

I myself like both cities, BUT i really must say England and London fascinates me in a way that Paris does not. If i could go to Paris or London tomorrow for tourism i would choose Paris.. But if i would live and work in one of them i would choose London.

Its hard to describe but for me Paris seems more like a "dream" while London is more about "reality" ..

When this is said..

These are two of the worlds most important centers.. Being from Norway myself.. Not in EU BUT European i am proud that "we" have such fantastic cities so close to one another.. This twin city area must surely be nr 1 in the world!!

Your right in some ways. I'm from London after all, and I'm loyal to my home city, but I think since i grew up in London I've seen past the surface and all the beauty to what really goes on there.

It seems only English think London is beautiful.

I've been to both London and Paris. I would say my trip to London is easily forgotten while I'll always remember Paris. I think beauty is very subjective and both cities have wonderful architecture and sceneries. But my feelings Paris is Romantic rather than beautiful. Well you can return to the Eiffel Tower everyday just for a stroll sit on the park etc looking at the couples kissing - something you'll never find if you visit Picaddily Square or the Big Ben.

I lived in both cities and even if I love them both, I prefer Paris. Let me explain why.

Both cities are of the same size in terms of population, contrary to what I see in some commentaries. They are the biggest cities in Europe, and they have the biggest economies as well so I think it makes sense to compare them.

Advantages London has over Paris:

- A more relaxed attitude with a lot of parks, people generally more friendly.

- A very busy entertainment life (theatres, musicals, etc...).

Advantages Paris has over London:

- Its people.

I think this advantage sums up all the others: Parisians seem to have an instant understanding of what is cool or not. They know how to dress much better than Londoners usually do, they know what songs to listen, what movies to watch, etc...

It's hard to explain why but I think it's because of the different sociology of the two cities.

Both are very diverse cities but the UK is a class society, France is not. So I think ideas, trends are circulating much more easily in a city like Paris.

If you actually live in Paris and start making friends with Parisians, you'll see that it's much more stimulating to live there than in London.

I haven't spoken of the beauty of both cities. They're both beautiful but Paris is more impressive, more refined. Just have a walk along the Seine river, compare it with the Thames (which I love). It's hard to argue.

Last point, if anything, the language should be considered as an advantage for Paris. English is so influential in the world today, it's nice to see some cities can have such a creativity and a cultural life without any need of English... Learn it, you'll understand.

I now live in Sydney and I am a bit nostalgic when thinking about Paris. Not about London...

I've lived in both Paris and London (and New York too)...now I moved back to London after spending more than 1 year in Paris. I find Paris has some beauty from the past and is a more interesting city to VISIT but to live there and build a life and deal with the French mentality is not everyone's cup of tea...certainly not mine. London is a lot lot cleaner, a lot more diverse, a lot more open minded, a lot more international and functions a lot better.

Paris is just a dusty museum from the past now - there is no energy in Paris. Parisians are much more stressed out than New Yorkers or Londoners because Paris is overbuilt, over congested, full of immigrants and tourists and they all live on top of one another. Look at the streets in Paris, small and dirty at least London is a lot cleaner. For someone who does not know French and is new to the culture - Paris is very interesting at first, but live there a few months and the reality is quite obvious, apart from the great food, wine, architecture - which I agree is awesome in Paris, the day to day life in Paris, meeting and socialising with French people, dealing with their way of life and backwardness is a totally depressing awful experience. France is the no. 1 visited country in the world - but most people don't know that France is also the no. 1 consumer of anti-depressant pills in the world. French are extremely Aloof, sad, depressed and individualistic people - British are far more warmer and friendlier and human, I found the French polite and communicative but very aloof completely. Even their relationships with each other are the same, France is a very individualistic society and there is a lot of pressure to fit in, do the right thing, get the right job etc... it's a very conformist culture. Whereas Britain lets you live the way you want to, Britain gives more individual Freedom. In France all the good things they did were hundred or more years ago - recently they have done nothing new and the country is in a serious deteriorating state. UK on the other hand is extremely progressive, open minded and welcoming to new business and new talent at least. Try doing business in France - it doesn't get worse than this - the entire system is against business. The few progressive French I know have all left France and they hate the country themselves. The Rich in France keep a low profile because everyone hates wealth in France - their quest for an "equal" society is awful especially when they consider themselves "superior" to the entire rest of the world. I met hundreds of French and those who are settled in France are extremely proud but miserable people, I never saw any French laughing or being themselves, they have developed such severe social norms - it's all about talking quietly, eating quietly, and being so boring... if you say anything in their country they don't like they just put you down there....it's a very unwelcoming and nasty society getting worse as their importance and influence over the world goes down....and this is the main cause for their sadness as well. French also have zero sense of humour, all their conversation is about pretentious artsy / intellectual boring things and all said from their typically "French" perspective nothing else... they have no world view.. they have no progressive thinking and feel like they achieved some sort of perfection which the rest of the world should follow. There is something seriously wrong with French culture - if you notice former French Colonies are all still in the dark ages but former British colonies are extremely successful Global powers now.

France is Pretty but sad and boring, UK is not so pretty nor so cultured but it is a more "liveable" and workable country / society. I will miss the food in Paris and road trips all over France but I am happy to move back to London for now, I can always take a trip to France when I feel like.

What Mike said is very true... I am neither french nor british, but my mother tongue is french, I went to french schools my whole life and had french friends. Having to choose between these two cities to study in, I read these comments. What struck me was the way those in favour of Paris gave no contructive explanation to their choice. It is easy to recognise a french speaker because of the way the comments are written. Theirs reflect perfectly the rudeness of most parisians- not french. In fact most french people despise paris and parisians because of the terrible image they convey of their country. Point being, parisians are indeed terribly frustrated people. They always talk about things they don't have materialistically speaking, and the way they're better than everybody else- smarter, funnier, more intersting, you get the point. They have no sense of solidarity or selflessness and bring everybody down. Talk to them about "help" they say what's the point, what do I get? The ones who seem to be cultured and interesting are often posers. They have no values or principles whatsoever, but this statement is subjective given the fact that the place I am from probably has an exagerated amount. They're pretty self-centered and not very open- minded. I moved around a lot and those at school who were tolerant towards the local culture were never the french (parisian) ones.

This comment is very negative, but having witnessed it for the past 18 years of my life, I've come to that ( very general) conclusion. One of the things I admire, however, is that they're pretty deep. As in they can think about a matter and substantiate in a pretty philosophical way. They're not stupid at all. Marhematically very capable as well. Though each person has their own qualities and flaws, by getting to know them really well you might think the same of all if them and eventually understand that if a People is this way, rhey you must tolerate it the way they try to tolerate you, and focus on the positive aspect of what they are which i should do :)

What a funny thing you say Mike. I ve lived in London, Paris and New York. Sorry but New York and Paris are way closer to each other than London/New York, and Paris/London. In New York, you find lot of similarities to what Paris life is. London in comparison can be exciting in some ways, but look like a village with its 2-3 stories buildings and 2 stories once you go out the city centre which is very small compared to Paris one. What most english people don't understand when they talk of Paris is that Paris is a whole downtown of a much larger agglomeration of more than 11 millions people (and is growing way faster than London's one). London and paris are not made the same way, but are both largest cities in Europe (pop and land area).

Then, u say Paris is dirtier than London... I got a doubt about it, because in London they clean the city centre almost every hour, but once you escape touristic places London is dirty as ****. Papers, cigarets, everything is down the floor. London is for me the dirtiest city of all three. New York comes second and Paris not that far behing New York. Then u say streets of Paris are small... Are u kidding guy? If Paris has small streets, how could we qualify those in London??? Paris has big straights avenues which make the city easier to find your way while in London, you're all the time searching your way for something at less than 1/2 mile from where u are because you don't have any visibility of what is surrounding you.

In term of economic elevel, London is leading the market as world top financial center before New York, but what you forget is that Paris had a larger GDP than London (higher than 500 billions dollars and egalize Chicago's one while London is 2 or 3 lines down. La Defense in Paris is Europe's largest one, Paris is home to most Fortune Global 500 than any other places in Europe (London included) making it 3rd or 4th in the world classment. Paris is a very rich city (like London) and growing in financials aspects recovering a "regional" competitivity (Europe) and coming along to the top cities in the world. What you forget again is that Paris is considered as a Global city in the top 4 : NY, London, Paris, Tokyo.

I really like London, but for vacations while I could easily share my year time in New York and Paris for living.

P.

Thank you Peter for being more informed than most of the poeple here. Like you I lived in both NY and Paris, I've been to London too but never lived there. It's a nice city, I thought it was pretty and liked it.

But I see some comments about Paris and Parisians it just makes me sick. Paris is not only the very centre of the agglomeration, nor Parisians only bourgeois kids or fashion artist or so called "cultured" people, those poeple who said they lived in Paris and know it very well as well as the inhabitants, well I'm sorry for you to see how many things and great people you missed probably for being narrow minded yourself about this city and its people. I guess you always went in the same places and went out with the same kind of people, sad you.

I'm Parisian (Yikk,OMG, I should be ashamed!) and none of my friends are like you said about Parisians in general, just because like everywhere else there is as***les in Paris, and guess what, they're not my friends! You jave all kind of people, you're talking about diversity, go to Barbes, go to the 13th with the biggest Chinatown in Europe, go to the 18th, 19th, 20th arrondissement of Paris, where you see Arabs, Asians, Africans and Jews living in the same neighborhood. Paris has the biggest Jewish community of all Europe. More than half of my white school mates are French and something else or not French at all, a lot of Spanish, Italians, Portugueses, Polish, they all were born in Paris, their parents or grand-parents immigrated here, London doesn't have as many born inhabitants of Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Armenian and even Russian ancestry as Paris does. And you're talking about diversity? London is very diverse, but Paris is very diverse too, and for as long as London, my mum grew up in the 50's with the Italian kids, the Polish jews etc, my father's parents themselves being Pole immigrants. So please stop talking about a city when you don't know nothing about it, and even worst when you lived in but weren't curious enough to see what this city really is.

Yes Paris boundaries didn't officially changed for 150 years, but the greater Paris kept gorwing, and nowdays Paris aggloeration is more than 11 million people. As much as London or even slightly more. No Paris is not only a museum even if there is tone of them, which is great! Again, 11 million people living, working, loving, hating, a museum?? And not 10% of those people are like the few you met, but I guess you didn't pay attention to them cause they were out of your narrow path in Paris. Yes, there is amazing and great poeple in Paris as well as in NY, and I'm sure in London too.

Talking about being friendly, I think people in NY really are, the only thing I didn't like that much in London was the coldness of the people, even when they're drunk, which is very surprising. But I agree they're more original, and crazy than poeple in Paris, that I like. But trust me, you have crazy and original people in Paris also. Yes those cities are different which is very good. I don't like places being the same.

Architecture, again go non turistic areas in Paris, you'll see all kind of buildings, red bricks, little houses, very high and modern buildings. And I'm just talking about the inner city. The greater Paris is full of wonderful and very diverse buildings, but you're still in the city because everything is so dense, you can see the city expended, it has nothing to do with American suburbs for that you have to go much further in the Paris suburbs. There nothing like La Defense in London, talking about modernity. Such a high concentration of very high modern buildings, and just on the border of all kind of buildings, new, old, pretty, ugly, and little houses with their little backyards whith a huge building of glass and metal just behind. But again to see that you have to be curious, cause the greater Paris is very big and it takes time to discover it. So instead of being full of prejudices, open your eyes and walk.

Please tell me, who won the olympic games?

So, seems an easy decision which of the 2 cities is better!

As far as I know it was the fact that the prime minister of the UK got involved in the fight to host the games whereas the president of France evidently had more important things to do. It was this which won London the right to host. Not because London is "better". It's debateable whether hosting the games provides economic benefit to the host city which I think is why the french president did not see it as worth his time to fight for.

And how Sochi got the Olympics? Don't be ridiculous...

As I see it... Many native English like to buy an apartment in Paris or a cute little house at south coast of France when they are 40+ y.o. Otherwise, many French like to go to London at weekends (ant thx to Eurostar). For is London+Paris

Mark is an english... this fact explains the whole... lol... Paris doesn't need Olympic games to stay above... It's still.

dont make me laugh, paris above london?! what has paris got was london hasn't? paris is boring and the people are arrogant, while london is much more cosmopolitan and the people are more friendy

Paris is cleaner, safer, has nicer architecture, has more interesting attractions, nicer weather more often, most things are less expensive, bigger, better, faster, more frequent and comprehensive train/metro system with mobile phone coverage (unlike most of London's), parisians are friendly if you make some sort of effort and keep it brief (they are busy people with little time to stand around answering tourist's questions, much like anywhere else) and higher quality food to list a few reasons.