14 things you NEED to KNOW before coming to Paris (by a Local)!

Thank you to Klook for sponsoring this video! Use my link https://www.klook.com/?aid=58254 to book your experience or use code BetterOnApp for 5% off when using the Klook app!

I’m French and these are 14 things you should know before going to Paris. From important restaurant etiquette, to what to do when you don’t speak French or even the answer to the question “Why are people so rude to me in Paris?”, you’ll find that this little bit of advice will make your stay in Paris so much better!

Watch my other Paris videos:
– 12 Things NOT to do in Paris (by a Local)! https://youtu.be/bkwg4Wg9xJk?si=RiLIBflt10w3NhCN
– French Food Tour in PARIS, FRANCE (by a Local)! https://youtu.be/nrDogPTYHM8?si=_MQutKFVhnwtNsZI
– The Best Croissants in Paris, France (by a Local)! https://youtu.be/Wc0INHeMOMs?si=EBW7FowwBoCQmUbC
– 48 Hours in Paris: What to Do & Not to Do (by a Local)! https://youtu.be/TfI9nEKdGfg?si=dzAgKO2XNDcJSRMB

#paris #france #lifeinparis #firstimeinparis

I’m French, and today I’m going to tell you 14  things you need to know before coming to Paris.   and if you’re visiting Paris you’re probably going  to spend a lot of time in restaurants. And it can be  

A pretty confusing experience unless you know  what I’m about to tell you. So, in France there   are specific eating times: usually these are from  12:00 to 2:00 p.m. for lunch and starting at 7:30pm   for dinner. Most people will actually make their  dinner reservation at 8:00 p.m. and their lunch  

Reservation at 1:00 p.m. So if you arrive outside  of these times, you might find the restaurant empty,   the kitchen not even open, and people just overall  surprised to see you so early. aAnd when you arrive  

In a restaurant in Paris, I recommend you go see  the waiter, say hi to them and ask them for a table.   Then they’ll bring water and bread. So this is free, you can fully enjoy it, unlike in other European  

Countries where you have to pay for it. And I’ll  tell you more about it in a bit, but the service   can be a bit different from the US. So if you need  something, you have to flag down the waiter and  

Specifically ask them for it. Like for example when  you’re done eating, you have to ask for the check.   They will not bring it to you unless you ask. And  also in France, there is no tipping culture like  

In the US. The service is already included in the  bill, but if you’re really happy with your meal  and with your waiter, you can leave a one euro coin or  a 2 coin on the table when you leave. Also on the  

Topic of good service, what’s considered good  service in France and what’s considered good   service in the US can be very very different. So  in France, people want to have plenty of time to   enjoy their meal without being rushed. They also  want some privacy. So don’t expect the waiter to  

Always be there serving you water and asking you  questions like in the US. Actually that was the   one thing that surprised me the most when I was  living in the US, was how hands-on the service was.  

At first I was really surprised at why the waiter  was talking so much to me and always asking me   questions, and being really overly friendly. But now,  I’ve grown to like it, and I understand why the  

Service in France can be a tiny bit cold sometimes. There’s a cultural reason to that, which I’ll tell   you in the next point. But the other reason is  that people don’t work for tips. So they don’t  

Have to make you like them to get a fair wage. However if you want to make sure you get good   service, just say hello and thank you, and overall  treat your waiter like a human being. And before I  

Get on the topic of why French people are not very  friendly (at least to you), I want to tell you about   a question I always get. Which is: “What should I do  if I don’t speak French?” So don’t let that scare  

You off, a lot of people speak English. Maybe not  enough English to have a full conversation, but   at least enough English to tell you the price of  stuff and maybe give you directions. And a lot of   people people working in the service industry  speak at least a foreign language like English  

Or Spanish or even Italian. And you’ll find that  if you try to speak French to us, we’ll answer in   English right away. It’s just because we think  the conversation can be made more efficient if   we speak English. And I personally do that all the  time because my boyfriend is American, I’ve lived  

In the US. So if I hear someone speaking French  to me with an American accent, I’m excited to   talk to them in English. So please do not take  it personally. And if you want to practice your  

French with us, just let us know. Say you want to  speak in French and that you’re learning and we’ll   be happy to speak French to you. Also one thing  is, if you try to speak French, please do not take  

Yourself too seriously. Because French is hard to  understand even for native speakers If you don’t   have the exact correct pronunciation. And it’s  really easy to say a word instead of another. An   example, is my American boyfriend wanted to say  “I have a chair”. He mispronounced the word very  

Slightly and he accidentally said he had troubles  in the bathroom. So yeah that can happen. People   will laugh at you, it is objectively funny. I can’t do anything for you if you say stuff like   that. And there’s also a cliche that French people  are very rude and snobbish. And you know, having  

Lived in the US for a while, I understand how we  could be perceived this way. But actually, what’s   considered nice and polite is a bit different in  France than in the US. So for example, small talk  

Is not a thing in France not at all. You know in  the US, and I was surprised at first when I lived   there, people will randomly ask you questions maybe  in the elevator in line and you’ll start a random  

Conversation. That’s not as much a thing in France, because especially in Paris, people will be a bit   suspicious if you are too friendly or asking  personal questions. There’s a few questions that   are just considered small talk in the US like  what do you do for work or where do you live, 

Which you shouldn’t ask to a random French person  if you’ve just met them. And I’ve read somewhere   that in France, you’re friendly with your friends  and polite with strangers, and I think I kind of   agree. I feel sometimes that one of the reason  why people have such a bad experience in France  

Is because they forget to brush up on the basic  rules of politeness in France. And maybe they   just skip the politeness and go straight into  being friendly. Which as I was telling can be a   bit scary for French people. Let me make that clear  you absolutely, absolutely, absolutely need to say  

“hi” or “bonjour” which is “hello” in French when you  are starting an interaction with people. Maybe at   a shop, asking for directions, any interaction with  someone. This is super important because people   will get annoyed if you don’t say bonjour to them  or hi. And they will answer you kind of in a sassy  

Way they will say “bonjour” like this or “hello”. You  know like as in “you’re bothering me”. If you forget   to say hello people will be rude to you. It’s not  personal, nothing to see with you. That happens to  

Me as well if I forget to say bonjour, I get the  same exact treatment. And you know everything I’ve   just told you is particularly true for parisians.  But there’s other French cities where people are   really really friendly. I come from Toulouse, and  we speak to strangers in the streets sometimes.  

There’s many other cities around France where  people are known to be friendly I’ve heard of Lille and Marseille as well as friendly cities. And if you want  to visit those places you should check out today’s   sponsor, Klook. Klook is a website where you can book  experiences in thousands of destinations around  

The world including Paris, and other of my favorite  destinations like Korea or Japan. And we’ve been to   Japan quite a few times. It’s such a fun country  to explore since the culture is so unique and   things are really different there. However it’s not  always easy to understand how stuff works like for  

Example booking tickets for the shinkansen which  is Japan’s bullet train, can be a bit of a struggle.   With Klook you can book those directly online in  a few clicks. You just select your date and  

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Use the code “BetterOnApp” for a 5% discount. So sign  up for Klook today using my link in the description.   And a sure way to have a good time in France which  can be a bit surprising to my American friends, is  

To go out and have a drink in public. This is not  only totally legal but also very normal in France.   And people do that a lot especially in summer. So you can see group of friends having a little  

Picnic, maybe bringing a cheap bottle of wine from  the store, that cost between 5 and 10 euros. And it’s   just a very fun way of enjoying being outside with  your friends. And while we are on the topic of food  

And drink you should know that the portion sizes  in France are very small compared to the US. So   not only in restaurants, where it’s common for my  American friends to still feel a bit hungry after   a meal because things are way smaller, but also  in cafes and in stores. But actually everything  

Is really small in Paris compared to the US. So you  have small cars, small sidewalks, small shops, small   supermarkets. Everything is super small. And it’s  because Paris is very dense and very expensive, so we have a tiny bit less space than in the US.  And obviously hotel rooms and apartments you can  

Rent are on the smaller side. And housing tends  to be very different from the US, so do not   be surprised if you encounter some strange stuff  when traveling here. First of all the apartments  

Are really old. The apartment I live in is in a  1890s building, so it was built a long time ago. And it has a bunch of little quirks and things  that are a tiny bit unusual. But even inside the  

Home there’s different things. So we have tiny  fridges because we tend to shop more regularly.   There’s no elevators, and there’s also these unique  French windows. So don’t be scared if that happens   to you, you didn’t break the window, it’s just a  way of letting fresh air in. And also there’s  

A thing that tends to break people here, is that  we don’t have AC. I’ve never had AC in any home   I’ve lived in in Europe. And you know if you’re  used to it, it can really be awful especially if  

You’re coming during the summer. Which leads me to  my next point of knowing when to come to Paris. So   a lot of Parisians take their vacation from the  15th of July to the 15th of August. So if you want  

To experience the local life, coming in summer  is not the best choice, because most Parisians   are away, there’s a lot of tourists, it’s very  expensive, and also it’s really hot. And remember   we don’t have AC, so you’re going to sweat a lot. I personally recommend you come during spring which  

Is my favorite season in Paris. People are in such  a good mood, it’s lightly sunny but not too hot.   You can do a bunch of picnics and walk around. But the  other best season to come in Paris in my personal  

Opinion is fall. Fall is really nice as well, and  both of these times are good times to experience   the local life, which is probably why you’re  watching this video. Keep in mind that there’s   two things that can really disrupt your stay. And these are strikes and protests. This is very  

Common in France, there’s a lot of strikes, a lot of  protests. This is not a cliché, this is the truth. You   can have your train cancelled, you can have your  flights delayed, shops closed… It’s really disruptive   especially to transportation. And that’s just how  it is. So if you’re planning your trip last minute,  

Just check on the strikes. But also check on the  protests while you’re in Paris. That’s my personal   opinion, because um I really hate crowds of people.  I do not want to be stuck in a protest. It feels  

Scary to me, so I try to see which protests are  in town and their circuit to just avoid going to   that area. This for me, as someone who doesn’t like  big crowds, is the only time when I feel a tiny  

Bit unsafe in Paris. But I’d say that overall  Paris is pretty safe. And obviously it’s a big   city. Obviously there’s different dangers to living  in a big city. But I don’t think you should worry   too much. You should know that violent crime is  pretty rare, and just apply basic safety rules  

To not get your phone stolen, which can happen.  You know these are the basic rules that   I’ve been taught growing up. So, don’t look rich. So  don’t flaunt anything that seems expensive in a   public space. Don’t look clueless. Just walk like  you know where you’re going. Always be polite and  

Never confrontational. So if you start arguing  with people, you know you’ll get into a fight   and we don’t want that. And you know of course,  keep your newest iPhone in a zipped pocket or close   by. That’s the rules I personally follow,  and I’ve only gotten my phone stolen once in all  

My life, and it was during a protest. So just bad  luck for me. Another question I get all the time   is what to wear in Paris. You know this is a real  City people live in it’s not a fashion show. Don’t  

Expect anything fancy like in Emily in Paris. People  just dress normally in France, so anything you   wear in your country, you can wear it in France as  well. I feel also French people tend to be pretty  

Lowkey when going out compared to big cities like  New York or other places in the US. To go out to   a nice restaurant, for example I wear the same  thing I’ve been wearing all day and just maybe  

Like freshen up a little bit. The only thing I  feel is a bit different compared to um let’s   say New York is in Paris I don’t feel comfortable  going out in tiny shorts and a sports bra because  

People tend to stare a bit more. Whereas in New  York people really really don’t care about you.   And I also don’t go out wearing my PJs. These  are the only two personal rules I have for being   dressed properly in France. Obviously as I keep  saying, Paris is a big city, there’s people from  

All over the world here. It’s very multicultural.  So just wear whatever you want. And one thing I   recommend if you come to Paris, is that you should  really abandon this stereotypical idea of why a Parisian  

Should look like. Since you know a lot of us  come from a mix of cultures. And just to give   you an idea, I’m half French but my dad is from  Spain. And among my friends a lot of people have  

A parents that’s not French and literally coming  from every continent. And if you want to know about   things you shouldn’t do in Paris you should  watch this video next and I’ll see you there