So, I've just got back from Paris, and before you ask, yes, I'm sat on the Eurostar home writing this, feet aching and camera roll full. There's also a croissant the size of a small dog involved in this story, and I promise it gets its own section.
This trip was me, my daughter and my auntie, three generations doing Paris together, and I'll be honest, a couple of people raised an eyebrow when I said we were still going. If you've had the news on at all this month, you'll have seen the protests and the pictures of smashed shop windows and burning cars, and I totally get why that puts people off. I had a few clients asking me the very same question: is it actually safe to go right now? So I thought, rather than tell you what I think, I'd show you what it was really like on the ground.
The other reason I wanted to write this one is that I've been to Paris before, at Christmas in 2019, on a complete whistle-stop of a trip, and going back nearly seven years later gave me a proper then-and-now. Some things haven't changed a bit (the metro stairs, I'm looking at you), and some things have changed beautifully, Notre-Dame being top of that list. So grab a cuppa, because this is a long one, and I've packed in everything I wish I'd known before I went.
Let's get the big question out of the way first. In October 2026 there were large cost-of-living and fuel protests across France, and the two big marches in Paris were on Saturdays, 17 and 24 October. The first one turned nasty around Place de la République, there was a night-time curfew around République and Les Halles for a while, and the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay and the Opera closed for the day on the 24th as a precaution. The UK Foreign Office updated its France advice, but it didn't advise against travel.
We travelled Tuesday to Friday, away from the Saturday marches, and honestly? Apart from a few boarded-up shopfronts on one street we walked down, you'd never have known. The cafes were full, people were sat out on terraces in the sunshine, the metro was running normally, and the Louvre, Sacré-Cœur and the Eiffel Tower were all busy with visitors doing exactly what we were doing. The usual hustle and bustle of a busy metropolitan city unfolded before us, just as we imagined it would. I can safely say I never felt unsafe, never felt any tensions, and am certainly glad I didn't lean into the headlines and cancel.
My honest advice is this: check the Foreign Office page for France before you go, avoid the planned march routes and the areas named in any curfew, and keep an eye on the news while you're there. Protests in Paris tend to be planned in advance and centred on particular squares, so a bit of awareness goes a long way. If you're booking through a travel agent, they should be keeping an eye on this for you too (shameless plug, that's literally my job).
My first proper trip to Paris was Christmas 2019, with my then-partner. Neither of us was particularly fussed about a traditional Christmas, so we decided to have an alternative one in Paris instead. We flew out from Heathrow on Christmas Eve and came home on Boxing Day morning, so it really was a whistle-stop. The flights were around £80 each with British Airways, and I paid for them entirely with my Avios, which still makes me smug.
We crammed a lot in. Christmas dinner was the set menu at the Shangri-La, in Shang Palace, which was (and, I've checked, still is) the only Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant in France. We booked the 11:30pm show at the Moulin Rouge on Christmas Eve, which was about £150 to £180 and a proper experience. We walked along the Seine with mulled wine, rode the hop-on hop-off bus, climbed the Sacré-Cœur steps, wandered the park by the Eiffel Tower, and I bought a £5 bubblegum-style Audrey Hepburn print that I still love more than anything else I brought home.
And here's the lesson I learned the hard way: in France, the big Christmas meal is on Christmas Eve, not Christmas Day. I'd booked a restaurant and they'd happily accepted the booking, but when we turned up it was closed. We ended up in a little cafe across the road from the Moulin Rouge, which was a bit stressful at the time and is now one of my favourite memories of the trip.
What's changed
The biggest difference was Notre-Dame. In 2019 we saw it wrapped in scaffolding with a crane over it, months after the fire. This time we sailed past it on the Seine and there it was, restored, its towers gleaming in the sunshine. It reopened in December 2024, and entry is free with a free timed reservation on the official website, so do book that rather than paying a reseller.
I also couldn't resist recreating my 2019 photo at the Louvre pyramid, the classic pinch pose. Then it was a pink teddy coat under grey skies; this time a grey coat, a 'Love Paris' jumper and a perfect blue sky. And the Moulin Rouge was round the corner from our hotel this time, so it bookended the trip nicely.
In 2019 we flew, but this time we took the Eurostar from London St Pancras, and it's so easy: straight from central London into central Paris. We caught the 11:31, which gets into Paris Gare du Nord at about quarter to three local time (France is an hour ahead), just in time for a 3pm hotel check-in. Coming home, we got the 17:00 and were back in St Pancras at 18:30. Allow about 90 minutes at the station for check-in, security and passport control, especially on the way back.
The metro
My auntie wanted to do the metro, and I'm so glad we did. From Gare du Nord to our hotel in Pigalle was Line 4 for one stop to Barbès–Rochechouart, then Line 2 to Blanche, about 20 minutes door to door. The only thing to know is that there are lots of stairs and hardly any lifts, so pack light or be ready to carry your case.
Two apps made it all so much easier:
- Bonjour RATP: the official journey planner, brilliant for working out routes and changes.
- Navigo: for buying and loading metro tickets on your phone, so there's no faffing with machines.
A little tip from our Eiffel Tower day: the app didn't show Bir-Hakeim station, which had me convinced it was shut, so we came in via Trocadéro instead, which is actually the better stop for photos anyway. The station was open when we came back. And if a sign says 'Étoile', that's Charles de Gaulle–Étoile, the Arc de Triomphe stop. It's a big station, so follow the 'Correspondance' signs to find your next line.
One more bonus: Concorde station on Line 12 has walls tiled with the letters of the Declaration of the Rights of Man. It's a free photo spot most people walk straight past.
Hop-on hop-off bus and Seine cruise
We booked the Tootbus 2-day pass with a Seine cruise through GetYourGuide, £157.89 for the three of us. Two things to know. Your ticket is dated, so start using it on the date you booked; the 48 hours then run from your first scan on the bus. The cruise is with Vedettes de Paris from Port de Suffren, right by the Eiffel Tower, with boats every 30 minutes. We did ours on a glorious blue-sky afternoon, and sailing past the restored Notre-Dame and under the Pont d'Iéna with the tower towering over us was worth the whole pass on its own.
A word on Ubers
On our last day we took an Uber to Gare du Nord with the bags, and it took us to the wrong place. Totally my fault: tired eyes and a slightly wrong destination tapped in. So double-check the address before you confirm, especially with a train to catch.
This time we stayed at Hôtel Joséphine by Happyculture, a 4-star boutique hotel at 67 Rue Blanche in the 9th, about 200 metres from Blanche metro and a few minutes' walk from the Moulin Rouge. The whole place has a cabaret theme, named after Josephine Baker, and as an ex-interior designer I was in my element. Think boldly patterned wallpaper in the rooms, a bar with a huge Josephine Baker mural, and a library lounge with red bookshelves, a leopard rug and an agate coffee table. It's playful without being tacky, which is a hard line to walk.
On our last morning we tried the hotel spa, with a packed schedule it was hard to fit in but we managed to try it out on our last morning and it did not disappoint. After many hours and many steps it is definitely worth a visit to relax tired muscles and relieve aching legs. Check-in is from 3pm and check-out is 11am, and they happily held our bags at reception on the last day so we could squeeze in a few more hours of exploring.
We paid £1,089 for three nights for a double and a single room, which works out at about £121 per person per night. For comparison, in 2019 I stayed at the Platine Hotel, a 4-star in the 15th near the Eiffel Tower, and paid £289 for two nights in one room, about £145 a night. That was peak Christmas, though, so it's not quite like for like. The Platine had a Marilyn Monroe mural in the room, a round bed and a starlit shower, so clearly I have a type when it comes to hotels with a bit of personality.
Which area to stay in?
The 15th was lovely and calm, and handy for the Eiffel Tower and the river, which suited a quick Christmas trip. Pigalle, and the bit just south of it locals call SoPi, is much livelier: brilliant restaurants, cool bakeries and cafes on every corner, Montmartre and Sacré-Cœur walkable, and Line 2 to take you almost anywhere. For a first trip or a family trip, SoPi makes a brilliant base.
Pink Mamma, Rue de Douai (9th)
If you only take one recommendation from this post, make it this one. We didn't have a reservation on our first night, so we queued, and they offered us seats at the counter on the first floor, overlooking the open show kitchen. My auntie loves watching chefs at work, so it was perfect, and we watched every dish being made in front of us. The food was a 10 out of 10 from me. The building is three floors of eclectic, chic decor: a bar and restaurant on the ground floor, the kitchen counter on the first, more tables on the second, and a rooftop for summer nights. Oh, and the doormat says 'This is not a strip club', which, given it's in Pigalle, is very on brand.
We loved it so much that we went back on our third night, at my auntie's request. You pay by scanning a QR code at the table, which makes splitting the bill dead easy.
La Demeure (Villiers)
Our Wednesday dinner find, and it was outstanding. I had the duck breast with mashed potato, a rich gravy and roasted vegetables; my auntie had crispy salmon with spinach; and my daughter had Thai-marinated beef fillet with basmati rice. Highly recommended if you're in this area the duck was cooked to perfection and the gravy was ce magnifique.
Breakfast and lunch spots
- BKNK (Book Nook), 11 Rue Blanche: a quirky little book cafe with a take-one-leave-one book box, a vintage typewriter desk and art deco wallpaper. Right on the walk to Trinité metro.
- Dépanneur Pigalle: a relaxed cafe near the hotel; I had a yoghurt bowl with banana, honey-roasted nuts and redcurrants, plus a croissant and a latte.
- Le Petit Thai, Le Marais: our last lunch before the train home. We had the vegetable spring rolls, a vegetable curry and this Jasmin rice and was the perfect light lunch for pre-travel.
And if you're walking past the corner of Rue de Douai and Rue Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, have a look in The French Bastards, a very stylish bakery doing natural sourdough with organic flour.
What dinner actually cost
Pink Mamma (visit 1)
Focaccia barese, rocket and pear salad, paccheri ragù, spaghettone scarpariello, risotto Milanese, three cocktails
€98 for three (about €33 a head)
La Demeure
Duck €24, crispy salmon €25, Thai beef fillet €27, glass of Malbec €7
About €83 for three
Pink Mamma (visit 2)
Two sea bass, paccheri ragù, potatoes and spinach on the side, a Limoncello Spritz and a Tropicolada
€95.50 for three (about €32 a head)
So you can eat really well in Paris for around €30 a head with a drink.
Right, the croissant. If you've been anywhere near TikTok, you'll have seen the giant croissants doing the rounds, and the one everyone's after in Paris is Philippe Conticini's Croissant Gourmand XXL. It's about the size of a small dog, it costs €35, and it's made to share.
The big thing to know is that you can't just walk in and buy one. You pre-order on the Philippe Conticini website 24 to 48 hours ahead, pick a shop and a collection time, and pay online. I ordered ours on the Monday for a Thursday morning pickup at the Montmartre cafe, 8 Rue de Steinkerque. Keep your confirmation email handy, because you'll want your order number at the counter.
The Montmartre shop is gorgeous: a blush-pink painted shopfront (dressed up for Halloween when we went), a gold PC monogram on the wall inside, giant croissants in the window and a sign that says 'Don't touch please, yes it's a real one'. Painted by the door is the line 'La vie est plus belle avec un croissant', life is more beautiful with a croissant, which I'm adopting as a personal motto.
The best bit is that the shop sits at the bottom of the road up to Sacré-Cœur, so I carried our croissant straight up the steps for the photo. Me, a white paper bag, a croissant poking out the top and the basilica behind: it's the photo of the trip, and I climbed those same steps back in 2019.
As for the taste? Perfectión
Confession time: Ladurée macarons are my favourite in the whole wide world. I first discovered them years ago in Covent Garden, and ever since I've made it my mission to hunt them down wherever I travel. So far I've had them in London, Paris, Bicester Village, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and in 2019 I came home from Paris with a Ladurée bag on my arm.
This time I went to the source: the original Ladurée at 16 rue Royale, near the Madeleine, where it all started in 1862. The upstairs tea rooms still have their old painted woodwork and frescoes. A Napoléon gift box of eight macarons was €26, and I'm not ashamed to say they were eaten in bed with a hot chocolate after a very long day of walking.
If you're doing the Louvre, it fits in nicely afterwards: walk through the Tuileries to Place de la Concorde and up rue Royale, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Tuesday
Eurostar 11:31 from St Pancras
Metro to the hotel, check in, hop-on hop-off bus
Dinner at Pink Mamma, Moulin Rouge at dusk
Wednesday
Breakfast at Book Nook, metro via Concorde, Louvre at 11:30
Ladurée on rue Royale
Dinner at La Demeure
Thursday
Breakfast at Dépanneur, XXL croissant pickup in Montmartre, Sacré-Cœur steps
Seine cruise from the Eiffel Tower, golden hour on the Champ de Mars
Pink Mamma again, Ladurée in bed
Friday
Hotel spa, croissant breakfast, check out
Le Marais and lunch at Le Petit Thai, Eurostar 17:00 home
Back in St Pancras 18:30
- Pack a European plug adapter. I forgot mine (schoolgirl error) and had to buy one from a phone shop near the hotel. Get one with USB ports and you can charge everyone's phones from one socket.
- Pre-order anything viral. The XXL croissant needs 24 to 48 hours' notice, so book it before you travel.
- Book Notre-Dame for free. Entry is free with a timed reservation on the official site; don't pay a reseller.
- Start your hop-on hop-off pass on the right day. Tickets are dated, and the 48 hours run from your first scan.
- Check the Foreign Office advice before you go and steer clear of planned march routes.
- Christmas Eve is the big night in France. Restaurants can close on the evening of the 24th, so double-check any booking (I learned that one in 2019).
- Double-check your Uber destination, especially when you've got a train to catch.
- Wear comfy shoes. Between the metro stairs, the Sacré-Cœur steps and the Champ de Mars, we clocked up a serious number of steps.
Whether it's a girls' trip, a family getaway like ours or a proper romantic weekend, I can put together your perfect Paris break: Eurostar, hotels with personality, restaurants worth queuing for and all the little extras, like pre-ordering a croissant the size of your head.
I'm Sarah White, founder of WanderLux Luxury Travel, a bespoke luxury travel agency based in Watford, Hertfordshire, and the face behind the WanderLux Lifestyle travel blog. I spent years in interior design before falling head over heels for travel, which is why I can never resist a hotel with a bit of personality. Follow along on TikTok and Instagram for more real-life travel, from luxury resorts to croissant-fuelled city breaks.
Over to You
Have you been to Paris recently, or have the headlines put you off? And more importantly, giant croissant: worth the hype or not? Tell me in the comments.