Paris is my favorite city in the entire world! In regard to square miles, I have no idea how the two cities match up. However, my impression from having been in both cities on more than one occasion: They are comparable in size but Paris seems more spread out and less dense than Manhattan.

Manhattan is very condensed and compact. While there are a few parts of Paris that have a similar feel, for the most part, the city seems to meander more than Manhattan. It has a less grid-like feel. One of the things I love most about Paris is that it has a very unique atmosphere that is completely exclusive to Paris--very metropolitan, yet at the same time almost like a small, old world village that kept multiplying itself. My personal take on walking the city is that while you can get between most of the major sites on foot, particularly if you are accustomed to Manhattan, it's very spread out and exhausting to do so. The Metro starts to seem very alluring there around midday and it's very convenient and user friendly--almost impossible to mess up, in fact.

kenav, no offence but i don't think you read my post properly. I meant the whole of new york city, the 5 boroughs, are visible from the empire state building, in comparison with paris.
The emphasis on Manhattan was made by the op. Im well aware this isnt the whole city (used to live in queens).
That said, the (visual) image of Paris being half the size of brooklyn (p/sqmile) seems incredible.

travel_bussing:
It is pretty amazing that Paris is only 1/2 the size of Brooklyn. Maybe look at it this way - not that Paris is that small, but Brooklyn is that big!

That's a fact. As they say, on its own Brooklyn would be one of the largest cities in the US. But then, Brooklyn as it is couldn't exist on it's own, as there wouldn't be enough jobs: tens of thousands of Brooklynites work in Manhattan! (Though the business blocks are growing, with lots of new towers) But they do have some great attractions: Brooklyn Museum, BAM, Coney Island (for the moment), Boranic Garden, & a great minor-league baseball park for the Cyclones.

when i think about it, the subway takes at least an hour manhattan-coney island..
I rate the small/big thing on what i wrote before, the views off the tallest structures and how far i could see.

Brooklyn attractions: hipster cruising in w.burg