Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Which is better, London or Paris, and why?

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I digress, but I keep reading on here about a Collaboration Museum in Paris; what is this about?

I just love those Brits. So friendly. I have never had a rude encounter in England whereas I did run into a rude frenchman or two that pretended they didn't understand the word "ketchup". I would return to Paris for the Llouvre alone. It is quite beautiful but sometimes the people aren't. But nothing says home to me like England. Why not try both? The Eurostar doesn't take very long. I wouldn't want to see France again for more than a few days though. As you'll see you'll get lots of opinions on the subject.

I did a week each in London and Paris last spring, by myself, first time ever to Europe. The experiences were different, but I loved them both. I would suggest going to both. I flew in and out of London, went to Paris on Eurostar.

I have been to Engand and I have been to France and I will take the USA any day.

Paris is better: great food (and edible also) and great hotels large and small.

Paris - Food is much better for much less money. The city is much more charming. More interesting day trips outside the city. London wins with the plays but other than that one trip to see all the highlights is all I need but I could visit Paris every year. Without even speaking French I feel more relaxed and comfotable in Paris than London.

I live in London although I travel to Europe (inc. France) several times a year. I enjoy French culture but find Parisians to be some of the rudest and most obnoxious people i have encountered - I speak enough French to get by and always make the effort; other areas in France tend to be fine and the people are always more than happy to converse and help me out. There is no reason why you cant visit both cities; they both have fantastic museums, theatres and restaurants although Paris does have the edge on dining due to the lower cost. As for not eating British food - Pah! nonsense, just stay away from any chain steak houses (Aberdeen, Angus etc) and you will have a great experience - its not all fried breakfasts you know.

Museums: Both are comparable for art galleries, with Paris perhaps having the dge, depending on what kind of art you're ineterested in. London would have the edge on modern art (by that I mean art of today - Brit Art) - see the Tate Modern. Beyond art, I would suggest that London has the edge on other kinds of museums (history, decorative arts, design, natural history etc). Theatre - this one's already been answered. Fine dining For day-to-day dining, Paris will always win, as somewhere where you can drop into any old bistro and expect a decent meal. For budget dining in London, you need to know where you're going, as there's plenty of bad pub meals and tourist steak houses to fall into. There is good budget dining out there, but you need to do your research. For fine dining, London, believe it or not, is now often quoted as being the world's leading centre for contemporary cuisine. There are many well-known french and italian top chefs who've come over to London because it's more cutting edge than Paris or Milan. Paris tends to be more conservative (and protective) about French cuisine, whereas London is more adventurous, representing current trends in an enormous range of international cuisines, including "Modern british", which is excellent. So as someone who dines out frequently, I prefer London, but fine dining here IS expensive, and if you prefer more traditional styles of cuisine, atmosphere etc, you may prefer Paris. So I guess my vote would be London, based on your criteria, although I do live here so naturally I'm biaised. But you wouldn't be disappointed with either.

I think it's interesting that Londoner lives in London but travels to Europe. Huh?? Last time I looked London was already in Europe. Did they move it. I live in New York and also visit the United States several times a year.

xxx Would you want to list each state that you visited or isn't it easier to just say the US. When a Londoner travels outside of England, they ARE visiting Europe. Not Asia or Africa, but Europe, get my drift? Some will say "the Continent" but we all know what they mean.

Paris in a heartbeat! I've been to both and IMO it's not even close.

My personal preference is for Paris but, given your criteria, I would probably say London. Mostly for the plays. Both are great cities - I hope you get to spend some time in both. BTW, I find London shop assistants can give the Parisians a good run for their money in the rudeness stakes on any day.

Museums/fine dining=Paris Plays=London $$note: London is generally quite a bit more expensive than Paris.

Hi, I took my 2 kids (age 12 and 19) to London and Paris over Thanksgiving. We enjoyed both for the museums. We saw plays in England, which we could understand. We liked Paris because there was much more of a difference to what we are used to in the US,and beautiful, but we were thrilled with Stonehenge and Bath. The one thing that I must disagree with is the cost of food! We found Paris MUCH more expensive. I imagine that for fine dinning, Paris was cheaper, but we found it much easier to find inexpensive food that all would like in London.(And not just Pub Food). We had hot chocolate in a side walk cafe in Paris and it was $6.50 per cup! We spent more on lunch in Paris than we did for dinner in London! Again, I am not talking gourmet. Just basic food, kid friendly.