Paris

Is Paris safe?

For your body, yes. For your phone and wallet, much less so. France recorded 980 homicides in 2024, a rate of 1.34 per 100,000 (Interior Ministry statistics), and violent crime against visitors in central Paris is rare. Pickpocketing, by contrast, is so common that in June 2025 staff at the Louvre stopped work to protest about organised gangs operating in the museum.

We score Paris 78, below London, level with Barcelona and above Rome, which share the same problem.

Where thieves work

The UK Foreign Office warns that pickpockets operate on the Metro, RER lines and at mainline stations, often in pairs: one distracts you, the other goes into your bag. In practice the risk is concentrated in a few places.

• Metro line 1. It links the Louvre, Concorde, the Champs-Élysées and La Défense, so it carries the most tourists. Thieves board, work the carriage and step off as the doors close.
• RER B. The airport train from Charles de Gaulle and Orly via Gare du Nord and Châtelet. People with suitcases and phones out are easy targets.
• The Eiffel Tower and Trocadéro. Queues, crowds and street sellers. This is where you meet the petition scam and the shell game.
• Sacré-Cœur and Montmartre. Men tie "friendship bracelets" on your wrist and demand money.
• The Louvre, inside and around the pyramid.
• Café terraces. Phones left on the table go fast.

Simple habits work: zip your bag and wear it across your body, keep your phone out of back pockets, and when someone with a clipboard or a ring approaches, keep walking without a word.

Night, stations and the north

Central Paris is lively late into the night, and the riverside, Le Marais, Saint-Germain and the Latin Quarter feel fine after dark. The areas that feel rough are around the big northern stations. Gare du Nord, Gare de l'Est, Barbès, La Chapelle and the Stalingrad end of the canal have open drug dealing and crack use, and petty robbery is more common. The Châtelet-Les Halles interchange is busy at all hours and draws groups of young men late at night.

The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary also notes serious assaults on RER B and on RER D, which serves the Stade de France. If you are going to a match or concert there, travel with the crowd and leave with it.

Women report frequent street harassment in Paris. It is usually verbal. In the European Commission's 2023 survey of city residents, 66% in greater Paris said they feel safe walking alone at night in the city and 74% in their own neighbourhood, more than in London (60%) and a little less than in Barcelona (68%). After midnight, a taxi or a ride app such as Uber, Bolt or G7 is a better choice than walking from the northern stations.

Terrorism and protests

The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary says terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in France, and cites 2023 attacks in central Paris and in Arras. Security at monuments, stations and big events is heavy. The risk to any single visitor is small, but it is higher than in most of the cities we score.

Strikes and demonstrations are common and can close Metro lines at short notice. Most are peaceful, though some marches end in clashes near Place de la République or Nation. Walk away from any gathering where police are forming lines.

Roads, air and heat

Paris has rebuilt itself around bikes and pedestrians in the past decade, and the numbers show it. The city recorded 433 people killed or seriously injured on its roads in 2024, 27 fewer than in 2023. Pedestrians made up 23% of victims and cyclists 22%. The everyday hazard is fast e-bikes, delivery riders and scooters going through red lights, so look both ways even in a one-way street.

Air quality has improved a lot, but Airparif data show most Parisians are still exposed to PM2.5PM2.5Tiny airborne particles 2.5 micrometres across or smaller. They reach deep into the lungs and are the air pollutant most linked to early death.More in the glossary above the WHO guideline. Heat is the bigger concern: the August 2003 heatwave killed about 15,000 people across France, with Paris among the worst hit, and summers above 35°C are now frequent. Many older hotels and flats have no air conditioning, so check before you book a July or August stay.

Where to stay

For a first visit, the 1st to 7th arrondissements are the safest and most convenient, with Le Marais (3rd and 4th), Saint-Germain (6th) and the 7th around the Eiffel Tower the calmest at night. The 15th and 16th are quiet and residential. Cheaper hotels near Gare du Nord and Gare de l'Est are fine in daytime but less pleasant late at night. See our France page for the rest of the country.

How we scored it

Violent crime (85), traffic (85) and natural hazards (85) are solid. Theft and scams (58) is the weakest factor and the reason Paris is below London. Night safety (75) follows the EU's 2023 survey of residents, which we use for every European city; the station areas in the north and street harassment are where it shows.