The 3 Questions Keeping You Up Before Your Paris Trip and Their Honest Answers
You've booked your trip. You're excited. But there are these questions sitting in the back of your mind.
I've traveled a lot now, always organizing trips by myself. But on my very first trips, I had these exact same worries. I remember standing outside restaurants, overthinking whether I should go in, wondering if I'd understand the menu, stressed about saying the wrong thing. That anxiety? It's universal. Every first-timer feels it.
Here's what I wish someone had told me back then: these worries feel bigger before you arrive than they actually are once you're there. I'm going to walk you through what actually happens, based on what I see every day in Paris and what I learned from my own early travel mistakes.
"Will I Accidentally Offend Someone?"
The reality: Yes, you'll probably make some cultural missteps. That's part of traveling. French greeting customs are different. Service expectations are different. Conversation norms are different. And Paris gets 50 million international tourists per year. That means cultural offenses happen every single day. Thousands of times a day. It's inevitable. You're not special in this regard, you're just human.
The thing is, French culture has specific rules about politeness that Americans / Italians / Japanese… often don't know. Like always greeting shopkeepers when you enter. Or waiting to be seated at restaurants instead of choosing your own table. Or understanding that a long service isn't bad service. Meals are important here - it's not just about eating, it's about taking time. So waiters give you space instead of constantly checking on you. That's how good service works in France.
You won't know all of this instinctively. You'll get some of it wrong. And that's completely fine.
The good news: Cultural differences are just reality, not a disaster waiting to happen. Parisians interact with confused tourists constantly. They're used to it. They expect it. As long as you're making an effort to be respectful, most people will meet you halfway!
Think about it this way: when tourists visit your hometown and do something slightly off, do you judge them harshly? Or do you recognize they're trying their best in an unfamiliar place? Parisians are the same. They're just people living their lives, not cultural police waiting to pounce on your mistakes.
What to do: Read this quick guide on unwritten Paris rules. It covers the basics: greeting etiquette, restaurant norms, public behavior. Takes 10 minutes to read. Then don't overthink it.
You'll learn as you go. You'll watch how locals interact and adjust. You'll make mistakes and recover from them. Maybe you'll realize later you made a cultural misstep. That will be a spice in your future stories about your trip. That's not failure. That's travel. That's how you actually learn about a place.
The worst thing you can do is be so paralyzed by fear of offending that you don't engage with the Parisians at all. That's the real missed opportunity.
"What If I Don't Speak French?"
The reality: You don't need to speak French to visit Paris. I see this anxiety constantly, and I understand it. But here's what actually happens.
Restaurant staff deal with English-speaking tourists all day, every day. Hotel workers speak English. Museum guides speak English. Many restaurants have English menus, especially in tourist areas. And if they don't, you have translation apps on your phone that can translate menus in seconds by just pointing your camera at them.
Yes, you'll encounter people whose English is limited (and for sure a lot with a bad accent !). Yes, there will be moments of confusion. But you'll figure it out. People manage. You'll use gestures. You'll point at things. You'll laugh about miscommunications. That's part of the experience.
Paris isn't some impenetrable fortress where you need fluent French to survive. It's one of the most visited cities in the world. The infrastructure exists to help non-French speakers navigate it.
The good news: Parisians appreciate effort, not perfection. This is crucial to understand. They can tell the difference between someone who's trying to be respectful and someone who shows up acting entitled, expecting everyone to accommodate them.
A genuine attempt at "Bonjour" with a smile beats perfect grammar. The effort matters more than the execution. When you try to say something in French, even if you butcher the pronunciation, Parisians appreciate that you tried. It signals respect. It shows you recognize you're in their country, speaking their language.
I've watched this play out thousands of times. Tourist walks into a shop and launches into English without any greeting? The interaction starts off cold. Tourist walks in, says "Bonjour," tries a terrible French accent, then switches to English? The shopkeeper often smiles, appreciates the effort, and the interaction is warmer.
What to do: Learn 3 basic words. This takes 5 minutes. But these 5 minutes will change your entire Paris experience.
Always say "Bonjour" before any interaction. Before asking a question. Before ordering at a café. Before asking for directions. Before anything. Just "Bonjour." Say it to everyone. Shopkeepers, waiters, people you're asking for help. This one word transforms interactions.
Say "Merci" when someone helps you. When the waiter brings your food. When someone gives you directions. When you're checking out of your hotel. Just "Merci."
Say "Au revoir" when leaving. This one's harder to pronounce, so if you can't get it, don't stress. But try. When you leave a shop, a restaurant, any interaction. "Au revoir."
That's it. You don't need to learn conversational French. You don't need to memorize verb conjugations. These 3 words signal respect and good intentions. Everything else is forgivable.
And when you need to communicate something more complex? Use your translation app. Point at things. Draw pictures if you need to. Parisians have seen it all. They'll help you figure it out.
"What If I Can't Find Good Spots and End Up at Tourist Traps?"
The reality: Tourist traps absolutely exist in Paris. There are restaurants that serve mediocre, overpriced food specifically designed to catch tourists who don't know better. Places with photo menus in six languages, aggressive hosts pulling people in off the street, prices that make you wince.
But here's what people get wrong: most places with lots of tourists aren't traps. They're crowded because they're actually good. The issue isn't the presence of tourists. It's knowing how to distinguish between a legitimately good place that happens to be popular and a cynical operation designed to exploit tourists' ignorance.
The Eiffel Tower area has tourist traps. It also has excellent neighborhood bistros where locals eat. The Latin Quarter has tourist traps. It also has fantastic restaurants that have been serving quality food for decades. The challenge isn't avoiding tourist areas. It's knowing how to spot quality within them.
The good news: Great food is EVERYWHERE in Paris. This is a city that takes food seriously at every level. You don't need secret addresses or insider connections. You don't need to venture into obscure neighborhoods to eat well. You just need to know what to look for.
Parisians are picky about food. If a place is consistently bad, locals won't eat there. If locals are eating somewhere, it's probably decent at minimum. That's your advantage. You don't need to become a food expert. You just need to find where French people are choosing to spend their money.
What to do: Before you go anywhere, pull up Google reviews and look at 15-20 recent ones. Not just the star rating. Actually read the reviews. This takes 5 minutes and saves you from bad meals.
Check if at least one good review looks like it's written by a French person. How do you tell? French name. Writing in French or English with French phrasing. Mentions specific dishes using French terms. Talks about the neighborhood context, not just "amazing food" and "great atmosphere." References how the place compares to other spots in Paris. When you see a French person reviewing a restaurant, they're evaluating it against their expectations as someone who lives in a city with incredible food options. If they're recommending it, that's a real signal.
And if you don't want to do this research for every single meal? That's where Paris on the Spot app comes in. I've done this vetting process for you. Curated recommendations organized by where you actually are in Paris. Near the Louvre? Here's where to eat. Finishing up at the Eiffel Tower? Here are your options. No hunting through reviews. No second-guessing. Just solid choices.
These 3 questions aren't signs you're overthinking. They're signs you care about doing this right.
You'll make small cultural mistakes. You'll mispronounce French words. You might pick one mediocre restaurant. That's part of the experience. But now you know how to handle it.
I still remember my first self-organized trips, anxious about every little thing. Those uncertainties made the experience richer, not worse. They forced me to actually engage.
That's what I want for you in Paris. Not a perfectly executed checklist. A real experience where you feel capable.
Want more help planning your trip? Read about why planning Paris feels overwhelming and what to do about it, or learn why you don't need to see everything to have truly seen Paris.