What should I avoid in Paris?

The stretch of Rue de la Huchette in the 5th arrondissement, two minutes from Notre-Dame, is Paris's most efficient tourist-extraction zone. Every restaurant has a man outside waving a laminated menu in four languages. The food comes from a microwave. You'll smell reheated béchamel and hear the same pitch in English, Spanish, and Japanese within thirty seconds. Walk two blocks south to Rue Mouffetard instead. The crêperie at the corner of Rue de l'Arbalète does a proper galette complète for €9, and the weekend street market sells cheeses that smell like something worth eating. Over in the 11th, Rue Oberkampf and Rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud have dozens of restaurants where Parisians eat on weeknights, with mains under €16. The same pattern holds along the Champs-Élysées. A café crème on a Champs terrace runs €7-9. The same coffee at Café Lomi in the 18th is €3.50, and they roast their beans on-site. If someone outside a restaurant is trying to seat you, that restaurant is the one to skip.

Paris's street scams run on a short, well-worn script that hasn't changed in twenty years. The props change. A ring, a bracelet, a clipboard. The structure stays the same. Someone approaches with an object in hand, hooks your attention for a moment, then pivots to a cash demand. They operate almost exclusively within a 200-meter radius of five or six major monuments. Pont des Arts, the Sacré-Cœur steps, the Louvre Pyramid, Trocadéro. Step one block off the tourist axis and they disappear. Mind you, a flat 'non merci' without breaking stride works every time. The city itself has a lower violent crime rate than most comparably sized European capitals. Your real risk in Paris is losing a phone to a pickpocket, not personal safety. The Préfecture de Police posts current advisory bulletins online, and each arrondissement has its own commissariat for filing reports.

Métro Line 1 connects Châtelet, Louvre-Rivoli, Champs-Élysées Clemenceau, and Charles de Gaulle-Étoile. It's where organized pickpocket teams work during rush hours and weekend afternoons. They tend to operate in groups of three or four, crowding you at the doors during the boarding crush. Crossbody bag, zip facing your body, phone in a front pocket. That said, the Métro is still the fastest and cheapest way across Paris at €2.15 per ticket. Don't let pickpocket warnings scare you onto expensive taxis. The RER B from CDG into central Paris runs about €11.50 and takes 35 minutes to Gare du Nord. The taxi queue at Terminal 2 will cost you the regulated flat rate of €55 to the Right Bank, reasonable if you're arriving at midnight with heavy bags. The unofficial 'taxi' men inside the arrivals hall are unlicensed and unmetered. They will charge €100 or more. Use the official taxi rank outside or book a G7 transfer before you land.

The Eiffel Tower summit queue runs 90 minutes to two hours on a summer afternoon, and the view from the top is mostly grey zinc rooftops and milky haze. Tour Montparnasse's 56th-floor terrace has a better panorama because it includes the Tower itself. The queue there is ten minutes, and the ticket is €18 versus €29. Le Lapin Agile on Rue des Saules in Montmartre still charges €35 with a drink included. Thirty people in a warm room, cherry wine, performers close enough to make eye contact. Compare that to the Moulin Rouge dinner show at €185 per person for lukewarm chicken and a thimble of champagne. Weather-wise, Paris in July and August has been hitting 35-40°C during heat waves. Most budget hotels and older residential buildings still lack air conditioning. You'll hear traffic through open windows all night and sleep badly. If you're visiting midsummer, confirm your hotel lists climatisation before you book, and test the unit before you unpack.

For emergencies, dial 112 from any phone or 15 for SAMU ambulance dispatch. Green-cross pharmacies appear every few blocks, and at least one per arrondissement stays open past midnight. File a police report at any of the 20 commissariats listed on the Préfecture's site by arrondissement number. For dining that rewards curiosity, head to the 11th around Charonne and Rue Paul Bert, where mains run €16-22 and the terraces fill with locals after 20h. The 10th along Canal Saint-Martin has natural wine bars and €14 lunch formules. In the 6th, the small restaurants on Rue de Seine and Rue Guisarde change their chalkboard menus with the seasons and never station someone outside to wave you in. Even the 20th, Belleville and Ménilmontant, has €12 pho on Rue de Belleville and dim sum spots around Rue de la Chine. The quieter table is the better one, and in Paris you're rarely more than a ten-minute walk from finding it.