What should I pack for Paris?

Paris will wreck your feet if you let it. The cobblestones across the Marais catch thin soles and send you stumbling, Montmartre's staircases to Sacré-Cœur are 222 steps of smooth worn stone, and a single day at the Louvre means four to six hours on polished marble that radiates cold through your shoes in winter. Bring shoes you've already broken in — not new ones, not fashion sneakers with flat rubber bottoms. Leather soles slip on wet limestone. You want treaded soles that can handle the greasy slick of a rainy sidewalk outside Gare du Nord. Two pairs if you have luggage space: one for walking days, one slightly dressier for dinner in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, where showing up in trail runners gets you the table near the kitchen door.

The temperature swings are no joke. An April morning at Jardin du Luxembourg sits around 7°C with damp air that cuts right through a cotton hoodie — your breath still visible under the chestnut trees at 8 AM. By 2 PM the sun warms the gravel paths and you're comfortable in short sleeves at 17°C. The strategy: a thin merino base layer, a mid-weight jacket you can stuff in a day bag, and a wind-resistant shell that packs flat. Skip the heavy winter coat unless you're visiting December through February — even then, Paris cold is wet cold, not dry cold, so a good shell over fleece beats a puffy jacket that soaks through by noon. One light scarf pulls triple duty: warmth on the windy Pont des Arts, shoulder coverage at Sacré-Cœur, and looking like you belong. Parisians wear scarves ten months of the year.

A crossbody bag with a zip closure is the single most important thing after your passport. Métro lines 1 and 4, the RER B from CDG, and the crowds around Trocadéro are where pickpocket teams operate — they're quick, organized, and they target backpacks and open tote bags. Keep your phone in a front zip pocket, not your back jeans pocket. Bring a portable charger rated at least 10,000 mAh. Between Google Maps navigation, snapping photos at every turn, and tapping your phone at Métro turnstiles, you'll kill a full battery by 3 PM. Your plug adapter needs to handle French Type E outlets — they look like standard European two-prong but with a grounding pin that protrudes from the wall socket. Most Type C plugs fit fine, but if yours has a ground prong, get the E-specific version before you leave. France runs 230V, so any 110V-only hair tools stay home.

Don't bother packing toiletries beyond what gets you through the first night. French pharmacies — the ones with the blinking green neon cross — stock better skincare at lower prices than you'd find stateside. Bioderma micellar water runs about €4 at Citypharma on Rue du Four near Saint-Germain, where the same bottle would cost $15 at Sephora back home. Sunscreen, moisturizer, basic painkillers — all cheaper here. Monoprix, which seems to occupy a corner on every major boulevard, sells decent umbrellas for €8–12 when the rain catches you, plus emergency scarves and basics if you've underpacked. Skip the filtered water bottle too. Paris tap water tastes clean, and the city still has dark-green Wallace fountains in nearly every arrondissement — free, drinkable water pouring from cast-iron spigots that have been running since the 1870s. The sound of water hitting the drain grate below them is half the appeal.