Paris, France

In October 2025, thieves dressed as construction workers used a furniture lift to break into the Louvre’s Galerie d’Apollon, spent about four minutes inside, and walked off with eight pieces of the French Crown Jewels worth roughly 88 million euros. It is the kind of story that makes a museum feel less like a mausoleum and more like a place where things actually happen, and it has quietly reshaped a visit to Paris in ways worth knowing before you go.

The Louvre, post-heist

The jewels are still missing as of mid-2026, and the museum’s director admitted to the French Senate that parts of the building lacked adequate camera coverage when the theft happened. In response, the Louvre has installed metal bars over the Apollo Gallery windows, moved a number of remaining precious pieces to the Bank of France for safekeeping, and committed to adding a hundred new cameras by the end of the year. None of that should stop you from visiting, but it does explain the heavier bag checks and occasional gallery closures you might run into. It also explains the price increase: since January 2026, visitors from outside the European Economic Area pay 32 euros instead of 22, with the extra money earmarked for security and renovation. Buy your timed ticket online in advance regardless. Walking up without one during peak season means standing in a line that can eat two hours of your day.

Notre-Dame is actually finished

Contrary to what a lot of outdated guides still say, Notre-Dame reopened in December 2024 and by 2026 is fully open and functioning normally. Entry to the cathedral itself is completely free and always has been, book a timed slot through the official app or notredamedeparis.fr if you’re visiting between April and October, since the cathedral handles over 35,000 visitors a day and slots fill fast, though walk-ins are still accepted. Be wary of anyone selling you a paid ticket for the main cathedral; that is always a scam, since no legitimate ticket for the cathedral interior exists. The separate Treasury costs 12 euros, and the bell towers, reopened since September 2025, are 16 euros with mandatory advance booking, no on-site sales.

Where the crowds thin out

Montmartre earns its reputation, but go early morning before the tour buses arrive, or skip Sacre-Coeur’s steps entirely and wander the quieter residential streets behind it instead. For dinner, the neighborhoods worth chasing now are the 11th and 10th arrondissements rather than the well-trodden Marais, since that’s where Paris’s current wave of bistronomy, fine-dining technique served in a casual room, has landed. Le Cornichon in the 11th is a good example: serious cooking, no pretension, reservations recommended. For a classic Left Bank bistro experience, Le Comptoir du Relais in Saint-Germain-des-Pres still delivers traditional French cooking done properly, though it’s worth booking well ahead for dinner. Expect 35 to 55 euros a head at most sit-down bistros; a crepe from a Breton creperie like Breizh Cafe runs closer to 12 euros and makes a perfectly good lunch.

Getting around and staying safe

The Paris Metro remains the fastest way to cross the city, but the ticketing system finally modernized: paper magnetic tickets stopped working on the network in 2026, so get a reloadable Navigo Easy card at any station or use the official RATP app instead. A single ride is 2.55 euros, a day pass runs about 12.30 euros, and if you’re staying a week the weekly Navigo pass at roughly 32 euros pays for itself fast.

Pickpocketing is the main practical risk, and it clusters predictably around the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame, and the Champs-Elysees, exactly where visitors are distracted taking photos. The classic move is a staged bump or a sudden crowd surge on the metro designed to cover a hand going into your bag. A cross-body bag with a zip you can keep a hand on beats a backpack every time. My honest opinion after watching this play out repeatedly: the petition-signing scam near tourist landmarks, where someone thrusts a clipboard at you while an accomplice works your pockets, is more common and more effective than any pickpocket working alone, so just keep walking if someone tries to stop you cold with a clipboard.

A quieter afternoon

Skip the queue for the Eiffel Tower elevator entirely on your first trip and instead take the Seine cruise that passes beneath it near sunset. You get the tower, Notre-Dame, and most of the riverside monuments in one unhurried hour, without the two-hour wait for an elevator ticket. Pair it with a wander through the Marche des Enfants Rouges, the city’s oldest covered food market, for a lunch that costs a fraction of a sit-down restaurant and puts you shoulder to shoulder with actual Parisians doing their weekly shop.

Currency is the euro, credit cards are accepted almost everywhere including small bakeries, and carrying more than about 40 euros in cash is rarely necessary except for the odd market stall. Service is included in restaurant bills by law, so tipping is a small rounding-up gesture rather than an obligation, and nobody will chase you down for skipping it.

Learn ten words of French before you land. Bonjour before any request, s’il vous plait after it, and merci on the way out will change how you’re treated in shops and cafes more than any guidebook trick.