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I've lived in New York and Paris, and have spent a decent amount of time in London so here is what I think:
Weather: Paris, it is the most mild of the 3, followed by London. New York is the worst, mainly due to it's summer being more hot and humid than London and Paris.
Quality of life: All 3 offer an incredible quality of life, but I'd place London and New York above Paris because in my experience, Parisians don't seem to be as happy as New Yorkers and Londoners.
Traffic: London seems to have the least traffic and the most calm drivers. New York has more road congestion, while Paris has some of the worst drivers in the developed world, so I's say New York and Paris are equally awful to drive around in.
Restaurants/Food: Definitely New York, it has great food at every price point and has an astounding variety of ethnic food. Food in Paris is of high quality, but it doesn't have anywhere near the variety that New York has. Lastly, London. It's improving greatly, but it pales in comparison to a lot of other big European and North American cities.
Shopping: Paris is the best place to shop in the world in my opinion. There is just an awesome array of finds at every price level. New York and London are equally great, but I'll give New York the edge mainly because everything is a little cheaper than London.
Career Opportunities: Not sure to be honest. I don't know enough about the job markets, economic diversity, and job growth in London and Paris to compare the 3 and make a fair assessment.
Scenery: Without a doubt, Paris. It is a city that just takes your breath away every day. I'd say New York and London are tied after that.
Cleanliness: Definitely London, it's relatively clean for such a big city and the Tube is spotless. New York and Paris can both be dirty, but New York has more spotless areas than Paris does, so I'd say Paris is the least clean.
Entertainment/Recreation: Easily New York. It has everything the other two have, and then some. I'd give Paris the edge over London though.
Singles Scene: Definitely a tie, all are outstanding.
Cost of Living: Life in Paris seemed slightly less expensive than New York. I haven't lived in London myself, but New Yorkers I know who have always say London is more expensive to live in and it certainly seemed that way from my visits to London.
Crime: London and Paris are statistically MUCH safer than New York. I do have to say though that in the best areas of these three cities, New York definitely feels the least sketchy. For example, I feel like someone is less likely to be pick pocketed in the best parts of New York compared to London and Paris.
Location in the World: Paris, followed by London. New York has one of the best locations in North America, but the travel opportunities within short distance of Paris and London are much more diverse and plentiful. Paris takes the edge over London though because it is in mainland Europe.
Residents: Although all 3 of these cities have reputations for being rude, I think they are all friendly and have awesome people. I'd say New Yorkers are my favorite of the 3 because they are the most outgoing, followed by Londoners. I made some great friends in Paris, but I find people to be more reserved there.
Which do you personally prefer? Personally New York is my favorite, followed by Paris, then London. All three cities are equally great though, and I wouldn't need to question someone who preferred Paris or London.
I find this to be the most balanced assessment I've read about these 3 cities.
Weather~
Paris
Quality of life~
Paris
Traffic~
Paris
Restaurants/Food and Shopping~
Paris
Career Opportunities~
Paris
Scenery~
Paris
Cleanliness~
Paris
Entertainment/Recreation~
Paris
Singles Scene~
Paris
Cost of living~
Paris
Crime~
Paris
Location in the world~
Paris
Residents~
Paris
Weather~
Paris
Quality of life~
Paris
Traffic~
Paris
Restaurants/Food and Shopping~
Paris
Career Opportunities~
Paris
Scenery~
Paris
Cleanliness~
Paris
Entertainment/Recreation~
Paris
Singles Scene~
Paris
Cost of living~
Paris
Crime~
Paris
Location in the world~
Paris
Residents~
Paris
Me, I'd always go for Paris. But if I couldn't live in Paris, then perhaps Minneapolis, or Antwerp.
I live in Paris, and that's what I think of my hometown , on a 0 (extremely bad ) to 10 (awesome) scale :
Weather
4 (and I'm generous here)
Quality of Life
4
Restaurants/Food/Shopping
7
Traffic
4
Career opportunities
8
Cleanliness
3 (I'm in good mood today)
Entertainment /Recreation
5 soon to be 4 (since so many people say Paris is a fun city - although the list of things prohibited grows every year in France, the National Assembly just voted to prohibit prostitution hahahaha)
Single scene
4
Cost of living
6 (3 for the tourists who are not street wise here)
Crime
Paris West and Center : 7
Rest of city : 4
Location in the world
5
Location in Europe
8
Residents
3 (most Parisians suffer neurasthenia)
So I would note Paris overall 4,5 (slightly under average) : good to make a career and business, bad for fun and quality of life . Can't compare to London and NYC (where I stayed only short periods of time).
Alright, so I'm Parisian from birth as both of my parents, and i lived for 2 years in NYC and have American relatives there. I've been only once to London for few days.
What I can say is first of all that one of the things i hate the most about Paris (and France in general) is that kind of mentality you have pigeonhole. I traveled, and loved it, i still have a lot to see, I'm in love with NYC, I thought London was worth it, I'm not saying my city is the best in the World but open your eyes!! There is no place like NY or London that's for sure, but there's no place like Paris really, this city is amazingly beautiful, so sweet to love, you feel history but also life all around.
It's the most visited city for a reason, you live in the one of the beautiful city in the World and you only can say " this city is a piece of s**t and i know what' i'm talking about i'm from here!". Do something about it!! Go out, live this city instead of complaining about it! Do you know there are more than 100 different museums in Paris? This is the place in the World where you have the highest number of movie theatres with the biggest variety of films from all over the seas (compare to Paris NYC is far behind for that, and i know what i'm saying)?? You have so many different theatres and show places that it would take you months to go in all of them if you go out every single night!
Did you only know that, or you just live here, work here, not paying attention to what is around you and just being sure that everywhere else is better than here?! The first haters of Paris are French people themselves! they have gold in their hands and the only thing they do is to complain again and again! Quality of life?? we have one of the best Health care in the World, do you how much it cost to go to the hospital in the US?? or just having a baby, which is just free for us?? did you see the teeth of the Brits who don't have enough money to go to the dentist?? and they're not poor they're just working class people!! And you think quality of life is better over there cause girls are easier??
Go, do live there, work 60hrs or 80hrs a week (which i'm sure you don't do in France) for 3 weeks vacation a year and then get sick and choose between buying a new car to go to work and having surgery for your leg let's say! and then you'll tell me about the quality of life in Paris! Not all french are like that happily, but it's a big amount of them and you're part of it and i can't bear that. To have a gold spoon in the mouth and not realizing it!
Do you know what it means to be working or middle class in the US?? compare to what it is in France? I don't think so. Try to open a bottle of wine and drink with your friends sitting on a bench in NY you'll see what will happen if cops are coming or if neighbors complain. I'm not a smoker but do you know it's now forbidden in Central Park? Isn't it the kind of things that might kill your fun for recreation? The people you hate in Paris are just people like you, moody in the streets, in the subway, complaining all the time not understanding that their biggest problem is not the city or the locals but themselves!
Sorry for my agressive point, but nowhere on Earth you have highest percentage of people being so not objective about the place they live in in a negative way. Nowhere i travelled even in way poorer and uglier places, that's insane! And that's the only thing i totally dislike about my city, other than that i love it, and how i couldn't it's Paris!
For the positive attitude i like more NY for that, cause there's no pigeonhole New Yorkers or so few that you can't hear them which is good. Love the people in NY, and please when we talk about NYC we talk also about Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and even Staten Island, NYC is not only Manhattan, i wouldn't be that much in love with this city if it was only this. Like Paris is not only the very center around the river and Montmartre.
I like the energy of NY, the friendlyness of the people (again no pigeonhole around), the positive attitude (...). The ocean, the beach, the space, Paris is more crowded to me, more dense.
For the weather because i like when it changes, and i like heat and cold, snow, heavy rains, so because i'm weird i like better NY's weather. But if i'm being objective for the comfort of human body Paris is better, cause humid heat is not fun and Americans who say they like it, it's because they have AC home and everywhere they go. But in the same time it's more sunny than Paris, and when it's cold it's somehow less cold than grey, humid, windy Paris. But Paris is very nice in summer and even sometimes can get very hot and you miss the sweet and cooler ocean weather. But again Paris can be very nice with some very cold but sunny winter days and very hot and sunny but dry summer days, as well as heavy showers an tstorms (i like it). What i hate are storms, big strong atlantic storms which destroy forests, parks, houses, especially in the countryside around.
For London, what i see from the records it's pretty close from Paris' weather except less sunny, less tstorms and showers, and Paris is hotter in summer and colder in winter, so I like better Paris cause the weather is more variable.
For the people, i didn't have any bad experience with Londoners, except that i found them a little cold, not really friendly, for that very different from New Yorkers. But also colder than Parisians. London made me think about NY especially because of the red bricks and because of the smell of food you have in the streets. But other than that it's a very european city, closer to cities like Amsterdam or Berlin than to Rome or Barcelona. Paris is a transition between those cities, but in summer especially definetly closer to latin cities in term of atmosphere than to London or northern european cities.
Food is often cheaper in NY than in Paris, but not the good food. So i don't know which one is the best. In Paris you have a lot of different restaurants also, french, north african, chinese, japanese, thai, vietnamese, african, italian, portuguese, indian, etc but again you have to leave the touristic areas. I don't know about London, i don't remeber the food really except it wasn't really healthy.
Crime: Paris you get annoyed by random guys more often than in NY, but in NY you get killed more easely....but for some reason i usually feel very safe in NY. I just think violence can be more dramatic in NY than in Paris, but Paris is more tense. Don't know for London, but i think there's less tension than in some part of Paris, so it wins this part.
Location, NY is great for the shore, mountains not far, Florida not that far, New England. For London and Paris, i think Paris is better. 2 hrs driving from the beaches of Normandy, 5hrs driving from the Alps and even 3hrs by train to get your feet into the Mediterranean sea, as well as 2hrs from London. And as it's on the continent you can just take your car and road trip to Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome, Barcelona, Madrid, Vienna, wherever. And the beautiful shore of the Atlantic coast is very reachable too. But anyway, even if I like the US a lot, Europe and all the countries around are way more diverse and culturally richer that what you can find around North America. But it's not a fair competition, Americas don't have the past and the history of Europe, Egypt or the Middle East. How can you compete with an area as big as the US where you have Rome, Paris, London, Vienna, Venice,Barcelona, Athens, Istanbul, Jerusalem, Stockholm, St Petersburg, Cairo, the Alps, the French Riviera, Scandinavian Fjords, Sicily, and the Pyramides?
Cost of living: outside of Manhattan NY is ok, Paris maybe a little bit more expensive but it all depends where you are, to me it's pretty the same. But London is soo expensive.
Traffic, i think Paris is the worse, not sure about London, but NY is bad but not as bad as Paris.
Career, maybe NY, because if you have a good motivation i think it's easier than in Paris; But in the same time Paris agglomeration is the wealthiest place in Europe in term of creating wealth, it beats London area, La Defense being the biggest business district in Europe and the greater Paris being the most populous city area in Europe except for Moscow. But London's sotck exchange is stronger. I think it depends what you do for a living.
I don't think any of these cities is better than the 2 others, they're just very different but similar in many ways. I mean they're closer to each other than any city outside of Europe or the US; it's not because some Asian cities have skyscrapers all around and huge populations that they look like NYC for example. NY is way closer in many ways to London or Paris than to Shangai, Hongkong or Tokyo, simply because of its history, culture, and people. Europeans are still closer to Americans than Asians are, that's a matter of fact.
Paris and NY are both great for me, if i choose i would go maybe for Paris, because of it's history, location, and health care, quality of life, from what i see of my family and friends in the US life is harder there than it's in France. But don't get me wrong if i had the opportunity to go back to live in NY I would go for sure! Just don't know if i 'd like to spend all my life there. Then London in last, only because i don't really know it and have a better feeling with New Yorkers and Parisians than with the few Londoners i met.
The more I live in Paris (been there since infancy) the more I find it unbearable, in fact I just hate that city . That guy says there are 100 museums. What the ****! I don't care about bloody dead m u s e e u m m z! the streets are dirty, holes in the sidewalk, dog poo, bums and agressive beggars everywhere! I 've even seen a homeless guy camping in the street in posh 7th district near the governments headquarters like in the Third World!
there is not even one zoo ! the only one (which was very old with crumbling infrastructure and unhappy animals ) is now closed!
public transportation? a NIGHTMARE!
public swilling pools ? a few very small (25 m) , expensive , hopelessly crowded!
I could go on and on, and on... for me it's NYC first, London second and Paris (far behind) last
The more I live in Paris (been there since infancy) the more I find it unbearable, in fact I just hate that city . That guy says there are 100 museums. What the ****! I don't care about bloody dead m u s e e u m m z! the streets are dirty, holes in the sidewalk, dog poo, bums and agressive beggars everywhere! I 've even seen a homeless guy camping in the street in posh 7th district near the governments headquarters like in the Third World!
there is not even one zoo ! the only one (which was very old with crumbling infrastructure and unhappy animals ) is now closed!
public transportation? a NIGHTMARE!
public swilling pools ? a few very small (25 m) , expensive , hopelessly crowded!
I could go on and on, and on... for me it's NYC first, London second and Paris (far behind) last
Paris unbearable? What the F are you smoking?
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