France in Three Cities — A Summer Paris, a Winter Paris, and a Borderland Called Strasbourg

France in Three Cities

A country we've now visited three times across three different seasons — Paris in summer 2022, Strasbourg from Stuttgart in June 2024, and Paris again in February 2025 — and one that keeps reshaping itself depending on which trip we look back from.

France for us is two Parises and a borderland. The summer Paris was Iron Lady-and-icons — three days of chasing every postcard image we'd grown up with, ticking off the Eiffel, queueing for the Mona Lisa, eating croissants at Café Louise, getting drenched buying macarons in Montmartre, and waving an Indian flag at Trocadero on 15 August. The winter Paris was the opposite — Canal Saint-Martin in mist, Musée d'Orsay instead of the Louvre, Père Lachaise instead of the Tour, and 19th-century covered passages with antiquarian shops still doing quiet business. And Strasbourg, an hour from the German border, was the surprise of all three: half-timbered Alsatian houses and tarte flambée served under a 142-metre Gothic cathedral that was for 227 years the tallest building in the world. Three cities. Three trips. One running discovery that France gives you something different each time you go.

📍 Tip: Every city heading below — Paris 2022, Paris 2025, Strasbourg — is clickable. Tap any to dive into the day-by-day city story.

Paris 2022 — Three Days with the Iron Lady, Macarons & Mixed Feelings

Paris is not a place that can be covered in a few days, and we tried anyway. We rolled into Bercy Seine from Prague after a 13-hour bus I'd booked by mistake (long story), took the metro to Trocadero, dragged our suitcases across cobblestones for our first eyeful of the Iron Lady, and settled into a studio at 43 Rue Spontini that felt like the apartment I'd quietly fantasised about for years — small, smart, full of light, the kind of place I've still not managed to build for myself in India. Day 1 finished on the second-last Seine river cruise of the night, the 10:40 p.m. one, watching every monument shift shape under the floodlights. Day 2 was the contradiction in a single afternoon: Café Louise croissants, the Mona Lisa as the trip's first proper disappointment (smaller than imagined, mobbed by phones, behind layers of glass and shoulders), Flyview's 360° VR ride, then Montmartre walking tour with Dalida-statue trivia, Sacré-Cœur photos, and a soaked-through walk back through Parisian rain with a bag of macarons. Day 3 was 15 August — Indian Independence Day — and our guide Hexcel ran us up the Eiffel through the long queues to the first and second floors. We waved an Indian flag with other homesick Indians at Trocadero, said goodbye to Rue Spontini, watched the city from the Montparnasse 56th floor (a quieter, cheaper view), and caught the FlixBus to Zurich with hungry stomachs and heavy hearts. The honest verdict on Paris: "a place who is holding a lot, and seen a lot in the past. The city that can act as a mirror and reflects your mood. The Iron Lady can be mesmerising, or wasteful, or worthless — depending on which perception you are looking from."

Paris 2025 — Returning to Find What We Missed the First Time

The second time you visit a city, you see it differently. The first time, you're chasing icons. The second time, you already know — and in knowing, you get to choose something else. We returned to Paris in February 2025 with one deliberate rule: nothing we'd already done. No Louvre, no Notre-Dame queue, no Montmartre by day. Instead the Canal Saint-Martin in winter — quieter, mist hanging over the water, bare plane trees making architectural patterns against grey sky — walked end to end (~4.5 km) through the République, Oberkampf and Goncourt neighbourhoods where a younger, working Paris lives. The Musée d'Orsay, housed in a Beaux-Arts railway station, won the museum argument over the Louvre — Impressionism in a building with the great clock faces of the former station embedded in the upper level, Monet's water lilies and Van Gogh's self-portraits in the old concourse. Père Lachaise Cemetery turned out to be one of the more genuinely moving experiences Paris offers — Oscar Wilde's lipstick-kissed glass-encased tomb, Jim Morrison's grave, but more than the famous names, the older sections where families over three centuries had built miniature Gothic mausoleums, statues frozen mid-grief, photographs faded but still present. And the passages couverts — 19th-century covered shopping arcades with glass roofs and mosaic floors that twenty of still survive — where we ducked out of February rain in the Galerie Vivienne and Passage des Panoramas, browsed philatelists and rare-book dealers and vintage map shops, and bought a 1920s illustrated postcard that felt Paris was keeping just for us.

Strasbourg — Half-Timbered Houses, Tarte Flambée & a Cathedral That Stopped Us Cold

Strasbourg is what happens when two countries can't agree on a city and eventually decide to share it. Historically passed between France and Germany four times in the last 150 years, it now sits in France's Alsace region, speaking French, eating choucroute, and yet surrounded by half-timbered houses and a Gothic cathedral that clearly learned its ambitions from the Rhine Valley. We arrived from Stuttgart by TGV — a journey of about 50 minutes that feels like a genuine miracle of engineering — and walked straight from the lovely German-Historicist Gare Centrale toward the cathedral spire on the horizon. The Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg was, for 227 years, the world's tallest building: a single spire reaching 142 metres, covered in filigree sandstone carving so detailed that you can lose an hour just tracing patterns at the base. Inside, the Astronomical Clock runs through its 16th-century mechanical procession at 12:30 each day — figures representing the ages of man, the days of the week, and the Death figure striking the hour — watched in shared, slightly awed silence with 200 other people. We climbed the 330 steps of the platform for a view over the city's terracotta rooftops, the Rhine visible in the distance, the Black Forest beyond it. La Petite France — the historic tanners' island — delivered the postcard: medieval half-timbered houses with overhanging upper stories and flower-box windows leaning over narrow canal streets, where we ate two tarte flambées standing up at a winstub because the table wait was long. The Alsatian table is its own celebration: baeckeoffe (a slow-cooked casserole of three meats marinated in Alsatian white wine), kugelhopf for breakfast or dessert without distinction, and Riesling that is light and clean and frankly excellent. We walked the perimeter of the European Parliament quarter, felt appropriately multilateral, and then went back to eat more tarte flambée.

Final Reflection

France, Decoded — A First-Timer's Field Guide for Indians

First trip to France from India? Below is everything we wish someone had told us — Schengen paperwork, why France is one of the easier Schengen consulates for Indians, which apps actually make Paris navigable, and how to survive as a vegetarian in a country whose national identity is wrapped in butter and meat. Read it end-to-end before you book flights.

Prices in INR/EUR are 2022–2025-era estimates. Schengen rules change — verify at france-visas.gouv.fr before applying.

⚠️ Things to Take Care Of

Paris is safe by European standards, but pickpocketing on the metro and around tourist sites is real — front-pocket wallets, zipped bags, and no phone in your back pocket on Line 1 or 4. Our 2022 tour guide had warnings galore, but luck (and basic awareness) kept us out of trouble. Strikes can disrupt rail and metro at short notice — check sncf-connect.com and ratp.fr the morning of any travel. August in Paris is genuinely hot now (40°C in 2022); aim for May–early Jun or Sep–early Oct if you can choose. Sunday closures are real for smaller shops; boulangeries usually open. Tap water is excellent — say "une carafe d'eau, s'il vous plaît" at restaurants for free water. Smile, say "bonjour" before launching into English; the difference in service is dramatic.

🛂 Visa Process (Indian Passport)

France is a Schengen visa country and one of the more Indian-friendly consulates — apply through VFS Global (france-visas.gouv.fr is the official portal). Tourist visa fee is €80 (~₹7,300) + VFS service fee ~₹2,200. Processing officially takes 15 working days but Paris is the most common Indian Schengen application and the queues build up — apply at least 6–8 weeks out, longer for the May–Sep window. You'll need: passport with at least 3 months validity beyond return + 2 blank pages, two recent biometric photos (35×45mm, white background, no smile), bank statements for the last 3 months (rule of thumb ~₹1 lakh per traveler per week), ITR for the last 2 years, confirmed flight reservation (NOT a paid ticket — use a hold service), all hotel/Airbnb bookings, day-by-day itinerary, travel insurance covering at least €30,000 medical, leave letter from your employer, and a cover letter. If France is your main destination (the country you spend most nights in), apply through France even if you fly into a different Schengen country.

🛫 Before You Land

Buy an Airalo or Holafly Europe eSIM (5GB ~₹1,400, works across all Schengen) before you fly. Install these apps before takeoff: Bonjour RATP (Paris metro/bus/tram — the official app, much better than Google for live disruption), SNCF Connect for trains across France (book TGV Prem'fares 3+ months ahead for €30–70 fares that walk-up would be €120+), Citymapper Paris, Google Maps with the France offline pack, Google Translate with French offline (point the camera at restaurant menus — it works surprisingly well), and FlixBus for cheap intercity if you're not on rail. Carry around ₹10,000 worth of EUR cash for emergencies, but France is properly card-friendly — contactless Visa and Mastercard work nearly everywhere. Book Eiffel Tower and Louvre timed-entry tickets weeks in advance directly on their official sites; same-day queues in summer can hit three hours.

🛬 After You Land

From Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG): the RER B direct to Gare du Nord, Châtelet or Saint-Michel runs every 10–15 min, ~35 min, €11.80. The new CDG Express (when it opens) will be faster but pricier; for now, RER B is the right answer. From Paris Orly (ORY): the Orlyval light rail to RER B Antony in 8 min, then RER B into central Paris, ~50 min total for €13.25. Avoid airport taxis without a fixed-rate flag — official Paris taxi rate from CDG to central Paris is €56 right bank / €65 left bank, flat. Validate every metro ticket; inspectors are constant and €50+ fines instant. Withdraw your first EUR from a bank-branded ATM (BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Crédit Agricole) and decline the dynamic currency conversion — always pay in EUR.

🚄 Transport

French rail is the gold standard. TGV high-speed trains: Paris → Strasbourg ~1h 50m (€25–80 advance), Paris → Lyon ~2h (€30–90), Paris → Bordeaux ~2h 15m, Paris → Marseille ~3h 15m. Book via SNCF Connect — Prem'fares (advance) and Ouigo (low-cost TGV) can be a third of the walk-up price. The same TGV from Stuttgart to Strasbourg we took is ~50 minutes; cross-border European rail is properly seamless. Within Paris: the metro is the right answer 95% of the time — a single ticket is €2.15, a 10-pack (carnet) €17.35, a Navigo Easy day pass €8.45. Don't bother with the Hop-on Hop-off bus in Paris — it's slow (we learned this the hard way) and the metro is faster and cheaper. The Vélib' bike-share is brilliant for the Canal Saint-Martin and Seine quais — €5 for a day pass, dedicated lanes most of the centre.

🏨 Accommodation

Paris is expensive — central 3-star hotels run €150–280, even hostels charge €40–60 for a dorm bed. Airbnb studios remain the sweet spot for couples; our 43 Rue Spontini studio in the 16th was small, smart and worth every penny. Look at the 10th, 11th, 13th and 19th arrondissements for cheaper, better-character stays with easy metro into the centre. Strasbourg runs noticeably cheaper — €70–140 for hotels, plenty of Airbnbs in the old town. Best months: late April through June, and September; February (our 2025 trip) is cold and quiet but bookings are easy and the city is yours. Avoid mid-July to mid-August unless that's the only window — the city empties of Parisians, prices stay up, and the heat is brutal.

🍽️ Food in a Nutshell

France is a paradise for cheese, bread, dessert and seafood — and a survival exercise for strict vegetarians. Vegetarian survival: croque-monsieur (without ham — most cafés will accommodate), quiche (egg-and-cheese variants), ratatouille (the vegetable stew is properly vegetarian), salade niçoise sans thon, tartines, every kind of bread from every kind of boulangerie, and the entire pâtisserie counter. Crêpes can be sweet (Nutella, sugar, butter — all safe) or savoury (ham/egg/cheese — ask carefully). Macarons from Pierre Hermé, Ladurée or any neighbourhood bakery; the macaron shop we got drenched walking to in Montmartre is the kind of memory worth wet shoes. In Alsace, vegetarian options widen: tarte flambée can be ordered without lardons (just crème fraîche and onion), kugelhopf is naturally vegetarian, and Alsatian wines (Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris) are extraordinary. Indian restaurants in Paris are surprisingly excellent — concentrated in La Chapelle/Gare du Nord — for when the cheese fatigue hits. Tap water is free; bottled water is one of the easier French scams to avoid.