Hanging out with my Ma by the Seine with food on my face. Getting some food and a bottle of wine and sitting by the Seine is one of my favorite things to do in Paris.
Table Of Contents
- The 5 Quick Scores – An Overview Of The City
- Wifi Speed Tests
- Where I Stayed
- CoWorks & My Favorite Places To Work From
- Finding Community / Making Friends
- Transportation
- What I Ate
- What I Drank / Nightlife
- Exercise / Outdoors
The 5 Quick Scores
- Internet Speed – 4/5
- I ran about 15 wifi speed tests while in Paris, here are the findings
- Avg. Download Speed = 166.55 MBPS
- Avg. Upload Speed = 144.07 MBPS
- Avg. Latency = 10.33 MS*
- *Not sure what these metrics mean? Read my guide to getting fast wifi here.
- Fastest internet I Got In The City – was at Le Prince Racine
- Ease Of Connecting & Making Friends- 3.75/5
- There are a decent number of other travelers, groups, meetups, etc. See my community / making friends section for more details on this.
- Nightlife – 4/5
- Lots of busy spots to party, specifically Marais & Bastille. See my nightlife section for more details on this.
- Places To Work From – 4/5
- There are a lot of great places to work from here, and even the iconic Parisian cafe’s with the wicker chairs out front ended up being some of my favorite places to work from. See my Favorite Places I Worked From section for more details on this.
- Affordability – 2/5
- It’s Paris brah… on top of this, I visited in fall of 2022, after some pretty steep inflation around the world in general. That being said, you can find colives with kitchens and fairly reasonable prices. (see my Where I Stayed for more details on this)
Wifi Speed Tests
| Type / Device | Name | Upload | Download | Latency |
| Cafe | Le Prince Racine | 483.277 | 448.65 | 7 |
| Cafe | Sully | 418.481 | 359.327 | 23 |
| Cafe | Cafe Quai 33 | 410.452 | 353.327 | 12 |
| Cafe | Le George V | 336.155 | 346.503 | 8 |
| Cowork | Cool & Workers | 279.052 | 153.273 | 7 |
| Hotel | Jo&Joe | 108.432 | 104.437 | 8 |
| Cafe | Les Turbines | 129.169 | 95.91 | 6 |
| Cowork | MyCowork Montorgueil | 77.218 | 89.681 | 7 |
| Cowork | MyCowork Beaubourg | 75.830 | 88.967 | 13 |
| Hotel | Student Hotel – Lobby | 50.782 | 39.356 | 7 |
| Hotel | Student Hotel – 6th Floor | 53.880 | 35.354 | 6 |
| Cafe | Bistrot 32 | 30.430 | 30.4 | 10 |
| Hotel | Hotel Vaugirard – 4th Floor | 26.005 | 10.295 | 9 |
| Cafe | Cafe Français | 16.279 | 4.219 | 19 |
| Cafe | Le Reveil Bastille | 2.854 | 1.382 | 13 |
Where I Stayed
Jo&Joe Gentilly
- OVERALL – 4/5
- Affordability – 3.75/5 – For Paris fairly affordable really, you’re just outside of Paris proper, but close enough to bike into wherever you’d like to go ~$30 for a shared dorm room & ~$140 for a private room
- Wifi – 5/5 – The wifi was quite fast on the lobby level, but even on the 2nd floor I was able to have video calls without issue.
- Avg. Download Speed = 108.432 MBPS
- Avg. Upload Speed = 104.437 MBPS
- Avg. Latency = 8 MS
- Sense Of Community – 3.5/5 – The staff is super cool, there aren’t a crazy amount of single travelers at this one, but if you’re friendly you can easily make friends.
- Location – 3.5/5 – On the southside of Paris, outside of Paris proper. I rented a bike for the 3 weeks I was there, and was able to bike into the city center fairly quickly (30 minutes or so). See more about the bike rental here.
- Amenities (Kitchen, Pool, etc.) – 3.75/5 – They didn’t have a pool or too many additional amenities, but as you can see from the video the bar & public area is pretty sweet and more than makes up for any spots that are lacking.
- Cleanliness – 5/5 – Super clean, well-maintained spot
Places To Stay – Honorable Mentions
This is a section where I’ll add hotels / places to stay at that I either didn’t stay at, or had a flaw that made me unable to recommend them completely.
The Social Hub Paris La Defense – These guys are really trying to promote themselves as a place to meet people and build community, but don’t really have any spots to hang out at and meet people. Furthermore, their location is near the business district and not a terribly fun place to be IMO. That being said, I was able to have video calls without any issues at their hotel, and it wasn’t far from the Champs Elysees.
Colives In Paris
I have not stayed at any of these colives yet, as I didn’t plan well enough. I ended up spending way more on hotels for 3 weeks than I would’ve paying for a colive for 1 month. For anyone looking to spend more than 2 weeks in Paris I’d highly recommend a colive (even if you don’t use the extra time).
I’ll likely be returning to Paris in the summer and checking these colives out. Follow me on Instagram @officialdigitalnomadlifestyle to stay up to date on my travels, and reviews of these spots.
Co-Works & My Favorite Places To Work From
I ended up working a lot from Parisian cafe’s (like Les Turbines Cafe below). Parisian cafe’s are the stereotypical cafe’s that you see with rows of two wicker chairs facing outside behind small tables.
In general, when I tried to work from other types of cafes, they didn’t want me camping out. At most Parisian cafe’s though they had plenty of space and didn’t mind me sitting and working for a while.
For coworks, I use the Croissant app, which generally comes out to a better hourly rate then what you’d get booking directly through the cowork.
MyCowork Montorgueil – Les Halles
- OVERALL – 4/5 – Pretty cool spot, I don’t generally love Cowork spots but I did dig the vibe and ambiance at this place.
- Wifi – 4.5/5 – Pretty damn fast wifi, had video calls without issue
- Download Speed = 77.21 MBPS*
- Upload Speed = 89.68 MBPS
- Avg. Latency = 7 MS
- *Not sure what these metrics mean? Read my guide to getting fast wifi here.
- Service & Friendliness – 4/5 – We’re in France so if you’re expecting the friendliness and service here that you get in Latin America or the US, then you’ll likely be bummed (particularly if you can’t speak French). However, people were still pretty friendly.
- Amount Of Outlets – 4/5– Quite a few outlets, no issue finding them
- Amenities (Places to take calls, etc.) – 4/5 – They do offer meeting rooms, and I don’t recall them having call booths though unfortunately. They have a cool cafe and restaurant with plenty of options.
- Location / Ambiance – 5/5 – This spot is located near the beautiful Montorgueil street, and not far from the Les Halles metro station.
- Ergonomics (Comfortable Seating / Standup Spots) – 4.5 / 5 – They have some spots to stand, different kinds of comfortable seating.
- Pricing – 3/5 – Not the cheapest place to work, but not crazy expensive for coworks.
Les Turbines Cafe
- OVERALL – 4/5 – Killer spot, and they had plenty of space and were totally cool with me working there for what ended up being about 4 hours.
- Wifi – 5/5 – Quicker wifi than a lot of the coworks I went to
- Download Speed = 129.16 MBPS
- Upload Speed = 95.91 MBPS
- Avg. Latency = 6 MS
- Service & Friendliness – 4/5 – Once again it’s France so the service is a bit slow, but the staff was pretty friendly to me.
- Amount Of Outlets – 2/5– Not a whole lot of outlets
- Location / Ambiance – 4.5/5 – Check out the video above, these are my favorite kinds of cafe’s there are lots of people around, open air beautiful views, it was beautiful!
- Ergonomics (Comfortable Seating / Standup Spots) – 2/5 – The Parisian cafe’s like this offer one type of chair generally, I didn’t have much un-comfortability in them, but they aren’t the most ergonomic chairs available.
Places To Work From – Honorable Mentions
This is a section where I’ll add co-working places / places to work that I’ve heard a lot of good things about, I either didn’t make it to the place, or I went and personally didn’t totally love it. In service to you all, if the place seems to have enough buzz, I will still share it.
My Cowork BeauBourg – This place is owned by the same company as MyCowork Montorgueil – Les Halles and was a good spot to work from. However, not my favorite place in the world.
Cafe Français – I loved this cafe, it’s in an incredible spot right near the monument for the Bastille. The wifi is a bit slow, and the prices were a bit higher than the other Parisian cafe’s so that’s why I can’t completely recommend it. But I still think you should go check it out.
Finding Community / Making Friends
Interested In Building Community As A Nomad? I interviewed 9 other digital nomads to come up with a complete digital nomad guide to building community, check it out!
In general, I didn’t find it super hard to make friends here in Paris. I had already made a few friends that lived here, so that really helped me.
Outside of this, I’d recommend people check out NomadList to meet folks nearby where you’re at.
Language Schools – I made some pretty good friends via teachers and fellow students at the French language school I went to. For anyone looking to improve their French and make some friends, I highly recommend a French language school. Personally, I went to Edam and will probably return there when I get back to Paris.
I wasn’t recommended any FB / whatsapp groups or meetups while in Paris. However, I’m sure there are plenty of good ones.
As mentioned previously, I’ll likely be returning to Paris in the summer and will dive deeper into groups and communities while there. Follow me on Instagram @officialdigitalnomadlifestyle to stay up to date on my travels, and my recommendations for building community in Paris!
A shot of me with some of my friends from my French lessons class. We’re in front of the sepulture of Théodore Géricault, a painter who painted my favorite painting, The Raft Of Medusa
Transportation
- Getting There & Leaving
- There are plenty of planes buses & trains coming in and out of Paris. If you take Ryan Air though be aware that you’ll fly into Beauvais Airport, which is a ways out of town. They do have buses that will take you into town though and drop you off at Porte Maillot (this is where most buses will drop you off at).
- Getting Around
- Bolt – this was the car share app I used all over Europe and it tended to be a bit cheaper than Uber.
- Uber / Lime – There are plenty of Uber drivers and lime scooters and electric bikes. However, the cost of these can really add up. For this reason, I ended up renting a bike for a month.
- The Metro – This is by far the most popular way to get around. I don’t really like underground transport, I’d rather cruise around on a bike in the open air checking out this city. That being said, here is a guide on how to do the metro as a tourist.
- Swapfiets – I used these guys to rent a bike for a month, it was $40 and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to stay fit and get around Paris without having to go underground. I actually had an issue with my bike shortly after renting it, they came out the next day replaced my bike and didn’t charge my anything. When I go back to Paris I’m going to use these guys again.
What I Ate
Not So Healthy Food – I absolutely love Pain Au Chocolat, I could eat those things everyday! On top of this, there are a lot of spots to get nougat as well, which I also love.
As far as cheese goes Camembert is my favorite, Camembert cheese with a baguette, oh my goodness…
Healthier Food – I didn’t have a kitchen most of the time I was in Paris, but didn’t want to spend too much money on eating out, so I ended up getting a lot of premade food at supermarkets.
I try my hardest to eat vegan, I preferred going to Franprix, and here’s what I usually ate.
- Some vegetables from the Franprix salad bar – Not all Franprix’s had the salad bar, and even the ones that did have a salad bar didn’t always have the salad bar stocked, but when they did it was great, lot’s of different vegetables to choose from, but the prices were a bit expensive.
- Lebanese style hummus – I found this version contained a bit less oil than the other versions
- A Batard Complet – Yes batard does mean bastard in French. For some reason they call a certain type of bread bastards in France 😂 I also preferred complet meaning that they used more whole grains than white flour.
- Tabouleh – I love this stuff and it’s super easy to find all over Paris
- Beets with mustard or shredded carrots – It was pretty easy to find containers of these as well. The vegetables were fairly fresh but had some mustard sauces mixed with them to make them more delicious. I think there may have been some egg or milk products in this, but I cut myself a break on these.
Want to stay fit & eat healthy while traveling?
Check out my guide to diet fitness while traveling here!
What I Drank / Nightlife
Drink Reviews W/ A Redneck From My Time Here
This is from my Drink Reviews W/ A Redneck Series. Which features me drinking and reviewing alcohol from around the world. Sometimes I’m with others, sometimes by myself, and sometimes compare the drinks to romantic interests. Check it out!
Maybe the most terrifying photo of me – Check out the video here!
NightLife
- Le Marais – In addition to being my favorite neighborhood in Paris this place is a great spot to party. There are quite a few gay bars (one of which wouldn’t let me go in with my friend above). It’s a fun spot!
- Bastille – There are a lot of folks here on the weekend too partying. This may be a place where you’d see more locals than Le Marais.
Exercise / Outdoors
This is a photo I took while biking back home one night. Biking around the city is by far my favorite way to get exercise and experience the city.
Nature – Bois De Boulogne
This is a huge park with lots of people exercising on the weekend. It feels like a reprieve from the busy city around it. I spent quite a bit of time here on my first trip to Paris, but unfortunately didn’t go here too much this last time, which bums me out.
You can see a video of me biking around Bois De Boulogne in my transportation section
Exercise
Swapfiets – I already mentioned these guys in the transportation section, but I have to mention it again. I used these guys to rent a bike for a month, it was $40 and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to stay fit and get around Paris without having to go underground. I actually had an issue with my bike shortly after renting it, they came out the next day replaced my bike and didn’t charge my anything. When I go back to Paris I’m going to use these guys again.
Cercle De La Forme – These guys had locations all over Paris, and you could buy day, week or monthly passes, which gave you access to all locations. Which was pretty sweet! (warning – the site is only in French – however if you use Google Chrome it should offer to translate it for you)
I wasn’t able to find their weekly packages on the site, so you may have to go to a location for those. However, if you do an annual sign-up, it looks like it’s as low as 15 Euro a month or 180 Euro if you pay all upfront.
Want to stay fit & eat healthy while traveling? Check out my guide to diet fitness while traveling here!