Exploring a city through blogs is a great way to find new locations, twists and turns that may not be in your guide books and also a good way to get a feel for a city, if it’s your first time visiting.
I read a number of Parisian blogs by expats. Why expats? Why not read French blogs? Well, I often find that expats who start blogging tend to do so because they love their new adopted homes. There is also the odd situation of being the outsider, which you forever are as an expat and which inevitably means you are continuously coming across new traditions or cultural nuances. Suffice to say, even if not intended to be travel blogs, expat blogs often contain information that travelers will enjoy.
- Maitresse is written by PhD candidate Lauren Elkin, who has lived in Paris off and on since 1999. Her blog is a great mix of French cultural exploration, literary commentary and her life in Paris.
- The Paris Blog is a group blog about… Paris. It’s a good mix of art, fashion, expat living and general musings on Paris living.
- The Bold Soul, a blog by writer Lisa Taylor Huff. Lisa’s enthusiasm about Paris and French living seeps through and is interspersed with information about her own life. She also writes about being a single woman and what that means in one of the most romantic cities in the world.
- Eye Prefer Paris is written by an ex-New Yorker, Richard Nahem. He also has started doing Eye Prefer Paris walking tours, which are 3-hour walks, guided by Richard himself. The tours take you to several of the locations he has written about on his blog.
- Ms. Glaze’s Pommes d’Amour is a food blog that varies between great recipes and what’s its like to be a female cook in a 3-star Parisian restaurant.