Pickpockets on Metro

[Cyrano]

I never understood this not looking like a tourist thing. How do you not look like a tourist when people often know just by looking at you (and listening to you) that your British? What sort of clothes should I be wearing to look like a non-tourist anyway?

But having a camera draped around your neck, map open and a handful of traveller cheques/currency is a givaway regardless of nationality.
This is one of the ways you'll stand out in any tourist centre

 

[Cyrano]

I have to say I don't find the underground in Paris any more scary than in any big city. I actually crossed Paris after midnight last december on my own with 2 cases and had no trouble at all. The only thing I am caeful is not to make eye contact but I think this is more as I live in a tourist area and am used to helping people who are lost/confused.
In any big city or tourist area you need to be careful of pick pockets.

Same here. Walking back to our hotel through the Pigalle (look it up on google) area at 3am and we felt perfectly safe

I did the same in Belfast in '83. Was reknowned for my middle of the night walks

 

[gemmybear83]

But having a camera draped around your neck, map open and a handful of traveller cheques/currency is a givaway regardless of nationality.
This is one of the ways you'll stand out in any tourist centre

Thanks your description was a lot better than mine!

 

[mattjs]

I thought Paris was a remarkably safe city. That said, I heard all the pickpocket warnings too, so I used one of these things -- https://www.passporterstore.com/store/0966899437.aspx

Obviously Passporter has one, but you can find variations at lots of stores. Nice for travel out of the country because they're sized to hold Passports. Can fit it in your front pocket or around your neck. Sure it pegs you as a tourist, but honestly, there's no way I wasn't getting flagged in Paris anyway. Any professional thief would have me marked tourist in a second. Camera, and language alone give me away (And it's not like I'm going to not take pictures or speak on vacation ). So I'm pretty much cooked from the get go. Then it's just a matter of keeping stuff in a safe place. Take your backpack off at a crowded subway stop and hold it in front of you. That kind of stuff.

 

[kevankiki]

I thought Paris was a remarkably safe city. That said, I heard all the pickpocket warnings too, so I used one of these things -- https://www.passporterstore.com/store/0966899437.aspx

This looked interesting, but I was unable to find out the shipping cost to the UK, the estimator thing wouldn't work! Seemed like the only way was to sign up for an account and go through the checkout process

 

[mkt]

Although I like to think I'm pretty savvy about these things, on my first day in Paris last year I really dropped the ball - I was tired, stressed out, and trying to translate and read maps for the rest of my group when I got on the Metro, and so didn't think about how I was holding my bag or who was next to me. By pure chance, I turned round at just the right moment to see the man behind me with his hand in my bag! I shouted and he got off immediately (we were pulling into a station at the time), but it really shook me up and I was much more careful for the rest of the trip.