Studying English in Paris is a deliberate choice rather than an obvious one, and it is worth being clear about what it does and does not give you.
What it does not give you is immersion. Paris is a French city that runs in French, and outside the classroom you will hear French far more than English. If your only goal is maximum hours of unavoidable English exposure, a British, Irish or Maltese city will do that better and no honest adviser should pretend otherwise.
What it does give you is something different, and for a certain student more valuable. Paris is one of the most international cities in Europe. The English you practise here is the English actually used between people who do not share a first language — a Spanish designer talking to a Korean student, a Brazilian barista talking to a German tourist. That is the register most people will need for work, and it is not the same as the register you get in a monolingual English town. You also leave with a second language started rather than only one improved.
The city itself needs little description, but the practical side is worth stating. Paris is dense and built for walking. Its twenty arrondissements spiral out from the centre and almost everything worth seeing sits inside them. The Métro is fast, frequent and covers the city thoroughly — you will not need a taxi and you will not need a car. Buses run above ground and are slower but better for learning the geography.
The museums are the obvious draw and many of them cost nothing on certain days or for younger visitors, which matters on a student budget. But the more useful daily habit is that Paris is a city of small public spaces — squares, canal banks, park benches, café terraces — where sitting for an hour is normal and nobody hurries you. For a language student, cheap places to sit and talk are worth more than famous places to queue.
Cost is the honest weak point. Paris is expensive, particularly for accommodation, and rooms are smaller than students expect. Budget accordingly and treat the location of your accommodation as the most important decision you will make — a cheap room at the far end of a Métro line costs you an hour a day.
Travel from Paris is exceptional. High-speed trains reach Lyon, Bordeaux, Marseille and the Alps, and London, Brussels and Amsterdam are all direct international services. Few cities put this much of Europe inside a weekend.
Studying here. Topstudy works with two schools in Paris. Bayswater Paris offers General English and Intensive English; English Path Paris offers General English and Semi-Intensive English. Between them the full range of weekly loads is available — a standard course, a middle option that leaves the day usable, or a full intensive week for a fixed deadline.
Accommodation. Host families, residences and shared apartments are all available. In Paris more than anywhere else in this list, ask exactly which arrondissement or suburb and which Métro line before accepting.
Who it is for. Students who want international English rather than local English; anyone who wants to pick up French alongside; and students for whom the city itself is part of the reason to travel. Not the right choice for someone who wants every waking hour to be in English.
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