safety of taking a taxi in paris

I might recommend being a little careful about getting your taxi at Gare du Nord…avoid the homeless-looking guys that might approach you with an offer to take you to a taxi. They may walk you outside to a legitimate taxi driver not in the taxi rank and will expect a few Euro for services rendered. Just head directly to the taxi rank outside of the station (I seem to recall it’s on the west side) and wait your turn. I have taken several taxis in Paris and can’t speak a word of French. A combination of French phrases from a phrase book and the driver’s very limited English were good enough to communicate the necessary details with some effort. The language gap can actually be kind of fun. One driver tried to explain that the tunnel we were about to go through was the spot of Diana’s tragic crash (I really couldn't understand a word), and another exclaimed that dropping us at our desired location was, “Quite Impossible!!!” (in a very French way) because of jammed traffic. BTW, The taxis are clean and safe...you'll see many different models of Mercedes. I like the suggestion of having your destination written out in advance. That will help for sure.

'All taxis are regulated by the city' is an inaccurate statement.

Taxis are regulated by the Prefecture of Police, an agency of the national government under the interior ministry. Paris has no municipal police.

You will probably not need to take a taxi (other than the initial ride to the hotel) since the city is so well-sereved by the metro. The exception might be late at night after the metro has closed.

Rest assured that a taxi driver can take you to any attraction no matter how badly you mispronounce it in any language. For obscure places (Aunt Martha's house) use your map (the one in your packback with the camera, water bottle, guide book, and goodness-knows-what-else) by pointing at the street and use your fingers for the house number.

Sally,

You're hung up on this language business. My French is fluent, idiomtatic, and unaccented. Last year a buddy and I spent a couple weeks in France, a few days of it in Paris. He spoke not a word of the language when we arrived. I pushed him to the front and made him handle the gas stations, restaurants, hotels, metro, and everything else with absolutely no help. We did just fine. So will you.

Yes, it's perfectly safe to take a taxi in Paris. It might help to have your destination or address written out.

We took taxis and buses in Paris extensively without issue. We didn't want to use the metro and miss seeing all the sights above ground. Our apartment rental company provided us with the names and numbers of taxi drivers who spoke English and that we could call and arrange advance pick-ups with. Your hotel should be able to do the same. I agree with the comments about only using official taxis at taxi stands. About 80% of the taxi drivers we hired off the street spoke English. I also like Rick's recommendation to write things on a piece of paper to show the driver where you want to go.

Enjoy your trip!

We just took several of them last week. The taxi you use should have a white sign sticking up on top that says TAXI and right below that is the word Parisien (sp?). The line for one at the Eurostar station can be quite long, although it moves fairly quickly.

Taxis are also found at taxi ranks around the city marked on some maps--the Paris rough guide map has them all marked. These ranks have a blue sign with a large white T on them. If there aren't any taxis there, there is a call box for them, although I never tried that---not sure if it would work with no English.

Do not count on the taxi driver knowing any more English than you know French. Ours on both our recent trips were all limited to Hello and Thank-you. Print out, if possible, a google map showing where you want to go. If you don't have that, write the address on a piece of paper. Include the arrondisement if you know it.The driver will probably put the address into his GPS. We also used google translate to write this sentence above our map request. "Bon jour, we would like to go to this address, please."