Paris Election: How It Will Affect Your Next Trip
The Paris municipal race this March is a high-stakes battle to decide who will succeed Anne Hidalgo. For the first time in 12 years, the city is guaranteed a new leader following the March 22 runoff.
Hidalgo stepped aside after two terms of pushing a car-free agenda that fundamentally changed how people move through the capital. The results of the March 22 election will determine if her successor doubles down on that green vision or tears it up completely.
Three main candidates are vying for the keys to City Hall. Emmanuel Grégoire, the former deputy mayor, leads a coalition of the left and environmentalists and represents a continuation of current policies.
Rachida Dati, the current Minister of Culture and mayor of the 7th arrondissement, is the heavy hitter from the right who wants a total shift in how the city is managed.
Sophia Chikirou is a Member of Parliament representing the radical left (La France Insoumise) who qualified for the runoff by focusing on a “popular” Paris and rejecting any alliances with the center-left.
Paris Stay Tax
For visitors, the most direct impact of the Hidalgo era is the stay tax that jumped on January 1. This tax is a daily per-person fee added to your hotel or rental bill upon checkout.
If her former deputy, Emmanuel Grégoire, wins this Sunday, that high tax is here to stay. He plans to use those funds to finish the transformation of Paris into a bioclimatic garden city.
Staying in a 5-star hotel now costs an extra €11.70 per night per person. At a 4-star hotel, you are looking at €8.45 per night. Even budget-conscious travelers in 1-star hotels or campsites are paying €5.20 every night.
Rachida Dati hasn’t promised to cut these rates, but she wants to redirect the money toward restoring 19th-century monuments and hiring more security.
She also wants to lower the tax-free shopping threshold from €100 to €50 to help you save on retail.
Sophia Chikirou is the wildcard who wants to push these costs even higher for high-end travelers. She is proposing a progressive surcharge specifically for 5-star hotels and luxury “Palace” suites.
Under her plan, the wealthiest visitors would pay a much larger share to fund social housing for residents. She views your stay tax as a mandatory contribution to the city’s social safety net.
Getting Around the City
A Grégoire victory means 500 more streets will be fully pedestrianized across the 20 arrondissements. While this makes for peaceful walks, it creates a logistical challenge for vehicles.
Your Uber or taxi will have a much harder time reaching your hotel doorstep as car traffic is squeezed further out of the center. Drivers already face a complex web of one-way streets and bus-only lanes that inflate fare prices.
Rachida Dati is running on a platform that would fundamentally change the vibe of your trip. She wants to end what she calls the war on cars by reopening key transit arteries to private vehicles and taxis.
This shift could lower your Uber costs by reducing the long, expensive detours drivers currently take to bypass restricted zones. It would also make airport transfers to the Right Bank significantly faster during peak hours.
Retro vibe & Terrace Culture
Dati also plans to scrap the ban on heated outdoor terraces that currently limits winter dining options. She argues that the terrace culture is essential to the Parisian identity and should be supported year-round.
Her platform includes spending €32 million a year specifically on restoring the city’s classic 19th-century look. This budget would go toward repairing vintage newsstands and those iconic green Guimard metro entrances.
Grégoire, conversely, favors modern urban furniture designed to withstand rising summer temperatures. His plan prioritizes planting trees and installing water fountains over restoring Belle Époque relics.
Visitors would see more “islands of freshness” in public squares but fewer of the traditional architectural details that define the historic center.
The choice between these two candidates is a choice between a futuristic eco-hub and a restored historical museum.
Safety & Cleanliness
Safety and cleanliness have become the defining issues of the 2026 campaign. Dati is proposing a management shock that includes a specialized cleanliness brigade for emergency interventions.
She plans to use artificial intelligence to pinpoint priority cleaning areas and deploy connected, eco-friendly traps to combat the rat population.
She also plans to deploy 5,000 armed municipal police officers with expanded powers to conduct patrols in high-traffic tourist areas to target pickpocketing and public disturbances.
Grégoire is taking a different approach by focusing on a municipal fleet upgrade and stricter fines for civic violations like littering. He intends to add 1,000 municipal officers to the force, but they would remain unarmed and focus on neighborhood mediation.
Sophia Chikirou, the third candidate in the runoff, is pushing for even more radical changes, including a total ban on facial recognition technology in public spaces and a focus on social outreach rather than increased policing.
The Future of Airbnb
The election will also determine where you are allowed to stay as both candidates have different plans for short-term rentals. Paris already has strict rules but the next mayor could tighten the leash even further.
Grégoire is proposing to slash the maximum number of nights you can rent out a primary residence from 120 days down to just 30 nights per year.
This would lead to a dramatic drop in available Airbnb listings and likely drive up the prices for the remaining units.
Dati has suggested a more balanced approach but still wants to stop the conversion of residential units into full-time commercial rentals.
Chikirou, meanwhile, wants to implement a total freeze on new Airbnb permits in the most crowded districts to prioritize housing for residents. R
egardless of who wins, the era of easy Airbnb rentals in central Paris is ending, and visitors should prepare for a market dominated by traditional hotels.
Late Night Transit
The biggest win for travelers regardless of the winner is the expansion of the late-night metro system. Both candidates are racing to promise 24-hour service on weekends for automated lines 1, 4, and 14 by late 2026.
Line 14 is particularly vital as it connects Orly Airport directly to the city center in under 30 minutes. Having this run all night would eliminate the need for expensive late-night airport shuttles.
Grégoire wants to use the existing tourist tax revenue to pay for the increased staffing and maintenance costs. Dati suggests she can find the money by streamlining the city’s massive general budget without adding new fees.
Chikirou argues for making the entire transit network free for residents, which could lead to even higher taxes for tourists to bridge the budget gap.