Bodyguard in Paris

Can you hire a bodyguard in Paris?

Yes, and it is entirely lawful when done through the licensed French framework. Algoz arranges CNAPS-carded close protection officers who meet you at Charles de Gaulle or Le Bourget, stay beside you at the hotel, the boutiques and the shows, and put a security driver behind every movement. Send your dates and you receive a confidential proposal with a final rate, no obligation.

Bodyguard, close protection or personal security in Paris?

Bodyguard is the everyday word and the one most people search. In France the regulated terms are garde du corps and protection rapprochée, and the person doing the work is an agent de protection physique des personnes holding a carte professionnelle CNAPS. That card is the whole legal question: without it, the company and the officer are working illegally, and so, potentially, is the client who engaged them. Executive protection is the corporate framing of the same discipline, usually including the security-trained driver and the vehicle.

Personal security and private security (sécurité privée) are broader words that also cover static guarding, event stewarding and residential security. Those are a different authorisation and a different skill from moving with a principal, and confusing the two is the most common mistake we see. A security detail means more than one officer. In Paris a security driver often does more of the real work than the officer, because the exposure sits at hotel entrances, in traffic and around predictable arrivals rather than on any pavement.

For most visitors to Paris the right answer is one CNAPS-carded officer and a security-trained driver, not a team. If you are unsure which you need, describe the trip and we will tell you which of the three it is, including when the answer is that a driver alone is enough. How our close protection works and bodyguard laws by country.

Discretion, in the language you speak.

Paris is among the most visited cities on earth, the seat of the great luxury houses, a diplomatic capital hosting UNESCO and the OECD, and the stage for a cultural calendar that never stops. It is also a metropolis of twelve million where the districts that matter to a private visitor - the Golden Triangle, Place Vendôme, Saint-Germain, the palace hotels - sit within a few square kilometres that every photographer and opportunist knows by heart. Wealth is read quickly here, and a discreet visit is usually decided in its first hour.

Algoz provides bodyguard services in Paris through a network of CNAPS-licensed French protection professionals, many of them alumni of the Foreign Legion, special forces and police units, with the local fluency that no visiting team can improvise. Our clients are international families, executives, collectors and public figures who would rather not be recognised, and the assistants and family offices who arrange on their behalf. The brief is given once; from the FBO at Le Bourget to the last dinner in Saint-Germain, one team plans, drives and covers the whole visit.

Why protection in Paris must be licensed.

In France, close protection is a regulated profession. Under the Code de la sécurité intérieure (Livre VI), every agent de protection physique des personnes - the garde du corps - must hold a valid CNAPS professional card (carte professionnelle), and the operating company must hold a CNAPS authorisation. Armed protection is tightly restricted and authorised case by case. An unlicensed protector is not lawful and carries real liability, and a foreign bodyguard travelling with you cannot simply work a detail on French soil.

Algoz coordinates protection in Paris exclusively through this licensed framework - every operative is CNAPS-carded, local and NDA-bound, so your detail is discreet and fully compliant with French law. See how our close protection works, combine it with Paris concierge or concierge across France, add secure transport in Paris, or extend the same team to Nice, Cannes and Monaco.

The moments that specifically call for protection in Paris.

The fashion weeks are the obvious ones: four times a year the same few districts hold the shows, the dinners and the photographers, and hotel lobbies become the most watched rooms in Europe. The autumn art week around Art Basel Paris brings collectors and works of art through the city in the same days, and Roland-Garros closes May at Porte d’Auteuil. December concentrates jewellery and watch purchases in the Golden Triangle exactly when the streets are fullest.

Business travel is the quieter category: negotiations at La Défense or over private dinners, where confidentiality outweighs visibility and the detail works in the background. Arrivals at Charles de Gaulle and evening movement between the 8th, Saint-Germain and the restaurants are the two moments where even a short stay benefits from an officer and a security driver. And for families, the value is simple: the children look at the Eiffel Tower while someone else watches everything approaching them.

What protection in Paris costs.

As a guide, professional close protection in France and Western Europe is, in 2026, from EUR 850 per day for a single principal on twelve-hour cover - the market base - with the final rate shaped by the profile, the threat picture and the season, and confirmed on enquiry with no obligation. Armed profiles, armoured vehicles and multi-officer teams sit above the base and are quoted to the brief; fashion weeks and other peak dates should be reserved early, and a security driver with an executive vehicle is quoted separately.

Further reading: what a bodyguard costs, our full close protection pricing guide, how a security driver works, and why Legion veterans lead European protection.