I have visited Paris in the last year, and I will go there next month.

[Alice Chu]

Please tell me if my understanding is correct.
1) I have visited Paris in the last year, and I will go there next month.
→ It means I visited France at some point in the period from 365 days ago up to the present. The present perfect “have visited” is used with an unspecific time “in the last year”.
We cannot replace “have visited” with “visited” here because the past simple is used with a specific time.

2) I visited France last year. I saw many interesting things and had a good time.
→ The past simple “visited” is used with a specific time “last year”.
1. We cannot use “had visited” here because it is a single event in the past.
2. We cannot use “have visited” here because the present perfect cannot be used with a specific time.
3. We can use “was visiting” here. It means “visiting” was in progress in the period of last year, and the action is temporary.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Please tell me if my understanding is correct.
1) I have visited Paris in the last year, and I will go there next month.
→ It means I visited France at some point in the period from 365 days ago up to the present.

Yes, or it can mean in 2020.

The present perfect “have visited” is used with an unspecific time “in the last year”.

We cannot replace “have visited” with “visited” here because the past simple is used with a specific time.

Since the specific time is sometime during the year, the simple past is fine.

Notice that "last year" and "past year" do not mean the same thing. When you say you visited in the last year, it's not clear whether it was in the last 365 days or the last calendar year. When you say "past year," it's more clear that you mean the last 365 days.

2) I visited France last year. I saw many interesting things and had a good time.

→ The past simple “visited” is used with a specific time “last year”.

The term "last year" is no more specific than "the last year." Both express a time period. Neither expresses a date.

1. We cannot use “had visited” here because it is a single event in the past.

You can say you had visited France last year.

2. We cannot use “have visited” here because the present perfect cannot be used with a specific time.

You can say you have visited France last year or in the past year.

3. We can use “was visiting” here. It means “visiting” was in progress in the period of last year, and the action is temporary.

Like the others, it depends on the context. For example: "I was visiting France last year when the pandemic struck."

Again, I would use "past year" to mean the most recent 365 days.

 

[Tdol]

However, you are searching for black and white in a world of greys/grays. I agree that it should be in the past year, but the difference between the verb forms is sometimes not so surgical.