A PROPERLY generated, bip38 encrypted paper wallet is defenatetly a secure option if it's generated using a peer-reviewed, offline wallet generator.
However, the big drawback is that a paper wallet is rather impractical to use... Every time you want to use your paper wallet, you need to import the private key into a different wallet, spend, create a new paper wallet, empty out the wallet to fund your new paper wallet, rinse, repeat...

But yes, airgapped wallets, paper wallets and hardware wallets are all considered secure