Trips To Paris

Big cities are often expensive. Paris is the same for any visitor. You will find here some practical suggestions of how to save your money and optimize your budget no matter how long or short your visit is.

Choose a traveling route using Pass www.ratp.info

At first sight, the Parisian metro seems confusing but, if you are a visitor, you only have 2 choices: use single trip tickets or buy a pass for several days that will allow you to use, without limit, both the metro and the bus.

• Single Trip: €1.60
• Carnet (a pack of ten, single trip cards): €11.40

Paris Visit Pass (is you choose this you will travel without restrictions in a specific number of zones for a specific number of days):

• 1 day pass: €8.80
• 2 days: €14.40
• 3 days: €19.60
• 5 days: €28.30

Museum Pass

Visiting the museums of Paris is an essential thing if you are a tourist. Many of them hold art pieces unique in the world. A Museum Pass is a very good choice and it will help you skip queues and give you access to many of the major monuments like Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe.

• 2 day pass: €32
• 4 day pass: €48
• 6 day pass: €64

Free Museums

You don’t have to pay a fee in every museum in Paris. Some you can visit for free. For example, all national museums are free of charge on the first Sunday of each month (but you will have to endure the long queues) and if you’re under 25 you can visit the Louvre for free every Friday night (only after 6pm).

Also, other museums offer a free entrance depending on their schedule and they are worth checking out.

Here is a list of a few of the most visited free museums:

• Le Petit Palais- Fine Arts Museum: www.petitpalais.paris.fr
• Musee Carnavalet- Museum of Paris History: www.carnavalet.paris.fr/
• Paris Modern Art Museum: www.paris.org/Musees/Art.Moderne.Ville/
• The House of Victor Hugo: www.musee-hugo.paris.fr/

Parisians respect the lunch time and that is when you will find some good deals. For example, a three Course lunch menu costs around €10 – sometimes with a glass of wine included.

At dinner time, many restaurants offer good deals but not as cheap as lunch menus. The Latin Quarter (opposite Notre Dame) is the place where you will find the largest concentration of budget eating but you should check out other areas too.

Coffee Break

If you are tired of strolling or just want to stop for a coffee, you will have a large variety of offers. The cheapest coffee (or whatever drink you may want) will be in bars. Also, sometimes the price depends on the place you sit at. If you go inside and sit on a table, a sum between 10%-50% could be added on to your bill. If you sit on the terrace- considered a premium spot – some places could double your bill. Besides that, you should always be aware on the size you order. You may want to specify before when you order. Otherwise, many restaurants and bistros often give you the largest measure.

Sleep (and eat) outside Paris center

If you decide to escape the center of Paris, you will reach The Boulevard Peripherique – the road that circles the city and defines the limits of Paris. Outside this road, there are the suburbs and all the prices drop considerably.

If you want to find a cheap hotel but still be next to the city, pick one close to the city limits. The price for a room is, most of the times, a fraction of the price in center town. Sometimes, by sitting outside the city limits you are closer to some tourist objectives. depending where you base yourself you could be closer to many of the major sights than

Rent and apartment

If your stay in Paris surpasses a few days, it would be cheaper to rent an apartment rather than stay in a hotel, or even hostel. All apartments are equipped with a kitchen and this way you can also save money on food costs and cook it yourself. It’s worth hunting looking around as good offers can be found even if you’re staying just one or two nights.

Find the Supermarkets

Supermarkets are hard to find in center Paris if you don’t look around carefully. But most of the times there are supermarkets or small shops around many of the major attractions.

Franprixwww.franprix.fr, Monoprix www.monoprix.fr and Atac www.atac.fr are a few of the largest chains in the city and they are not far away. Grab something to eat and have a picnic in one of the city parks. You will feel like a true Parisian.

Book Ahead

Plan your trip carefully and by booking ahead a hotel or hostel, you will save some money for sure. A clear example is booking a train. If you do that online at www.voyage-sncf.fr, you can save up to 75% compared with buying it at the station. The same example applies to some museums and even restaurants.