Paris was one of my best Christmas ever. When my friend handed over the voucher for that, I was looking like a snow queen. The Lonely Planet, I got the same with this and went immediately to work to prepare myself.
In mid-January, we spent four nights in the “city of love”. The flight was very low (50 euros from Leipzig to Paris with Etihad Regional / Darwin Airlines). As expected, the stay was however quite expensive. With a little preparation, however, we have here and there saved money without sacrificing any enjoyment. In this article you will learn my low and medium budget tips for Paris (and here’s even more!)
This is a guest post by Jasmin Schindler. Together with Jasmin I run the blog Healthy Habits. Moreover, Jasmin wrote on Packlisten.org where you can find a detailed packing list, among other things Paris.
A city trip to Paris was one of my best Christmas ever. When my friend handed over the voucher for that, I was looking like a snow queen. The Lonely Planet, I got the same with this and went immediately to work to prepare myself.
In mid-January, we spent four nights in the “city of love”. The flight was very low (50 euros from Leipzig to Paris with Etihad Regional / Darwin Airlines). As expected, the stay was however quite expensive. With a little preparation, however, we have here and there saved money without sacrificing any enjoyment. In this article you will learn my low and medium budget tips for Paris (and here’s even more!)
1. By train from the airport to the city
To get from Charles de Gaulle airport to the hotel, there are buses, taxis and the RER train. The trip by various bus companies will cost around 15 Euro and takes an hour. One can book the tickets online, but the buses are more prone to traffic jams in the rush hour. A taxi would have cost us at least 50 euros. Therefore, the train seemed to me the most attractive.
By RER (line B3) we drove about 45 minutes to the center. With the ticket for 10 euros you can change and go to any station in the Metro. Ticket vending machines are everywhere and at most you can pay with coins, notes and credit cards. The airport (Terminal 2) is the last stop, so the train is empty enough to comfortably find a place with the luggage. With the RER train, we are also often driven from the hotel to the city. The offered itself due to the location of our hotel.
2. Cheap hotels in the suburbs or AirBnB
We stayed in the Hotel ibis Styles Paris Tolbiac Bibliothèque de France (Metro station Bibliothèque François Mitterrand). It lies on the northern edge of Chinatown close to the Seine. The hotel is basic but clean and has, unlike many other hotels a reasonable price for a double room with breakfast (84 euros). This is not a little, but by Paris standards okay.
If this is too expensive, which provide more alternatives like hostels or Airbnb accommodations (many homes around the 50 to 60 euros, rooms already from 20 euros). Allegedly are sometimes the houseboats on the Seine to find to Airbnb.
Houseboats on the Seine
As in every city you should weigh, how much travel you want to sacrifice a day to get to the goals of your choice. It took about 15 minutes from the hotel to the Notre-Dame, which we found absolutely doable.
3. Running, bike or take Metro Taxi
If you step into a taxi, you pay 2.40 euro fee plus 0.96 euros per kilometer. Evening and at night and in the suburbs of Paris but is more expensive. Therefore, we are about 10 km run daily and driven underground. So we have seen a lot and gives us a balance to the delicious food. The small alleys allow walks off the streets with more traffic. In winter, the parks are less presentable, but need to be a highlight of the summer. You can reach many attractions on foot, if you engage in a few kilometers a day.
The Metro is very convenient. A single ticket currently costs 1.80 euros. We were with a carnet, a booklet of 10 tickets for 14.10 euros, very satisfied. This is also available for 20 tickets and is really affordable, when I think of the Leipziger prices for public transport (2.40 euros for an hour.) Couple You do not need much more than 10 tickets in three days, if you also want even gotten daylight. Therefore, a day ticket is hardly worth. Weekly passes (Navigo) are from Monday to Sunday and are therefore not suitable for a long weekend from Saturday to Wednesday.
In Paris on almost every corner are Vélib ‘bicycle rental, you can borrow around the clock. You need for a mobile phone and a credit card. For a few euros you can move through the city so, but that is not completely harmless on some busy streets and squares, which is why a (brought along) helmet is advisable. In winter, less pleasant – in the summer certainly a very nice option for a city tour (eg with audio guide.).
4. drink: Happy Hour, water, music and bar
Almost all localities offer a Happy Hour where drinks are cheap. This is usually 19-20 clock. Since alcoholic beverages are often less intense, it is worthwhile to plan your evening so that you will benefit from it. To the wine it often gets unasked tap water for free. If not, I ordered with my meager French (“Un carafe d’eau, s’il vous plaît.”), A carafe of water.
In some pubs live bands and DJs for atmostphere. It pays to do research online on the websites of the localities, because on Sundays and Mondays much has concluded. Some pubs take. For example 25 euros entrance, where a drink is included.
What initially wondered: If the restaurants are full at lunch and dinner (and you share with strangers the table), people will come back here often to drink at the bar and move on. At the bar you pay for drinks namely less than at the table or on the terrace.
5. eat: pancakes, supermarkets and Marchés
Gourmets are in Paris their money’s worth. One often eats several small courses and drinking wine. As a dining experience that’s great, but expensive in the long run. Even if we were headed the cheap restaurant recommendations of Lonely Planet, one of the low-cost meals still 15 euros.
Since I in French restaurants rarely had a great choice as a vegetarian, it has then slyly us sometimes to a Vietnamese. There are also dishes for under 10 euros, but that did not have as much to do with Paris.
Crêpes are cheap and tasty filling foods. The best crepe the city with vegetables and various types of cheese you get at Chez Nico’s for about 6 euros (metro station Place Monge).
Self-catering can enjoy themselves in numerous bio and supermarkets or food markets. Bakeries for a cheap breakfast are also plentiful.
6. student discounts, z. B. on the Tour Montparnasse
Many museums and monuments in Paris give student discounts, even if you do not study in France (and your student ID also not translated into French). For the viewing platform of Tour Montparnasse (metro station Montparnasse-Bienvenue) we paid 11.70 euros instead of 15 euros. Although this still was not cheap, but worth the investment.
The office building is located in the southern district of the same name, allowing the 59th floor of a magnificent view over the city and the Eiffel Tower. This is lit up at night and begins to sparkle every hour on, so you should definitely sunset (even better a little earlier to secure places) to go to the observation deck.
The upper platform of the Eiffel Tower is a bit higher up, but currently blocked. There are no student discounts and the queues can be long. Therefore, you should at the south pillar a ticket for the stairs to buy or make a reservation online if you wish to climb the classic.
7. With the duck and the ship through Paris
The classic hop-on hop-off bus tours in Paris costs around 30 euros. Individual is a tour with the duck and the ship. That was the first day on our program.
Our French guide drove us an hour with the duck by the cute medieval streets, among other things on the Seine Islands, and said it very well German. Unforgettable tour was the fact that the 30-year-old duck when picking up outside the hotel only did not start.
We had to push a few meters, until she finally came to life. This happened on time at the Carrousel du Louvre again. What sounds like chaos and lost time, was funny and somehow adventurous. While others at the thought of the Louvre have only the glass pyramid in mind, we always think now our Anschiebaktion.
With a little delay we arrived at a dock for a one hour Seine cruise. The Seine you lose otherwise easy to lose sight, when you’re not at the Louvre, Notre-Dame or the Eiffel Tower standing.
With 59 euros, this tour is nothing for bargain hunters, but it was a highlight for us, from which we will probably still tell our grandchildren.
8. Walked Tour – City tour on foot
Another recommended alternative are city tours by foot. So you get more and do not sleep (like me) a bus. We had booked a tour at Wegowalking for our second day. It’s on TripAdvisor, the no. 1 among the attractions in Paris. If you have only one day in Paris, then do this tour with Paul. He leads you around 3.5 hours and tell you in perfect English Fun Facts and the main historical anecdotes, warns you and the whole “Family” before dog poop on the sidewalk and then gives you tips on where you can eat cheap and shop. At the end you pay as much as his work was worth to you. Some (students) to give 6 Euro, many (and we) gave per person 20 euros. The tour was our highlight in Paris.
9. Free admission to museums and monuments
I am not a fan of museums and monuments, but if you are interested in you, you should know: In Paris EU citizens under 26 years free in state museums and monuments entrance. The permanent exhibitions of some urban museums are always free.
There is also a free Museum Day (first Sunday of the month, but sometimes only in the winter months) and some free museums, for example. The sculpture exhibition on the River Seine and urban museums such as the Musée Carnavalet (metro St-Paul, Chemin Vert or Rambuteau) ,
10 banks of the Seine, parks, churches (-music) and cemeteries (every day)
If you like strolling along spazierst along rivers, through parks and churches look at you, you’ll be able to do well in Paris and pay nothing. If you like music, can also control the free organ concerts of the Paris churches, z. B. in Notre-Dame every Sunday at 16:30 clock (Metro station Cité or Saint-Michel).
In the three most famous cemeteries in Paris you can visit famous graves for free, for example, in the Cimetière de Montmartre (metro station Place de Clichy), Père Lachaise (metro station Père Lachaise or Philippe Auguste) and Cimetiere de Montparnasse (metro station Edgar Quinet or Raspail). My thing is not that, but one or the other might want a Selfie front of the grave of Sartre, Oscar Wilde & Co. make.
Incidentally, there are many parks, municipal buildings and libraries free Wi-Fi. Also in hotel rates, it is often included. Instead of a mobile data packet to book, so you can surf for free.
Conclusion: Research is everything. If you inform yourself before your trip, Paris has no hole tear in your budget. Catch a free museum day, find free concerts, literary events and concerts at the time and buy you a 10-Metrot-carnet. You also find here a total of 55 low-budget tips for Paris.