Hi again!
Globe Watchers was on a next destination and this time it was in the city of loooovee… PARIS! (But ofcourse, you could have figured that out). The video of this trip will come soon!
Paris is expensive, but it doesn’t mean that you will spend lots of money (I can hear you thinking: wait…whut?). We went to Paris with a mission: Visiting Paris on a budget. It may sound like we went total nuts, but it IS possible.
Keep reading to find out!
HOW TO GET THERE? Ofcourse it could be very useful to know HOW you get in Paris. We went by car and we parked our car in the parking of the hotel. To go to the city centre, we took the metro! It is a very quick and easy system to travel with AND MUCH CHEAPER THAN WE THOUGHT! We advise you to go to the ticket booth. We know that there are high tech, easy automatic machines to get your tickets, but by going to the ticket booth, we got a huge discount…
We needed a day pass (for zones 1, 2 and 3) for two people for two days (Saturday and Sunday) and the automatic machine outside told us it would be €38 per day (Yes, I thought the same: What the hell or we just looked at the wrong ticket). But by going inside, the man of the ticket booth helped us with this. A day pass for unlimited travel in the zones 1-3 for one person is, normally, €8,10. BUT because we were under the age of 26 it was only €4,10!
Total amount of money spend on the metro for two days: €8,20 per person (Victory!).
We really recommend the metro, because there are stops ALL over Paris.
WHAT TO DO? We wanted to see and visit all the amazing, famous things in Paris but we wanted to do it with as less money as possible (woho, lots of ‘as’ in this sentence, *giggles*). Surprise, surprise… but we actually saw everything in Paris and we DIDN’T SPEND ONE DOLLAR (or euro, but sounded cooler with dollar).
First of all, all the famous tourist attractions are most of the time for free like the Champs-Elysées, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame (also free entrance), the Pantheon and the Eiffel Tower.
Of course, if you want to go ON the Eiffel Tower, you have to pay… and as cheap as we are, we didn’t want to, so we searched for a free alternative. That free view is MONT-MARTRE! If you climb on those stairs, you will already see pieces of the Sacré-Coeur and when you are on the top: THE AMAZING VIEW GETS YOU! It’s not the same as the view on the Eiffel Tower, but it’s free and very beautiful.
There are tons of other activities that are free to: Le Grand Palais, differents bridges like Pont des Arts, Pont Neuf and Pont Alexandre III, La Place de la Concorde, le Jardin du Luxembourg and for the modern lovers there are all the gorgeous building in the area of La Défense.
Besides these all-time favourites, we really recommend an Instagram-street (we call it like that, because… well, look at the photo). A gorgeous and colourful street for…. yeah, just to take pictures!
If you are a museum lover, then you will probably know how expensive it can be. THERE IS HOPE!
A lot of museums in Paris have free days (yes my friend, you are reading this correctly). Here is an overview of the free days in the museums:
- Chateau de Versailles: free for visits on the first Sunday of November until March
- Musée du Louvre: free on the first Sunday of Octobre until March
- Musée D’orsay: free for visits on EVERY Sunday of EVERY month
Plan your trip in these weekends and you have ALL the activities for free!
WHAT TO EAT? This is the most important question. We didn’t spend a dollar on the activities so that means MORE MONEY FOR FOOD! As in (almost) every city, eating out is expensive. So, we have a nice and cosy alternative: go to a local supermarket, buy cheese, wine, some snacks… and have a cosy evening in your hotel! There is nothing as romantic as having an indoor picnic in Paris…
We get that eating in a restaurant is part of the trip, so that’s why we did some research. As we were walking passed restaurants, we saw a lot of deals like: a three-course menu for €18 or just meals for €12-€22 each! You won’t have a meal like Casa Di Mama, but you won’t starve either (KACHING, I mean the money sound, get it?).
WHERE TO SLEEP? If you’re staying a couple of days, then a place to sleep is necessary. We booked our hotel with a coupon of a Belgian magazine. I’m sure that if you search on the internet, you will find some coupons or deals! A great alternative is AirBNB! Just stay in other people’s houses. It’s a great way to save money and meet people! Another possibility is Couchsurfing. We haven’t done it yet, but basically you stay with local people who have a room to rent or something. A bit like AirBNB, but different!
Okay okay, I hear you… ‘Well, nice info bro, but how much did you actually spend?’. No worries, we kept a Money Diary to show you guys how much we bought.
This calculation is for the expenses of one person*:
SATURDAY
Metro ticket (two days, unlimited travel) €4,60 Hotel (one night, with breakfast) €37,00 Activities €0,00 Supermarket (snacks for hotel room) €6,30 Dinner €18,00 Starbucks coffee €5,45
SUNDAY
Parking of hotel (for two days) €9,00 Activities €0,00 Lunch €19,00 Dinner (sandwich on our way home) €3,50
TOTAL €102,85
*We didn’t calculated the amount of gasoil we payed for the car and the road tax, because this depends on where you come from.
SO! If you have €100 each, you can go to Paris! Ofcourse, you can still save money on the coffee or the dinner we took, but that’s totally up to you!
As you have read, it is possible to visit Paris on a budget. We still had a wonderful weekend, we were not hungry, cold or counting every euro BUT we watched at deals, coupons and cheaper alternatives.
If you have any questions regarding our trip, feel free to mail us on contact.globewatchers@gmail.com
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See you next time!
GLOBE WATCHERS 🌎
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