Trip Recap: Paris, France
We only spent about 40 hours (2 nights) in Paris, but I think it’s safe to say that we made the most of our time there. It’s a beautiful, romantic city – and we definitely want to go back before we leave Europe this year. One day just wasn’t enough time to see everything we wanted to see.
But maybe next time we’ll go when it’s a little bit warmer. :)
Here is a breakdown of our trip – in terms of money that I spent, as well as the things that we did. (It should be noted that we don’t split the cost of everything down the middle. We keep things pretty even, but it’s always a rough estimation.)
Cost
Accommodation: $72.54
Food: $78.12
Transit: $16.57
Entertainment: $39.83
TOTAL: $207.06
Accommodation
We booked our stay at Hotel Saint Sebastien through HostelBookers.com because it’s usually the cheapest place for booking hostels. It’s even cheaper that HostelWorld.com most of the time! Plus, it came with free wifi and breakfast in the morning. :)
As a side note, if you register for Great Canadian Rebates, you will save an additional 2% on any stay booked through HostelBookers.com when you click through from the GCR website. The same goes for train tickets in Europe! :) Basically whenever I buy anything online, I look to see if I can click through using my GCR account. If the merchant is listed on GCR, I will get a percentage of my purchase back as a cash rebate. It definitely adds up, and it’s free. So you can’t really beat that!
The hotel itself was functional. It wasn’t fancy by any means, but apparently for hotels/hostels in downtown Paris, you’re lucky if you can get anything decent in the “budget” category. But really, how much time are you actually going to be spending in your hotel room? We spent most of our time outside exploring the city. :)
I would consider staying here again, but will probably try a new hostel when we go back to Paris at some point this year.
Food
For breakfast, we just ate the free food in the hostel – which consisted of tea, croissants, and bread. Lunch consisted of just snacks on the go. We had too much to see, and didn’t have time to stop anywhere.
Dinner the first night was at Au Royal Couscous, and it was just okay. We didn’t have many choices, since it was late at night and we didn’t have reservations anywhere. Dinner the second night was at some hole-in-the-wall pizza place. It’s true, the wine was ridiculously cheap everywhere we went – and delicious too.
I’d say the highlight for me was eating a huge pistachio macaron as big as the palm of my hand. It was absolutely divine, and worth every penny.
Transit
We saved a ton of money by walking everywhere and taking the metro, instead of cabs. The Paris transit system is pretty great, but it’s also really confusing – even for Nic, whose first language is French. I don’t think I could have figured it out if he wasn’t there with me.
It took us about an hour to take transit from the airport to our hotel, and once we were in the city, we just went by foot. Good exercise, saves money, and you get to see more things. :)
Entertainment
Since we only had one full day in the city, we decided not to go inside any museums (we’ll save that for the next trip to the city!). But we did get to see the Arc de Triomphe, Louvre, and Notre Dame Cathedral – all for free. We paid to take the stairs up the Eiffel Tower (I think the price was about €12 per person), because, come on. You can’t not go up the Eiffel Tower when you’re in freaking Paris. I also paid €20 total for us both to ride La Grande Roue (ferris wheel) because I thought it was fun and romantic. And there was no line-up. Haha!
Anyway, I’ll leave you with a few photos:
18 Responses to “Trip Recap: Paris, France”
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Paris is an amazing place to stay, and as you have done, possible on a modest budget. The subway system is fantastic! I can’t wait to go back again. Thanks for the recap and pics. The Eiffel Tower is oddly fascinating, I must have 40 pics of it.
Yeah we could have definitely cut back expenses even more and still had the same quality experience. For example, the restaurant we went to the first night was nearly $50 CDN, and absolutely not necessary. Neither of are fancy people, and a hot dog from a street vendor would have been fine. :) And of couse, we opted for a hotel instead of a hostel.
Glad you loved Paris! I knew you would :) I dream of going back, possibly in 2013!
Next time you go, a trip on the Seine would be nice and romantic… If you book online you can save 2€!
Can’t wait to read more about Germany and your other travels :-)
CanadianSaver´s latest post —> Happy Birthday "Old Guy"
ooh, that pyramid thing, from the Davinci Code!
How does the metro in Stuttgart compare?
Diedra B´s latest post —> Love don’t cost a thing
Next time you’re in Paris I’d highly recommend Big Fat Bike Tours – I did the daytime 6 hour (or so) tour and I heard great things about the nighttime ride as well.
Around 11pm there’s also a 2-3 minute light show from the Eiffel Tower…fun to check out.
My weakness wasn’t macaroons it Paris, it was CREPES!
Big City Beer Budget´s latest post —> February Week 1 Update
Thanks for the hostel booking tip! I often use Hostel World, but I’ll have to check out Hostel Bookers now.
Sounds like it was a fun little stop in Paris!
Jeffrey´s latest post —> Wealthy, Successful Bloggers: Don’t Simply Follow Their Frugal Advice
I’ve been to Paris twice and both times I’ve had a fruit tart from a little pastry shop right in front of the Opera House. So tasty!
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I’m so jealous, looks like a great time.
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ahhhh I want to go back!!
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I’m glad you are having a great time, I lived in Germany as a teen and was able to experience Paris. Enjoy all your travels and I look forward to hearing about them!
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Glad you loved Paris! Another tip for eating out at restaurants – and one I realized too late – was that you should always ask for ‘un carafe d’eau’ as opposed to just water. If you ask for water they bring you a big bottle and charge an arm and leg for it!
LittleFrugalista´s latest post —> Travel: The best and worst thing I’ve ever done
looks amazing so far! I can’t wait to hear more and more! Post some pics of your apartment :)
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I want to go to for the cheap wine :)
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I can’t wait to go back to Paris. Seeing your photos makes me want to get mine all printed and framed and hung in my house. lol.
The one thing I regret is not getting to ride the ferris wheel, but the line ups where insane.
You are living a life many people can only dream of! People are jealous of you that is why they are critical. I have been to Paris twice and hope to go again and ride the Ferris wheel. Maybe I`ll go with hubby or maybe with kids too. By the way, we started out in a 550 sq ft, then 1050 sq ft house, then 1500, now 2500 sq ft plus basement and we just fill it with stuff. So much stuff is affecting the quality of our life. We need to purge! Experiences are more important than stuff! We don`t buy a lot of things but don`t get rid of enough and that has to be done regularly with a family of 5! Good luck and have fun!
[...] I will be sharing pictures, stories, and reviews of the hostels that I stay in. Much like my Paris trip recap from a few weeks ago. So you shouldn’t see a difference in how I write – just maybe a [...]
My wife and I will be in Paris for a few days in June, with friends. Glad to hear the Metro is confusing. 12 euro to take the stairs? How much was the elevator?
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I actually don’t know how much the elevator is, but the line-up was ridiculously long. And there was no line-up for the stairs. I suspect that in June, the line-ups will be much longer. We were there on a Sunday in January, and it was freezing outside.