Monday 27 October 2014

How to do Paris on a budget


It's no secret that Paris is one of the most expensive places in Europe, so how did we manage to afford it on our backpacker budget? Here are a few secrets we learnt first hand.

1. Buy a day pass for the metro. It's much cheaper to travel by the metro than any other form of public transport. If you buy a day pass it works out cheaper and you can travel all day all over Paris.

2. Stay in B&B's, we mainly stayed in hostels on our trip, however we noticed that hostels in Paris cost as much as B&B's and therefore we decided to treat ourselves to a bit of luxury.

3. Buy your own food. Try not to eat out too often whilst in Paris, the food can be quite pricey especially around the main monuments. We found a local supermarket and made ourselves little picnics everyday and ate out the odd evening. It saved us a lot of money.

4. Student Discount. If you are from the EU and under 25 you can get amazing discounts at many of the monuments, in fact entry to the Louvre is FREE! Yes that's right, FREE.

5. Choose Coffee. For some reason coffee is cheap, cheaper than bottled water! If you're a coffee drinker then you will save some pennies and have oodles of energy to see all those wonderful sights.

6. Shop around. If you are in Paris to do a bit of shopping, c'mon ladies we know you are! Then shop around, One Pharmacy may sell the product you're after for less than the one you've just been in. It's best to mooch around a few before buying.

7. Pre-book. If you book tickets online for excursions or museums you can often get a good discounted rate. We paid on the day but sometimes wished we had pre-booked to avoid the queues!





Whoever said Paris cannot be done on a budget is wrong, we proved you can and you will not miss out on anything. We ate, drank, climbed the Eiffel Tower, saw Mona Lisa and shopped the Champ Elysee all on our little budget. If we can do it so can you.

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