Paris is one of our favorite cities. In fact, every time we visit Europe, we seem (or at least I seem) to plan a stop in the City of Light. Between boulangeries, picnics along the Seine, patisseries, and hanging out in the city’s numerous beautiful parks, what’s not love? This year was no different.
After finishing up our hike around the Isle of Man, we headed to Paris. This year was different than other years because we were on a budget. I was trying to keep us on an average of $75 a day budget. We still had over 3 weeks of travel yet, so we didn’t want to spend it all before the trip was over. One of the big ways we did stick to a budget was picnicking instead of eating in restaurants. It was May and the weather was perfect for sitting in the shade in Luxembourg Gardens or along the Seine with le sandwich and a Perrier. I love watching the people who dance along the Seine in the summer evenings. We also did a bit of shopping to have snacks and breakfast items in the room so we wouldn’t be tempted to spend.
The other thing we did to save money was look up free things to do in Paris. A lot of times when we visit, we go to the Petite Palais because it’s free. But this year we knew we were going to go to the Rodin Museum and the Louvre. Neither one are free, so I did look up if the museum pass would be worth it. The museum pass is good if you’re going to be in Paris long enough and you know you want to go to a lot of museums. The two-day pass is about $115 per person. We were only going to be in Paris for three days and we weren’t planning to go to many other museums, so we opted to just get tickets to those two museums instead of the pass. We booked our tickets to the Louvre in advance because they can get booked up. The downside of that was that I booked them for the morning after we arrived. And the night before, our flight to Paris got so delayed that we arrived at our hotel very late. In addition, there were some booking issues on the side of the hotel (they overbooked themselves). In the end, we went to bed at 3 am and had to be at the Louvre at 9 am the next day. Our total museum costs were $65 for 2 people.
Speaking of hotels, we stayed at the Moxy with free Marriott hotel nights in Paris. They give you cards for free drinks at the bar (from a select list) and free coffee all day. The rooms are on the small size and the Moxy is very hostel meets hotel vibe. Our rooms were totally hotel rooms with a bathroom, but the lobby is kind of a coworking/bar/lounge area. But free is free, so we enjoyed that. We took the metro a few times around Paris, but a lot of times we walked. Walking can be a great way to explore a neighborhood in Paris and find a cafe or a patisserie to try.
In the end, we did stick to our budget. Our most expensive day was $85 and that was the day we took an Uber to Orly airport and did laundry. Visiting Paris on a budget is doable, you just have to be choosy about what you want to do.