I'm looking to go away to paris with the girlfriend for 3 days sometime soon, having never really been away I do not have a clue how much this will cost. I'm not looking at anywhere amazing as I'm pretty broke. We will probably eat out and see the sights.
I wondered if anyone could give a ball park figure for the price, some cheapish nice hotels and things we shouldn't miss.
Guy has just returned from Paris for an awards doo.
£7 for burger & chips. £5 for a pint. Everything mega expensive. If you havent got the money to do stuff whats the point in going to paris.
Everything mega expensive
Not really. Just recreating the UK in Paris can be expensive. Lunches - take away sandwiches in a park (5EUR). Dinner - set menu plus house wine (15-20 EUR). On a budget, 2-star hotels (50EUR) are usually fine in Paris (infinitely better than in London). Walking round looking at amazing stuff - free.
everything is mega expensive! coffee a fiver, omlette 8 quid... with the exchange rate going tits, everything has become more expensive for us brits.
If you can book a few weeks ahead and get cheap flights, many hotels do off season 'winter' deals. Check laterooms.com for cheap hotel rooms.
as a guide, booking about a week ahead, 3 nights in paris in december cost me about 800 quid all in. the most expensive 3 days I've EVER had...
paris is prob cheaper to do in spring/summer when you can have lunches out in the part. in december when i was there it barely got above 1C - not great for sitting in the park eating... a few years ago i went in August, and we did meals al fresco in parks abd stuff buying from supermarkets. The pound was better against the euro then, but it all cost ALOT less!
*I should say that 800 was for two people!!
800 quid?? Good grief - where did you drink your coffee? How much of that was for flights? booking.com has loads of decent places for 120EUR for 2 nights
The the of us, wife, son and I, went to Paris for a long weekend just before christmas a few years ago. We stayed in a basic but nice ibis hotel close to the subway and 5 mins walk from the Eiffel tower and we bought a book of tickets for the weekend and did loads of walking. We certainly didn't spend a fortune but still had a great time. Lunch was usually a baguette and we had dinner in nice reasonably priced restaurants. You could eat cheap;y by buying bread, cheese, nice meats from the local shops and having that in the hotel then go out for a few beers.
In short a trip to Paris could be very expensive or fairly cheap depending what you want to do. We did it on the cheap and a had a fantastic time. From what I remember going up the tower isn't cheap.
And we spent nowhere near £800 or euros. £400ish maybe inc. hotel.
hotel was 140 Euro a night on average, flights were 320ish altogether after taxes etc... dinners were about 50 euro inc vino, lunches about 20-25 euro with drinks, tube tickets were 25 euro each ish, didnt pay much to go in much... airport car parking 16 quid... breakfasts 20 euro...
as mentioned, 800 was for two people... infact looking at that lot, it was prob more like 900 for two people. EUR exchange rate in Dec was about 1:1. it's only slightly better now.
most cafe's were at least EUR4.50 for a coffee, you could easily pay more. Espresso was about EUR2-3.
most cafe's were at least EUR4.50 for a coffee, you could easily pay more. Espresso was about EUR2-3.
Aaah - there ya go - French people don't drink milky coffee, so that costs a lot. Likewise they don't drink big glasses of beer. Soft drinks are expensive - Coke costs even more than beer.
How much would a long weekend in London cost??
Save yourself some money by going on the first weekend of the month - most museums are free on the first sunday - http://en.parisinfo.com/guide-paris/money/free-admission-and-good-deals/guide/free-admission-and-good-deals_free-on-1st-sunday-of-the-month-all-year-round
For food i always try to go for the plat du jour (sp?) they always seems quite good value. Wandering round the parks is nice (and free) try jardin du luxembourg.
I would recommend the musee d'orsay over the louvre. The louvre whilst excellent takes ages to look around/ take everything in.
Drinks are also a lot cheaper if you drink at the counter rather than at a table or on the terrace (though I appreciate if you've been sightseeing you want to sit down).
Eurostar knocking out return tickets from £59. Package deals from £96 pp.
Lots of free stuff to do.
I wouldn't bother going to Europe right now if you're skint. Even London is cheaper nowadays with the exchange rate.
Paris used to be slightly cheaper than London, but now the prices have jumped by 50% it isn't the case any more.
It used to be that it wasn't unusual to spend 12 euros or so on a couple of coffees and a piece of cake each, but that wasn't the end of the world cos it was only about 8 quid, whereas nowadays that's 12 quid.
If you really need to go to Paris and are skint - I've done Paris on the cheap - staying in hostels, eating lunches bought from bakeries / cheese shops / wine shops, and eating out only in cheapish places, and it wasn't insanely expensive, probably no more than 70 euros a day for the two of us, although prices have gone up since then. We stayed somewhere up near the Rue Mouffetard, which is a nice area to be in for cheapish food - lots of students live round there, and has some v nice bakeries and food shops. Obviously you have to cross the river to get to some of the famous sights, but Paris is really small, so you can walk everywhere if need be.
Joe
Go for it - no it's not going to be cheap but if you're carful it shouldn't cost a bomb.
I'd buy something like a Rough Guide which will give you lots of listings for cheaper hotels as well as places to eat.
Head away from the tourist areas - you're always going to pay top dollar and get worse service if you drink or eat in tourist cafés and bars. Get out into the neighbourhoods away from the immediate centre. Look out for local markets etc etc.
Oh and my top tip is avoid 'choucroûte' sounds like some sort of pastry but is actually sauerkraut - ugh.
Agree entirely with andym - Rough Guide, Time Out,whatever. When I have used them I have invariably found them very good.
Get cheap flights and book your hotel yourself (using the guides).
Use the underground to get around - very cheap.
Ohh, and if you are on a budget, the Louvre (and possibly all the museums) are free on (IIRC) the first Sunday of every month.
Have fun.
Why would you go to paris, its a filthy hole of a city anyway.
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