Weekend in Paris – things to do on the cheap

Booked a weekend Paris for Monkeywife and Monkeychild in May.
We are staying near the eiffel tower, but I kinda blew the budget on the hotel….

So any recommendations of free or cheap things to do in central Paris? Places to eat etc….
Thanks

Go to the sacre Coeur and have a wander around the cathedral (was a small donation to get in when I went) lots of street artists around there.

Loads of gothic churches for free if you like architecture. Going up the Arc de Triomphe at night is good, that’s quite cheap. Feeding the birds in the Tuileries Garden is fun when they sit on your finger. Loads to do.

Check if you’ve been lucky enough to book same weekend as that when some of the very good museums are free (think one Sunday every month…first I think. E.g. Musée Darcy). Plenty more free all year round. Modern Art being one of them I think. But google. Plenty of stuff to see on a budgie.

This is a good place to start looking
https://www.timeout.com/paris/en/things-to-do/cheap

Café théatre, Cinema or a gig. Drop into the tourist office to find out what’s on.

gyros in the marais
Velibs (le boris bike) are cheap and great fun but check out the route map and plan ahead a little – as some of the non cycle lane roads are scary!
lots of good and cheap places to eat if you get away from the tourist destinations. Opera and montparnasse areas would be my recomendations.

Bois de vincennes – i’ve never been but it’s next on my hit list. Pavillions from the worlds fair & the tour used to finsh there.

There are a few threads where I have suggested walking routes (try a search, I will dig them out also), just exploring the city on foot / metro is great and weather in May should be pretty good. My wife is from Paris and we spend a lot of time here (typing this from Paris today).

Budget tips

Download an app called “the Fork” / la fourchette (we have the French one) for restaurant discounts of 20-30% (not all offer discounts at the weekend). Look for “formule” / “menu” options for value eating, obviously places a little out of the way are better.
Breakfast in hotel included ? If not buy from boulangerie – cafe’s often allow you to eat things bought outside if they don’t do pain chocolate etc – ask. Can buy a sandwich for lunch.
Cafe’s a coffee is cheap a few euro and you can sit and watch the world go by – French seem to do this a lot !
Buy a 10 ticket “carnet” (book) for metro for simplicity
Bus from airport is €11 each if booked online and print ticket. Uber works in Paris but of course you need mobile data so may not be worth it.
You can walk up to the first deck of the Eifel Tower (free I think, lift to top you pay for). View from Trocadero is great (on my walking tour)
Many “pop-up” bars along the river by Pont Alexandre III or you can just buy a bottle of wine (eg rose for €7-10) from a shop (get them to uncork it) and some plastic glasses and picnic/sit by river side. You’ll be in good company.
Download Paris map in say Google/offoine areas when in hotel on WiFi

Turn on France24, i-télé, BFM or LCI, Jamba. It’s a delight watching Fillon squirm. 😉

Bois de Vincennes

We go quite often, nice lake to stroll around with distant view of Eifell Tower. Fairly flat generally and okay for some fresh air, very much a managed park rather than a wood/countryside. We generally spend an hour or so stopping on the way to visit my wife’s parents, not sure its worth a special trip unless it’s to get some fresh air a little out of the city centre. Zoo opposite.

Edukator, Joyon / IDEC on BFM – good for me 🙂

Thanks guys 🙂

This is great for seeing the sites http://www.batobus.com/en/batobus-pass.html

Walk along the river. With the islands that’s a lot of walking but it’s all good. Musee d’Orsay and Louvre are worth visiting despite queues and cost (both avoidable). Picasso museum pretty good too. But mainly just become a flaneur.

Some old posts of mine, possibly repetitive. Threads worth reading

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/paris-for-a-day#post-7940786

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/long-weekend-in-paris-1#post-5961716

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/paris-recommendations

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/what-to-do-in-paris-for-5-days

Was there last weekend. Stiffed with Paris hotel prices for not much benefit despite trip advisor. Musée d’Orsay was excellent the last twice I’ve been but didn’t make it this time. Walking tour round montmatre was really good (free but ‘Tip’) and a wander round l’opera, louvre, notre dame and palais royale is worth it even if you don’t go in. Twenty years since i went up the Grande arche of la defense but it was different. So too was montparnasse tower at night but 30 Euro.

Advice from a local was don’t eat anywhere with pictures on the menu, lots of translations or lots of choice on the menu (frozen food) stood us in good stead.

pictures on the menu

Definitely ! Fortunately I have never seen such a place in Paris 😯

We enjoyed having a look around Les Invalides.

St Martins Canal for nice cheap(ish) places to eat.

Was there a couple of weekends back with the missus – the flea markets are great for wandering around, some fascinating antique and bric a brac stores. Also the musee de l’armee (forgive my French spelling) was brilliant, and a full day job…even the missus loved it, and she hates anything military. Lots of ‘other’ history on display besides military, a truly stunning building, some nice food in there also – she wanted me to go as id agreed to spend the day wandering the markets which isn’t my thing…we both loved the things we weren’t supposed to. The Eiffel Tower is staggering, walking along the Seine is just great, the Montmartre area is worth a visit, with the Sacre Coeur is worth a visit – head to top of the towers for 6 Euros, defo worth the climb. Notre Dame is great as well, and have a mooch around the Ile de Cite, some nice cafes. The British Consulate is nice as well…I had my passport pinched!

For a cheap lunch as you wander around the Marais I’d recommend “L’As du Falafel”. According to a sign in the window it’s Lenny Kravitz’s favourite falafel place, the queue will look dauntingly huge but it goes quickly as you order and pay in the queue. Closed on Saturdays as it’s in the Jewish quarter.

Also worth a visit, towards the north of the Marais not far from Centre Pompidou is the cat cafe. No more expensive than most cafes, full of cats. May be worth booking (which you can do online).

A not very Parisian one that might please the offspring is a Star Wars/Sci-Fi themed crepe place just over the river from Notre Dame.

One Monday of every month (the first Monday in the month IIRC) the Louvre is free entry.

Edit – just checked and the current deal is slightly different:

Every Friday from 6 p.m. admission to the museum is free for under-26s of all nationalities on presentation of valid ID.
From October to March, admission to the museum is free for all visitors on the first Sunday of each month.
HERE

For a cheap lunch as you wander around the Marais I’d recommend “L’As du Falafel”

Good tip, great place my wife’s favourite Falafel eatery.

They’ll have to change the sign 😉

Walk up alongside the canal to Parc de la Villette, spend some time in the Parc, maybe visit the museum of science and technology walk back via Parc des Buttes-Chaumont there will almost certainly be at least one wedding party having photos taken there. if you walk up the long flight of steps to Rue Philippe Hecht there’s a great view out across Paris. Metro back into town.

Our local Kebab place has pics on the menu, Jamba. Great Kebabs.

Mmmmmmmm – not sure if Monkeychild would want a kebab…

For a cheap lunch as you wander around the Marais I’d recommend “L’As du Falafel

Closed on Saturday iirc

Edit – oops. Sorry. Wasn’t reading…