💰Is Paris Expensive? [10Nifty Tips and Tricks for Visiting Paris in 2023]💸

Is Paris Expensive? [10Nifty Tips and Tricks for Visiting Paris in 2023]

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We visited Paris in March 2022  , we are a family of 3 Hubby, I and Our 11 Yo daughter.

Paris is without a doubt one of the most well-known and visited cities on the planet. 

You name it: iconic buildings and landmarks, food and culture, and art. Every year, millions of people flock to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Louvre, and other spectacular sights.

💰 Is Paris, however, prohibitively expensive?

As you may anticipate from such a dream city, Parisian costs are quite high. Especially when compared to lesser-known European towns such as Prague.

The good news is that there are methods to cut the cost of a trip to Paris. With a little forethought and planning, you may save a significant amount of money on your trip.

We’ve done some of the legwork for you here, with a price guide and other valuable information to help you get the most out of your trip to Paris on a budget for a family of 2 adults and 2 kids.

When you go to Paris and what you do makes a big difference in the expense of your trip, therefore, it’s difficult to give an average price. In order to come up with a reasonable budget estimate, it’s best to look at the whole picture. 

The following items are typically included in the price of a vacation:

• Expenses related to travel
• What to do and where to stay, and how much to budget
• Easily accessible, reasonably priced public transportation inside the city
• Is there a budget for food?
• Other costs, such as dining out and tipping, are also included.

This guide provides the most accurate pricing estimates that can be found; nonetheless, it is important to keep in mind that actual costs may end up being somewhat different from those estimated here.

In order to simplify matters, we have presented the majority of our price information in US dollars despite the fact that France utilises the Euro. 

At the moment, one euro can be exchanged for $1.06 in US currency.

The following table provides an overview of the travel expenses that you can anticipate incurring while in Paris, both on a daily basis and over the course of a two-week visit.

How To Travel on a Budget In Paris

There are methods to keep prices down. The greatest approach to lower your trip costs in Paris is to:

Avoid cabs and take the metro or the bus instead

Enjoy additional free activities such as wandering along the River Seine, through Paris’ parks and up Montmartre
Plan your vacation to include the first Sunday of the month when The Louvre and other major museums are free

Minimise dining in restaurants, and instead get a baguette and cheese for lunch from a neighbourhood shop
Stay in a cheaper section of the city and ride the metro into the core for the day.

Whilst there are free and affordable activities in the city, this is primarily weather dependant. 

Being outside in the parks and exploring the streets is excellent in good weather, but in the winter months, it’s too cold and damp to spend too much time outside. 

Not to add, Paris boasts some of the top art galleries in the world, so you’ll want to spend enough to visit at least a couple of those.

Price of Flights to Paris or Travel on the Eurostar / Take a Flight

We travelled from Melbourne, Australia to Paris and there is No Chance of taking a Train ,we had to Fly( It costed us around $2k per person). However, If you are in Europe you have the advantage of taking Eurostar. 

Let’s say you are travelling to Paris from London. You should anticipate to pay between £110-£170 for round-trip flights from London to Paris if you leave on a Friday and come back on a Monday Or around $800-$900 from NYC to Paris and  Return.

Your travel dates should be Friday through Monday. Because of the strong demand for travel during the summer months, the cost of airline tickets can go up. 

The flight takes only forty minutes to complete when departing from London Gatwick. 

After you have arrived in Paris, you will be able to ride the metro from the airport to the centre of the city for a cost of €10.30.

✈️Affordable Flights MOMODO US ( From US) is the website that we use to monitor costs and book all of our flights. 

When you do a search on MOMODO US be sure to pick the “whole month” option so that you can identify the days that provide the best deals.

The second option is to go from London St. Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord via the Eurostar. 

Although it takes a little over three hours, using the train is a more environmentally friendly alternative than flying. 

It is estimated that using the Eurostar results in 80% less carbon emissions than taking a flight for a shorter distance; but, if you do fly, you can mitigate the impact of your travel on the environment. 

There is a substantial range in pricing for rides on the Eurostar depending on the day of the week and the time of year.

🚌Cost of Public Transportation in Paris

The city of Paris is rather large, but thankfully, there are several modes of transportation that are kind to one’s wallet. 

Taxis are prohibitively pricey, but public transportation like the bus and the metro is affordable and can carry you all around the city. 

A one-way trip on the metro costs €1.90, while a day pass for the system costs €13.90 per person. In addition, it is possible to purchase a pack of 10 tickets for the metro.

We were in Paris for a long weekend, but we did most of our travel on foot, supplemented by the occasional ride on the metro with a single-ride ticket. 

As a result of the hotel’s location in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, which was in a very central part of the city, we did not require a metro day pass in order to go around Paris while we were there. 

Travellers who are more concerned about their finances may choose to stay in a cheaper hotel located outside of the main city centre and purchase a daily metro pass in order to go into the main part of Paris.

In addition, bicycles and electric scooters available for rent may be found all across the city of Paris. In order to use them, you will first need to download the app and then link a credit card to the app. 

However, once you have the app downloaded, you will be able to pick up a bicycle or scooter from virtually any part of the city. When you are finished, you must ensure that the vehicle is parked in the appropriate space.

🌐 Expenses Incurred When Staying in Paris- Accommodation costs

The cost of lodging in Paris may be rather high. Expect to pay a minimum of €100 a night for a double room in a hotel that is located in the city centre, with many of the finer hotels charging €200 or more per night. 

During the shoulder seasons, hotel rates are lower than they are during the peak summer months.

We were honoured to get an invitation to stay at the Hotel Bel Ami, which is located just a fifteen-minute walk from the Louvre, is in a very central part of the city, and has a Green Key sustainability accreditation. 

However, a night’s stay at the hotel would set you back more than €200. This is the going rate for boutique hotels and luxury hotels in the heart of Paris at this level of service.

If you are travelling on a shoestring budget, your best bet is to seek for hotels or hostels that are a little further outside of the main city centre but still within walking distance of metro stops. 

If you are in close proximity to a metro stop in Paris, you will have no trouble getting to the heart of the city regardless of where you are located in the city. 

When looking for somewhere to stay in Paris, homestays are a good option for travellers trying to minimise their spending. 

These are often the least expensive choices for somewhere to stay.

We use Booking.com to make all of our Hotel bookings.

Paris’s Attractions and Their Relative Prices

When it comes to things to do, Paris will provide you with an abundance of options. 

The Eiffel Tower and the Seine River are two of the city’s most famous landmarks, and the city also features a number of excellent art galleries, museums, and churches. The following is a list of the cost of the most popular activities in Paris:

• The cost of an admission ticket to the Eiffel Tower, which includes use of the elevator to the top, is €30.70
• A sail on the Seine costs 20 euros.
• Louvre admission ticket – €19
• Tickets to enter the Orangerie Museum cost €15.50 each.
• Tickets to enter the Musee d’Orsay cost €16 each.
• Ticket to enter the Pantheon costs €11.50, but access to the Sacré-Coeur is free.

The highlight of a vacation to Paris for many people is spending time in one of the city’s numerous world-class museums or art galleries. 

The cost of entrance tickets to the museums might quickly mount up, but in our opinion, it is absolutely money well spent. 

Consider obtaining a Paris Museum Pass if you know you’re going to be travelling to a significant number of museums while you’re in Paris and museums are high on your list of things to do there. 

Keep in mind, though, that if you’re only there for the weekend, you may need to be more selective in your activities. Because it is such a vast museum, you could very well spend the entire day just at the Louvre.

The Average Prices of Restaurant Meals and Bottles of Wine in Paris

Is going out to eat in Paris a costly endeavour? It’s true that most restaurants in Paris are rather pricey, with costs that are comparable to those you’ll find in London , NYC Or Sydney Australia. 

This is notably the case in the city centre, which is close to a number of museums. 

In a restaurant where you have to sit down, you should expect to pay anything from €12-15 and €20-25 for your main course, and €5-7 to €8-10 for a glass of wine.

On the other hand, there are methods to dine in the city without blowing your wallet. We decided to make our own sandwiches for lunch, so we stopped at a bakery to get a baguette (which cost €4.70) and a little shop to purchase cheese and tomatoes (both cost €5.80). If the weather is nice for a picnic or if your hotel room is not too far away, this is the most cost-effective alternative for you.

Because the evenings were cool during our trip in March 2022, when we were there, we were continually looking for a spot to sit down when it was time for dinner. 

We frequently chose wine bars and elected to snack on cheese, bread, or other small plates since we placed a higher priority on spending our cash on wine rather than on meals. 

A small plate of bread with toppings typically costs around €10–12, and a cheese board can be purchased for approximately €15–17.

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