How to Visit Paris on a Budget- Saving with Sofi

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Today’s blog post is discussing everything I spent on my recent 8 day, 7 night trip to Paris and ALL my travel budget tips to help you spend less! There were two of us traveling and here are all of our expenses.

If you want to see this post in instagram reel version, check this out!

I’m not going to sugar coat it though, Paris is expensive. So even though there are ways to minimize your costs, I wouldn’t call this a super budget friendly vacation by any means.

For some context, I decided to pause my life in corporate America and take a one year mini-retirement to travel the world! Paris was the very first stop on this journey.

Before we hop into it, if you want my Travel Budget Spreadsheet I use to track all my expenses while traveling you can purchase it here OR get it for free in my resource library by signing up to my email list!

Table of Contents

Flights

$64.50 for one, $129.00 for two.

First and foremost, I used credit card points to purchase this flight; if that wasn’t obvious by how inexpensive it was!

I have an entire blog post going over credit card point basics and another how I did this for this exact Paris flight. So head over to thoughts for more specific details.

The key here is going to be traveling outside of July and August, aka the peak travel season. Everything will be more expensive.

Disclaimer about this flight: because I am traveling for one year this was a one way ticket! So if you plan on using credit card points, it will probably be twice as much for a roundtrip flight!

Also for my credit card recommendations head over here. (My biggest recommendation for a travel credit card is the Chase Sapphire Preferred).

Accommodations

$513.19 for one, $1,026.38 for two.

$73.31 per night for one, $146.63 per night for two.

Prices of accommodations in Paris will vary GREATLY.

We got fairly lucky with our accommodations because we opted to stay kind of on the outskirts. The reason we were in Paris was to attend the French Open (Roland Garros) so we stayed closer to the stadium which was outside of Paris in Boulogne-Billancourt.

Because of this, our accommodations were much cheaper than if we had stayed inside Paris proper. Additionally, the best way to get a nice Airbnb for less, is to travel outside of the peak season in July & August.

If you’re traveling in September the prices will be MUCH LESS than during the summer months. I think it would be feasible to get something fairly nice between $130 and $170 dollars a night.

Hotels are going to be by far the most expensive; I’d stay away from hotels if you’re worried about prices.

Lastly, If you’re on a hardcore backpacker budget, you can find a dorm style hostel in Paris for $40 to $60 dollars a night; which isn’t too bad.

Transportation

$62.73 for one, $125.45 for two.

Transportation around Paris is actually fairly affordable because of their metro system. I think we spent much more than necessary because we took Uber rides instead of the metro.

About 70% of our transportation expenses were because of our Uber rides. However if you stick to the metro, your transportation costs will be quite low!

The most expensive transportation cost you will have is to/from the airport if you take a taxi. Do not take a taxi to/from the airport!! Taxi rides into Paris are at a fixed cost of either 55 or 60 euros; depending on your drop-off location.

However a metro ride into Paris is only 10.30 euros.

Once you make it to Paris, a metro pass is 1.90 euros for one ride. They have multiple offers on different ticket “bundles” you can get.

For example, to buy 10 tickets you can pay 14.90 euros or if you want a 5 day unlimited metro and bus pack you can pay 42.20 euros. It all kind of depends on how much you plan on using the metro, however getting a bundle is going to be more worth your money than individual tickets.

Food

$239.36 for one, $478.71 for two.

Groceries: $33.80 for one, $67.60 for two.

Eating Out: $205.56 for one, $411.11 for two.

Just like hotels, there is a big range of food prices in Paris. There were certain meals that cost 15 dollars for the two of us to have a hefty lunch, but then a smaller dinner would be 50 dollars. You can find everything!

From my personal experience, for two people eating, I found breakfast would cost between $5-$7 dollars. Lunch would be $15-$30 and dinner $40-$70.

We didn’t really hold back or look for deals while eating; however not every meal was a “big” meal. Additionally, we cooked at home a couple times which definitely decreased our spending in this category.

I think the biggest determination of food prices is whether or not you’re eating in a more touristic area. Just comparing the price of coffee: a touristy location espresso cost 2.90 euros however a non-touristic location, that same espresso cost 1.75 euros.

Even just walking two blocks away from the tourist attractions are going to make your food costs go down significantly.

Activities

$288.78 for one, $577.55 for two.

100% of this spending was for attending the French Open (Roland Garros) Tennis Tournament. So if we hadn’t gone to the tournament we would have spent ZERO on activities.

Now, it wasn’t my first time to Paris or my partners first time so we didn’t feel the need to do the classic tourist attractions that cost money.

So how much do all the Paris attractions cost? If it is your first time here is a list of the major attractions and their price (at the time of writing this post):

Eiffel Tower: 16.60 euros (prices vary but this is for second floor access – with elevator)
Looking at the Eiffel Tower: FREE
The Louvre: 17 euros (free if under 26 and EU resident)
Notre Dame: FREE
Arc de Triomphe: FREE
Moulin Rouge: 87 euros (just for a show – dinner not included)
Paris Disneyland: 85 euros (prices vary)
Seine Cruise: 16 euros (this was the cheapest I saw – prices vary!! Could be 70-100 euros)
Musee Rodin: 4 euros (for just the outside statues)
Les Catacombes: 15 euros
Palace of Versailles: 20 euros (depending on what you want to see – could be less)
Jardin du Luxembourg: FREE
Walking around and looking at all the pretty things: FREE

As you can see prices can vary quite a bit for activities! It is possible to spend a lot but it can also be decently affordable depending on your interests.

Miscellaneous

$12.85 for one, $25.69 for two.

We bought sunblock and an umbrella for these miscellaneous expenses! However if you buy many souvenirs or go shopping this category could get expensive as well!

Final Thoughts

That’s it! Those are all my expenses and travel budget tips for Paris! What do we think? Is Paris on a budget doable?

I think the answer is yes! Traveling in Paris can be done on a budget if you want! It is never going to be as cheap as other places and actually it will most likely be one of the more expensive European vacations; but it doesn’t have to be too crazy!

How much did you spend on your trip to Paris?

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How to Visit Paris on a Budget | Paris Budget Breakdown