Budget Paris Vacations

If you are planning to travel to Paris on a tight budget, this article is for you. Although France in general is regarded as an expensive country, there are lots of ways to save money from the very beginning of your trip.
Lots of  ‘low cost’ companies will offer you cheap flights to Paris at very low rates, and if you take the time to ‘hunt’ for those special or last minute offers, you could end up traveling for almost nothing. Of course this method has its drawbacks. Normally these companies do not fly you to the more centric airports, and you have to be careful to arrange for transportation from the airport to your destination in Paris. You also have to keep in mind that some times, the time of the day for the lower rates only applies at hours that may not be the ‘normal’ ones.

For example, a company called ‘Ryanair’ could fly you to your destination very late in the night, arriving at 1 AM in the morning. Arriving at such an hour may make it impossible to take a bus or other public transportation. Also, you have to be careful not to end up buying a costly air ticket on a ‘low cost’ airline. Some of these companies advertise cheap rates but in the reality, you have to purchase your ticket at least a couple of months in advance to really take advantage of the great prices.

Keeping these simple tips in mind, you should be able to get a cheap flight to Paris with a little search, and this is without a doubt the best way to travel if you are on a tight budget. To find this companies and offers, the best way would be to use a search engine such as Google and input search terms such as ‘cheap Paris flights’ or ‘low cost flights to Paris’. That will return some companies that surely are present on your country.

To name some of the most well-known companies that offer great travel prices (not all of them are exclusively low-cost but normally have great offers) are:

Ryan Air

Easyjet

MyAir

Blue1

Transavia

Aer Lingus

Smart Wings

ClickAir

WindJet

Next step for your cheap travel: accommodation.

If you will be staying at places for ‘backpackers’ like boarding houses or shared-room hostels, you should find them in advance so you know were to go for the cheapest stay option. Although you most likely will have to share the room with other backpackers, these places are normally clean and safe.

If you wish to stay in a hotel, the best advice we can give you: book early. Booking in advance is the best way to find great hotel deals in Paris. Some travel companies or websites such as lastminute.com will offer combo packages (flight + accommodation) that could be very cheap. The offer of Paris hotels is so enormous it would be impossible to comprise a list of them, so again, you should resort to the best tool available: a search engine. Keywords like ‘cheap hotels in Paris’ or ‘cheap accommodation in Paris’ will render a lot of hotel WebPages and offers of all kinds. Just make sure you check that the hotel address is centric or at least nearby a public transport, or you could end up in a cheap hotel lost in the suburbs. There are great mapping tools like ‘Google maps’ that will show you how the hotel in Paris looks like and where it is located. The wonders of technology!

Last but not least: where to eat?

France is famous for their delicious cooking and Paris, being the capital of the country, accommodates some of the better restaurants in the world. Of course, if you are minding your expenses, you will have to be careful and think twice before entering a restaurant. Of course, you will be able to find fast food chains such as Mc Donald’s, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, etcetera.

Or you could buy a sandwich in a bakery for 4-6 euros, or a falafel or Turkish sandwich in Saint Michel for 5 euros. Also, there are Greek restaurants in the Quertier Latin that serve cheap menus. Nearby Boulevard St Michelle, in the left bank of the Seine, there are small roads with lots of restaurants, with their prices at plain sight, so there will be no surprises.

The best advice: ask the locals. They will know which places serve good food for a cheap price.