Paris on a budget: cheap hotels, bargain breaks and travel ideas

A cheap holiday in Paris can be tough to come by (after all, it is the most popular tourist destination in the world). But that doesn't mean it's impossible. There are lots of tips and tricks that can help you see this beautiful city even when you're on a tight budget, and you can enjoy the best the city has to offer without leaving feeling as though your pocket has been picked.

See also: The ten best things to see in Paris

Getting there

Getting to Paris on a budget is about booking plenty of time in advance, and being flexible about the days you travel. Taking travel from London as an example, with complete flexibility, you can get there and back from £54 a head on easyJet or £69 each on Eurostar.

If you have longer in order to make the trip, then driving or taking a coach are worth considering. If you're willing to drive, and take the ferry in the small hours, then you can get a car with four passengers there and back for £50 a head. It's also worth checking out coach deals, which start at £35 per head - again assuming you are willing to take a coach at antisocial hours.

Where to stay

Paris is known for its pricey hotels, but if you travel in a relatively low season, then a search for discounted hotels reveals three star rooms for around £35. If you want to get more for less, try Airbnb, where you can get a private room in someone's home from £23 a night, a flat that sleeps four from £82, or one that sleeps six for £147.

The big benefit of getting a place to yourself is that you can cook your own meals, and suddenly the battle for an affordable breakfast - or the on-the-go lunch - is solved with a quick trip to the supermarket on your first day.

Where to eat

Even a cheap meal in Paris is going to be more expensive than a cheap meal in most cities, so eating out every lunchtime and evening will be tricky.

When you're out and about at lunchtime, you can make an on-the-go picnic from one of the local markets around the city. Most of these set up once or twice a week, so it's worth checking out noworriesparis.com, which gives a list of handy daily markets before you go

If you'd rather sample something new, then there's plenty of great street food. The Jewish Quarter, for example, is famous for its falafel stands. Another traditional choice is the crepe stand: these are often overpriced tourist traps alongside famous landmarks, but the markets often have stands too, which are usually considerably cheaper.

One option is to swap the meals around, so you grab something quick for dinner, and linger over lunch in a restaurant. You tend to be able to get far cheaper prix fixe menus at lunch than dinner, so it's well worth considering having your main meal then.

As with every other tourist city, if you go slightly off the beaten track to find a restaurant, you can cut the price dramatically. Tripadvisor offers booking discounts at many restaurants, with deals which change regularly.

Getting around

The centre of Paris is eminently walkable, and strolling the streets has to be one of the best bargain entertainments on offer. However, foot power is not always enough if you are only in town for a few days and want to see all the sights.

If you're travelling across the centre, then your best bet is hiring a bike with the Velib system - where you get a day ticket for 1.70 Euros, and you can pick up any bike from any Velib station, and return it to any other. You get 30 minutes on the bike, and if you return it within that time you don't pay any extra. You can take as many bikes as you want over the 24-hour period, so it's worth planning your bike trips to keep them free.

If that sounds too much like hard work, or you want to travel further (or uphill to the upper arrondissements), then before you go, get to grips with the excellent and well-priced metro and bus system, which will whisk you away from the overpriced coffee and into the parts of the city where Parisians manage to live on a budget. If you are planning to travel by metro, then it's worth splashing out on a book of ten tickets (a carnet), which is cheaper than individual tickets.

What to do

Schedule in plenty of time to visit Notre Dame Cathedral, Sacre Coeur, the Modern Art Museum, Maison de Balzac, Victor Hugo's house, the Museum of Romantic Life, the Paris Police Museum, or any of the other attractions the city has to offer for free. The Louvre is also free on the first Sunday of every month from October to March.

The Eiffel Tower is always going to be pricey, but you can cut your costs by skipping the lift to the top (for 15.50 euros) and buying a ticket that lets you climb the stairs to the first floor (for 5 euros). You can get a panoramic view of Paris for free from the steps of the Sacre Coeur, so what you're paying for here is the chance to be on the tower itself, and for that it doesn't matter how high up you go.

If you're very keen to do all the big name sites, then consider a Paris Museum Pass. It'll get you into most of the major sites (excluding the Eiffel Tower) for a combined cost of 42 euros for 2 days, 56 euros for 4 days, or 69 euros for six days. Whether this is worthwhile will depend on what you plan to see. As a rough rule of thumb, each of these attractions costs around 10 euros (although Versailles costs 18 euros), so if you would do more than four in two days, six in four days, or seven in six days, then it's better value than paying for each attraction separately.

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