30 Paris MoneySaving Tips - new guide

MSE_Jenny

Hi all,

We've written a new 30 Paris MoneySaving Tips guide and would love your feedback.

How did you find the info? Was it useful? Do you have any other tips you'd add?

Thanks for your help!

MSE Jenny

richardw

It misses out some important airports and important non London train ticketing.

martindow

It seems to have shrunk to 29 tips now!

teeb

It might be worth putting pronunciation in for point 15 about free tap water - oon car-aff doe seel voo play.

Tip #30 would be to learn a few phrases of French before you go as it can really help! The duolingo app is completely free, for example.

Harrhy

The Navigo pass is a great saver. It is valid for a number of years - mine was for 10 years - so you can use it each time you visit.
Last time I visited I reloaded it at CDG airport and was able to use it on the Roissybus to central Paris, normally 11 Euros each way.

Molillie

We came back from a long weekend yesterday, and used airbnb for a flat which suited our needs. We took a car service from the airport, pre-booking online, which was 55 euros flat-fee to any address in the city. It can be worth it for a group of friends or family, a clean, comfortable people-carrier door-to-door, We chose one where the driver is paid in cash, rather than giving card details, called BT transfer.

To buy a carnet of tickets for the metro, we had to use the machine at the station and scroll down to select ten from the menu, which originally confused us, as we were looking for the carnets on the main menu.

We loved the free museums, and the beautiful courtyard garden at the Petit Palais was great for a break from a lot of walking. We had no difficulty finding free loos, and the ones in the free museums and galleries were all very clean and modern.
One thing which I would do in future is to get a runner's wrist strap wallet/purse for keys and cash. Our US friend had one of these to keep some euros in. I'm not a runner, so had never seen them before, but it worked very well, and was concealed by her sleeve. We seemed to see so many warnings about pickpockets, we were quite on our guard, and only taking out what you'll need for the day seems a good idea.

donna1979

For the carnets can they be split between your party? Do children pay on the metro?
Also for the Tower does the prebooking mean missing the long queues? I keep reading conflicting info! I was planning on prebooking but was then told you still have a long queue but the site reads like at the most it'd be half an hour! Heard advice to take the stairs but imagine the queue for that will be long in Juy

Molillie

hello Donna, the carnets are just literally loose tickets now, they are cheaper when you buy ten. We split them. There are concessions for children on the metro, there is a box to click on when buying the tickets, but we didn't look further, as we didn't have any littlies with us. We didn't go up the tower at all, there are alternative (free) viewpoints, like Monmartre outside Sacre Couer there is a great view. If you have little ones with you there is a road train which stops and starts there. It was 6 euros for adults round trip.
You see the Eiffel tower constantly in the centre of Paris, and we liked catching sight of it suddenly. The big stores, Galeries Lafayette and au Printemps also have great terraces where you can get views and take photos. The shops have beautiful displays, and they are amazing for window-shopping. They are very central, right by the Opera.
If you are travelling with children, you probably will need to go up the tower, though, sorry that I don't know the best way to do it. For the Louvre, we saw children and adults absolutely fascinated by the automatic window washer robot for the glass pyramid (we didn't go in, as it wasn't on the free list! and we have been before) I liked some videos on youtube by Dennis Callan, who seems to be a tour guide from Hawaii, he has lots of interesting little details which might help you.

ValenTheOne

The cheapest way from Orly airport is to take the T7 tram from outside the airport, then jump over to the M7 metro at the trams end station - this will cost you two carnet tickets i.e. 2.90 Euro. You can buy a carnet of tickets at the airport on arrival.

smk06

Does anyone know if there is a simple route map to use to find your way to the various landmarks? Was thinking of using this if we hire V!lib'!bikes.

Doshwaster

smk06 wrote: »

Does anyone know if there is a simple route map to use to find your way to the various landmarks? Was thinking of using this if we hire V!lib'!bikes.

Citymapper is my go-to app for any major city that it covers

https://citymapper.com/paris

Includes Velib’ Stations:
https://citymapper.com/paris/velib/stations-velib