Paris on the Cheap - Top Sights and Unique Experiences

The best retail shopping is in the gorgeous Galeries Lafayette - the rooftop courtyard has great views, too.

After spending a week in Paris, it's hard to imagine anybody not loving a visit to the City of Lights.   But, many people will try to scare you with stereotypes like, "The waiters are rude," "It's expensive," "The parking sucks," "It's so crowded," etc.  Our trip in August 2017 was amazing, partly because we did a lot of research on non-touristy cool things to do, but mostly because Paris IS amazing.  When you get back to the USA, you'll wish that everybody was still greeting you with that musical "Bonjour!"  So watch a few Wolters World videos to get the bad news first, and read on for some ideas of what to see and do!  (we love Wolters World, by the way) 😊  Our visit was during the time of year when many schools are closed (August), and thus some locals and shop-owners observe Les Vacances as well.  While this means it's a little less crowded in the city, it also means that some of the places we wanted to check out were closed--so our little guide here won't be quite as thorough as we would have liked.

Our first hotel in Paris was Hotel Darcet in the Saint-Georges district, a small hotel with a great staff, not a very attractive lobby and just enough space for two people in the room, but for the price and location it's a decent value.  Our second hotel, Hotel France Albion, was also in a slightly better area of Saint-Georges, and we highly recommend it as a great value and location--the only negatives were the bathroom in our room was definitely in need of a renovation, and the laundry machines were out of order.  TIP: If your hotel offers a 10€ breakfast, try it at least once, as it is probably a good value AND a great time-saving option if you want something filling without having to find a cafe and translate the menu.  At both hotels, when we left for the day we were asked to leave our room key with the person at the front desk--we had no problems, but if you're uncomfortable with this arrangement you should call hotels before booking and ask what they require.  These are older buildings, so elevators are tiny and slow and you'll use a regular metal key (not a plastic card).

The Saint-Georges district is easy accessed from the metro 2-line, which passes through Gare du Nord, and is close enough to walk to either Moulin Rouge or the Montmartre area (warning: it's all uphill through Montmartre to the Sacré-Cœur).  The area is lively and does have some beggars on the busier streets, but nobody bothered us.   This funky little cafe was our first stop after checking into our hotel.  Nestled between the Saint-Georges and Batignolles districts, Les Caves Populaires  is a funky little cafe/bar with none of that pretentious attitude everybody associates with Parisian cafes.  We grabbed a sandwich and a salad that were both yummy, fresh, and not expensive. 

A nice way to kick off your sight-seeing is with the Arc de Triomphe, since it is close to the Eiffel Tower and in line with the Champs Elysee.  Take the metro 1, 2, 6 or RER-A to the Charles de Gaulle stop (NOT the airport!), and you're right at the Arc--or if you get out at the Trocadero stop for the 6 line there is a breath-taking view of the Eiffel Tower, and you can get some exercise walking up Avenue Kleber to the Arc.  Or, if you're feeling really adventurous, you could start your day at the Louvre, and follow a direct path through the Jardins Tuileries to the Champs-Elysee, all the way up to the Arc du Triomph, and then walk to the Eiffel Tower!  Be aware, car traffic around the Arc is a crazy circular loop, so you have to use an underground passage to cross over to it from the Champs Elysee.  For about 10euro you can climb almost 300 steps to the top of it, and see some great views--my advice is skip the climb, save your energy (and money) for walking the streets and get some great photos from other elevated spots like the Sacré-Cœur, Pompidou Museum or the numerous gorgeous bridges (the Pont Alexeandre III is a must at night).

This Pharmacie near the Arc has food & shopping

The Quarter Latin comes alive at night

As mentioned, you're pretty close to the Eiffel Tower when you're at the Arc du Triomph, and if you've already walked the Champs-Elysee we recommend a stroll along the north side of the River Seine, until you get to the amazing bridge Pont Alexandre III.  Then, if you want to wind down the night in a lively area of Paris, head to the Quartier Latin which is full of cafes, bars, gelato shops, and is a short walk from the Notre Dame Cathedral which is lovely at night, too. The Latin Quarter is not too far from the Louvre, but definitely use the RER-C if you're coming from the Eiffel Tower after a long day.  Squeezing all of this into a single day assumes you're ready to do a LOT of walking and eat pretty quick meals, plus not waiting in long lines to go into any of the attractions, other than the occasional security bag-check  You could easily split all the above into two days, but the beauty of Paris is that so many wonderful things are within walking distance of each other, so take advantage of the proximity and don't be ashamed to revisit your favorite spots more than once!

After a good night's rest, you'll be ready to explore the Montmartre area of Paris--take your time and enjoy this exquisite part of town, and consider taking the Metro up to either Chateau Rouge or Lamarck-Caulaincourt, so your walk is mostly down-hill.  There's lots of cafes, street art, shops, and lovely side-streets to explore on your way up to the Sacré-Cœur--the best thing about this church is that there's usually not a huge line, so you can easily explore the interior if you're not wanting to wait in line for the Notre-Dame Cathedral.  This area is getting more tourist traffic these days, but it's very quiet on the side streets further away from the Sacré-Cœur.

Wall of Love in Montmartre

PAIN PAIN Bakery in Montmartre, so good!

After exiting the Sacré-Cœur, the down-hill walk is much easier, and there's other spots to check out like the Van Gogh House, the Wall of Love for a quick photo, and the Montmartre cemetery.  When you're ready, you can jump on the 12-line at Abbesses (direction toward Mairie d'Issy) and travel quickly to the Assemblee Nationale station--enjoy the surroundings and cross over the Seine to arrive at Place de la Concorde.  You're now just a short walk from the Louvre, but first walk through the exquisite Jardin des Tuileries.  During our trip, this huge park was brimming with activity during the annual summer carnival, which includes the massive ferris wheel Roue Grand (definitely worth a few bucks to get some fantastic views of Paris).  TIP: Check the official online calendar for other events and festivals around Paris that can make your trip even more special! We had a fantastic meal in the park at Cafe des Marronniers, one of a few restaurants in the park with beautiful terraces and not exorbitant prices.  You should probably plan a whole day around visiting the Louvre, because it is not only huge with many exhibitions, but also very crowded from the moment it opens until late afternoon--however the nearby Pompidou museum or Musee d'Orsay can be enjoyed in a few hours.

Beautiful!  The Jardin ain't too bad, either.  😁

One thing we wished we had done was the typical Parisian picnic along the Seine River--but we were always so hungry that our meals wouldn't have made it there!  If you plan ahead and the weather is nice, pretty much ANY spot along the river is beautiful.  If nothing else, buy some extra croissants at a bakery or some fruit at a stand and have a yummy snack when the mood strikes you, chances are you'll be somewhere beautiful anyways!  You can also dance the night away and burn those extra calories with locals and tourists at the Jardin Tino Rossi, with nightly gatherings of all ages and a variety of music played by DJs.

View from a balcony at Pompidou museum

Another area full of character that is worth exploring if you have time is around the Canal Saint-Martin--the canal's history begins in the time of Napoleon, but today there's lots of funky shops and cafes surrounding it, not to mention some of the coolest street art and murals we saw in Paris, and relatively few tourists. It's one Paris' up-and-coming neighborhoods, so not every street offers splendid vistas, but in the coming years it is sure to develop even more than it already has.

From here it's less than a mile to walk to the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, one of the most beautiful parks we've ever been to!  There's even a few cafes inside the park, although they seemed pretty expensive.  This is a very large park, and can be a great place for a picnic, or just to explore and people-watch (and dog-watch!). Compared to the Jardins Tuileries, Buttes-Chaumont is much more rustic and natural, but also has a couple small bridges and nice paved walking/bike paths.

Un Imbecile et Son Argent...
Of course, what would a trip to Paris be without some shopping?!  The largest malls in central Paris are Les Halles, Beaugranelle, and Galleries at Lafayette (our favorite), but you've also got BHV, Le Bon Marche, Montparnasse mall, Italie 2, La Defense, and a couple others!  Rest assured, they all have a lot of the same shops inside, so try not to waste too much time going to multiple malls.  If you're into vintage and unique clothing, Kilo Shop is a hip local chain, as are Mad Vintage and Free'P'Star, similar to Beacon's Closet in the USA (i.e. they are not cheap thrift stores).  All these stores had good merch but tended to be very crowded, and the pricing system based on weight according to colored tags makes the shopping experience a little tricky, though.  'Concept Stores' like Merci and Collette are appearing more and more in Paris, and each offers a unique variety of items--most have both a fashion and home decor element, but each store is a different combination of elements.  Or, you can support local artists at 59 Rue de Rivoli--you won't soon forget the spiral staircase lined floor-to-ceiling with amazing murals, or the 30 different artists showing their art in this unique building.

The most amazing, and expensive, second-hand shopping is of course found in the St. Ouen Flea Market (Marche aux Puces)--you can easily make a day of roaming through this enormous network of shops and stalls, which is actually comprised of several markets and hundreds of vendors!  From vintage clothing to antiques and vinyl records, this market has everything (including small cafes).  To get there, take the 13-line or the 4-line--rest assured, no matter which line or stop you choose, the neighborhood is a little sketchy and you should mind your surroundings, but the Garibaldi station on the 13 seemed the least rough.

Amazing Louis Vuitton luggage

Incredible chandeliers abound

This is a flea market like no other.  We've been to lots of markets in the USA so we are used to the crap-dealers with broken electronics, expired toiletries and 'authentic' t-shirts--there's really not that much of that stuff here, and there's actually some decent stalls with good deals mixed in, so don't be afraid to do some picking (just make sure your wallet doesn't get picked!).  And compared to the number of vendors with 'newer' items, the amount of high-end art and antiques, vintage clothing, vinyl records and fascinating salvage is almost overwhelming.  Most vendors are open Saturday and Sunday, but hours can change seasonally.

It's for sale!

Lots of great salvage/oddities shops

Day Tripper: Versailles

Of course you don't want to miss the incredible Versailles Palace, which will easily take the majority of your day to explore, but is so worth it.  We highly recommend buying tickets to all three areas of the grounds in advance, which will save you money versus buying them individually.  It is pretty easy and very cheap to take the RER-C to Versailles, costing about 8euro round-trip per person (you need a ticket specifically to Versailles-Château – Rive Gauche), and the ride is about 1hr depending where you leave from.  The Palace is about a 15min walk from the station, and it's a little confusing which direction to go so don't be afraid to ask (or just follow a tour group).  Unfortunately the line to enter the grounds can be VERY long, especially in the summer and on the weekends (we waited over an hour to enter, even though we pre-bought tickets).  You should definitely use the audio guide that they provide for the main palace interior, but keep a good pace so you have plenty of time to explore the outdoor part of the property--it is absolutely gorgeous and massive. 

Ticket-holders line on a Friday in August

The Queen's Hamlet - worth the walk!

Impeccably maintained, fountains not working though :(

Now that we've looked at some of our favorite things about our trip, here's a few things that were either disappointing or not worth doing unless you have ample time and have done all the essentials for any trip to Paris (i.e. Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Champs-Elysee, Pont Alexandre, outside the Louvre, inside at least one museum, Versailles, etc).  See here for some more insights to visiting Paris, from our 2018 3-day stay, including what was worth doing twice!

1) Boat ride/taxi along the Seine:  I've seen lots of mixed reviews for the boats that serve full meals, with most of the complaints being there's no view if you miss out on a window-seat, and the bathrooms are usually disgusting.  We used Batobus, a cheap hop-on-hop-off water taxi that makes a loop between several of the biggest tourist attractions.  While relatively inexpensive (20euro per person for all-day use), the boat was crowded and had very uncomfortable seats.  That being said, if we had bought our tickets earlier in the day we probably would have made more use of the service, given that so many attractions are along the Seine, and you can't complain too much about the view :)

Pere Lachaise Cemetery - beautiful but not much to do in the area

2) Bercy Village:  Online this looks like a little village of cute shops that you could spend hours exploring and finding local treasures.  In person, it's a disappointing collection of shops and restaurants geared toward tourists and transplants looking for something to do in the 12th arr.  There's certainly a couple of fun shops and decent restaurants, but the only highlight for us was the cute pond across the street!  Given how out-of-the-way Bercy is, I'd say only go here if you have half a day to use up before you head home.

3) Beaugranelle Mall, Les Halles and BHV:  Other than their beautiful exteriors, none of these malls were very impressive to us, especially when compared to the luxurious Galleries at Lafayette.  You may find yourself at Les Halles catching the train or using the bathrooms anyways, and it's proximity to the Louvre and Notre Dame Cathedral makes it a convenient pit stop, but the wifi was pretty spotty.  Similarly BHV can be a good stop for wifi and a bathroom if you're in a pinch in the Marais, but we didn't feel like spending much time inside.  Remember to bring some coins if you want to use the toilets!

4)  Day-Trip to the town of Tours, France:  While not 'disappointing' per se, I'd only recommend this journey if you have an extra day to spend exploring.  If you want to visit, get your TGV tickets several days or more in advance, so you have a good variety of departure times and prices to choose from.  Once there you'll mostly explore on foot, but there is a tram system that can get you back to the train station quickly, but it only seemed to travel in a small section of the town.  Unless you are a serious upscale shopper I wouldn't plan to spend more than half a day in Tours, but there are some beautiful centuries-old buildings and the clean, shop-lined streets are certainly fun to walk.  There's a decent number of cafes here, but don't expect to find many cheap eats--we enjoyed a walking meal in the Les Halles Market, which had wonderful vendors and was close to the beautiful bridges over the Loire River.

5)  Coffee in Paris can be a little disappointing, even at Starbucks (which won't accept USA gift/gold cards FYI).  While straight espresso is available almost everywhere, fresh milk is seldom seen, usually you get something like Parmalat, which isn't awful but is definitely different in taste and texture.  You'll also have a tough time getting any iced coffee, and cold brew hasn't really caught on yet, either.  TIP: It's a good idea to learn the local names for some of your favorite drinks and eats in advance, and you can easily find that info online (for example, the Parisian equivalent of a cappuccino would be a Cafe Creme, and a grilled ham & cheese sandwich is a Croque Monsieur)--this is especially useful for restaurants that only have a French menu, and if you're vegetarian.

6)  The Eiffel Tower:  Ignore the people who say "I thought it would be bigger!" or "I wasn't impressed."  It IS a massive work of art, and you SHOULD take 100 photos of it.  That being said, two things will unfortunately steal a little of its allure.  One is the number of people selling tacky trinkets around it (and the Louvre)--they're not directly under it or anything, but there's a lot of them in the area and they're all looking to rip you off, just ignore and walk past them.  Secondly, the immediate area surrounding the base of the tower is fenced off and there are multiple security check-points to get through, which usually have a decent line of people at them--not mention the additional wait and cost to ascend the tower, which we skipped.  Just remember: this is why you came to Paris, it is worth the wait, and the security is only there to protect you, so just relax and enjoy yourself!

5)  When it comes to meal time, Paris offers dining experiences for all budgets and diets. We found that, for our budget, the best dining and coffee experiences (and value) were at places that didn't have the typical outdoor front patio filled with tables you associate with Paris.  Even the cafes that weren't that busy seemed annoyed and disorganized (plus our French is 'tres mal'), so we stopped trying to be cool and just stuck with bakeries (boulangeries or patisseries), grocery stores (Monoprix, Carrefour, etc.), and quick-service sandwich counters like Brioche Doree, Pret a Manger, Marks & Spencer, etc.  These quick or self-service eateries offer affordable meals, food options you can see and inspect before you buy, and usually wifi and a bathroom! 

Unfortunately we only visited one museum (Pompidou) during our visit--to us, Renaissance and Impressionist art gets a little repetitive after a while, and you will see a LOT of great art at Versailles and inside any of the magnificent churches you visit.  Pompidou is very focused on modern art, and isn't for everybody--therefore it's generally less crowded than the Louvre, and unless you're dying to see the Mona Lisa, we'd suggest Pompidou and the Musee d'Orsay as a great way to avoid insane crowds and see a wide variety of art.  The architecture of Pompidou and the Louvre are marvels in themselves, and the areas surrounding them have lots to see and do. 

Well that's our trip to Paris in a nutshell--our visit in August had great weather, lots of sun and it never got too warm, and only a bit of rain.  Thank you so much for reading, we hope the information here will be useful on your journey to Paris!  Check out our other blog posts on travel for more tips on how to make the most of your vacation, and keep traveling!