Paris can be very expensive. A city filled with amazing restaurants, fancy hotels, 29€ cocktails, and the best fashion in the world comes with a high cost, but you can still have an amazing trip in Paris. In this week’s newest episode of Paris History Avec a Hemingway, we give you a few tips and tricks on the biggest ticket items for your trip.
The first step is getting here. In the last year, airfare prices have gone through the roof. After more than a year of zero revenue, the airlines are making up for lost time and now they are passing those prices on to you. The good news is that for the winter those prices have come down to a bit closer to the pre-pandemic level.
Avoid the two weeks around Christmas and New Year’s Eve and you can find flights from the west coast for as low as $500 which is a steal!
When I was counting each moment to return to Paris and constantly looking for flights my go-to was Skyscanner. They have an app as well as a website where you can “love” specific legs and dates and every time they drop in price they will alert you.
Since the rise of the internet and the hundreds of options to find flights the old “rules” have all gone out the window. There is no longer a perfect day or time to look for tickets. One thing that still holds is the difference in price on the days you fly. Avoid a Friday to Monday and stick with mid-week and the prices can be a lot less expensive.
Now that you have your dates on the calendar and can start the countdown it now time to find your Parisian home, even if for just a few days. On all my trips to Paris, I always stayed in an Airbnb and had very good luck, well except the one that began to leak water in the middle of the night from the ceiling.
An apartment can be a lot more cost-effective if you are staying for a week or longer, lucky you! Depending on the neighborhood and the time of the year an Airbnb can be as low as 60€ a night, just think of all the extra money for croissants. Extend your trip to at least 28 days and a whole new world on Airbnb opens and you can find some great places for even less. That is how I found my first Parisian apartment and still love it.
My advice for Airbnb is to drill down on all the comments left by past guests. Never go with one that has zero or just a few comments. This is where you find the real details like if 8 years ago there was a family of mice. Non, merci pour moi! Also, be sure to check on the floor the apartment is on and if it has an elevator or not. Not many do and not all renters are good about listing it but someone always mentions it in the comments.
Hotel Littré where my grandparents stayed in 1972
There are more than 1500 hotels within Paris and one for every level of budget. Prices are also skyrocketing and will continue to do so as we get closer to next summer and the event that is talked about every single day, the Olympics. If you are just coming for a long weekend a hotel is great. You should be out exploring Paris all day, so save on the hotel and book the shoebox size room for a lower cost.
Paris is one of the easiest cities in the world to explore on foot and also a great and free way to discover the city. Your itinerary should be loose enough that you can take your time getting from point A to B and find all the great hidden nuggets along the way.
Take one of the many podcast episodes we did in the fall of 2022 with you and let us give you a little walking tour. Or better yet book a customized tour of Paris with me.
The other option that gets a bit overwhelming for some but doesn’t need to be in the Paris Metro. It is very easy to use and even a simple Google search for directions to where you need to go gives you an option for the Metro. Simply follow the color of the line and which direction you need to go to and you are set.
The paper tickets are going away soon if not already gone in a few stations but you can buy a pass and reload it on your phone. In 2024 they will finally have an App for iphone and it will be even easier.
Check back next week when we share the tips and tricks for the good stuff, restaurants, museums and what to see in Paris.