City brief Paris Bakeries and one reserved dinner beat a week of tourist-menu prix fixes on the tower steps. Loading the printable brief… VacationMath orientation — not live rates When to go Late January through March, and November before the holiday lights become a room tax. Top money-saving tips Bakery breakfast on your block. Du Pain et des Idées class if you slept in the 10th — not the hotel buffet.Bouillon Chartier / Pigalle or a formule du midi. Skip restaurants on the tower, the hill, and the museum steps.Navigo or a carnet. Taxis are leftover. Pack light — stairs are common.Louvre or Orsay — pick one timed ticket. A four-museum day is how you buy souvenirs you will not remember.Eiffel from Trocadéro or Champ de Mars on Lean. The summit is a pick-one with Sainte-Chapelle.Book the Atlantic crossing 2–4 months out, midweek. Open-jaw (in Paris, out Rome) often beats two one-ways.Fromagerie + wine is a valid dinner. Palace-hotel dining only if leftover is silly.10th–11th or 18th–19th on a Metro line. A tower-block view is a tourist tax. Build a hard-budget plan