Printable money guide. In the dialog, choose Save as PDF.

Money guide · Paris, France

Paris vacation costs: stay, eat, get around (2026)

Paris stays affordable when breakfast is a bakery downstairs and you pick one museum. It stops being cheap when the room faces the tower, the summit ticket is from a reseller, and lunch is on the tourist steps.

Start here An Ibis or a walk-up near République puts the Metro at the corner and breakfast downstairs. Decide between the Louvre and the Orsay before you fly. Book Septime before you fly, or plan on a different dinner. Walk-ins do not get that table.

All money guides · Build a Trip Plan

Who this is for

For

  • People who will stay in one arrondissement they can walk, and use the Metro for everything else
  • Anyone who wants one timed museum and dinner on the block

Not for

  • Anyone who wants a rental car in Paris
  • People stacking four museums and a tower-steps formule in one day

Getting around

Navigo or a carnet on the Metro. The free tower picture is the walk to Trocadéro, not a taxi to a summit elevator. A rental in the 10th is a parking problem.

You usually don’t need a car.

Transit-first

  • Metro + RER. A Navigo week (if your days qualify) beats a fistful of t+ tickets
  • Walk one arrondissement in the morning. Pack light — stairs are common
  • CDG vs ORY: RER B is the honest CDG move. A taxi is Splurge, not Budget

Where to stay

Ibis or a walk-up near République or Oberkampf. A canal boutique in the 10th or 11th if you want dinner on the block. Crillon or Bristol only if you came to stay in a palace, not as the default room.

Budget

  • Ibis Paris Gare du Nord Metro downstairs, often about €120–180 a night. A bakery is on the block. TVA is usually already in the quote.
  • Ibis Styles Paris République the 10th or 11th, often about €130–190. Breakfast downstairs is a pastry, not a palace.
  • Holiday Inn Express Paris – Canal de la Villette often about €120–180, the night you land late.
  • Generator Paris a shared room by the canal, often well under €100 a bed, if that is the brief.

Mid-range

  • Hôtel Fabric Canal Saint-Martin, often about €190–280 a night. The mid that is not a tower with a view of the tower.
  • Hôtel Malte Opera or a Left Bank 3-star near Odéon often about €200–320 if you want the 5th or 6th.
  • Novotel Paris Les Halles central, often about €200–300, still not a tower-view surcharge.
  • Hilton Paris Opera one arrondissement, often about €220–340. You are not changing neighborhoods every night.

Splurge

  • Cheval Blanc on the quai, palace rates that often run €1,000 and up. The bakery downstairs is still about €3.
  • Hôtel de Crillon Place de la Concorde, often €900 and up. Breakfast there is its own line.
  • Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme or the Ritz Place Vendôme, often €1,000 and up.
  • Lutetia Left Bank, often about €500–900. A bakery breakfast unless you came for the dining room.

Same names on Trip Plan — examples, not live inventory and not a ranking.

Where to eat

Bakery and coffee every morning. Bouillon Chartier or a formule for lunch. A fromagerie on Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis is a real dinner. Le Clarence or Epicure is palace dining, its own line.

Budget

  • Du Pain et des Idées or the bakery on your block a pastry and coffee often about €4–7.
  • Bouillon Chartier or Bouillon Pigalle a formule often about €20–30 a person.
  • L'As du Fallafel about €10. Dinner in the Marais without a tower view.
  • A fromage and a bottle from a shop often about €15–25 for two, a valid dinner.

Mid-range

  • Bouillon Julien often about €25–40 a person, a step up from Chartier.
  • Marché des Enfants Rouges a market lunch often about €12–20.
  • Clamato or Septime La Cave if the main Septime room is gone, often about €40–70 a person.
  • A 10th-arrondissement bistro one reservation, often about €35–55 a person.

Splurge

  • Septime often about €80–120 a person, and walk-ins do not get that table. Book before you fly.
  • Frenchie a similar reservation, often about €70–110. Not the same night as Septime.
  • Le Comptoir du Relais the counter fills. It is not a 9 p.m. walk-up, and a seat is often about €50–80.
  • Breakfast at Le Bristol or Hôtel de Crillon often €50 and up a person. The bakery is €5.

Things to do

Trocadéro at dusk is the tower view. Pay for the Louvre or the Orsay, not both the same day. Versailles is an RER half-day.

Budget

  • Trocadéro the free tower picture. The walk is €0.
  • A Metro ride about €2.50. A Monday–Sunday Navigo for zones 1–5 is about €32 if your dates fit.
  • The banks of the Seine €0.
  • A neighborhood walk in the 10th or 11th €0 beyond the bakery.

Mid-range

  • The Louvre €32 if you live outside the EEA, €22 if you are an EEA resident. Timed, on the official site.
  • Musée d'Orsay €16 online, €14 at the museum, on the day you did not do the Louvre.
  • Musée de l'Orangerie a smaller timed ticket, often about €12, not a third giant museum.
  • A 2-day Paris Museum Pass is often about €60. It loses if you only enter one museum.

Splurge

  • The official Eiffel summit elevator often about €35. Stairs to the second floor cost less. Buy it on the tower site.
  • Versailles the palace ticket is about €21, plus the RER unless your Navigo already covers it. It is a half-day.
  • A Seine dinner cruise often about €60–100 a person — for a view Trocadéro already gave you.
  • A reseller 'skip the line' bundle often €20 or more over the official museum price.

Mid-range money walkthrough

Two adults, four nights in the 10th or 11th, bakery breakfast, one bistro inside the food band, Metro taps or a Navigo if the week starts on Monday, and the Louvre. Orsay is the other museum, not the same afternoon.

Lodging
About €260 a night × 4 = €1,040. Inside €190–330. At the guide’s $1 ≈ €0.92, that is about $1,130. TVA is usually in the quote.
Food
About €42 a person × 2 × 4 days = €336. Inside €30–55.
Transit
A Monday–Sunday Navigo for zones 1–5 is about €32 × 2 = €64 if your dates qualify. Otherwise a few €2.50 rides add up more slowly.
Tickets
Louvre at €32 × 2 = €64 for visitors from outside the EEA. EEA residents pay €22 each.

Day: The museum day is the room (€260) plus food for two (€84) plus Metro (about €10) plus two Louvre tickets (€64): about €420 before flights.

4-night trip: About €1,500 before flights (€1,040 lodging + €336 food + €64 Navigo + €64 Louvre). Lodging plus food is about €1,380, inside the Quick facts sample of €1,000–1,750.

Worked example inside the Quick facts bands. Public rates and official pages, not a live quote.

3-day skeleton

Day 1

The block, then one museum

  • Bakery and coffee downstairs in the 10th or 11th — not a hotel breakfast
  • Louvre or Musée d’Orsay — one timed ticket
  • Dinner on the same Metro line, not a restaurant on the museum steps

Day 2

Trocadéro, no summit

  • Eiffel Tower from Trocadéro or Champ de Mars at dusk
  • Île de la Cité on foot
  • No summit ticket and no tower restaurant

Day 3

Père Lachaise, Rodin, or Versailles

  • Père Lachaise or Musée Rodin if you want a second, smaller stop
  • Versailles only as the RER half-day, with its own ticket
  • Fromagerie and a bottle, then the stairs home

Book before you go

  • The Louvre (€22 or €32) or the Orsay (€16 online) — pick one for the first museum day
  • Septime, Frenchie, or Le Comptoir if you want that table — often €50–120 a person, and not a walk-in
  • A Navigo, about €32 for a Monday–Sunday week in zones 1–5, only if your dates qualify. Otherwise single rides are about €2.50
  • An Atlantic crossing 2–4 months out, midweek. An open-jaw (in Paris, out Rome) often beats two one-ways

Hidden costs

  • A tower-view room is often €80–150 a night more than a 10th-arrondissement rate
  • An official summit elevator is often about €35, on top of a Louvre ticket (€32 outside the EEA, €22 for EEA residents)
  • A 2-day Paris Museum Pass is often about €60. It loses on a single entry
  • Versailles is about €21 for the palace, plus the RER unless Navigo already covers it
  • Paris hotel quotes usually include TVA. The taxe de séjour is extra, often about €2–8 a person per night by hotel class. Do not add a second 10% on top

Skip this

  • A restaurant on the tower steps — Trocadéro is the view. The bakery is the breakfast.
  • Four museums in a day — One timed ticket. A pass wins at two or more.
  • A rental car — The Metro covers the city. Many buildings have stairs and no elevator, which is a luggage problem, not a reason to drive.

Pick one museum and book the timed ticket before you fly

Top money-saving tips

  1. Hidden gem: See the tower from Trocadéro for free. If you want the summit, buy it on the official tower site. A reseller markup is a different price for the same elevator.
  2. Hidden gem: A Museum Pass wins at two museums. One Louvre or one Orsay is cheaper as a single timed ticket.
  3. Hidden gem: Navigo Semaine runs Monday to Sunday, not seven rolling days. Arrive on Wednesday and you paid for a Monday you were not here. Navigo Jour is the day you actually ride.
  4. Versailles does not share an afternoon with the Louvre. The RER fare is its own line.
  5. Trip Finder's shoulder mid is about $200–350 before a rough euro conversion. A view block is a surcharge on that band.

Next step

Build the Paris Trip Plan from the neighborhood you will walk, with one museum. Add Septime only if you already have the reservation.

Trip Plan for Paris →All money guides

We won’t sell your email. Ever.

Compiled Sep 2026 from public rates, official calendars, and transit maps — orientation, not a field visit.

Vacation Math money guide · estimates, not live quotes · Paris · vacationmath.co/guides/paris