Mark_n_Jacqueline

Hello!!
My wife and I will be traveling to Paris the last week of Oct – first week of Nov. This is our first time abroad. Is 12 full days in Paris too long? (I know, we can't see everything in 12 days) but we were thinking we may want to put 1 other destination in. We were considering somewhere to the south (warmer weather) like Rome.

Our budget is modest, but we're not going to cut corners and regret anything later. (We're thinking of AirBnB's) for lodging and eating frugally for breakfast & lunch, then maybe doing it up a little for dinner. Hopefully <$125 per day. What is a realistic budget for meals per day?

Here's where I'm probably answering my own question; I don't want to come home tired and needing a vacation from my vacation! I was thinking we should take our sweet time like any good Parisian (even putting a day or two of rest in there) and just see Paris. We definitely want to see the usual places in town but also Versaillles (Palace and Grounds) Fontainebleau and Chartres.

So, would you do 1 beautiful city or 2?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions. -Mark

Scootoir

I would do Paris and a few days in Normandy or the Loire Valley. Both are conveniently reached by train from Paris and driving on the secondary roads is fairly easy.

Is your budget of $125 per day for lodging, food, entrance fees and transport? I would not rent from AirBnB so don't know if that budget is doable staying with them. I have a concern about the legality of AirBnB in Paris and would not feel secure.

mjs

Is that $125 per person per day for everything outside of your airfare?

sparkchaser

$125/day? That's 110€ per day. That's not a lot.

di2315

You are being very sensible in choosing to stay in the one place, instead of spending valuable time on transport and changing locations.

Have you considered an apartment? I know there are problems with this in Paris at present, but I'm sure there are locals on this board who can recommend someone reputable to rent through. If you are making your own meals you can save valuable dollars for the occasional meal out or other expenses.

If you happen to tire of Paris (!!!!) you can always take a day trip to Chartres, Monet's Gardens, etc.

I've spent 3 separate weeks in this beautiful city, and could easily go back for more tomorrow! Di

StCirq

Even after hundreds of trips to Paris, that would never be too much time for me to stay in the city, especially with all the possible daytrips. But if you did want to stray a bit farther, there are many possibilities: Normandy, the Loire Valley, Lyon, even Provence for a few days.

I would never do an AirB&B, though - almost all of them are illegal. Rent an aparthotel with Citadines or a similar outfit, and you can save on eating out. I think it would be hard to stick to US$125 a day for two people and three meals. My husband and I get by on a good deal less than that most days, but we have very few restaurant meals.

Giverny, BTW, closes at the end of October.

sparkchaser

I get wanting to cut corners but I can't help but feel that you are missing out on a great deal of the Paris experience if you don't hit the restaurants.

Gretchen

I agree with others that limiting your restaurants is missing a wonderfully memorable part of a French/Paris trip. Our usual daily "allowance" (and I consider myself careful) is $150/day (NOT hotel) for two. This is a coffee and croissant at a cafe for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, and a prix fixe dinner (30E area) for dinner. So there is some left over for the Metro/bus, entrances, a wine in the afternoon--or a bottle of wine, cheese and bread to take back to the room before dinner.
I think in ANY case your 125E allowance would be VERY limiting if not impossible to stick to--and woe to you if there is an emergency or sudden splurge.
We have usually/often spent at least a week in Paris and take extra days (of say 13-14) with trips to Normandy or Provence or the Loire (this would be your closest). But then there would be car rental for good sightseeing.

nytraveler

I was reading the 125 eros (per couple) as your budget for just meals and thinking that is is doable if you're careful - lots of picnics or street food and a modest sit down dinner as well as a drink in the late afternoon to sit in a cafe and watch the world go by.

We don;t really have a budget but figure we spend about 100 euros per day - but this is a casual dinner. We generally do one splurge dinner per city - perhaps two if we're there for more than 5 days or so - and allow about 300 euros per couple for that.

If you mean 125 euros for more than a food budget I fear you are just not allowing the funds to do /see what you want. On top of that you would need to allow for costs of sightseeing, local transit (carnet for Metro) and the costs of rail/tours if you are going to leave Paris. And definitely hotels are on top of that - even VERY modest ones.

greg

If you want to manage expenses while not missing experience "eating frugally for breakfast & lunch, then maybe doing it up a little for dinner" might not accomplish what you want.

What do you eat for breakfast? If you are coming from a big meal country and insist on eating full breakfast like home with eggs, meats, breads, coffee, orange juice, etc., it would hit your budget. Eat like locals, coffee and a pastry.

While you get fuller experience with dinner, the lunch offerings are almost as good and at a significantly less cost than the dinner. Make your lunch the main meal of the day, and eat dinner "frugally" whatever that means to you.

The rentals can reduce accommodation cost IF you can properly integrate them into your itinerary. It can back fire big time if you end up with illegal rentals: you money gone, you have no accommodation. They often also come with stiff cancellation penalties, if your plan changes. Same for prepaid non refundable hotel rooms that come with discounts: ok if your plan is solid, a big expense drain if not.

Some other caveats are booking accommodations outside areas of interest and flights, two usual things that back fire big time for people trying to control budget. Accommodations inconvenient to place you want to visit, i.e., hotels outside Paris, are usually much cheaper. But you pay big time in terms of lost time, experience, and the additional commuting cost.

In the area of airfare, one thing many budget people do that back fires is making a tight connections between long distance carrier and a budget point to point carrier bought separately. Here is an example http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...nough-time.cfm.

Another area is trying to use different airport because the airfare is cheaper without checking the overall picture. Here is an example http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...erary-help.cfm

Christina

Personally, I'd spend time in more than Paris if I had 12 days, but I don't get unlimited vacation time, so I like to see some other places. I also like a bit of variety when I travel, not spending 12 days in one very large city (I like some more rural area, or at least smaller place, for a change). I wold not choose Rome, though, but that's up to you as to what appeals to you. I'd choose some place closer and fairly easy to get to by train in a few hours.

$125 a day is very frugal for two people, that's only 55 euro a day per person. I'm not a big spender at all for food but spending about 35-45 euro for dinner isn't that difficult to do, even in a modest place (including wine). Can you spend less? Sure, but I'm not talking high end places at all. Maybe if you think about that budget and how you can up with it, you can see it's rather low, unless you think you can get a high-end dinner in Paris for 25 euro or something.

October is high season, you know, you need to book hotels far ahead of time to get the best choice.

Christina

sorry, I just saw you meant very end and then first week in November--well, not quite as bad in terms of hotels being booked up as Sept-early October, true.

Mark_n_Jacqueline

Thank you all for the replies!

The <$125 daily budget was for food/drinks only. Sorry if I wasn't clear on that. I figure lodging isn't "flexible" like dining is. I'm willing to book lodging soon so hopefully by the time we go, we'll have paid for it and then just worry about entertainment/food.

Our airfare is already booked and paid for thru WOWAir. We're getting there thru Iceland for under $850 ea round trip.

There are tons of places on AirBnB listed. Current reviews seem to imply that people are still booking thru them, but the legality issue scares me. I'll check out Citadines and if anyone can recommend other lodging options, it would be appreciated.

Thanks again for replies!!!

menachem

Apartotels roughly when you travel and B&B's

https://www.booking.com/searchresult...lter=hoteltype

di2315

I can happily recommend the agent we have used in the past. Ron couldn't have been more helpful for us. They are at www.likelivingthere.com

We used them for a Barcelona apartment, but they also act for apartments in Paris.

We have recommended them to friends, who were as happy as we were with their professionalism. Our apartment was in a building with a resident manager - not sure if this applies to all their apartments. Di

fuzzbucket

First time visitors to a foreign country should really stay in hotels with desk staff who will help them with whatever they need.

When you rent an AirBnB apartment, it may or may not be an illegal sublet - the majority of them are. In which case, if the landlord finds out, or the neighbors complain, you can be evicted and will have to find another place to stay.
All agencies, including AirBnB, are legal.
Their apartments are not, in the vast majority of cases, and you won't get a straight answer from anyone in this regard.

You mentioned wanting to relax and feel like you were on vacation - this is the exact opposite of what you'll get if you rent an apartment, since after the initial "welcome", you'll have to figure things out on your own.

In addition, both of you will be busy trying to keep things clean or you'll pay an exorbitant cleaning fee. Just washing the sheets and towels will eat up about 3 days of your vacation time, since the machines don't work the way yours do, and many machines only spin dry the laundry. Most apartments also restrict the use of noisy machines between certain hours, so you'll have enough to do just trying to wash and dry your own clothes.

Apart'hotels are a good idea, but can be expensive unless you book a room in one of the outer arrondissements. Most people will save money on food only if they shop wisely and prepare all their meals in the apartment.

Nope - what you really want is a clean, budget hotel in a central neighborhood in Paris, with clean towels and sheets and an elevator.

There are many of them for under 150 EU per night. Many have mini-fridges, which you can ask to have emptied when you check in. Store your food there, picnic in your room or while you're out, be neat with your trash, nobody will bother you. Put out the "ne pas deranger" sign and relax.

Here's a good one that includes breakfast and free Wi-Fi, is well under your budget and is in a great location, very convenient for walking and transport:
http://www.hotel-saintandredesarts.fr/en/

Otherwise, search on www.booking.com and www.hotels.com
I recommend looking in the Latin Quarter (5th and 6th arrondissements) or in the Bastille area (11th and 12th), where hotels are clean, basic and a lot cheaper and transportation is not a problem.

You can eat much more cheaply in Paris if you look for "menu" or "formule" outside the cafe or restaurant. A starter, main dish and dessert often runs under 20 EU. Or go to the supermarkets and load up on cheese, meats, fruit, prepared salads. Boulangeries sell baguette sandwiches and quiches for about 5 EU.
Drink tap water, which is always free. Sodas, juices, alcoholic drinks will add 5 EU and up to your bill. If you want drinks other than tap water, buy them at the supermarket.

Gretchen

I agree with much of what Fuzzbucket says, particularly about hotels. The desk can be such a good help. Prix fixe/formule dinners are a good value.
I aam not as sure about hotels having mini-fridges they will "empty out" for you, but maybe.

Gretchen

I agree with much of what Fuzzbucket says, particularly about hotels. The desk can be such a good help. Prix fixe/formule dinners are a good value.
I aam not as sure about hotels having mini-fridges they will "empty out" for you, but maybe.

fuzzbucket

Many people don't drink alcohol or caffeine, for religious or health reasons, so most hotels will empty out the fridge if you ask politely.

Happygoin

Oh my word! You'd think that rental apartments would come with a set of Encylopedia Britannica if they were as complicated as Fuzzbucket would have you believe.

Millions of folks have rented a vacation apartment on their first trip and lived to tell about it...in fact, enjoyed it immensely. It's not rocket science.

Sheesh.