chaisaelee

Hello everyone, My friends and I will be backpacking throughout Europe for the first time. We'll be in Fance (Paris and neighboring cities) for the first week of October. We're all on a college budget. Does anyone have tips on how we can save money in Paris and neighboring cities in regards to transportation, hostels, food, exchanging U.S. currency, attractions, etc.? Any advice/recommendations are appreciated.

logos999

Food problem solved
http://www.magasins-ed.com/

Just don't have beans every day, mom won't like it.

nytraveler

Well the first thing is that you NEVER "exchange" money - that will lose you 8 to 10% of it's value. Pay for what you can with credit cards and pull cash from ATMs. The cash must be in your checking (not savings) account - and you sometimes need a 4-digit pin.

Pvoyageuse

Don't forget your student's card. Almost all French museums have reduced rates for students and young people.

LarryJ

You can withdraw cash from checking or savings account. The money will automatically come from the account to which the atm card is associated. All my atm transactions are from my Capital One savings account. Never never use money exchange shops. As mentioned before use credit cards as much as possible. You can avoid the 3% foreign transaction fees charged by credit card companies and banks by opening and using accounts with Capital One credit cards, checking, savings accounts.

Buy food at supermarkets and eat picnic style often. Cheapest supermarkets in France are "Champion,Franprix and Ed". Also throughout France there is a chain of "Ponderosa" style buffet restaurants called "Flunch". Google the locations and keep a list of them throught France. An all you can eat meal is about 7 euros. The food is not memorable but it will fill you up cheaply. Also in some cities look for "Crescendo" buffets. You can find them at the large commercial centers (shopping centers) where there are "Carrefour's" mega stores.



A little known fact about the Paris Metro system is that for the past year the new metro tickets are good for 1.5 hours. Many people throw away their ticket as they exit the Metro. This ticket can be used again for the remainder of the 1.5 hour activation period.

Train travel is cheapest if done in the middle of the week. You can buy discount train travel cards good for one year from the SNCF (French National Railway). Look at www.sncf.com for details. Savings of up to 50% are possible. Although you must buy an annual card you will save enough to pay for the card with one long trip such as Paris to Nice.

Have fun,
Larry J

cathies

Hi, you commented that you will be in Paris for the first week of October. Lots of museums, including the Louvre etc are free on the first Sunday.

Buy baguette sandwiches for lunch they are cheap and filling. Shop in supermarkets and put meals together in the hostel.

Hope you have a fun trip.

Louie_LI

"A little known fact about the Paris Metro system is that for the past year the new metro tickets are good for 1.5 hours. Many people throw away their ticket as they exit the Metro. This ticket can be used again for the remainder of the 1.5 hour activation period."

This is not true.

In the metro and RER, once you leave the system you have to use a new ticket for the next trip. (The only exceptions to this are a limited number of RER-metro transfers where you have to leave the system to get to the other line.) A ticket is good for two hours and as many changes as you like.

The innovation is that new T+ tickets allow for bus to bus transfers within a 1.5 hour period. You cannot get off and then continue on a different bus on the same line, or use them for a round trip.

kappa

Louie is right about the new T+ tickets (they are white). They are the same as the old ones when used on metro. The difference from the old (purple/green) tickets is T+ is valid for 90 minutes within Parisien Bus and Tram system. I knew you cannot do return trip with this but did not know about getting off a bus and continue with the following one on the same line is not allowed. I should be careful about it next time. I have a few old tickets (green), left-over from the carnet I bought last time. They are still valid but with these you cannot make bus connections. I should rather use them on metro.

4totravel

Never buy bottle water at a restaurant - ask for tap water. Lots of savings there.

LarryJ

Louie,

It is in fact true that you can exit the metro and re-enter and re-use your metro ticket. I live in Paris and do it very very often.

Larry J

Robespierre

chaisaelee - here's a primer on the various Paris transport options: http://preview.tinyurl.com/58a9eo

Larry J - are you talking about re-using a "ticket 't+'"? If so, I think you're breaking the rules, because they're only valid for one Métro ride or one bus trip (including transfers). Do you just run it through entrance turnstiles more than once?

kappa - the old mauve tickets have the same validity as the new 'plus' version: <i>La mise en place du support blanc s'&eacute;chelonnera sur plusieurs mois. Pendant cette p&eacute;riode, les clients pourront continuer &agrave; utiliser leurs tickets mauves jusqu'&agrave; &eacute;puisement des stocks. Ainsi, <b>le ticket &quot;t&quot; mauve continuera d'&ecirc;tre utilisable y compris dans le cadre de la correspondance bus/bus ou bus/tram</b>.</i>

kappa

Oh, the girl at the tabac shop who sold me a carnet of T+ tickets told me you can do bus transfers only with the T+ tickets. The driver sells solo tickets on board that do not allow connections. I thought the old tickets were like that. I will correct the girl next time as I buy my carnet usually at the tabac next to Bofinger near Place Batille.

kappa

&gt; It is in fact true that you can exit the metro and re-enter and re-use your metro ticket. I live in Paris and do it very very often.

Larry, curious about your comment.

The following is from English page of RATP. It doesn't say about re-using the same ticket for the metro system. As I wrote above, only about Bus - Tram lines.

FAQ. Apart from the colour, what else is new?

The t+ ticket brings in a more extensive service with a new functionality:

o the possibility of making bus/bus and bus/tram connections. This service covers all the RATP and Optile buses on the Ile-de-France network and the tram lines T1, T2 and T3. T4 will be accessible with the t+ ticket by 31/03/2008.

MiniVip

Hi LarryJ,
as i live in paris starting from 2004 i can tell you that you cannot actually exit and re-enter from metro gates with the same ticket. These are provided with a magnetic tape on the back and when you get in it is marked as &quot;used&quot;. No way you can re-utilize to get in again apart from the &quot;open&quot; days , aka strikes from RATP / RER personnel.

LarryJ

Robespierre,

&quot;Larry J - are you talking about re-using a &quot;ticket 't+'&quot;? If so, I think you're breaking the rules, because they're only valid for one M&eacute;tro ride or one bus trip (including transfers). Do you just run it through entrance turnstiles more than once?&quot;


Rules........what rules. If the turnstile accepts your once used ticket a second time within 1.5 hours then obviously it is permitted or your ticket would be rejected. I use my Navigo most of the time and renew it on a weekly basis but if I am going to be out of Paris for more than 3 days as I often am in a week I do not renew for that week but use single tickets from a carnet of tickets. This is when I have used a single ticket for more than one time. If I go from &quot;Commerce&quot; to &quot;Ecole Militaire&quot; on line 8 stop for lunch and then go from &quot;Ecole Militaire&quot; line 8 to &quot;Hotel De Ville&quot; with a change to line 1 at &quot;Concorde&quot; is that not a transfer? It must be within the rules if the turnstile accepts the ticket for a second use. I just use the Metro system as it is programmed. I have no obligation to research it's programmer's intentions. But just in case I have sinned I will include my questionable Metro activities in my next confessional.

I told you guys it was a little known fact......

Larry J

Christina

I agree with that idea, just see what the turnstile allows. Sometimes I have used tickets and get them mixed up with new ones, so it's the turnstile that decides what is usable.

The programmers can't be that stupid that they don't know some basic rules as to what is allowed. I'm sure you probably can't re-use one at a totally different metro line, but maybe they do allow to get out and come back within that 1.5 time period that is programmed for transfers.

Robespierre

I guess it's possible - but the rules state that you can't get off a bus and back on the same line and continue, so I would imagine the intent of the M&eacute;tro turnstiles would be the same.

I said &quot;intent&quot; because I don't doubt for a moment that Larry J's Ligne 8 story is true. Lots of stuff doesn't work the way it's supposed to.

But I don't know if &quot;the turnstile let me through&quot; would be considered an affirmative defense if the RATP cops wanted to hassle you. Because they go by the rules, not accidents of implementation.