We may travel next June to Europe and would like to spend the last 2 weeks or so in France with my daughter (husband and son would return home for work after 2 weeks of traveling to Italy, etc.) She is studying French and would like to let her practice the language as much as possible and soak up the beautiful French culture at the same time. Is there an inexpensive way to do this? Paris seems quite expensive but wonder if there is a small town on the outskirts where we could stay and travel into the city on occasion. Do you have any suggestions on places to stay or on how this learning experience can be done economically?

Your help is greatly appreciated! Karen

Is there some reason you have to do this in Paris? If that's where your flight is from, I guess so, but otherwise, of course there are many other places in France that would be cheaper. Paris isn't really that expensive, in my opinion, compared to a lot of other places. The main cost that you might considerable "fixed", more or less, is accommodations, as you can always choose yourself how much to spend on other things. Because there are so many hotels in Paris, you could well find it easier to get a decent cheap hotel in Paris than other places, and you'd save a lot of time and trouble. I personally think the idea of staying in some place outside Paris just to save a few euro on a hotel, but then going to and from Paris every day, would be a waste of time and you may not even save anything. There are some cheap hotels in Paris, say less than 100 euro, as long as you don't need anything too grand. Traveling to and from Paris won't be free.

You could find a decent short-term rental apartment in Paris for a pretty good price. You'll have a kitchen to use, so you'd save quite a bit and your daughter would get the hang of grocery shopping in French. Paris is not really expensive - it's what you choose to do that can make it pricy or not.

Hi B,

>...Paris seems quite expensive ...

What's your budget?

Thanks to you all for your comments! As for a budget, with the price of the euro these days, I was hoping we find a place that would be inexpensive (maybe 500 euros a week or am I dreaming?). My husband and son would be with us for a couple of nights, then would probably fly home. Then we would stay a couple of weeks since we are both off for the summer and are in no hurry to fly back.

We don't have to stay in Paris the whole time. I have found a reasonable fare that flies us in to Zurich and out of Paris or possibly in and out of Zurich and we'd have to travel back to Zurich to leave. We may take the train around or may fly within Europe if we find reasonable fares.

Again, your recommendations are greatly appreciated! I am not afraid of renting a car and traveling to a quaint area and staying there if you have a favorite spot. Many thanks, Karen