Paris: what do these food items cost?
 

My husband and I are going to Paris in August and are trying to budget how much food will cost us. Our plan is to book in a hotel that includes breakfast, to eat picnic lunches and inexpensive dinners. So, we'd like to know if anyone knows the average cost of the following items:

- a baguette and items for sandwiches (e.g. meats, cheeses) from a supermarket
- a cup of coffee
- the cost of a sit-down evening meal in a cafe or brasserie (for two, no wine or alcohol)
- bottled water

We're not fussy and we're not looking for fine food, just simple items to eat while we enjoy exploring the city.

We also plan to spend a few days in Nice. Is there a difference in the cost of food between Paris and Nice, or can we expect to pay the same amounts?

Thanks!

We just returned from Paris. Food prices vary widely but maybe this will help.

We found that cheese at a supermarket started at a bit under 3 euro for enough for at least 2 sandwiches. The cheese was quite good. Sorry not to remember the name of the cheese. Cheeses from the specialty shops ranged from about 6 up to about 26 euro/kilo.Can't help with meats because we did not buy them. Fruits like bananas ranged from 1.60 to 2 euro/kilo. Baguettes were pretty inexpensive and depended on size and type. The most common were under 1 euro at the Montorgueil market where we shopped.

Coffee and tea at a sit down place was expensive, often about 4 euro, but then you are really paying for use of the table rather than the coffee.

Our sit down evening meals averaged 30 euro or so for two including a carafe of water (free). The water is fine and I do not see a need for bottled water unless one wants the kind with gas. One of our best meals was at the Cafe Montorgueil described briefly in my trip report. The dinner sized salad was about 12 and my duck was a bit more. It was more than enough. Desert was a pastry bought that AM at Stohrers. Stohrers was our big daily splurge - pastrys there are heavenly. Pauls on the same street (Rue Montorgueil) also had excellent breads.

We are much into salads and found that dinner sized salads including a favorite with warm goat cheese averaged about 12.

Bottled water is cheap at the supermarkets at such as food stands expect to pay 2 euro for a small bottle or more.

Are you going to be in Paris long enough for an apartment rather than a hotel? You can save a lot that way. Four or five days is sufficient for many of the vacationinparis.com apartments. Even less if you pay a supplement.

You'd probably save even more money if you stayed in an apartment. That way you can make coffee for breakfast at home, and have the option of making some dinners at home.

A baguette is about 1€ (someone here will know the exact price, .90 or 1.10€ or whatever)

Prices of everything else will vary.
A 1 ltr bottle of spring water can be as low as under 1€ in a grocery store like Leader Price. I found that 500 ml bottles were usually about 2€ at tabacs in touristy areas.

Cups of coffee and meals, and even picnic foods will vary widely depending on where you go and in what neighborhood.

I recently go back from a low budget week in Paris. I had breakfasts at home in my apartment, usually coffee, yoghourt, and fruit. Dinner was usually a salad, cheese, and bread. I ate lunch at the Louvre cafeteria once, and bought a sandwich on the street once. Otherwise lunch was a piece of fruit or a protein bar from home (I don't recommend this btw, I should have eaten more but I would get distracted by what I was doing and forget to eat. I brought the protein bars for emergency back up because I knew I might forget to eat)

I also had pasteries from the bakery and juice and other things from the grocery store. I haven't figured exactly what I spent on food, but I would be very surprised if it was more than 100€, and I honestly did not feel deprived at all. I was alone though, if I were with someone I definately would have eaten out more. But you can easily eat well and cheaply in Paris.

A baguette costs 0.80€.

You can get sufficient ham and cheese for less than 5.00€. You can obviously find extremely appealing items for a bit more.

A cup of coffee (espresso) costs from 1.00 to 1.30€ at the counter and between 2.20 and 2.50€ sitting down -- in a normal café, not a tourist trap.

A café or brasserie meal will cost less than 20€ with a carafe of tap water in a normal place. The most common price for just the "plat du jour" is 12.00€.

A 1.5 liter bottle of the main brand of bottled water (Cristalline) is about 0.45€. The store brand in a supermarket would cost about 0.35€.

I am <b>not</b> talking about the prices in most of the 6th or 7th arrondissements.

&quot;less than 20&euro;&quot; was per person.

I should also point out that a full meal in an ethnic restaurant (Asian, Indian, North African...) will often be no more than 10&euro; per person.

Thanks, this is really helpful!

Yes, we are considering staying in an apartment, depending on what's available. I've heard this is a good way to save, but was still debating, as you can sometimes find a hotel for the same price which includes breakfast. But we'll definitely consider it.

This may be a dumb question, but are supermarkets. stores, bakeries, etc... open on weekends? We figure most are open on Saturdays, but what about Sundays?

While you can't cook in most hotel rooms, you can still take advantage of supermarket and market and takeout options. You can still buy cheap drinks from the supermarket. I've always thought the cost advantage of an apartment is skewed if this factor is not considered.

Also consider eating out at lunch and having bread/cheese/wine + dessert :) for 'dinner' in your hotel. Obviously this works better in an apartment.

Try Monoprix for groceries.

Just for example check out this website www.la-boussole.com
This is a bistrot in the 6th arr. and we enjoyed eating dinner here last month. It was one of our more expensive meals but then that goes with the territory (6th arr!).

We found that if it was related to food, it was open on Sunday.

Hotel breakfast aren't usually all their cracked up to be. Some coffee, some buns, some not so great croissants. You can do much better food wise for next to nothing on your own.

Get croissants at a local bakery. Buy some coffee at the grocery store and brew your own. Plus, by making your own breakfasts you'll get some variety instead of the same old thing everyday. Besides, breakfast in bed is a good thing.

I found that where I stayed in the 11th, places closed either on Sunday or Monday. For exmaple if one bakery was closed Sunday, there was another one open that would close Monday. So there where less things open over all both days, but things were still available on either day.

In touristed areas, I would image most things are open 7 days a week, but I don't know...

There are quite a few street markets open on Sundays until about 1 pm. Usually if there is a supermarket on the same street, it will also be open in the morning. Mom &amp; Pop grocery stores (operated exclusively by North Africans and Asians) are open 7 days a week, but expect to pay 30-50% more as they are only for emergencies in most cases.

More than 50% of the boulangeries are open all day on Sunday as well.

Nevertheless, it is almost always better to do major shopping on Saturday.

Can I add a few?

How much is a Croissant?
A &quot;Pain au Chocolat&quot;(chocolate Croissant)?
A Napoleon Pastry?
Average Pastry?
A piece of Chocolate in a chocolate shop?
A small rotisserie chicken for 2 people for dinner (maybe some left over)?
A crepe from a Street vendor?
Other items from street vendors? Like fries, sausages, falafel, shawarma etc?
1 litre of milk at a grocery store?

A croissant is about one euro if you buy it in a bakery, it would be more if you buy it in a cafe. A pain au chocolat is about the same, as I recall, it's the almond ones which cost more. There isn't any big different in the regular and paul au chocolat.

I'll have to admit I don't buy food from street vendors, so can't help on that one, and don't remember one piece of chocolate (which I have never bought, I don't think you can very well -- you buy by the pound or something, even if a few pieces).

I'll admit I'm always puzzled as to what people actually mean when they rave about &quot;pastries&quot; in Paris and what that means to them. I think some people use that term to mean things like croissants which I don't call pastries, but others do. But for fancy cake-like things, which I might call a pastry, I think it's a few euro but I don't really like cake, I'll admit, and rarely buy any so will leave that to others.

I'm never quite sure how to answer questions like &quot;will food cost the same amount in Nice as it does in Paris?&quot; I don't know where you live, but in our home town in the US, a coffee one place may cost twice as much as at another place. You can get a sandwich at one place for $1.75 and at another deli it might cost $7.75.

So some places in Nice will charge more than some places in Paris and some will charge less than some in Paris. You may find a bottle of water at a store for a euro, and you may pay up to 5 euros for the same bottle of water at a take-away place or a restaurant -- either in Paris or in Nice. So I guess 2 to 2.5 euros would be &quot;average&quot;.

I know you said average, but frankly it's hard to average. Just like I have no way to tell you what the &quot;average&quot; cost of a turkey sandwich would be in my home town. Frankly, I don't find the overall costs of the things you mention very different from what I pay at home, so you could budget the same as you do at home. And while at home I may buy a $4 latte at Starbucks, I'm more likely to buy a 1 euro cafe standing at a bar in Paris -- so things can cost considerably less for even better quality.

Photobear........&quot;A small rotisserie chicken for 2 people for dinner (maybe some left over)?&quot;.

The twice-weekly market in Place Baudoyer in the 4th adjacent to Hotel de Ville sold rotisserie chickens for around 6 Euro and sufficient for 4 servings for a single person. With a side order of wonderful fried new potatoes for an extra 2 Euro, a very enjoyable evening meal with a salad. I spent a month in a an apartment in this area from mid Feb to Mid March this year and found it very, very economical by buying at the local markets.

The principal butcher shop on rue l'Olive in the 18th sells <b>two</b> rotisserie chickens for 8 euros. It's all a question of neighborhood.

A croissant costs 0.90&euro;.
A pain au chocolat costs 1.00&euro;.
A mille-feuilles (Napoleon) costs 1.40&euro;.
An &quot;average&quot; pastry costs 1.40&euro; (a mille-feuilles is an average pastry).
A liter of milk costs 0.90&euro;.

Depending on what you usually eat for breakfast, or what you plan to eat in Paris, you can save money there. In France, I believe that hotels are required to offer rooms priced with and without breakfast. If you get the room without breakfast, and then buy coffee and croissant somewhere, it will be much cheaper than the cost differential at the hotel. Of course, if you need a bigger breakfast, then your costs to purchase breakfast outside the hotel will go up.

I'd advise you to seek out Franprix/Leaderprice and Ed supermarkets - on the whole a good deal cheaper than Monoprix (Ed is a real &quot;bargain&quot; grocery store, no bells or whistles, but very good for cheap basic foods). There are Franprix stores all over Paris. Ed stores tend to be more in outlying arrondissements, but there are some nearer the centre.

Can someone give me a price range for Sweet Crepes and savoury Crepes from street stands compared to Sit down Crepe restaurants?

My hubby wants to know.

If you have a chance, try a baguette tradition. It is more expensive 1.20&euro; but oh so much better than a baguette.

Photobear--

The crepe stands we have seen (mostly walk-up windows associated with a traiteur or a lunch-counter restaurant) have prices in the 2-5 euro range for a crepe, depending on ingredients and location. Sit-down creperies (or places with crepes as well as other items) often include a small salad with the crepe and seldom charge less than 7-8 euros. The galette-style crepes (the larger, squarish ones) usually cost more.

The night before last we walked away with a crepe fromage-poulet (cheese and chicken melted inside a folded up crepe) for 2.5 euros while strolling along Rue Mouffetard.

I have personally found that it is more likely to be disappointed in a sit down creperie than in a stand on the street, particularly due to the price difference. If you are buy a cr&ecirc;pe for 3 euros, it is still okay if it is not great. If you are paying 9 euros for the same cr&ecirc;pe because you are sitting at a table, it is significantly more annoying.

Kerouac--

I agree! The fromage et poulet crepe that I saw made before my eyes and to my specifications (poivre? oui; pas de sel, s'il vous plait) was as tasty as any I have had in a sit-down place. The biggest reason to get a crepe at a &quot;real&quot; creperie is the opportunity to have ingredients like ratatouille, which don't seem to be available at the take-away places I have seen.

The &quot;fast food&quot; like baguette sandwiches and crepes are well worth trying, not just for the low cost but because they can be very good. A few nights ago we brought back an assortment of middle eastern take-out from a Mavromatis, heated it in the apartment, and had a fine dinner.

For 23 days we have dined enjoyably at a variety of cafes, bistros, and restaurants for generally one meal a day. (We often have breakfast in the apartment--cereal and fruit; or baguette, beure, et confiture; and/or patisserie bought that mnorning--but have had petit dejeuner out a few times.) We aim for lunch or dinner out and the other in the apartment (or take-out). We have had three lunches or dinners costing as much as 50-55 euros for two--one drinking wine and the other not. All the other meals were less than that, and the only &quot;stars&quot; were in our eyes.

I understand the desire to dine at well-known, upper-end restaurants that require reservations weeks in advance while vacationing in a city like Paris, but we have enjoyed ourselves immensely without doing that. It is possible to dine well for very reasonable cost.

Ed l'Epicier is cheap, I used to shop there a bit when I've stayed in the 14th and 15th arrondisements, there was one in each. The one in the 15th is at 81 rue Cambronne. There used to be one on rue Notre Dame des Champs in the 6th, but I think it's gone now. There was one near Les Halles, also. Those stores are pretty basic, but things are cheap. I didn't really find it worth my time to shop there much, as I'd have to go elsewhere anyway to get other things.

My previous post on this thread pointed out it did not need to be expensive to eat in Paris. Today we wandered into a different situation.

Our &quot;explore Paris&quot; adventure began with the #63 bus from Gare d'Austerlitz/Jardin des Plantes to the end of the line at Porte de la Muette. As we walked back through the 16e on the largely-residential Avenue Henri-Martin, we took a &quot;pour boisson seulement&quot; table at Le Flandrin to stop for a well-needed drink. Almost all the &quot;dejeuneurs&quot; (it was lunchtime) wore business suits at this fairly upscale place.

Ms. Bear's cafe cost 4.00 euros and my 33cl Coke Light cost 6.30 euros (about $9.80). With 150cl of Coke
Light costing just under 1.50 euros at Franprix, the privilege of occupying a very nice table in a very nice establishment among very nice people meant that my drink cost about 19 times as much, per unit of volume, as buying larger bottles at the store.

I am not complaining. We took up one of their nice tables at a busy time (although I think the cost would have been the same at any time). Buying in bulk will usually cost less. We were happy to have that experience at that time. But sometimes a cl of Coke isn't just a cl of Coke.

We had some similar experiences. It all comes down to that one is not buying a drink but unlimited table time. In fact, it is used that way. I have on more than one occasion seen folks working and writing at the table for long periods of time all for the cost of a cup of coffee.

bookmark

I highly recommend you go to &lt;davidliebovitz.com&gt; and read his food blogs from Paris. You'll find beautiful photos of French food and some wonderful tips on places that are open on Sunday as well as good places for inexpensive meals in Paris. He also lists addresses for open air food markets where you can buy fresh food where the locals shop.

We always travel with a picnic backpack and buy local bread, cheese, fruit, wine and chocolate. Making a late cafe lunch your main meal and doing your &quot;picnic&quot; for dinner will save you lots of euros.

Breakfast at your French hotel will probably be just coffee, bread and butter with jam and perhaps fruit, juice or yogurt.

Bon voyage!

What a great thread... We'll be staying in an apartment in the 4th, next to the Pompidou Centre. Any suggestions on grocery stores and bakeries?

Also, are there &quot;ethnic&quot; restaurants all over the city and in the touristy parts? We're huge Indian/Greek/Thai food fans...

A third question: How can you tell how much, say, a cup of coffee costs at the counter vs. at a table? Is there usually a menu that lets you know this?

The bar and table prices are usually posted (I think it's the law) right by the bar. You can go look at them before sitting and ordering.

I was in Paris last week, and it was expensive. But at some point of the trip I just wanted to enjoy and splurge a little bit.
Well, that said, some tips. Monoprix doesn´t open on Sundays. I´ve stayed on the 8th, and found out good places to eat at a very reasonable price. Meals ranging from 10-16 Euros (for person), and went with wine or beer - cheaper than soda or bottled water. Crepes on a street vendor around 3-5Euros, depending on the filling. Starbucks 4.50-5 Euros, but well worth for the sitting area. Expressos at bistros and brasseries around 3-4 Euros. Breakfast at the hotel 18-25 Euros; at patisseries or coffee shops 9Euros (coffee, juice, jam and bread). Most restaurants have the plat du jour (just the main dish or also an appetizer or salad, or else dessert) starting at 9 or 10 Euros per person.
Enjoy and have a great time on that wonderful city!

I'd like to see that 25&euro; hotel breakfast. Were you staying at the Ritz?

Couldn't be the Ritz - that charges 35 Euros per breakfast. The prices in zago_kreb's post, though, are for a very expensive area of Paris, and if you don't eat there, you can spend much less.

bookmarking and thanks very much.

What would you think an average day's cost for food would be in Paris if having breakfast in apt., main meal as late lunch, and small/lite dinner ?