Try eurocheapo.com for some pretty honest reviews of places that mostly cost less than $80 a night.
I had a really inexpensive, delicious pannini sold by a vendor on one of the streets near Notre Dame, and ate it sitting in front of Notre Dame. I enjoyed the sammie more than the church.
Take half the clothes you'll think you need, and three times the money. There are lots of little markets and food stalls that should be very satisfying.
If you want something really really cheap but very good, I've rented a room multiple times with this extremely nice lady, Madame Maryse Colombo. You get a room in an apartment, so you've got a kitchen and all the other amenities. The rooms are clean and she is the nicest lady who loves to help you out, plus her English is really good.
Madame Maryse Colombo
57 rue du Faubourg Saint Martin
(Near Gare de l'Est)
75010 Paris
Telephone: (33.1.) 48.03.41.93
Local: 01.48.03.41.93
metro #4 station: "chateau d'eau"
Oh yeah, it's about 15 Euros a night.
-Stephen
It's pretty convenient to have a hotel near a train station for us. So if you can manage to find one, I highly recommend that.
I recently stayed at a cheap (but clean) hotel by myself near Gare du Nord. It was a little scary getting to the hotel after dark. The proximity of the train station is great but the scare factor for a single woman wasn't great.
Yes, do be careful about staying near certain train stations. You may save money on the hotel but lose sleep - or your wallet. Gare du Nord and Gare de l'Est come to mind. Some stations, however, are not in seedy areas and hotels there are a good bargain.
Hello,
I live in Paris and the best place to accomodate for a week is a "auberge de jeunesse" (youth hostel). It's much cheaper that any other hostel, and the comfort is good. To eat cheap, I recommend you to buy your food in supermarkets like "Leader Price", "Monoprix", "Franprix" and "Casino".
Concerning the money you should bring, I would recommend you to have at least 300€ in order to cover all the spending to live. Indeed, Paris is quite expensive and so is the transport!!!
About that, for your transport I advise you to take a ticket for the whole week, not for every route you take (you will save a lot of money!!). What you need to know is that Paris and its suburb is divided into 6 zones and the price of your ticket will depend on the zones you will use. But the core of Paris is zone 1 and if you stay within Paris itself, you will just need the ticket "carte orange hebdomadaire, zones 1-2". You can find more information on the RATP (French Transport) website: http://www.ratp.fr/ (for English version you can click on top on the English flag!)
If you need more useful information, you can contact me by mail, I will give you my number. My mail is:
If you want as well you can add me in your contacts on matadortravel.
See you and enjoy your journey in Paris.
Joined: 05-06-08
Hello I am going to Paris December 15 and I have never been there before I will only be there for about a week. I am a student on a budget so I was wondering if anyone has ideas on where I should stay, eat,do,etc or how much money I should bring just for Paris? Any advice is appreciated.
Thank you!