Is $3,000 US dollars enough for a 7 day trip to Paris?

Question

We are leaving next week...our room and airfare are already paid for. I am still not sure what we are doing for sure (any suggestions?) but I would like to know if this is enough to be comfortable for the week, ie. eat where we want, shop, nightlife, etc. We were also thinking of a day trip to London, the train fare is $420...taking this into consideration, what do you think? Also, we are staying in the 16th quarter. I don't have much info on it except it's upscale, I think. How far is it from most of the sites? Out of all the Paris tours, any suggestions on the best ones? I would like to do one in the city itself for sure, and perhaps another one somewhere out of the city. Is it better to buy all the tickets now online, or is it ok to buy them when we get there? Thank you!

The $420 quote for the eurostar was for 3 people round trip...

Does anyone have an idea of how long it takes to get from the 16th district to most major tourist attractions, taking the metro?

The $3,000 is for 2 people...the 3rd person is paying their own way.

Answer 1

I think $3000 is fine if your hotel and airfare are already taken care of. $3000 is about 2,359.59 in Euros. Check out www.oanda.com for an up-to-date conversion scale.

You really don't want to do too many daytrips since you're only in Paris for 7 days. In addition to London, I would maybe hit up Versailles. But not on a Tuesday. It can get so crowded that it's literally like a herd of cattle. You can see other people's heads and the ceiling and that's about it.

Get a museum pass...they come in 2-, 4- or 6-day passes. Some museums have separate entrances for museum pass-holders. It's worth your weight in gold for Versailles.

You can purchase tickets once you get there. Paris Vision and Cityrama are the two best tour companies in Paris. They are located on Rue de Rivoli, across from the Louvre and Tuileries Garden.

I go to Paris for 10 days each year and I have about $600-800 that I take. You should be fine.

The best way to get around Paris is via the metro. Get a Carte Orange (un carte orange hebdomodaire) if you are going to be there Mon-Sun. It's like 15 Euros or so to get one. Allows you unlimited access to the Metro in that week. They stop selling them on the Wednesday of each week. Otherwise, you can get a carnet of metro tickets (un carnet de dix). Ten tickets for 11 Euros or so.

A cruise along the Seine at night is always fun. Take the Bateaux Mouche company at the base of the Eiffel Tower...you have to go down by the Seine. Bateaux Parisiens is not a good one...the boats are kind of scary (very small and they rock back and forth horribly).

You really don't have to take a lot of different tours. Sometimes it's best to just go out, explore the city to your heart's content. Check out Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door for some great Paris walks. He even has a few of the walks that you can download on iTunes (free!)...the Louvre, Versailles, Historic Paris Walk. There are also many great tips for packing, sightseeing, etc.

Answer 2

That is more than enough if your hotel is already paid for and air fare is also excluded.

Its possible to spend huge amounts of money in Paris (or just about anywhere) if you want to. However, you can have a wonderful time in Paris for a relatively modest sum.

Paris has so many attractions that my personal opinion is that it is a waste of money and time to take a day trip to London. London is a wonderful city and deserves more than a day anyway. don't subtract from a limited time in Paris with a side trip to another major city.

The 16th arrondisement is actually out of the way and a bit inconvenient for a tourist. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. However, the Metro (subway) and Bus system is excellent and easy to use and Paris taxis are not outrageously expensive.

Doing a tour bus guided tour is also, in my opinion a waste of money. If you're staying in the 16th then just catch the #72 bus. It will take you along the river past the Eiffel tower, the the Place de la Concorde, past the Grand and petit Palais, the Louvre and end up by the city hall (Hotel de Ville) and Notre Dame.

Answer 3

You can do well for two on $3000 if your hotel and room are taken care of separately but I wouldn't say you can eat where you want and do a lot of shopping (buying) and participate in a lot of nightlife every night. I have spent well over $500 on a meal for two (with wine) even 20 years ago at 3-star restaurants. However in the last few years I have settled on simpler places because they are more relaxing. Shopping is fine if you don't buy much'; there aren't many bargains. Nightlife can be pretty expensive in the big tourist-driven cabarets but there are some local boites that aren't so expensive. (I'm not much of a nightlife person anymore so I don't have any useful recommendations.) So yes, $3000 can easily be enough for a very enjoyable visit if you're there for the museums, monuments, historical places, and the enjoying moderate restaurants and clubs and only do window shopping at the designer stores.

Answer 4

I don't see a problem going to London as a day-trip. It's certainly a lot closer than Marseille or any place in the French Riviera. Some people like to just tour a city and see the sights on their vacations. You can certainly achieve that, if that's your intention, with 6 days in Paris and 1 in London.

Even 3 or 4 days in Paris can get you a lot of sightseeing. I'm not alluding to spending entire days in the Louvre and other museums, but a lot of other very enjoyable things can be done in Paris in a few days.

Just have a good idea of what you find interesting, and why you wanted to travel to Paris in the first place. Everybody has different interests and Paris can accommodate many different tastes. For a visit of 7 days or less, and for first time Paris visitors, I think it makes a lot of sense to tour the best spots of the city and see as many of them as possible.

An easy mistake is usually people trying to figure things out on their own, not knowing what's going on and coming back saying they hated Paris. I think you're doing the right thing by asking questions and preparing your vacation.

Next step is maybe to spend a little bit of time reading up on what you actually think you might enjoy in Paris, and how to go about doing that. For example, Seine River cruises offer some of the best views of Paris (by day or by night) and they're very cheap (the ones where dining is not included).

Open upper-deck bus tours are also cheap (about $30 for an entire day hop-on hop-off), and you get to see all the famous sights and monuments with recorded tour commentary in English (or French).

After all the touring, you can start picking specific things you would like to spend your time doing in Paris. Everybody is different. Some want the best restaurants, some the nightlife, some the arts and museums, some the history, shopping, dancing, Paris Beach, you name it... Just pick what 'you' like and then figure out how to do it.

If you need any help, I have a whole Paris travel advice Web site. You can ask me any questions through it or check it out if you wish: http://www.myparistrips.com

By the way, with room and airfare paid, $3000 is more than enough unless you really want to go nuts! With that kind of money, I would just do a minimum of shopping and save to go back to Paris again later, because if you do it right, you will like it enough to want to keep going back and spend more time.

Answer 5

$420 for the train ride to London is way too expensive! I took the train from London to Paris (the bullet train) and granted I had a student fair, it was like still only about $80-100. I did go during the off season, but still $420 seems too much, I'd shop around some more on that one. Remember, no matter how much you take with you, you'll always need more. Have fun!

Answer 6

Oh my god, how could you need more than $3000 for a 7 day trip? I've gone to Paris for 7 days on less than half of that, including hotel and airfare. If you can't make $3000 last 7 days - even in Paris - you're not trying very hard. If you've already paid for hotel and airfare then $3000 should let three people live like royalty for 7 days.

I'm absolutely boggled that anyone would ask this.

Answer 7

Is that 3 grand a person? or for 4 people? I'm going to Europe in November and just for myself alone I"m taking $3000. 3 of my girlfriends are going so we're splitting our hotels 3 ways which helps a lot. We're staying at the Novotel hotels which have good prices and taking Ryan air from the cities we're visiting (London, Dublin, Paris and Rome) the fare for the train is way too much. its very cheap to hop from city to city in Europe. you could also try British airways (hopefully you wont get blown up) because they also have pretty good fares....but hey. if you stay within your budget and not go too crazy on the Champs Elysee in Paris then you guys may be ok.

Answer 8

Is 3,000 for three people? I hope you're not bringing that in cash. I think 3,000 for three people is still doable if you're not going to buy a lot of stuff and are eating cheap. Breakfast will run you about 30 bucks for all three and then you can do sandwiches for lunch for under 10 bucks (if you go to the grovery store and buy the fixins) and dinner will be something like 60 bucks if you're not drinking. So count on about 100-120 a day for food ...so under 1,000 if you are conservative. That leaves 2,000 for admissions, souveniers and metro tickets. If you budget well, its do-able. I don't think the side trip to London is advideable, though. I'd stay in Paris proper. Trust me, you won't run out of stuff to do!

Answer 9

From the modern Coca-Cola London Eye to the ancient Tower of London, London has much to supply, see more with Hotelbye . In London you may also get the world-famous British Museum. British Museum reveals the operates of man from prehistoric to contemporary times, from round the world. Shows include the Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon statues and the mummies in the Ancient Egypt collection. Another destination for a see in London could be the London's National Gallery, a huge space filled up with Western European paintings from the 13th to the 19th centuries. In this gallery you will see functions by owners such as for instance Van Gogh, Da Vinci, Botticelli, Constable, Renoir, Titian and Stubbs. London is just a place where you can see days gone by and the further in exactly the same place.

Answer 10

First Bon Voyage!

For the Euro Train ,buy your tickets in the US
Check out:
The Eurostar train (08705-186-186 in London; 0892-35-35-39 in France; 02-528-2828 in Belgium; 800-EUROSTAR in the U.S.) runs through the Channel Tunnel and connects London's Waterloo Station both with the Gare du Nord in Paris and Central Station in Brussels. Both trips take about three hours (plus or minus the one-hour time-zone difference). Because the old train-ferry-train route (through Dover and Calais) takes all day and costs almost the same, the Eurostar option is a great deal.

Second is it worth going to London for one day?
What do want to see in London.London is spread out , so it can takes ages to see the main tourist attractions.

I think you should Buy the Time Out Guide for Paris:
It's a great guide, with good sections on the Club scene, great restaurants in all the price range.

Fun things to this this month:
Paris Plage
Right Bank between Pont Sully (4th) and Pont des Arts (1st); Left Bank on port de la Gare (13th) (www.paris.fr). Métro Pont Sully, Hôtel de Ville, Châtelet, Pont-Neuf, Bibliothèque. Right Bank 8.30am-midnight; Left Bank 24 hours. Date July 20-Aug 20.


The sand has arrived, palm trees have suddenly sprouted along the Seine and the deckchairs are ready. It's time to head down to the beach. The 3km stretch between Pont Sully and Pont des Arts is animated by hammacks, cafés, tai chi, ballroom dancing, pétanque, children's workshops, a library for beachside reading and two traditional Tahitian wooden houses. The sporting can play beach volleyball, ulitmate frisbee or sand rugby in front of Hôtel de Ville. This year, Paris Plage gets a new Left Bank extension on the quays in the front of the Bibliothèque Nationale, where in addition to the new permanent swimming pool, you'll find sand, picnic area and speedball pitch.

Visit the new Museum"
Musée du Quai Branly
27-51 quai Branly, 75007 ([phone]/www.quaibranly.fr). Métro Alma-Marceau then cross the river. 10am-6.30pm Tues-Sun 10am-9.30pm Thur. €10. MC, V.

President Chirac's pet project is now open. The huge new museum dedicated to 'arts premiers' or the often-ignored arts of non-European civilisations is, many would say, Chirac's only achievement in his reign. The building itself - designed by Jean Nouvel - is astonishing: a colossal edifice on stilts that surprises with its deep colours and baroque forms. Reached via a long circular ramp, the permanent collection is divided into four continents (Africa, Asia, Americas and Oceania), separated by a large winding serpent or river. Most impressive are the sections devoted to the Americas, with superb feather head-dresses, painted cowhides and Aztec sculptures, and Oceania, with its gigantic figurative carved wooden columns from the Pacific.

Outside Paris you should visit Versaille, maybe a daytrip to Dieppe, or instead of going to London, go on the TRAIN to Marseille , and get some Mediterranean sun for the day.

Regarding , $3000, YES NO PROBLEM. Don't buy too many expensive French clothes