what, when and how in paris. could you help me?

Question

i'm spending five days in paris during my holiday. what should i see first? where should i go shopping? i mean, where are smaller prices? where is it best to eat (cheap)? i'm under 18, do i have to pay entrance fees at the museums? and, uhhhm, how much money do i need (i'm not really shopaholic, so i'm just asking, i.e. fees, food, etc.) ? :D please help quick thank you.... (am leaving tomorrow, 7 aug) :)

Answer 1

What you need to do first is what you like best.
If you like shopping, spend half a day just walking through the town looking for whatever there is available.
My guidebook, Lonely Planet France, has more than 3 pages with shopping info, and this book only has a small part about Paris, so there is too much to copy it here.

After that half a day, do some sights and / or museums and safe your last day for your favorite again.

For the museums, each museum seems to have it's own rules for discounts, but often there is a lower price for 12 to 25 or 14 to 25.
So bring proof of age with you to whatever museum you want to go.
If you have a student card, or age related reduction card from home, bring it too.

How much money you need?
You need to buy two or three meals a day, cheapest is market, supermarket or fast food for about 3 to 10 Euro a meal.
If you want to eat restaurants it can be anything from 10 Euro for a small lunch to 100 Euro for a big dinner. (If you want to eat nice, lunch in Department store restaurants and buy bread and cheese or meat or jam for dinner.)
Drinking on a streetside caffee is most expensive, the more famous the street the more you pay.
Inside is cheaper, smaller back streets are cheaper, a bottle from the supermarket is the best.

Transport, carnet (ten tickets) for the metro is the cheapest if you use just one or two a day, otherwise buy a pass for unlimited travel, say about 30 Euro.

For shopping expect to spend more than you would at home, because you will always think that things are not available at home, (but often they are, even cheaper too.)
So set yourself a limit and stick to it.

Museums and things like Eiffel tower can be a lot if you want to go into all and to the top of every place or nearly free if you plan well and go to the free places more than the ones you have to pay for.

Have you already payed for your hotel? If not, make sure you have enough for that.

Buy a good guidebook, I like the Lonely Planet series, so you can read about what you want to do.

You can get money with a debit card from ATM's, or use your creditcard if you have one, but try to keep within your budget.
Have fun.