Through personal travels to various cities around the world, we will share the actual price of a day in that city.

This series should assist travelers in planning their next trip to specific places around the world.  Each city will have a realistic example of the cost of one full day, including an evening of lodging.

“The Backpackers Price” is covering is Paris first!

A day in Paris – with lodging in the Latin Quarter

All prices are based upon October mid-season, not the winter low season and not the high season of summer!

• 1 Night private room with double bed at Young & Happy – 56 euro = $77.28
• almonds, raisins, apples & bananas – 6.14 euro = $8.47
• Justin’s 1st baguette in Paris – 1.80 euro = $2.48
• Metro – Arce du Triomphe to Latin Quarter – 2.20 euro = $3.04
• Natalie’s new Parisian orange scarf – 9 euro = $12.42
• 2 pears, brie, 1 red bell pepper – 4.64 euro = $6.40
• another baguette – 1.60 euro = $2.21
• Nutella crepe – 2 euro = $2.76

(two adults) Total – 86.8 euro = $115.06

The total is for Justin and I, two grown adults.  If you are traveling alone you can cut the cost in half.

Solo Total – 43.4 euros = $57.53

In addition, you can save money on lodging and get a bunk in an 8 person dorm for 13 euro a night.  Super cheap!  Don’t buy the Parisian scarf or other souvenirs and save even more money.  This means traveling Paris for $50 a day is easy to do.  In fact, I met an American traveling Paris for $25 USD a day.

How to travel Paris for $25 a day?

1. Self catering – communal meals prepared in hostel kitchens with other travelers you meet – then split the cost of the meal (most are $3 or $4 per person)
2. Sleeping in a multi person bunk room.  You might have to buy ear plugs for when the guy above you starts to snore, but it’s worth the money you save.
3. Don’t spend money on stupid stuff – the key chain of the Eiffel tower, the 5 euro crepe, and avoid all other Parisian impulse buys.
4. Go on the FREE day.  Museums and art galleries tend to have a regular FREE day.  The first Sunday of each month is the FREE museum day in Paris.
5. Walk or bike – Paris even has bikes you can rent and then drop off in a designated bike drop once you arrive at your destination.  These bikes are literally all around the city!
6. Be a smart and travel on the limited budget.  Take out the amount of cash you plan on spending each day.  Pay for your bed in the morning.  Then you have a realistic view of how much money you will want for food, and what you have left over as entertainment and play money.

It’s amazing to know that Paris can be traveled with very little money.  Really cheap if you want!

A friend of mine, Rachelle just spent a year living in France.  She did not live in Paris.  In fact, she only went to Paris for two quick visits while living in France.  Now that is dedication to explore the rest of the country!

The following are interesting things to do and see in France.

16 things not in Paris:

• Monet’s Garden at Giverny – the lily pond is at it’s best late July through early August.
• Fontainebleau – a hunting lodge from the 12th century – NOTE:  it’s closed on Tuesdays.
• Chateau de Chenonceaux in the Loire Valley - they have vineyards and delicious wine!
• Belle-Ile-en-Mar – the largest of Brittany’s islands – travel by ferry from Quiberon and check out the lighthouse.
• Marais Poitevin – nicknamed ‘La Venise Verte’ – the Green Venice.
• The Aven-Armand Cave – the worlds tallest stalagmite – NOTE: the cave is closed in December.
• Les Gorges du Verdon – the largest gorge in Europe – people call it Europe’s Grand Canyon.
• Gorges du Tarn – Want to see another gorge?  This is one of France’s most beautiful gorges – ride in a glass-bottom boat.
• Mercantour National Park – best between June and October.  NOTE: This is a high altitude experience.
• Orange – an 8th Century theater created by Charlemagne where you can still see live theater.
• Avignon – a picturesque French city on the water – this is a thriving energetic city!
• Les Calanques – a series of long, narrow inlets, like mini fjords, cut into limestone cliffs along the Mediterranean coast.
• Arles – Medieval buildings, including a roman arena, similar to the colosseum in Rome – in the summer they have live races and bull fights in the arena.
• The Camargue – an area of marshland with wild horses and a rare bread of flamingos – best between March and October.
• Marseille – an exciting, colorful, cosmopolitan city that travelers often avoid.  I have to trust the recommendations of others for most of these places outside of Paris.  However, I have personally been to Marseille and it is a colorful, amazing place.  The TGV train now links to Paris, which allows Marseille to be accessed more easily from Paris.
• St-Tropez – the beach holiday destination for the rich and famous – not a budget destination!

Now you know about many other opportunities for adventure while visiting France.  However, a traveler must leave Paris to get in on any of the beautiful, intriguing places on the list.

Unless you plan on living in France for a year, as my friend just did, you probably won’t be able to do everything on the list.  You know yourself best!  Follow your instinct on what sounds the most interesting.

It is really easy to use google maps while planing your time in France.  Just make sure you set an alarm clock so you don’t miss your bus or train.  If you can find a group of backpackers, sometimes renting a car will save everyone in your group money.  I spent sometime driving in the south of France!  It isn’t too difficult, you just need to drive slow enough to read the French signs.  Don’t forget your French phrase book, some euros and your adventurous, flexible self.

Enjoy your next visit to France, and get out of Paris!

Paris

Spain and Andorra

1. A picnic in the park below the Eiffel Tower.  Avoid the line and the fee to take the lift.  Perhaps even witness a film crew and body guards following the “hip European boy band” we still don’t know the name of.
2. Savor each bite of your FREE croissants in the morning.
3. Walking through the Latin Quarter on a Sunday afternoon as couples dance in the street to their friend playing an accordion outside their favorite cafe.
4. Cimetiere du pere Lachaise (a big cemetery) was recently opened to the public (read: 200 years ago) and entrance is still FREE, who knows how long this will last.  Here we visited Oscar Wilde’s grave and counted the number of women who have kissed his large tombstone.  I lost count, but the amazing variety of lipstick shades, colors, and gloss is rather entertaining.  In case you were wondering, I did not pucker up, it just seemed to much of a bio-hazard.  Plus, have you read, The Picture of Dorian Gray?  It’s creepy.
5. While standing on Pont Neuf (a bridge on the Siene) we spent some time closely looking at the boats individuals permanently live on.  Look for the colorful rainbow boat, with the largest collection of rubber duckie’s I have ever seen in my life.  I even realized that these floating “households” have mailboxes build into the sides of the bridges, accessible only with a key, of course.  They wouldn’t want a curious tourist like me trying to steal their water bill.
6. Shopping around for the cheapest crepe in town.  Why pay 8 euros for a crepe near the Eifel Tower or Notre Dame, when you can get a Nutella crepe for 2 euros?  Oh, and make it look so delicious that a group of French photography students begin practicing through the lense with you, and your crepe eating husband, as their subjects.
7. Don’t spend 40 euros on a soup and salad!  Instead buy food, at the best bakery, cheese shop and produce markets.  Return to the kitchen at your hotel, hostel, inn or other place of lodging and cook your own gourmet meal for around 4-7 euros.
8. Walk along the art show’s in the evening.  We caught an incredible photography display outside the Jardin du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Gardens).
9. We also discovered a secret little park around Notre Dame that opens only Sunday mornings until around noon when they lock it once more.  You can enter, take a few pictures, and smell the roses.  Just don’t try to bring your dog in.

If you end up in Paris sometime in the future, I wouldn’t recommend trying to experience the same things we experienced.  Instead, have your own incredible Parisian adventure.  Be creative, have fun, and try to think less like a  tourist and more like a local.  But I guess that advice could serve you well in any location

After talking to locals, as well as a few Australians and Americans living in Paris for 3-6 months, we have discovered easy ways to live on $30 (USDS) or less, per person, per day.  And still have a comfortable bed, a hot shower and great food and entertainment.

I cannot vouch for Paris during the other three seasons, but it is wonderful in the Fall. The falling leaves mix with the energetic business of people moving up and down the streets and, for a moment, the leaves appear to soften the harshness of the city as famous buildings and fashionable people alike are caught up in a sudden wind tunnel of falling leaves. I love it.

Our time in Paris has been short (2 days, 3 nights) and there is no way to really experience this city during this brief snapshot. Instead of trying to go into every museum and church (there are many excellent ones to choose from) Natalie and I have spent the last two days walking the city. It is my belief that to understand a city, one must walk its streets and mingle with its people. It is not enough to walk around the touristy areas and to mingle with the vendors who make a living off of selling Eiffel tower replicas to tourists. To begin experiencing the heart of a city, one must wander the streets that tourists rarely venture, talk to shop keepers that are not invested in tourism, and drink coffee at the locations frequented mostly by the locals. Although this approach is hard on the legs, it has never left me disappointed..

So what do I now know about Paris? Well….Paris is as friendly as you want it to be. Most people speak English but only after you try to speak French. Start with English, and you will be disappointed. Start with French, and you will find loads of encouragement. Paris is expensive. Really, really, expensive. Everything I want to eat and drink and do here is mind numbingly expensive. If you want to do anything at all, be prepared to spend double the money you think it should cost. Paris is fashionable. The people here make most average Americans look like slobs who were never taught to dress themselves. Even the school children make me want to buy new clothes to cover my readily visible Americanism. Lastly, the Parisian people remind me of home. Sure they speak French and are dressed better, but when I stop trying to understand what they are saying to each other, I see that their body language communicates the same joy, sadness and disappointment that I see on the streets of America. Even more amusing, everyone is always in the middle of sending a text message. Or reading one. They are talking on their cell phones and listening to their iPods. Although it is a surprise to me (read: I am sure I am the last one to know), we are more alike than we are different.

Tonight is our last night in Paris and I am a bit sad about it. Our time here has been hectic and intense and I will not be sorry to leave that behind. But… I want to come back to Paris and stay for a month or so. I want to wander the streets before the city awakens and spend long hours reading a novel at a street side cafe. I want to know the city well enough to walk around without a map. This is a city of dreams and I hope, some time in the future, to live that dream for just a little longer.