Paris on the cheap

Senior Times


Paris is a favourite destination, but it can be expensive. Special deals and free treats keep the cost down, as Marianne Heron advises. 


It is said of Parisians that they treat children like adults, until they become adults when they are indulged like children. It’s an approach that sounds like the perfect carte blanche for real grown ups in the 50 plus bracket to enjoy Europe’s most visited city. And it is possible to do so without breaking the bank, despite the French capital’s reputation as one of the top 20 most expensive cities in the world.
The secret of making the most of a visit is to discover the many budget and free deals on offer. Equally important is to do as the Parisians – who have l‘art de vivre down to a T -do, rather than falling into costly tourist traps. And the essential Paris: the magnificent boulevards, the serene parks , the Seine and the glorious architecture are simply there, free of charge to all.

Parisian venues are not particularly generous towards seniors, for instance reductions for museums , entry typically around €8.50 ,only apply to school children and students and the museums are full of solemn school kids being stuffed, like foie gras geese , with culture. But against that museums are free on the first Sunday of every month, (it’s best to avoid the most popular ones like the Louvre and the Musee d’Orsay ,) and some have a reduced rates on special days. The permanent exhibitions in all 14 municipal museums (musees.paris.fr) are free. These include the fascinating Musee Carnavalet in the Marais where the history of Paris is told through artefacts housed in two 16th mansions, one of which belonged to Madame de Sevigne, gossip and letter writer during the late 1600s, the Musee Victor Hugo –author of Les Miserables- in Renaissance Place Vosges one of the earliest and most beautiful squares in the world and the 1900 Petit Palais where the permanent exhibition houses many works by Impressionists. Less well known but great value (€6.50) and especially interesting for males is the Musee des Arts et Metiers in Rue Reamur which has a fascinating display of inventions from chronometers to aeroplanes. There are the Paris Museum Passes for 2, 4 or 6 days( eg €40 for a two day pass,)which give you unlimited entry and priority at paying museums, available from museums and metro stations.


Some of the best deals for transport and reduced hotel rates are given with SNFC’s (the French rail company,) Carte Senior ( cost around €55,) entitling over 60s up to 50pc reduction on fares, with a guaranteed 25pc reduction even at the last minute. Remember that booking at least 10days in advance entitles travellers to a cheaper travel rate and booking in with SNFC also earns a discount with their partners Avis and ACCOR Group Hotels.

For Opera buffs it may be well worth checking out the Vacances Bleu offers( reference to blue rinses rather than blue movies? www.vacancesbleu.fr ) which include a three day half board stay at the Hotel Provinces Opera just 10minutes from Opera Garnier for under €200. With time and flexibility of your side it is possible to take advantage of extravagant treats like opera, theatre and ballet for a fraction of the original price. Pariscope and Officiel des Spectacles publications will tell you what is on, web sites like www.billetreduc.com, www.webguichet.com and www.tickettac.com advertise cut price tickets while discounted tickets for the day of performance are available Kiosk Theatre Madeleine, in Place de la Madeleine and Kiosk Theatre Monparnasse, Parvis Montparnasse.
Pariscope and Officiel also list the entertaining themed walking tours around Paris on subjects from chocolate to Hemingway, cost around €10.These usually start from a metro station at 10.30 am or 2.30 pm. For English talks check www.paris-walks.com.
When your time is your own you can take advantage of the wonderful free concerts that happen all over Paris, often in the daytime and especially in churches, for instance there is a free organ concert in St- Eustache church near Les Halles every Sunday at 5.30pm and the American Cathedral in Avenue George V have over 50 musical performances a year , many of them free.. A call to the very helpful Paris Tourist Office 0892 68 30 00 will usually yield one, if not several free concerts every day. A number of cinema companies –Gaumont Premier and Pathe Wepler offer a modest reduction for over 65s on production of ID.

Eating Out 
Food can eat up a huge slice of the budget ,pun intended, but eating Parisian style keeps costs down. Watch were the French go, restaurants ,brasseries and bistros offer good deal with a fixed price special of the day, ( sample lunchtime salad ,steak au poivre and mousse au chocolat for €12 at La Braserade in Rue de la Huchette , in the Latin Quarter.) The deal often offers entrée and plat ( starters and main,) or plat and dessert combinations sometimes with wine or a coffee thrown in. Asking for a carafe of water is another cost cutter as restaurants tend to charge extra on minerals and bottled waters. Eating ethnic – in Moroccan or Lebanese restaurants and Asian traiteurs, where a great selection of ready to go Chinese or Vietnamese dishes are offered ready to go, offer better value still. The best deal of the lot we saw was €6 for a dish of the day with noodles or rice and a mineral at the Asian Traiteur in Rue Rambateau . Bakeries have all kinds of delicious grazing food, quiches, sandwiches, pizzas and what could be better than a fresh baguette with ripe cheese, pate and fruit for a picnic. A dejeuner sur l’herbe provides the perfect excuse to experience a Parisian favourite, in one of the city’s many glorious parks like the quirky Parc des Buttes –Chaumont or the English style Parc Monceau with its follies and grottoes, and hopefully catch a few stray rays at the same time.

Accommodation
There are plenty of options for reasonably priced accommodation in Paris. Sharing makes a stay more affordable still as the civilised French charge for a double room rather than per person sharing. With double rooms in no star or one star hotels available from around as little as around €60 for a room with a wash basin a night, that brings the individual rate to just over €30 a night. When choosing a hotel check if the price includes breakfast, whether you will share a shower and consult a map to make sure the address isn’t out in the sticks. Book in advance as good budget hotels get snapped up very quickly and check visitor ratings . Hotel St- Honore in posh Rue St -Honore charges an incredibly reasonable E89 for a double0033 (0)1 4236 2038 and the Esmerelda 0033 (0)1 43541920) in the Latin Quarter E85 ( without breakfast). Bohemian areas like Montmartre tend to cost less and at the Hotel Bonsejour in Rue Burq prices start from €54 for a double ,(basin, no breakfast.) 0033 (0)1 42542253.
An increasingly popular alternative, one which allows you to economise by self catering, with the excuse to do some wonderful food shopping in markets and specialist food shops, is to choose a furnished apartment or studio (known as residences). Prices start from as little as €60 for a small studio for two apartments from around €90. .www. vivreaparis.com (specialising in the Marais,) and Interhome are good schemes to try. At Home In Paris, France Apartments and France- Lodge, in addition to apartments also arrange B&B known as Chambre d’Hote. For further information check with the Tourism Office 08 9268 30 00.An even more budget way to go is to join a home exchange organisation like Home link or Homes for Exchange for a modest fee and arrange a simultaneous exchange or if both parties have second homes a non simultaneous one.
Good planning, concentrating the attractions in a particular district saves time and energy. For instance a day combining Isle de la Cite with Notre Dame , the Sainte-Chapelle and the Left Bank with its restaurants and intriguing shops, works well. Alternatively concentrating on the Marais and its historic mansions and museums and the nearby Pompidou Centre, or the posh designer street of Faubourg St-Honore with the Louvre and the museums around the Tuileries gardens makes sense. The most efficient way to get around paris is by Metro, once you get the hang of the numbered lines and the habit of checking their eventual destination so that you travel in the right direction. A carnet of 10 tickets (€11.40) is cheaper and the tickets which also work on buses are flat rate no matter how long the journey.There is also a Paris Visite combined ticket available from stations and main Metro stops
A fun way to get to know the areas along the Seine is to take a hop on hop off Batobus www.batobus.com.If you are feeling energetic there are guided bicycle tours (Fat Bicycle Tours are available in English www.fattirebiketoursparis.com.) or for the brave there is Velib, a self service bicycle scheme which operates by credit card.(www.velib.paris.fr) Bonne chance!

For further information on Paris, contact:

Atout France - French National Tourism Agency
30, Upper Merrion Street, Dublin 2 - Ireland
Tel: +353(0)1 662 9351 Fax: +353(0)1 662 9346
www.franceguide.com

Aer Lingus flies to Paris (Charles de Gaulle) from Dublin and Cork. Ryanair fies to Paris (Bauvais) from Shannon

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