Paris in 5 Days on a Budget (With Daily Costs)
Five days adds the Catacombs and a genuinely free afternoon
Five days keeps the first four days, Eiffel Tower and free Notre-Dame nave, the Louvre and Sainte-Chapelle, free Montmartre and Sacre-Coeur, Musee d’Orsay and the Arc de Triomphe, and adds a fifth day built around the Catacombs and an entirely free afternoon along Canal Saint-Martin. It nests inside the 6-day and 7-day versions, or drops back to the 4-day , 3-day or 2-day plan if you need to cut time.
Book these before you go
- Reserve Eiffel Tower timed entry ; the stairs-only EUR14.80 slot to the second floor is the cheapest way up.
- Book Louvre timed entry , or skip-the-line access on GetYourGuide if the official dates are gone; it’s closed Tuesdays.
- Reserve a Sainte-Chapelle 30-minute slot at tickets.monuments-nationaux.fr , or check availability on Viator if morning slots are gone.
- Book Catacombs tickets the moment they release, exactly 7 days ahead at 10am Paris time, or a guided skip-the-line option on Viator if you miss the window.
- Compare budget stays in the Marais on Booking.com .
The 5-day route at a glance
| Day | Focus | Est. daily cost |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Eiffel Tower (stairs option) + free Notre-Dame nave | EUR40-60 |
| Day 2 | Louvre + Sainte-Chapelle | EUR60-90 |
| Day 3 | Montmartre + free Sacre-Coeur + Le Marais | EUR25-40 |
| Day 4 | Musee d’Orsay + Arc de Triomphe | EUR40-60 |
| Day 5 | The Catacombs + free Canal Saint-Martin | EUR45-65 |
Day 1: The Eiffel Tower and the free walk along the Seine
Morning: The cheapest ticket up the Eiffel Tower is the stairs-only climb to the second floor at EUR14.80, roughly EUR9 less than the second-floor lift (EUR23.50) and over EUR20 less than the summit (EUR36.70). All three are timed entry, booked up to 60 days out through toureiffel.paris , so fix your date before you land. From the top, the Champ de Mars below is free to walk, and Trocadero across the river is the free wide-angle photo everyone actually wants.
Lunch: A boulangerie sandwich and pastry runs EUR5-8 total, roughly a third of a sit-down bistro bill, and there’s one on nearly every block back from the tower itself.
Afternoon: Walk the Seine east, roughly 45 minutes at an easy pace, or take the Metro (flat EUR2.55 fare) to Ile de la Cite. Notre-Dame’s nave is completely free, no ticket required; book a free timed slot at resa.notredamedeparis.fr if you want to skip a second queue, but slots only open a few hours ahead, so don’t plan around getting one in advance.
Evening: Dinner in the Latin Quarter. A formule (fixed two-course menu) runs EUR18-28 at most bistros, and service is already included in the price, so tipping is a rounding-up gesture, not an obligation. Book an evening Seine cruise for about EUR19 if you want the illuminated version of today’s walk, or skip it, the riverbank at night is free and covers most of the same view.
Day 2: The Louvre and Sainte-Chapelle’s stained glass
Morning: The Louvre costs EUR22 for EEA residents, EUR32 for everyone else, mandatory timed entry, closed Tuesdays. Book at ticket.louvre.fr as early as your dates allow; the free first-Friday-evening slot (6pm-9pm, every month except July and August) is the single best deal in the building if an evening visit fits your schedule instead of a morning one. Pick two or three galleries rather than the whole museum, the Mona Lisa crowd is real, but the Objets d’Art and Near Eastern rooms are usually calm.
Lunch: Rue de Rivoli or the Palais-Royal arcades both have quick boulangerie-standard lunches under EUR10.
Afternoon: Reserve a 30-minute Sainte-Chapelle slot for EUR16 EEA or EUR22 non-EEA; a 10am booking has to be used by 10:30am, so don’t wander in late. The stained glass alone earns the ticket price, and it’s a two-minute walk from Notre-Dame.
Evening: Compare budget stays in the Marais or Latin Quarter before committing to a neighborhood; both keep you walking distance from everything covered over these five days.
Day 3: Montmartre and Sacre-Coeur, free both ways
Morning: Climb to Sacre-Coeur before 10am, both to beat the crowds and the bracelet-scam crews who work the steps up from Anvers Metro station, grabbing a wrist to tie a friendship bracelet before you can refuse it, then demanding payment. Say non and keep walking. The basilica itself is free, no ticket, no timed slot. The dome climb is a separate on-site-only ticket, EUR8 adult, no advance booking exists for it.
Lunch: A crepe from a Montmartre street stand runs EUR4-6, the standard budget lunch here.
Afternoon: Wander Place du Tertre and the side streets below Rue des Abbesses, all free. Then head to Le Marais, one of the only central neighborhoods where shops stay open on Sundays if that’s the day you land here.
Evening: A EUR18-28 formule if you want a sit-down meal, otherwise a falafel from Rue des Rosiers runs closer to EUR8-10 standing up.
Day 4: Musee d’Orsay and the Arc de Triomphe
Morning: Musee d’Orsay costs EUR16 standard, or EUR12 for the Thursday evening slot after 6pm, and it’s free for EU residents 18-25 and free on the first Sunday of the month with a reserved slot. Closed Mondays. Check current hours at musee-orsay.fr before you build the day around it.
Lunch: Cross the river and eat near Saint-Germain; a formule here runs the same EUR18-28 as everywhere else in central Paris.
Afternoon: Walk the Champs-Elysees toward the Arc de Triomphe, free to look at from below, EUR22 to climb April-September, EUR16 October-March, and free under 18 and for EU residents under 26. Wednesdays April-September get the low-season EUR16 rate even in high season.
Evening: Budget dinner near your hotel; save the splurge money for whichever paid sight mattered most to you this trip.
Day 5: The Catacombs and a free afternoon along the canal
Morning: Book Catacombs tickets at catacombes.paris.fr the moment they release, exactly 7 days ahead at 10am Paris time; there’s no walk-up purchase at all. EUR31 adult, EUR25 student 18-26 with ID, EUR12 child 5-17, audio guide included. If you missed the release window, guided skip-the-line tours on Viator cost more than the official EUR31 price but guarantee a slot.
Lunch: A boulangerie sandwich again, EUR5-8, save the budget for tonight.
Afternoon: Canal Saint-Martin, entirely free to walk, iron footbridges, bookshops, and a noticeably more local crowd than the Marais.
Evening: Dinner along the canal costs about the same as anywhere else in Paris, a EUR18-28 formule, but the setting is quieter and less obviously tourist-priced.
Why does the Catacombs booking work differently from everything else?
Every other paid sight on this list, the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Sainte-Chapelle, Orsay, opens booking weeks or months ahead. The Catacombs releases tickets exactly 7 days out at 10am Paris time and nothing earlier, so it’s the one booking on this whole trip you can’t lock in when you first plan the itinerary. Set a calendar reminder for the release window a week before your chosen date.
Is Canal Saint-Martin worth a half-day on a 5-day trip?
Yes, mainly as contrast. After four days of paid sights and timed slots, an afternoon that costs nothing and moves at its own pace resets the trip, and the neighborhood itself, footbridges, bookshops, a genuinely local crowd, holds up on its own terms.
Load a Navigo Easy card (EUR2, reloadable) at your first Metro station rather than hunting for paper tickets; they stopped being sold entirely after 31 December 2025.