Paris in 7 Days on a Budget (With Daily Costs)

Seven days ends on the cheapest day of the trip

Seven days keeps the first six 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, the Catacombs and a free Canal Saint-Martin afternoon, free Pere Lachaise and a market day, and closes with a seventh day that costs almost nothing: a free rooftop view and whatever’s left on your list. If a week is more than you need, this same route nests down into the 6-day , 5-day , 4-day , 3-day or 2-day plan.

Book these before you go

The 7-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 6 Free Pere Lachaise + market + Jardin du Luxembourg EUR20-35
Day 7 Free rooftop view + farewell day EUR15-25

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 this trip.

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.

Day 6: Pere Lachaise, a real market, and the Luxembourg Gardens

Morning: Pere Lachaise Cemetery is free to enter, and the walk past Jim Morrison’s, Oscar Wilde’s, and Edith Piaf’s graves takes a couple of unhurried hours.

Lunch: Marche des Enfants Rouges in the Marais, the oldest covered market in Paris, open since 1615, has cheap prepared-food stalls from EUR8-12, Tuesday through Sunday.

Afternoon: Jardin du Luxembourg is free, and the Musee Rodin’s garden alone, rather than the full museum, is a EUR4 ticket that gets you next to The Thinker without paying for the whole collection.

Evening: A last budget dinner in Saint-Germain or the Latin Quarter, the same EUR18-28 formule logic as every other night.

Day 7: A free rooftop view and one last market

Morning: Galeries Lafayette’s rooftop terrace on Boulevard Haussmann is free to access and gives you a wide skyline view without a ticket, a genuinely underused budget move on a trip that’s otherwise been full of timed slots.

Lunch: One more boulangerie sandwich, or a final crepe if you haven’t had one since Montmartre.

Afternoon: Whatever you didn’t get to. Rue Mouffetard for a last market wander, or a return visit to whichever paid sight was worth a second look.

Evening: Pack, and if your flight allows it, one last free Seine walk after dinner instead of a paid nightcap.

Why end a 7-day trip on the cheapest day instead of another paid sight?

Because by day 7 you’ve already covered every mandatory-timed sight worth booking, the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Sainte-Chapelle, the Catacombs, and adding another paid ticket mostly just repeats the same trade-off. A free rooftop view and an open afternoon close the trip without another queue or another timed slot to track.

Do you need a full week to see Paris properly on a budget?

Not strictly, the 4-day or 5-day versions already cover the paid sights that matter. Seven days mainly buys breathing room, two genuinely free days instead of one, and less of the sprint feeling that a 2 or 3-day trip has.

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.