Paris on a Budget: 9 Cheap and Free Things to Do
Paris is expensive at the sights and cheap everywhere else
That split decides whether a week here runs EUR400 or EUR1,200. The free wins are real: Notre-Dame’s nave, Sacre-Coeur’s basilica, most parks, and the whole Marais on a Sunday cost nothing at all. The paid wins worth their price are narrower than the postcards suggest, the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower earn their tickets, plenty of the rest doesn’t. Nine specific moves below keep the spending honest, starting with the ones that cost exactly EUR0, then the paid sights that are worth booking anyway.
| Essentials | Paris |
|---|---|
| Days needed | 3-4 for the core sights, 5-7 to slow down |
| Best months | April-June, September-early October |
| Daily budget | Budget EUR60-90 ( |
| Book first | Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Sainte-Chapelle and the Catacombs, all mandatory timed entry, all sell out |
Nine cheap and free things worth doing
- Walk into Notre-Dame’s nave for free. The cathedral reopened 7 December 2024 and entry has always been free, no ticket required. An optional timed slot at resa.notredamedeparis.fr skips a second queue, but it only opens a few hours ahead, so don’t plan a day around getting one in advance.
- Enter Sacre-Coeur’s basilica for free. Only the 280-step dome climb, roughly EUR8, is a paid add-on, and it’s sold on-site only, no advance booking exists for it.
- Wander Le Marais on a Sunday. It’s one of the few central neighborhoods where shops routinely stay open that day, so it’s the natural default when the rest of the city goes quiet.
- Walk the Seine from Trocadero. The postcard shot back across the river toward the Eiffel Tower costs nothing, and the riverside walk toward Notre-Dame takes about 45 unhurried minutes.
- Visit Pere Lachaise Cemetery. Free entry, and a couple of hours among the graves of Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde and Edith Piaf.
- Take the Louvre’s free first Friday evening. Every month except July and August, 6pm-9pm entry is free for everyone, though you still need to reserve a slot at ticket.louvre.fr .
- Take Musee d’Orsay’s free first Sunday. Free on the first Sunday of the month with a reserved slot; otherwise EUR16, or EUR12 for the Thursday evening slot after 6pm.
- Eat a EUR5-8 boulangerie lunch. A sandwich and a pastry from any bakery with a line of Parisians out front beats a sit-down bill by two-thirds.
- Order the EUR18-28 menu or formule. This fixed two-course lunch or dinner is the everyday budget move at almost any bistro, and the couvert (a cover charge) doesn’t exist in French dining, so the price on the menu is the price you pay.
Which paid sights actually earn their ticket price
The Louvre charges EUR22 for EEA residents and EUR32 for everyone else since January 2026, mandatory timed entry, closed every Tuesday, and from July through August the slot is required for all visitors with no walk-up exceptions. It still earns the ticket: pick two or three galleries rather than the whole museum, the Objets d’Art and Near Eastern rooms are usually calmer than the Mona Lisa crowd. Book skip-the-line access on GetYourGuide if the official slots for your date are gone.
Sainte-Chapelle costs EUR16 EEA or EUR22 non-EEA, mandatory 30-minute timed slots booked at tickets.monuments-nationaux.fr ; a 10am booking expires at 10:30 if you’re late. The stained glass, 1,113 biblical scenes across 15 windows, is worth the ticket on a sunny morning. The Catacombs run EUR31 adult, EUR25 student 18-26, EUR12 child 5-17, audio guide included, and tickets release exactly 7 days ahead at 10am Paris time on catacombes.paris.fr , no walk-up purchase exists at all.
Musee d’Orsay and the Arc de Triomphe are the two cheaper paid sights worth adding: Orsay at EUR16 (closed Mondays), the Arc de Triomphe at EUR22 in high season (April-September) or EUR16 low season, with Wednesdays April-September discounted to the low-season rate.
Is the Paris Museum Pass worth it on a budget trip?
Only if you’re hitting three or more paid sights a day. A 2-day pass runs roughly EUR90, a 4-day EUR109, a 6-day EUR139, and it covers the Louvre, Orsay, Versailles, Sainte-Chapelle and the Arc de Triomphe among 50-plus sites, but not the Eiffel Tower, and nine of its included sites still need a separate timed-slot reservation even with the pass in hand.
What’s the cheapest way up the Eiffel Tower?
The stairs to the second floor, 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, bookable up to 60 days ahead through toureiffel.paris , and the view from the second floor already delivers the skyline shot most people actually want.
Do you need cash, or does Paris run on cards?
Cards work almost everywhere, including boulangeries and Metro machines, but carry some small change anyway; a handful of older cafes and market stalls are still cash-only below a certain amount. Service is already built into the menu price (a 15% charge required by law since 1985), so tipping is a rounding-up gesture, never a percentage calculation.
Getting around without wasting money on transit
Since January 2025, Paris flattened its fare system into two ticket types regardless of distance crossed within the city: Metro-Train-RER at EUR2.55, Bus-Tram at EUR2.05. Load them onto a Navigo Easy card, a one-time EUR2 cost, rather than hunting for paper tickets, carnets stopped being sold entirely after 31 December 2025. A Mobilis day pass, roughly EUR17.80, covers unlimited travel on a single calendar day and pays off once you’re making four or more trips. Check current fares and line status on Ile-de-France Mobilites before you travel, since engineering works disrupt several lines most summers. Central Paris is flat and dense enough that walking adjacent neighborhoods, Louvre to Notre-Dame, Eiffel Tower to Trocadero, is often as fast as the Metro once you count the walk to the station.
Where to stay on a budget
Le Marais and the Latin Quarter put you within walking distance of most of this list, the Marais for the Sunday-open shops and the Louvre’s back door, the Latin Quarter for Notre-Dame, Sainte-Chapelle and a genuinely cheaper dinner scene than the tourist streets right by the cathedral. Compare budget stays in both neighborhoods on Booking.com before you commit; a hostel dorm bed or a small budget double runs well under the mid-range band in the table above.
FAQ
Do paper Metro carnets still exist? No. They stopped being sold entirely after 31 December 2025. Load a Navigo Easy card with individual tickets instead, or buy a Mobilis day pass if you’re moving around constantly.
Is tipping required in Paris restaurants? No. Service is included in the menu price by law, leaving a euro or two, or rounding up the bill, is a common but entirely optional gesture.
Is Paris safe for a budget traveler walking at night? Generally yes in the central arrondissements, with the usual scam awareness: the gold-ring and petition-clipboard distractions near monuments, the bracelet-scam crews at Sacre-Coeur’s steps, and pickpockets concentrated on Metro lines 1 and 6 and through Chatelet-Les Halles.
Pick the free things first, then decide how many of the paid sights actually matter to you, that order alone is most of the budget. For a day-by-day plan, start with the 2-day itinerary or the fuller 7-day version ; for the honest verdict on the city itself, see our Paris overview , or go deeper on Notre-Dame and Sacre-Coeur . For Versailles, Giverny or Disneyland Paris, none of them covered here on purpose, see our Paris, France day-trip guide instead.