3 Days in Paris on a Budget

Paris has a reputation for being expensive, and its hotels and restaurants deserve it. Its sights mostly do not. The two most visited monuments in the city, Notre-Dame and the Sacré-Cœur, are free to enter. So are the great gardens, the covered arcades, the bridges, the riverbanks, the cemetery where Jim Morrison and Édith Piaf are buried and several excellent city museums. You can fill three full days with Paris at its best and pay for almost nothing.

This route does exactly that, and it spends the money where it makes the biggest difference. There are three paid tickets: the Sainte-Chapelle, the most beautiful room in the city, the Musée d'Orsay, the best value of the big museums, and the Eiffel Tower by the stairs, which is cheaper than the lift and more fun. Everything else is free, and the food plan is the Parisian one: bakery breakfasts, market picnics and one good set lunch a day.

The arrival day is free too. Spend the first evening walking along the Seine with a sandwich from the nearest bakery, and start the three days in the morning. The days can go in any order; the Orsay is closed on Mondays.

We earn a commission when you book through partner links on this page. It never changes the price you pay. See our affiliate disclosure.

This route at a glance

Tickets to book before you fly

Three tickets for the whole trip. The prices are the lowest adult prices on the booking page; students and young people get cheaper options at the checkout.

Arrival evening for almost nothing

Buy a baguette sandwich and a drink at the nearest bakery or supermarket and walk to the river. The quays of the Seine between the Pont Neuf and the Pont de Sully are where Parisians themselves picnic on summer evenings, and it costs nothing to join them.

After dark, cross to the tip of the Île de la Cité or walk to the Trocadéro for the Eiffel Tower lit up. Both are free, safe and open all night.

• Supermarkets (Monoprix, Franprix, Carrefour City) sell sandwiches, salads and wine at a fraction of café prices.
• Tap water is free in every restaurant: ask for "une carafe d'eau".
• Refill your bottle at the cast-iron Wallace fountains; the water is drinkable and costs nothing.

Day 1: Notre-Dame, the Sainte-Chapelle and the Latin Quarter

Start on the Île de la Cité. Notre-Dame is free to enter and at its quietest early in the morning, when the restored nave is filled with light. Then walk five minutes to the Sainte-Chapelle for the one ticket of the day, which also covers the Conciergerie next door: a chapel of stained glass and a vaulted medieval hall for the price of a museum entry.

Cross into the Latin Quarter for lunch. The streets around the rue de la Huchette are full of cheap crêpes, Greek sandwiches and falafel, and the Shakespeare and Company bookshop is free to browse. Walk up past the Sorbonne to the Panthéon, which is beautiful from the outside, and on to the Luxembourg Gardens, where a picnic on the lawns, the chairs by the pond and the puppet shows cost almost nothing.

In the late afternoon, walk through Saint-Germain-des-Prés, past the free church of Saint-Sulpice with its Delacroix murals, and down to the river. The Pont des Arts at sunset, with the Louvre on one side and the Île de la Cité on the other, is one of the best free views in Paris.

Stops in order

1. 8:30 · Notre-Dame Cathedral: free entry
   6 Parvis Notre-Dame - Place Jean-Paul II, 75004, Paris
2. 10:00 · Sainte-Chapelle: the one ticket of the day, with the Conciergerie
   8 Boulevard du Palais, 75001, Paris
3. 12:30 · Shakespeare and Company: cheap lunch around the rue de la Huchette
   37 Rue de la Bûcherie, 75005, Paris
4. 14:00 · Panthéon: from the outside
   Place du Panthéon, 75005, Paris
5. 14:30 · Luxembourg Gardens: picnic, chairs and the pond, free
   Place Edmond Rostand, 75006, Paris
6. 16:30 · Saint-Sulpice: Delacroix murals, free
   2 Rue Palatine, 75006, Paris
7. 18:30 · Pont des Arts: sunset view, free
   Promenade Marceline Loridan-Ivens, 75006, Paris

The numbers for this day

💡 Pro Tip

Eat lunch, not dinner, in restaurants

The "formule" set lunch at a Paris bistro, a main and a starter or dessert, costs far less than the same food at night. Make lunch your main meal and picnic in the evening.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

If it rains: Notre-Dame, the chapel and the Conciergerie are indoors. Swap the gardens for the free Musée de Cluny courtyard and the covered markets of the Left Bank.

Day 2: The Orsay, the Louvre from outside and Montmartre for free

Book the Musée d'Orsay for opening time. It holds the greatest collection of Impressionist painting in the world in a former railway station, and it is the one big museum on a budget trip that repays every euro. Two to three hours covers the top floor and the sculpture hall.

Cross the river by the footbridge and walk through the Tuileries to the Louvre. Its courtyards, the glass pyramid and the arcades of the Palais-Royal next door are free and as beautiful as many museums. Then walk north up the Avenue de l'Opéra to the Palais Garnier and into Galeries Lafayette, where the rooftop terrace on the eighth floor gives you the whole skyline for nothing.

Spend the late afternoon in Montmartre. The Sacré-Cœur is free, the steps in front of it are the best free viewpoint in Paris, and the Wall of Love, the Place du Tertre and the vineyard are all free to see. Stay for the sunset; bring something to drink and sit on the steps with half of Paris.

Stops in order

1. 9:30 · Musée d'Orsay: timed ticket, two to three hours
   1 Rue de la Légion d'Honneur, 75007, Paris
2. 12:15 · Tuileries Garden: picnic in the garden, free
   113, 75001, Paris
3. 13:00 · Louvre Museum: courtyards and pyramid, free from the outside
   Pont du Carrousel, 75001, Paris
4. 13:30 · Palais-Royal Garden: garden and columns, free
   Passage du Perron, 75001, Paris
5. 15:00 · Galeries Lafayette: free rooftop
   40 Boulevard Haussmann, 75009, Paris
6. 16:30 · Wall of Love: free
   Square Jehan Rictus, Place des Abbesses, 75018 Paris
7. 17:30 · Sacré-Cœur: basilica free, sunset on the steps
   Rue du Chevalier de la Barre, 75018, Paris

The numbers for this day

💡 Pro Tip

Walk up to the Sacré-Cœur, ride down

The stairs up from the square Louise-Michel are free and quick if your legs are fresh. At the end of the day, take the funicular down with a single metro ticket.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

If it rains: Orsay and Galeries Lafayette are indoors. The covered arcades of the Galerie Vivienne and the Passage des Panoramas, a short walk from the Opéra, are free and dry.

Day 3: Père Lachaise, the canal, the Marais and the Eiffel Tower

The Père Lachaise cemetery is one of the most visited places in Paris and entirely free. Pick up a map at the entrance and look for the graves of Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Édith Piaf and Chopin among cobbled lanes and old trees. It is peaceful, beautiful and surprisingly easy to spend two hours in.

Walk down through the Oberkampf district to the Canal Saint-Martin, buy lunch at a bakery and eat it by the locks. Then cross into the Marais, where the Musée Carnavalet, the museum of the history of Paris, and the house of Victor Hugo on the Place des Vosges are both free to visit. The falafel shops of the rue des Rosiers serve the best cheap lunch in Paris if you are still hungry.

End the trip at the Eiffel Tower. Climb to the second floor by the stairs, the cheapest ticket and the most memorable way up, in the late afternoon, and come down as the lights come on. Then walk across the river to the Trocadéro for the sparkle at the top of the hour.

Stops in order

1. 9:30 · Père Lachaise Cemetery: free, map at the entrance
   8 Boulevard de Ménilmontant, 75020, Paris
2. 12:00 · Canal Saint-Martin: picnic by the locks
   Paris
3. 14:00 · Musée Carnavalet: history of Paris, free, closed Mondays
   Rue Payenne, 75003, Paris
4. 15:15 · Place des Vosges: Victor Hugo's house, free
   Place des Vosges, 75004, Paris
5. 17:00 · Eiffel Tower: second floor by the stairs
   5 Avenue Anatole France, 75007, Paris
6. 19:00 · Trocadéro Gardens: the sparkle, free
   Paris

The numbers for this day

💡 Pro Tip

Picnic on the Champ de Mars after the tower

Buy cheese, bread and a bottle at the shops on the rue Cler before going up. After the climb, the lawns under the tower are the cheapest restaurant with the best view in Paris.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

If it rains: The two Marais museums are free and indoors. Keep the tower if the cloud is high; the stairs are covered by the structure but open to the wind.

Departure morning: free and close to the train

Use the last morning for one more free sight near your hotel or the station: the Canal Saint-Martin if you leave from the Gare du Nord or the Gare de l'Est, the Jardin des Plantes if you leave from the Gare d'Austerlitz or the Gare de Lyon.

For the airports, the RER and the airport buses are much cheaper than a taxi for one or two people.

• Buy breakfast at a bakery, not a hotel: a croissant and a coffee at the counter cost very little.
• Most hotels and hostels keep luggage after check-out for free.
• Leave three hours before an international flight from the city center.

Which day goes where

The three days can run in any order. Use this table to keep every sight off its closing day.

Free things to do in Paris on this route

More than half of the stops on this route are free, and several of them are among the most famous sights in the city. The table lists them with the day they appear on, so you can rearrange the plan without losing any.

💡 Pro Tip

Spend on one experience, not on many small ones

Three good tickets give you better memories than six cheap ones. If you have to choose a single splurge, make it the Sainte-Chapelle on a sunny morning.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

Eating well in Paris on a budget

• Bakeries are the cheapest good food in the city: a croissant for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, a pastry in the afternoon.
• Markets such as the Marché d'Aligre and the rue Mouffetard sell cheese, fruit and bread for a picnic.
• Set lunches in bistros cost far less than dinner in the same place.
• Falafel and crêpes in the Marais and the Latin Quarter are filling and cheap.
• Supermarket wine is good and inexpensive; a picnic by the Seine is legal and very Parisian.

Avoid cafés directly on the big squares and at the foot of famous monuments: the same coffee costs twice as much where the view is.

More 3-day routes

• Paris solo: walking tours and counter seats for traveling alone.
• Hidden Paris: secret courtyards and passages, mostly free.
• The Marais and east Paris: more of the free museums and the canal.
• Luxury Paris: the opposite approach, for the next trip.
• Getting around Paris in 3 days: the cheapest tickets for three days.
• 2 days in Paris: an even shorter, cheaper trip.
• All the 3-day routes, by theme