The price is right for an American in Paris

Views from Sacre Coeur, a basilica perched above the neighborhood of Montmartre, are among the best in the city

June 23, 2000
Web posted at: 5:44 p.m. EDT (2144 GMT)

From Jim Bittermann
CNN European Correspondent

Editor's note: This is the fourth in a four-part series on how to travel affordably to some top tourist destinations

PARIS (CNN) -- Before David Voss and his family set foot on French soil, they traveled to Web sites to get ready for their vacation.

"We actually used the Internet a lot to check on the chateaux and the hotels," the California resident said. "You actually get breaks on the price if you do that as well."

To discover deals in ever-popular Paris and avoid being overwhelmed by all there is to do and see, travelers might want to follow the Vosses' lead and start looking long before they get there.

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There are plenty of ways to keep expenses to a minimum, including dining out as most French do -- at simple neighborhood restaurants.

Staying at one of the hundreds of smaller hotels is another. The Hotel Perfect, for example, may not be as perfect as one of those five-star palaces, but the rooms are clean, and who can complain about 40 dollars a night for a double in the center of the city?

For art lovers, a stay in Paris demands a visit to the Louvre Museum, where admission is nearly half-off after 3 p.m. and on Sundays. Even better, it's free on the first Sunday of each month.

One $10 bus boat ticket allows visitors to get on and off all day long

To get around town, riding the subway is easy and affordable. Buying 10 tickets at a time drives the cost down to about 80 cents each.

Back on the surface, visitors can catch boats along the Seine. The budget-minded can hop on and off a bus boat all day long for just $10. Tourists can get the same flexibility on a guided tour boat, but at twice the price.

Besides other obvious tourist draws like the Eiffel Tower or the panoramic view from Montmartre, visitors can consider taking a ride on the 196-foot, 60-meter-high millennium Ferris wheel or take part July 14 in the world's largest picnic, which will stretch through Paris from Dunkirk to Barcelona.

Cash, check or charge?

This is a good time for Americans in Paris, thanks to exchange rates favoring the dollar. But rates can and do change -- just last month the dollar was worth nearly 20 percent more than last year.

Stopping at modest neighborhood restaurants is a tasty way to save money

And no matter how favorable the rates are, it pays to know the best way to take advantage of them. Sometimes planning ahead too much can actually cost you money.

Mark Stroup of Orlando, Florida, realized it's less expensive to use credit cards and automatic teller machines in Paris, than to exchange money and buy travelers checks before leaving home.

"When I checked the rate at the airport, it was 12 percent off what was published in the Wall Street Journal in the morning," he said. "But when come here, the banks this side charge a point and a half, and on the American side only charge a point and a half, so I am only losing 3 percent on the transaction."

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