Challenge: Part 2 of 2 in Daytrip to Paris for £50

So, I’m off on my day-trip to Paris tomorrow. As you may recall, my challenge is go to Paris, see the sights, take in some culture and eat local food – for £50.

The biggest hurdle, of course, is actually getting there (and uh, returning home to London) for less than £50. We always knew this was going to be tricky. I’ve been trawling Facebook groups, Ebay and Gumtree.com for the last few weeks, but I couldn’t find any cheaper tickets than Eurostar’s current return offer for £59. So a few weeks ago I bit the bullet and booked myself a return trip – thereby landing myself an automatic FAIL by going £9 over budget. Merde. Oh well, it’s still an exceptionally good deal, but I’m going to have to spend my money very wisely tomorrow to make up for it.

With that in mind, I’ve compiled a list of stuff to do for free in Paris. But actually getting around the free stuff presents another issue. At first I thought I would get a one-day Paris Visite ticket and zip around the city on the Metro, but it’s not exactly cheap at €8.50. And whilst the city’s free bike system is a fabulous cash-free – and green – way to take in the sights, I’m not the world’s most confident cyclist, and I don’t fancy ending up in the back of a baguette van. So I’ve decided to combine walking with two single Metro tickets (at €1.60 each).

I’ve used Google maps as a free tool to plan my walking tour, making sure that all the “free attractions” are within walking distance. At this point, I will take the Metro from Gare du Nord station to le Marais district, where I’ll take in the Musée Carnavalet, one of Paris’s free museums. After that, I plan to partake in a bit of lèche-vitrines (literally “window-lick”) around le Marais, which will lead me down to the Seine. I haven’t decided what to do for the rest of the afternoon, but I’m considering visiting Notre Dame, and having a picnic lunch in either Jardin des Plantes or Jardin du Luxembourg.

Here are my favourite resources for free stuff to do in Paris:

http://traveler.nationalgeographic.com/2008/03/free-city/paris-text
http://en.parisinfo.com/guide-paris/money/free-admission-and-good-deals/Museum

Let me know if you have any tips for free stuff to do around the 5th arr. Until then, au revoir!