Paris on a Budget

Finally decided to return to Paris second half of September 2007.

My wife %26amp; I plan to stay for about 2 weeks in a generally central location in the city.

The question is whether to book a budget hotel %26amp; eat out all the time or to find an apartment where we can prepare our own meals rather than go out every nite.

Remembering I%26#39;m just seeking seeking something reasonably priced so your opinions would be greatly appreciated.

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Important question:

Does your wife -want- to cook on vacation...? (and clean, too)

I don%26#39;t cook much at home, and sure as heck don%26#39;t want to while on vacation. We have picked up some food to eat in our room, indoor picnic, but you have to know that that will be ok at the hotel you choose (some are fussy about it). But cooking, cleaning up, making beds ... nope, it isn%26#39;t for me.

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We leave for Paris in two days and have booked an apartment with parisvacationapartments.com, a very efficient agency.

We considered the pros %26amp; cons and an apartment is by far the cheapest and best option. Four of us travelling together get to stay in a very elegant and roomy apartment in the centre of Paris (near the Louvre) for a bit over $A100 per person per night. What decent hotel can offer that.

Unless you pay an arm and a leg Paris hotel rooms are tiny and I would think that two weeks in a cheap Paris hotel would be hell. And hey! you are on holidays and who cares if the bed doesn%26#39;t get made.

For an apartment a weekly maid could also be part of the deal

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We leave for Paris in two days and have booked an apartment with parisvacationapartments.com, a very efficient agency.

We considered the pros %26amp; cons and an apartment is by far the cheapest and best option. Four of us travelling together get to stay in a very elegant and roomy apartment in the centre of Paris (near the Louvre) for a bit over $A100 per person per night. What decent hotel can offer that.

Unless you pay an arm and a leg Paris hotel rooms are tiny and I would think that two weeks in a cheap Paris hotel would be hell. And hey! you are on holidays and who cares if the bed doesn%26#39;t get made.

For an apartment a weekly maid could also be part of the deal

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Naturally an apt. is a much cheaper option, and I%26#39;ve noticed that many people on this forum have been extremely satisfied with places they have rented.

I think your decision is a very personal one. Like travelnutty, I don%26#39;t cook much, and that%26#39;s the last thing I would want to do in Paris. The thought of brewing my own coffee doesn%26#39;t appeal to me, and I wouldn%26#39;t even want to have to go to the store to buy baguettes for sandwiches. In addition, I prefer to know that my only responsibilty is to check into a hotel. But that%26#39;s me.

On the other hand, I%26#39;ve never stayed in a hotel for as long as 2 weeks, and I understand how costly a decent hotel can be for that amount of time. I suggest that you decide on a rough budget and and make your decision accordingly. It%26#39;s never cheap to eat out, but you can always manage to get meals (even sandwiches) without having to spend a fortune.

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Thank you everyone for your thoughts.

Looks like an apartment is the best option!

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Apartment.

I don%26#39;t want to cook on holidays, but I get pretty sick of restaurant food and two weeks of it just ain%26#39;t fun for me. So when we travel we get apartments.

The savings of money and calories is considerable for breakfasts, and we usually pick up a light snack for the evenings. Lots of great options for self-catering in this city so that you can not cook whiel still eating at home. We save restaurants for lunch time when, we enjoy the break from running around, menus are more affordable and we have the entire afternoon to walk it off. With all the savings we usually offer ourselves a blow out dinner, or two.

You may want to inquire with the landlord as to housekeeping services, especially for a two week stay.

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Apartment is the best thing for your budget. You save a lot only by not having breakfast at the hotel or in a café. If you estimate the cost of a breakfast for 2 at 15 euros, you are taking about 200 euros more or less that you can put elsewhere. And it not because you have rented a flat that you cannot go to restaurants once in a while at night!

Another good thing for apartment is you can oversleep any time you don%26#39;t have to woory about breakfast hours at the hotel or with the maid knocking on your door to clean the room. You eat whenever you feel like.

And living in an aprtment is definitely cheaper than booking a room in an hotel. We just got back from Paris and we had a one bedroom flat, conveninently located in the 11th, for a bit over 1200 euro (that is less than 100 euro a night!). And we felt like really living in Paris.

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I%26#39;ve not stayed in a Paris apartment (yet ), but did have a hotel in New York with the added bonus of a small kitchen. It was great to have a fridge for the drinks, and the microwave and toaster were put to good use at breakfast. I cooked no more than scrambled eggs on toast and didn%26#39;t feel I was wasting valuable holidaty time.

I don%26#39;t think anything similar exists in Paris but I would go for the apartment: in fact I%26#39;m so convinced by earlier replies that I%26#39;m already looking at them for my next trip.

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Paris can be very expensive or very cheap, depending on how you do it. I would recommend an apartment so you can have Bfast and coffee in and even if you do not want to cook on vacation, make sure you have a microwave oven to reheat the goodies you buy at the markets.

Either way can be fine IF you and your wife agree to do it.

Remember that most Parisians are on a budget and do not go out that often!

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Kebabs, you got it wrong. The Citadines chain has apartment-hotels where you have an almost full kitchen with microwave, toaster, stove with 2 burners but no coffee machine though.

www.citadines.com is their site