paris city guide

We love Paris. We love classical concerts and operas. And we love saving money. Thus, we combined our loves and put together a list of five ways to do culture in Paris à la cheapo.

You might never want to leave Paris again, but if you do hunger for a quick day trip break, we've got a few suggestions: Monet's garden retreat of Giverny, the dramatic cathedral city of Chartres, and the royal palace of Versailles.

EuroCheapo Paris Correspondent Mike spent much of the fall of 2006 visiting hotels in Paris for EuroCheapo. Read about Mike's take on his adopted hometown (as well as his two favorite Paris hotels) right here.

Like everyone else, we rely on guidebooks to help us make sense of the places we visit. Here, we review our favorite Paris guidebooks and share what specifically we like about each of them.

The Paris Tourism Office boasts that the city’s hotels are less expensive than those in New York and London, and it certainly seems easier to secure budget sleeps in Paris than in either of those other cities, despite the proliferation of trendy designer boutique hotels and luxury palaces.

We think you should be strolling the banks of the Seine (or dreaming about it) instead of hunting for travel-friendly websites, so we've done the dirty work for you. Here are our favorite Paris links. Visit them, but don't forget to come back to us. If you don't, we might cry.

Judith Mahoney Pasternak is the author of A Parent's Guide to Washington, D.C. (Mars 2002), A Parent's Guide to New York City (2001), and Timeless Places: Paris (MetroBooks 2000) a coffee-table book. Additionally, she's published books on country music, jazz, Dolly Parton, and Beethoven.

Judith Mahoney Pasternak divulges her Paris top secrets here, in a EuroCheapo exclusive. Read about Judith's dining and transportation suggestions, her favorite historical spot, her favorite charming spot, and her favorite multipurpose park in the City of Light.