“See Paris and die” – this phrase is often remembered by our compatriots. All Russians seem to have a craving for a trip to Paris. But it seems to many that this is a very expensive pleasure, you have to save money for a long time in order to just walk around the capital of France. Is it so? Is it possible to relax with 100 euros in your pocket? You probably smiled skeptically? So, this is a real reality, if you know some of the hidden sides of a tourist holiday in Europe.
We won't dwell too much on air travel because it's pretty easy to get a cheap ticket to Paris or another European city these days. The list of low-cost airlines flying from Moscow to Europe can be found on our website.
How to get to the center. paris metro
So, you have arrived in the capital of France – Paris. The first thing you need to do is get to the city center. Buses to the metro are waiting for you right at the exits of Charles de Gaulle airport, the cost of a trip of 10 euros is not cheap, but you can save about 2 euros when buying a round-trip ticket. If you find a ticket machine on the territory of the airport, then the price is lower – 9 euros 10 cents. The choice is yours.
Well, finally, you will get into the Paris metro. Do not be afraid of the unpleasant smell and do not get shocked by the abundance of African citizens, it seems that there are much fewer Europeans there. The metro is the scourge of Paris, homeless people live here, all sorts of suspicious people gather, and there are very few police. But Paris is used to this and takes it quite calmly, because there is no crime there.
If you have patience, and do not pay attention to the shortcomings of the subway in Paris, then you will quickly reach the desired point. Be sure to carefully study the metro map before the trip, it looks like a multi-level rebus, you can easily get lost here and spend extra money – some directions need to be paid extra.
Where is the best place to stay
Now you need to consider options for stopping for the night. A huge number of hotels and hotels of different stars and hostels have opened their doors to tourists. But this is a completely different price, one night in a hostel on the outskirts of Paris costs about 40 euros, this is not for your budget.
Of course, if you plan your vacation in advance and book your accommodation at least six months in advance, then it is not difficult to find budget offers, but here the probability of buying a cheap plane ticket is reduced, and there may not be a profitable offer on the day of booking.
But what to do when you are in Paris, and there is very little money, not to spend the night on the street? For such cases, a wonderful way out has appeared for a poor traveler to spend the night completely free of charge in the center of Paris and in a comfortable environment. Does it look like a fairy tale? Yes, but this is reality and a new movement in tourism circles.
Looking for free accommodation in Paris
First, go to the Paris Public Library in order to find free internet, and just get to know this attraction. You can talk about this place for a very long time, about nine million unique book editions, scrolls, palm leaves, clay tablets and many other items on which various information is imprinted are stored here.
There are about 3,000 staff in the library. This is a real treasury, there are books in all languages of the world, both living and dead. The buildings are arranged in the form of open books, and the atmosphere you find yourself in cannot be described in words. But you need free internet. This is a problem elsewhere in Paris. In a cafe you need to order something to get access to the Internet, in hotels it is available only for guests, but the Parisian Library is the place where you can surf the Internet calmly and for free.
Couchsurfing is a popular destination in world tourism.
You need to find everything about couchsurfing. Sounds a little strange and incomprehensible. There is a movement in which people from all over the world willingly participate. They absolutely free of charge provide their accommodation to travelers. This is what is called couchsurfing. Why do people do this? Yes, probably, in order to find new friends, so that you can easily move from one country to another, and simply improve our mercantile world.
On the Internet, in any search engine, enter Couch Surfing, go to the appropriate site and see all the offers for Paris. You will definitely find what you need! So the issue with spending the night has been resolved, and even in the center. In addition, you have visited a magnificent book city. It should be noted that another advantage of couchsurfing in Paris is the chance to study the life of Parisians from the inside.
We can summarize a little:
It remains 55 euros for food, souvenirs, entrance tickets to museums and entertainment. It turns out that it is quite possible to spend a weekend in Paris, having 100 euros.
Immerse yourself in the atmosphere of a Parisian apartment
Let's go explore the new house. In the central part of Paris, residential buildings are very beautiful, they look like museums, although ordinary French families have been living in them for several centuries. Many local residents, as in our tourist cities, rent housing by the day. They also participate in couchsurfing – they let in for one or more nights free of charge travelers without a penny in their pocket. Moreover, there is no concept of a return visit, you do not need to invite to spend the night in your house. Surprisingly, this is the main advantage of Parisian couchsurfing.
If you've watched French movies and remember the apartments of the characters, this is exactly what you'll see in your apartment in Paris. Large windows that fill the room with a high stucco ceiling with light, a fireplace, a balcony with a wrought iron lattice, a lot of things selected and arranged with taste.
Many of the items are rare, over 100 years old. Parisians are sensitive to their history, interior items, clothes, are stored for centuries and passed from one generation to another.
Sometimes there is a feeling of clutter, but then, when you get used to the atmosphere and feel the Parisian spirit, it becomes clear that here every thing creates the overall atmosphere of the apartment and conveys the character of its owner.
The cost of such an apartment is about one million five hundred thousand euros. In principle, if you take a five-room apartment of the old fund in the center of St. Petersburg or Moscow, the price will be higher. But, it should be noted that in Russia very rich people mostly live in such apartments. In Paris, the rich live in houses outside the city, and in the center – ordinary people who inherited this wealth of real estate.
Parisians have a calm attitude to their housing, no one is afraid to let strangers in. The French calmly give the keys to their home, you find yourself practically in a museum of Parisian life. And without spending a single cent.
Suppose, as an alternative, you could stay in an inexpensive hostel. You will be met there by state-owned bunk beds and a lot of poor foreigners. Hostels in all countries are similar to each other and about the Parisian spirit, it is simply inappropriate to talk there.
In your version, this is a French weekend in an old apartment of a true Parisian. Of course, it is impossible to completely exclude fraud in the couchsurfing movement, unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world and all people are different. But in general, this is a very progressive and necessary movement. Couchsurfing is a real help for a poor tourist who wants to travel around European cities as much as possible. Kudos to the inventor of such a useful idea.