NFR: DH is going off to France! Any recommendations where to stay on the cheap?

C

cheezz

Well-known member
She may have an invite to stay in Winchester(?) on the south coast but hears the train into Paris is $50... each way... ouch! She will have 4 days on her own and must fly home out of Paris. She's 27 btw.

Also, food prices will be an issue, so maybe some good ideas there? She's a cheese fan and can exist *almost* entirely on cheese, bread and fruit.

Thanks all!!

 
Sorry, there are no cheap places in France, not with the Euro at $1.50. BUT

we always stay at this tiny hotel on the left bank. It's spare, but it's clean and in a fantastic location (link)

The cheapest rooms, with everything except a shower (there's one available on the top floor) ate about EU100 a night. But they have a view on the plaza, which is why we always book one of them.

I give the same food advice to everyone: go to Bon Marche department store, also on the left bank. The whole first floor is a food shop, the best in Paris, and not too expensive, by Paris standards.

http://maps.google.com/maps?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4SUNA_en___US208&um=1&q=hotel+recamier+paris&fb=1&view=text&latlng=17944351288486493805

 
Last night I opened the glass box used for our wedding rings and found an ad:

It was for suites in Paris between $35-$45 a night.

This was in 1981 and we couldn't afford them, which is why I saved the ad. Just in case--someday, somehow--we could get ourselves to Paris AND afford to spend $45 a night.

Now we spend that much for lunch at the sushi bar.

 
There are several long threads on France/Paris. You would find some tips in there. And if she loves

cheese, there's no better place in the world for her palate. She could borrow a France cheese book from the library and have a really good scout about.

Winchester? What is that?

 
Two star hotels are pretty adequate and inexpensive in Paris with one's own bathroom. There

are of course youth hostels.

Winchester seems to be a suburb of Paris, not on the coast and is only 2.8 miles to the center of Paris. Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia and check out link for Le Kremlin-Bicêtre. Ask your daughter if this is the place so she can look up hotels.

---

Winchester abroad

The city of Winchester is twinned with Laon in France and the Winchester district is twinned with Gießen in Germany.

The city of Winchester gave its name to a suburb of Paris, France, called Le Kremlin-Bicêtre (23,724 inhabitants), due to a manor built there by John of Pontoise, Bishop of Winchester, in the end of the 13th century.

The city is also the sister city of Winchester, Virginia. The Mayor of Winchester (UK) has a standing invitation to be a part of the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival in Winchester (VA) each year in the Spring.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Kremlin-Bic%C3%AAtre

 
Doing Paris on the Cheap...

Not sure how frugal she is, but I've had some great experiences staying at hostels in Paris. Check Rick Steve's "Europe Through the Back Door" on Paris. I've stayed in a lovely converted building from the 14th century. Mornings we were served endless cafe au lait and baguettes. It's also a great way to meet people. Hostels tend to be very "open" to meeting fellow travelers...And the hostel experience is not just for 18 year olds. It's a very popular thing to do in Europe and I've met everyone from nuns to nuclear partical physicsts at hostels. (Really!)

When I backpacked through Europe, I joined a hospitality exchange organization. Believe it or not, people welcome other travelers in their homes (travel vicariously, I suppose.) SERVAS is a popular organization, but there are many others. I stayed with an attorney for the EU in Brussels, with a lovely family in Paris with a beautiful flat, Amsterdam with a couple who owned a B&B, a student in Berlin, etc.

Here in the US, I've hosted a guy on tour with Cirgue du Soliel and an East-Indian swammi on his way to a retreat in Canada.

Hospitality exchange is a great way to see a city through a local's eyes...and forge many great memories. I've gained much more out of the experience than a free night's stay....

 
My Scottish niece Sarah has been doing this for more than three

years now and just raves about it. She is in her late 20's and is planning on going to Australia in the near future. I've seen the glow and happiness of this young adventurer and have come to appreciate her carefree but responsible lifestyle. She follows after her Aunt Sandra (me), ex-travel agent.

She told me that some hostels are nicer than others and a lot of money is saved and you meet all sorts of interesting people along the way. She has accumulated so many friends in her journeys that she still keeps in touch with. She is always well prepared and brings her small books geared on youth hosteling and makes the most of her stays on a budget but yet is able to be a "sponge of the world." I'm so proud of her!

I never went the Youth Hostel way, but can certainly appreciate it through my niece's eyes.

 
In the US, many of the hostels have private rooms too (not sure about other abroad)

The bathroom may be down the hall, but that's no different than many places in Europe. I've stayed in hostels with private rooms in NYC, Tuscon, Oregon Coast, etc. Much cheaper than local hotel rates and you meet other travelers.

 
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