How to visit Paris on a budget: Notre Dame and The Louvre

Hey everyone! How are you all doing today?

Tonight I started to write this post about my adventures in Paris again, only to realise that it’s been 3 WEEKS?! since I last spoke about my time there (yikes!). Sorry everyone! I had no idea it had been that long. After reaching fifty followers, celebrating the making of harry potter and then posting sunshine blogger award number 1 and 2, I guess all I can say is I was incredibly distracted! But I’m back today to bring you Notre Dame and The Louvre! I only have one more award on the horizon and then after that it’ll be the rest of this Paris venture I’m sharing with you 🙂

So here are some more of my tips and stories for you lovely travellers! …

DO: Dress in clothing appropriate for the weather 

DON’T: Forget to take any water/snacks with you you might want

Waking up on day three of our trip, mum and I decided to go and visit the Notre Dame. I honestly couldn’t believe that the queues were so long again – we were waiting around 20-30 minutes just to  get to the entrance – but it was worth it. The detail of the architecture on both the inside and outside was absolutely stunning and not only that, there were several boards explaining the history behind the construction of the cathedral. There was also the option of entering the treasury for additional 5 euros (only free to french/ student citizens), however this was definitely not worth the money. The room is filled with trophies, and in my eyes the true beauty laid with the main cathedral room itself.

Anyway, the point I am getting to was that I did not have the best clothing on that day. After all of this, there was the option to go around the side of the building and scale the 387 steps to the top for the beautiful views of Paris. Unfortunately due to the nature of the building only having one set of steps on the side, the tour had to be done in stages, with a set of people waiting  in the gift shop half way up and a set at the top looking around. This may not seem like an issue to anyone reading, but when you take into consideration that it’s the middle of winter with freezing temperatures and you’re stood on top of a windy building, it’s really not that great. There were similarly no warnings whatsoever about being held at the top of the building before being able to come down, so make sure you wrap up really warm if you go on a cold day! A few chocolate bars I carried around were my saviours when we got back down to the bottom too – make sure you pack a buy a few snacks before setting off for the day!

DO: Check to see if there are any group ticket offers

DON’T: Unecessarily spend money on tickets

The rest of the day was spent at The Louvre, another absolutely stunning set of galleries with the famous glass prism. Three hours was nowhere near long enough to look around here, it would have taken closer to 2-3 days to see the entire thing. A member of staff even told me that to see each individual piece would be like walking a marathon! Wow! I of course also made sure to see the real Mona Lisa, and spotted her instantly from the crowds of people filling the room. I couldn’t even get close to look at her for everyone trying to take selfies nearby! Overall however, the experience was spectacular and without a doubt worth visiting.

Here is the discount part:

As I mentioned in my last Arc de Triomphe and Musee d’Orsay post, there are many ways in which you can get discount. One of which allows you to get discount provided you are younger than 25 and a citizen from a country within the EU, which of course meant I entered freely into most places. Another way of getting discount is through buying tickets for several art galleries at once, or buying in advance online. As far as I am aware, The Louvre stands alone and so you can only buy a single ticket. However, other art galleries such as the Musee d’Orsay and Musee de l’Orangerie do offer a joint ticket, whereby you can receive a discount by purchasing the tickets together. On a side note, I should also mention that you can save by buying family tickets too!

Despite this, I would still make sure that you carefully plan out the amount of time needed to get around each attraction so as to not overspend. As a rule of thumb, it generally took a day for me to see two attractions considering queues/travel time/eating, so don’t just buy the ticket for the sake of it. You could even make a list of the places you want to visit each day to help you stay on track 🙂

Hope you enjoyed reading! What are your favourite ways to save money whilst on holiday?

~Rose~