Day trip to Paris- Budget ideas?

[tazz23]

There was a great thread a few months ago about day trips to paris from DLRP but I cannot find it in search

I am looking for ideas and recommendations for a day trip to Paris. There are 6 of us, so looking for budget options really!

What is the cheapest ticket to get to paris and use the metro while there? Is it the Paris Visite card? Ive heard of a Mobilis card but cannot find any info on it! What is the difference between the two? Can we buy these tickets in advance or is it better to buy at the DLRP station?

Having done a bit of research, Dbf and I ( we are splitting from the rest of the group once we get to paris) would like to go to Montparnasse tower, montmarte, luxembourg gardens, have a quick look at notre dame/le lourve/eiffel tower (but not actually do these, as i imagine queues will be huge in july) and visit the area with the lovely falafels.. cant remember where that is!! Is this doable for a day trip? Any suggestions?

I imagine we will leave the station at DLRP around 9am and leave Paris around 8.30/9pm. Not sure when the last train back is!

Thank you for any help!

 

[A Small World]

We did 2 day trips to Paris from DLP when we were there at Easter - there is a lot more info in my trip report. Day 3a and I think the next to last day.

Mobilis ticket is slightly cheaper than Paris Visite but they dont advertise it as much. This will give you travel to Paris and back and the use of metro throughout Paris.
The Paris Visite card also gives this but also has some discount to some attractions but most of them are not necessarily ones we wanted to do (and most others) so for most people the mobilis is better.

You can buy the tickets at DLP station but there is often a big queue in the mornings so you can get it in advance for the day after. However a word of warning dont wait til the park is closed as its just as busy then with people trying to buy tickets.

You are probably right to split up as you will get more done if you all want to do different things.

The things you are interested in are quite spead out. Notre Dame and Louvre and pretty close together (walkable)

The Eiffel Tower can be seen from several places but in my opinion the best view is from Trocadero.

You could get RER from DLP to Charles de Gaulle Etoile station then change to line 6 to Trocadero. Either just stand at top to look at E Tower or walk down to it. Then get back on metro to Montparnasse - same line.

Get back on metro at same station and take line 4 to Barbes Rochechouart then change and go one stop to Anvers. This will take you to bottom of the hill where you can see Sacre Coeur then walk up to it and Montmatre is behind.

You will then need to walk back down to Anvers again (more direct than trying to find another metro station) GO back to B Roche. again then take line 4 again in opposite direction back to Cite. (THis is closest stop to Notre Dame) You could walk from here to Jardin de Luxembourg then back to river again and along river to Louvre

You can then get back on the metro again (line 1) to Charles de Gaulle Etoile again and back to DLP on RER

It is possible to do it in a day but there will be a lot of walking and on and off metro.
My advice would be to spend time on line researching these places and looking at metro map (I googled and found one) and see which you definitely do not want to miss then take it from there. As you will come across things on route that you want to explore as well so it would be a shame not to do the most important thing as you've spent so much time else where.

Let me know if you want more info

 

[Rosie]

I would agree with A Small World on lots of the good advice given!
My own contribution is that Montparnasse and Vedettes de Paris are both now Tesco Clubcard Deals and they are very reasonable! Check them out here http://www.tesco.com/clubcard/deals...D:5)&Ntk=primary&Ntx=mode+matchall&No=25&N=29.
If you are going on a budget, Tesco Deals are always worth a look.

 

[tazz23]

Thank you small world, thats brilliant advice, have taken notes!

Rosie- I had no idea Tesco clubcard deals included paris attractions! Thats really worth it for the Montparnasse Tower. We go on 2 weeks time, is it too late to exchange vouchers?

 

[mummyal]

Thank you small world, thats brilliant advice, have taken notes!

Rosie- I had no idea Tesco clubcard deals included paris attractions! Thats really worth it for the Montparnasse Tower. We go on 2 weeks time, is it too late to exchange vouchers?

When I exchange clubcard vouchers (for 'Days Out' etc), they usually get to me within a week. Pretty quick.

 

[RoosMomKanga]

would like to go to Montparnasse tower, montmarte, luxembourg gardens, have a quick look at notre dame/le lourve/eiffel tower (but not actually do these, as i imagine queues will be huge in july) and visit the area with the lovely falafels.. cant remember where that is!! Is this doable for a day trip? Any suggestions?

I imagine we will leave the station at DLRP around 9am and leave Paris around 8.30/9pm.

We did this the other way- daytrip to DLP from Paris, and the Mobilis pass was the best deal for us.

As stated above, your itin. is very spread out, but doable if you're not going into the museums. Montmarte and Montparnasse are two of the furthest city tourist spots, so you'll have to buld in your travel time between destinations. I'd suggest you use the RAPT online interactive Metro map to plan the best routes. The map will even give you Metro times for your date and duration of the ride, and walking times to/from if you enter addresses so you'll have a good idea of travel times between places. The falfels are in the Marais. I'd highly recommend L'As as there's are the best and you can get them to go. If you haven't seen Notre Dame yet, be sure to take a peek inside, it's free and you can spend as little/much time as you want- once you're inside you can move freely around. Ditto the advice about the Eiffel- get off at the Trocadero Metro stop and view it from there.