- In March, I took a luxury paid trip to Paris — some splurges were worth it and others weren't.
- Luxury car rides weren't worth it to us and neither were bike rides around the city.
In March, I took my 67-year-old aunt on an all-expenses paid luxury trip to Paris. It's the kind of trip she'd never be able to afford on her own and I wanted her to have a five-star experience at least once in her life.
I'd been to Paris as a broke grad student and stayed with my friend in her mouse-infested apartment, so I was also very much looking forward to doing Paris differently this time.
My trip cost about 15,000 Canadian dollars, about $11,357, and some parts of it were worth the splurge — others weren't. Here's a breakdown.
Business-class plane tickets were expensive but worth it
Our biggest combined expense was our flights and hotel, which came in at nearly CA$12,000.
My personal rule is to fly premium economy for any flight under three hours and to spring for business class if it's longer. In some cases, you can even save a few thousand dollars by doing business class with a stopover.
Montreal to Paris is a fairly long flight — nearly seven hours — so having the luxury of a business-class seat definitely feels worth it if you can afford it. We chose to fly with Air Canada and stay in solo pods as opposed to the middle-seat pairs pods because we knew we'd be sleeping for the majority of the flight and wanted window seating.
Flying in business class is an entirely different experience that comes with better food, better perks, and better comfort. For us, it made the stress of flying far more manageable.
Cabs were worth our money
In my experience, cabs were always readily available within a minute or two and were pretty reasonably priced. Our average fare was 12 Euros for a 15-minute trip.
Unlike the Métro, where you're stuck underground and can't see much of the city, cabs allow you to see more and pass by additional historical monuments and neighborhoods.
We also discovered some great local Parisian favorites to eat at on small side streets taken by our cab drivers. That wouldn't have been possible on the Métro. Though trains would've been cheaper, I'm glad we sprung for cab rides.
Our 4-star hotel in the heart of Paris was quaint and a good value
When choosing a hotel I wanted it to be within walking distance of some of the activities we wanted to do, have at least four stars, and an in-room bathtub. Hôtel Le Pradey fit the bill.
I bundled our flights and our hotel together on Expedia for a discount, but the hotel is about 306 Euros per night in the off-season.
Located right off of Rue du Rivoli, the hotel was basically across the street from the famous Jardin des Tuileries.
I walk with canes, so I'm slower than the average tourist, and it still only took me 10 minutes to walk from the hotel to The Louvre. The Musée de L'Orangerie is also 15 minutes away and the gorgeous Musée d'Orsay is about 30 minutes away by foot.
Our room in the hotel was small, but it had plenty of space for us as we spent most of our time out and about. The bathroom had a deep soaking tub with water that actually got hot. If you travel a lot, you know that's not a given.
The hotel didn't have a lot of frills, but we found it to be a great little boutique hotel with friendly staff. We enjoyed our stay there. The biggest drawback is that there isn't really room service if you want a quiet night in, but there are lots of restaurants within five minutes of the hotel.
Pay to visit attractions … it's worth it
Many museums in Paris have free days on the first Sunday of the month. We accidentally ended up going to two museums on a free day because we'd already planned to do those activities and had booked our non-movable tickets for the other days.
But "free" brings in a lot of visitors and we found some museums to be so crowded that it was difficult to see the artwork. When we paid to visit museums on other days of the week they were less crowded and we were able to more easily speak to staff members.
Ebis is a hidden restaurant gem in the 1st Arrondissement and our meals were worth every penny
We first went to Ebis largely out of convenience — it's down the street from the hotel we were staying at — but we went back a second night because of the amazing food. Each time, our meals came to about 50 Euros for two people.
We had the best food of our entire trip at the small, family-owned Asian-fusion restaurant. I recommend the vegetable rice and pork dishes.
One way we really knew it was good is that the tables around us seemed to be filled with Parisian locals. You can make reservations online and I definitely recommend it as the tables fill up quickly.
On the other hand, the 'luxury' car service I booked to and from the airport wasn't actually that fancy
I took the train to and from Charles de Gaulle Airport to Paris as a grad student. Getting a nicer, prebooked car service this time seemed like the right choice but it ended up not being worth it for us.
With the service I booked, the drivers didn't wait inside with signs to help us with our bags. We had to go outside to find them. The company we used also didn't provide luxury vehicles, just cars with black exteriors.
It was basically a cab we paid more money for. If you plan to spring for a luxurious car service, do your research and see what you're actually getting. Or just take a cab.
I wish we'd skipped the overpriced bike rides
Like in many major cities, Paris had people on bikes offering to pedal visitors around the city. It's quite an experience, but it's not always a great deal.
At one point, we were tired of walking around and wanted to take transportation from a museum to our hotel.
Our hotel was a five-minute cab ride away that would've cost us about 7 Euros total. But while we got stuck at the crossing light to get to the taxi stand, a bike transporter convinced us to ride with her because it would be a fun experience.
Next thing we knew, we were sitting on a tiny bench and experiencing the city by bike. We didn't think to ask how much it would cost us. We figured it would be a small premium, but not more than 20 Euros total.
It cost a whopping 25 Euros per person for a seven-minute bike ride. We should've checked ahead of time, but at least we have the story.
Crazy Horse is an incredible show, but VIP seating may not be worth the upgrade
Crazy Horse will not disappoint if you want to see a great cabaret show. In my opinion, though, you don't need to sit close to have a good time.
Regular tickets are about 180 Euros and tickets with preferential seating plus canapes and Champagne is 250 Euros. I sprung to get the premium seats but, if the ravages of time have started to take hold of your neck, I don't totally recommend it.
My seat was so close I was looking up at the performers. After the first 15 or 20 minutes, I kept taking breaks and look straight ahead at the performers' legs because my neck was killing me.
Fortunately, the theater is so small that even if you're in the back row, you'll still have a phenomenal view. Plus you won't be looking up the whole time.
I'd skip Café Angelina next time, as I felt it was a bit overpriced for what I got
Café Angelina is a local Parisian restaurant chain that has found a home in lots of tourist attractions, though some have dubbed it a bit of a tourist trap. We first stopped at Café Angelina at Versailles, where there aren't a lot of food options.
I paid over 20 Euros for mac and cheese with about three squares of ham in it at The Louvre because it was the only restaurant in that wing of the museum.
The food was good but not great, and I thought the prices seemed high for pretty basic food. Next time we'd probably try to find somewhere else, perhaps not a chain, for a quick bite.