When and How to Book Flights to France

The cheapest flights to France fall into two booking windows: 6-10 weeks before departure for economy fares and 4-6 months out during peak summer. From the US, direct flights to Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) typically run $550-900 round-trip in shoulder season. From the UK, budget carriers offer London-Paris fares from £30 each way.

Steps to find the cheapest flight:

1. Set a price alert on Google Flights for your date range. Use the calendar view to identify the cheapest departure days — Tuesday and Wednesday are typically 10-15% cheaper than Friday or Sunday.
2. Consider flying into Paris Beauvais (BVA) instead of CDG. Budget airlines like Ryanair use this airport, and fares can be €40-80 cheaper each way. Factor in the €17 shuttle bus to central Paris and the extra 90-minute transfer time.
3. From the UK, the Eurostar from London St Pancras starts from £39 one-way and arrives at Paris Gare du Nord in 2 hours 15 minutes — no airport security queues, no luggage restrictions.
4. Check Skyscanner and Kayak alongside Google Flights. Different aggregators surface different fares from the same routes.

Where to Stay in France Without Overspending

Accommodation is the largest single cost of a France trip. These options keep costs down without sacrificing comfort:

• Budget hotel chains: Ibis Budget and B&B Hotels offer private rooms for €55-80 per night in most French cities. Book directly on their websites for lowest rates. Both chains are consistently clean and central enough for easy metro access.
• Hostels: Well-rated hostels in Paris, Lyon, and Marseille charge €25-45 per night for a dorm bed. Generator Paris near Gare du Nord and St Christopher's Inn near Canal Saint-Martin are popular among solo and group travelers.
• Apartments: For stays of four or more nights, renting an apartment through Booking.com or Airbnb undercuts hotels by 25-35%, especially if you cook some meals. A studio in the 11th arrondissement of Paris averages €80-100 per night versus €130-180 for a similar hotel room.

Location matters: In Paris, staying in the 10th, 11th, 18th, or 20th arrondissement instead of the tourist-heavy 1st through 4th saves €30-50 per night with only a few extra metro stops to major sights. In Provence, small towns like Apt or L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue cost less than Avignon and work well as day-trip bases.

Always confirm whether breakfast is included. Hotel breakfasts in France cost €12-18 if purchased separately. A croissant and café au lait at a neighborhood boulangerie costs €3-4 and tastes better.

Getting Around France by Train and Bus

France has one of Europe's most comprehensive rail networks. SNCF high-speed TGV trains connect Paris to Lyon in 2 hours, Marseille in 3 hours, and Bordeaux in 2 hours 5 minutes.

How to buy the cheapest tickets:

1. Book on sncf-connect.com or the Ouigo app. Ouigo is SNCF's no-frills brand with fares from €10. Tickets are online-only and require check-in 30 minutes before departure. Bags larger than 55x35x25cm cost €5 extra.
2. Book as early as possible. Ouigo fares increase as seats fill, and the lowest price tier sells out weeks in advance for popular routes like Paris-Nice in July and August.
3. For regional travel, TER trains (regional express) are slower but significantly cheaper for routes like Lyon to Annecy (€15-20) or Bordeaux to Biarritz (€20-30).
4. The Eurail France Pass makes sense only for travelers taking five or more intercity trips in a month. For most itineraries, buying individual tickets is cheaper.

For budget intercity travel where trains are booked out, Flixbus and BlaBlaBus run between major cities from €5. Journey times are two to three times longer than TGV, but the price difference can be €30-60 on a single route.

Within cities, use the metro or tram. Paris metro single tickets cost €1.73. Buy a Navigo Easy card (€2 one-time cost) and load individual tickets onto it. For longer Paris stays of four or more days, a weekly Navigo pass (Monday-Sunday, €30) covers unlimited metro, RER, and bus travel within zones 1-5.

How to Eat Well in France on a Small Budget

France's food reputation can make travelers expect high prices, but locals don't spend €35 on lunch. These options feed you well for €5-15:

• Boulangeries: Every French town has a bakery. A filled baguette sandwich costs €3.50-4.50, a quiche slice is €3-5, and a croissant is €1.20-1.80. For a complete cheap lunch, add a slice of tarte and a small bottle of water for under €8.
• Marchés: Outdoor food markets operate in most French towns several mornings per week. Lyon's Marché de la Croix-Rousse runs Tuesday through Sunday; Nice's Cours Saleya market runs Tuesday through Sunday. Buy olives, local cheese, charcuterie, and bread for a picnic at €8-12 for two people.
• Crêperies: Buckwheat galettes (savory crêpes) are the traditional cheap meal of Brittany but popular across France. A galette with ham, egg, and cheese (complète) costs €7-10 and makes a filling dinner.
• Formule lunch menus: Most French restaurants offer a formule du midi — a two-course lunch (starter and main, or main and dessert) for €12-16. The same restaurant charges €25-35 for dinner. The formule is how locals eat at sit-down restaurants without spending a lot.

What to avoid: Restaurants directly adjacent to the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame, and Sacré-Cœur charge tourist premiums of 40-60%. Walk two streets away and prices drop significantly. At sit-down restaurants, ordering a carafe d'eau (free tap water) is perfectly standard and never considered rude.

Top Destinations in France Beyond Paris

Paris is exceptional, but France's real diversity is in its regions. These destinations are worth adding to any itinerary:

• Lyon: France's gastronomic capital and a UNESCO World Heritage city. The Vieux-Lyon (old town) is one of the largest Renaissance urban districts in Europe and free to explore. Eat at a traditional bouchon lyonnais — expect €15-18 for a two-course set lunch including a glass of Beaujolais.
• The Loire Valley: More than 300 châteaux dot this river valley. Château de Chambord (€14.50 entry) is France's largest Renaissance castle, one hour by car or shuttle bus from Tours. The valley is flat and ideal for cycling between châteaux on marked routes.
• Provence: Lavender fields bloom from late June to early August near Valensole and the Plateau de Valensole. The Gorges du Verdon — Europe's largest canyon at 25 kilometers — is free to hike and 90 minutes by car from Aix-en-Provence. The village of Roussillon, built on ochre cliffs, charges no entry fee and takes an afternoon to explore.
• Bordeaux: The city's riverfront renovation makes it one of France's most walkable cities. La Cité du Vin wine museum (€22 entry) is an interactive museum worth three hours. Day-trip to Saint-Émilion by train (€15-20 round-trip) for vineyard walks and wine tasting from €6 per glass at local caves.
• Mont Saint-Michel: The tidal island abbey in Normandy is one of France's most photographed sites. Abbey entry costs €13. Arriving at low tide lets you see the full causeway. Staying overnight after the day crowds depart transforms the experience — budget guesthouses on the island start at €80-120 per night.

Free and Cheap Activities Across France

Many of France's finest experiences cost nothing or very little:

• First Sunday free museums: National museums including the Louvre (normally €22), Musée d'Orsay (€16), and Centre Pompidou (€15) offer free entry on the first Sunday of each month. Arrive at opening time — 9am at the Louvre — to avoid queues that build by 10am.
• Versailles gardens: The gardens of the Palace of Versailles are free to walk on most weekdays. The palace interior costs €21.50 and the gardens charge €10 on weekend fountain-show days in summer — visit on a weekday to access the grounds for free and spend the palace ticket money on a better restaurant.
• Mediterranean beaches: France's coast from Marseille to Menton is lined with free public beaches. The private beach clubs of Nice and Cannes charge €20-30 for a lounger, but every stretch of coast also has a free public section beside them.
• Paris parks and walkways: The Canal Saint-Martin walk, the Promenade Plantée (an elevated garden built on a disused railway viaduct), and the Bois de Boulogne are all free and popular with locals on weekends.
• Cathedrals: Most French cathedrals — Chartres, Reims, Strasbourg, and Rouen — are free to enter and architecturally extraordinary. Sainte-Chapelle in Paris charges €15 for the upper chapel's stained-glass interior, considered among the finest Gothic decoration anywhere in Europe.

Practical Tips: Money, Safety, and Communication

Currency and cards: France uses the euro. Contactless Visa and Mastercard work almost everywhere. Use a no-foreign-transaction-fee card — Wise and Revolut are popular in Europe — to avoid 2-3% charges on every purchase. French ATMs typically charge €3-5 per withdrawal from foreign cards, so withdraw larger amounts less frequently.

Tipping: Service is legally included in all French restaurant bills. Tipping is not expected. Leaving €1-2 per person for genuinely excellent service is appreciated but never required. Do not feel any social pressure to tip beyond the included service charge.

SIM cards: Buy an Orange Holiday or SFR prepaid SIM at CDG airport arrivals or any tabac shop in France for €20-30, which includes 50-100GB of data valid for 30 days. This is far cheaper than roaming charges from most home carriers. Alternatively, an EU roaming plan from a European carrier works across France without extra charges.

Safety: France is safe for tourists. The main concern is pickpocketing in crowded metro stations — Paris metro line 1 from CDG to the center is particularly noted — and around the Eiffel Tower. Keep your phone in a front pocket, use a small crossbody bag worn in front in crowds, and be alert to distraction techniques near ticket machines.

Essential French phrases: Learn these ten before you arrive: Bonjour (hello), Merci (thank you), S'il vous plaît (please), Excusez-moi (excuse me), Parlez-vous anglais? (do you speak English?), L'addition, s'il vous plaît (the bill, please), Où est...? (where is...?), Je voudrais... (I would like...), Combien ça coûte? (how much?), and Au revoir (goodbye). Using even these basics signals respect and often prompts warmer responses from locals.