Our Trip to Paris | Part 1

Back in October myself and my boyfriend Karl, went on our first holiday together. Destination: Paris. I have been to Paris before, but only as a child and therefore my memories consist of repeated trips on the Dumbo ride at Disneyland and being refused entry to Notre Dame as my sister (also only a child at the time) was wearing shorts. As for Karl, he has been to Germany and The Netherlands but that's about it in terms of holidays abroad.

Why Paris?

Originally we had planned to visit Barcelona due to the warmer weather but after several factors including terrorist attacks and political unrest in Catalonia, it just didn't feel like the right time. With our week booked off work fast approaching and still nothing booked, we began to ask our families and friends for suggestions, this lead us to Paris.

Where We Stayed

After a bit of research we decided that while Paris would't be the budget holiday we'd first planned, it was somewhere we both really wanted to go and were therefore willing to spend a bit extra so that everything was perfect. The hotel we stayed in was Hotel Pastel Paris and as the name suggests the rooms are beautifully decorated in pastel colours. Our room had pastel blue walls with millennial pink accents while the double bed was adorned in mix and match scatter cushions.

As with most Parisian hotels, the room was small but the space was utilised with an open wardrobe and small dressing table/desk, making it the perfect space for a couple staying for anything just under a week. To save money on the flight we just took hand luggage, and while we had to pack cleverly the suitcases were much easier to store in the room than one or two large suitcases.

I believe that the hotel may have not long changed hands and undergone a massive refurbishment throughout, as it does not have many reviews on trip advisor. As you can see though when looking at the reviews they are largely positive and personally we had a lovely stay at the hotel. The staff at the hotel were all very friendly, with the receptionist even providing a recommendation for a restaurant nearby on our first night and offering to arrange our transfer back to the airport on our last day. The hotel also operates a policy where they look after your key when you leave the hotel which was quite handy and stopped us worrying about loosing the key while we were out and about.

Hotel Pastel is just a mere 10 minutes from the Arc De Triomphe and the Champs-Élysées and just a 15/20 minute walk to the Eiffel Tower, making it perfect for sightseeing or if you are anxious about using the metro. On the downside we did find this area quite expensive for eating out compared to other areas of Paris, with most restaurants charging €25+ for your main evening meal. That being said, there are some more affordable gems including Italian restaurant Sgabetti that was just over 5 minutes away from the hotel.

What if I’m on a budget?

Paris can be expensive but if you do your research you can save yourself money here and there. Including transfers to the airport and back, our flights and hotel cost us about £450 each (though we did end up getting some cash back on that by using TopCashBack). We then gave ourselves just under €100 spending money per each full day (including any treats we wanted to buy ourselves) but I’d say I spent about €50 a day on food, drink and transport. We saved money by buying pastries for breakfast from boulangeries, looking around for cheaper places to eat in the evening and then buying extra drinks from supermarkets (a can of diet coke in a café costs about €5 compared to €1 from a supermarket).

Stay tuned for part 2 of my trip to Paris to find out about what sights are worth visiting, plus more ways to save money.

Eleanor xx