Budgeting for Upcoming London and Paris trip

A meal at a decent pub is £20-25 for the main course. Add in a few drinks and a dessert and more like £50

I was in London for 8 nights back in early December. In general, prices on menus [in GBP] were similar to prices on menus [in USD] here in Los Angeles. With the exchange rate at the time approx 1.34, the premium in London is approximately one third more than LA prices. And of course, it's easy in London to cut corners, depending on how often you can abide eating at Pret, Gail's, etc. I made a deal with myself not to fret over prices when dining, and had meals at a variety of price levels. Traveling solo, I gravitated toward more casual places. Following is a sample of meals and costs - some readers may find this a bit tedious to plow through.

Breakfast - the buffet at the Novotel Waterloo was quite good, and at £21/$28 a good value, considering you can make as many cappuccinos you want from the machine, they had a good selection of fresh fruit, etc. and no discretionary service charge added. So with a big breakfast it may be possible to go most of the day with just a snack - or a cream tea - in the afternoon.

I found a cute neighborhood spot - the Rise and Dine Cafe - just down the street - and had several excellent breakfasts there - salmon benedict + cappuccino + pastry £18.85/$25.18, salmon with eggs on toast + cappuccino £15.63/$20.95.

Porridge + cappuccino + a croissant was £15.60/$20.96 at the very cute Beyond Cafe in Lambeth, while the same basic menu was £14.20/$19.07 at Gail's down the street [OK but not as good as Beyond].

Wagamama is a good choice for a relatively inexpensive meal in a lively atmosphere - dinner one night at the Southbank location was £30.60/$40.90; lunch at LHR on departure day was £30.47/$40.84 for ramen + drink - airport prices.

Flat Iron is an excellent choice for a relatively inexpensive steak in London - lively atmosphere and flavorful steaks - although not as tender as a £40 or £50 slab of beef. The £19 ribeye, with two sides and a glass of wine came to £42.29/$56.50 - make a reservation if going at prime times - you get a free ice cream cone as you exit.

After learning about JD Wetherspoon's I had to try it to see what you would get at those prices. I ordered a burger - how can they screw up a burger you might ask - well, it was just edible, but small, with some not very good chips thrown on the plate. This was the Waterloo Station location. £12.39/$16.65. If you're game, you might try them for breakfast - seems like a good place for a family to dine with kids. Semi-automated - you order on your phone after scanning the QR code at the table. I'm assuming they'll have robots delivering the food in the very near future, as is already the case in Japan.

Tea + Cake at the wonderful Tea House Theatre in Vauxhall was £13.50/$18.02 one afternoon. I also had a great breakfast there, but paid cash, so don't remember the final cost. But the ambience alone makes it worth a visit.

A not-very-good Sunday roast at the Hercules pub in Lambeth, with drink + dessert, was £48.99/$65.81 - not my first choice, as the gastropub down the street that I had intended to try was closed for a private holiday party.

I had a cheap snack at the cafe at BFI Southbank - £9.70/$13.03 - it was a good value. However, food at the British Museum I found to be rather expensive - £15.00/$20.01 for sandwich + tea. I found the cafe at the Tate Britain to also be pricey - so the free admission doesn't necessarily mean a cheap visit.

It's easy to get an idea of prices by reading menus online - for example, Dishoom appears to be a good value considering the rave reviews - it was on my list, but scheduling never worked out. Another thing I believe I observed was that some places included tax in their menu prices, while others tacked on the tax at the end - perhaps one of the Brits could comment.

But there are so many choices in London at so many different price points that you should be able to consider yourself well fed without extreme deprivation if you're traveling on a budget.

Good post Mark. That's a great guide to how much you're paying.

As far as tax goes, all menu prices are what you pay. That's the law. The "service charge" which is commonplace these days can be added on at the end because it's discretionary. You don't need to pay it if you don't want to. It's probably only if something was really terrible that you'd refuse to pay it though.

In the inner London boroughs fast food is something that is priced well. It's one of the few things that would compare to prices up north. There's so much competition for takeout and delivery at the low end that it keeps prices low. I realise the sophisticates of RSE might not have much interest in a kebab or chicken and chips, but it's worth considering if you're doing London on a budget.

I am mostly vegan and don't eat high end. I'd say my experience in Paris mirrors Mark's in London. I don't eat out much here at home but in Paris I'd say dinner last October was running me 20-30E for a main, so a total of maybe 50E if I had a drink, wine and/or dessert.

I often will just pick up a sandwich from a boulangerie for lunch so that would be less than 10E with 3E or so for a bottled water to go with. IF I do go with a sit down lunch it will often be my main meal so I won't have much for dinner.

IF I have breakfast I usually eat in the hotel but I'm not much of a breakfast eater.

I'd say if you need to have a budget I'd go with maybe 100E/day for food for each of you for your Paris time. That would be more than I spend but I'm probably on the inexpensive end.

You might take a different approach and read the "Restaurant Review" section on the forum/TripAdvisor for both London and Paris. Look at those restaurants' websites and pick what you might order. Add up the bill.

If I 'd told my younger self that by the 8th or so dinner dining out that I would be tired of going out to eat, I'd have told myself that I was mashugana. But, it happened, so my husband and I shop occasionally for a baguette, cheese, wine and a pastry to have in our apartment rental for dinner. (You get the experience of shopping in a Parisian boulangerie, pâtisserie, fromagerie, etc.,) and we actually did that three nights in a row our last trip to Paris in September. Those meals were cheap, cheap, cheap and utterly delicious and relaxing. The apartment had Netflix and we binge-watched some crazy tv series while eating our dinner! Unheard of by my younger self.

I was in both in August and the prior posts are in line with my experience. If you're wanting to save some money, make sure your hotel includes breakfast at a reasonable price (some do, some don't, so check reviews). I do love a good meal, but just as happy some days with a good grocery store picnic, many choices to stock up in both London and Paris. One could eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner from Pret a Manger(https://www.pret.co.uk/en-GB). By all accounts the chocolate mousse is to die for (see this trip report featuring many mentions of mousse https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/walking-and-eating-through-england-and-wales). Monoprix and Carrefour also have good selection of take away items. A kebab or crepe can fill you up inexpensively.

And FWIW, I love a good food tour, too. You get best of both worlds - sightseeing AND a full belly.

Thanks for the replies - we will have an apartment in both cities, so I expect we will be eating breakfast in quite often and may just have leftovers sometimes. Or go the big lunch/small snack for dinner approach.

You will not see menu prices without tax included. I think you may be confusing this with the service charge.

I would budget £40-50 per person for dinner and £15-20 for lunch if you want something very simple like a sandwich and a drink. This is going to get you mid market options.

I can only respond about Paris. To economize and to maximize the Paris experience, go to a market. For example, the Bastille Market is every Sunday and Thursday morning. Wine, cheese, meat, breads, oysters, fish, vegetables-- everything fresh and wonderful. Markets pop up daily or biweekly. Check out the area by your accomodation.

Super markets like Carrefours or Monoprix can be options too.

For cafes-- Dinners for 2 ranged from 80 euro to 135 euro. This included wine, dessert, appetizers. Of course, It all depends on where you go. 2 drinks will be about 20 euro for generous pours. Remember the tips are included in the bill!!! One time, my husband and I would go to the local market and bring food back to the hotel room. We did our own charcuterie board and it was great.

Food is not a priority when we travel-- ie- we don't make it a point to eat at Chateau Fabulous. We look for the neighborhood places that are off the beaten path. Avoid any and all cafes or coffee stops anywhere near a famous spot. I unknowingly made this mistake, and my latte was 14 euro. They also took it upon themselves to serve me a large when I wanted a small and charged accordingly. St Chappelle was on the next block as I discovered.

We will be in Paris this fall. Watching the exchange rate impose an 18% increase on everything due to the weakening dollar since last year, we plan on doing markets for the most part and go to cafes for lunch. Lunch prices tend to be less expensive.

Since you will have an apartment in both cities, you barely need to eat out at all (although that is certainly part of the fun of visiting these two cities). Supermarkets (or the food halls in department stores like M&S and Monoprix) in both cities will have heat-and-eat meals or prepared salads that are much healthier and tastier than what you might find in a Kroger here in the US, and they cost far less (as little as $3/serving, in my experience).