Hello, All!
We posted once before and after reading through a bunch of posts, comments, and the guidebook I think we have settled on just using two cities as a base while in France. At this point we have decided on 7 nights in Annecy and 9 nights in Paris. We are not trying to budget down to the last penny, but we just want to make sure we are within reason. We broke it up by what we plan to do in each city. Can anyone who really knows France (preferably these cities) let us know if this seems like reasonable amounts to spend or if we are overstating/understating something? Helpful tips about something that might be cheaper are useful too! We are still planning on going in Mid/Late May of 2016.
Annecy:
We plan to fly into Geneva and then take the bus to Annecy. This seems to be cheaper than flying into Lyon, but we will check prices again once we order tickets. Haven't quite figured out how the bus to Annecy works. Some posts say that you can go on a bus straight from the airport to Annecy, and others say that you have to get to a different bus station in the city and get on there.
During our 7 nights in Annecy we estimated the following:
45 Euro to get from Geneva to Annecy (for two people)
70 Euro to rent 2 bikes for two days. That way we can spend a couple days slowly going around the lake.
30 Euro for a day trip to Chambery and Aix-Les-Bains to walk around/explore a little (transportation cost only)
95 Euro to get two people from Annecy to Paris by train
560 Euro for food while in Annecy/during day trips. This works out to about 90 Euro per day (45 Euro per person) since by the time we get there we will probably only have dinner (maybe lunch and dinner) the first night. We do plan to eat in some meals and eat out others. I would say probably split about 50/50 for eating in (groceries, markets, etc...)/eating out. Is this reasonable? Food is confusing because I see some people claim they spent 10 Euro a day and others claim 80 Euro a day.
During our 9 nights in Paris (Fav. Apt. we have seen to rent so far is in the 6th Arr.):
112 Euro to buy the 4 day Museum Pass
130 Euro for round trip tickets to do a day trip to Belguim (Bruges)
50 Euro to get both of us from our apartment to CDG when leaving
800 Euro for the food (still works out to the about 90 Euro per day (45 Euro per person)
1.) Do these seem reasonable costs? (As I said, we plan to eat in about half the time using groceries/markets and eat out the other half of the time. We are not looking for any high end meals. Just good tasting food.)
2.) How should we plan for getting around Paris if we stay in the 6th arr. Is the transportation cost something we need to plan on making a huge impact to our budget? We are both younger (late 20s to mid 30s) and have no problems walking reasonable distances.
Is there any major activities/costs you suggest we consider? Like a said, not necessarily trying to plan down to the penny, we just want to make sure we can cover what we plan to spend.
Thanks all!!!!