Sabbatical Budget for 5 Days in France

France is a vast and varied country. I’ll never get tired of visiting it. Paris was the first place overseas I ever traveled to and 10 years later I finally got to go back as part of my year-long sabbatical! To break up a long ride from Barcelona, I stopped for a couple nights in Montpellier, one of the few French cities I had never visited before. Short stays are a great way to get a taste of a more expensive destination on your sabbatical. Here’s the full breakdown of my budget for 5 days in France.

Note: These numbers are from 2016. I have made notes about known differences in cost for summer 2025.

Transportation: $141.63

Bus to Montpellier $27.67
3 tram tickets in Montpellier $5.06
Overnight bus to Paris $39.25
10 metro tickets in Paris $19.90
Overnight bus to Turin, Italy $49.75

Note: Bus prices are fairly comparable in 2025, except for the overnight to Turin. This is a stop from my sabbatical itinerary that I would elect to change, however. Instead of overnighting to Turin, I would overnight to Milan, which is currently about $80. The Paris metro has radically changed since my sabbatical, swapping paper tickets for reusable Navigo Decouverte cards. Even though this itinerary has only a couple days in Paris, a weekly pass at 37 euro is more affordable than two day passes totaling over 40 euro.

Accommodations: $29.97

2 nights Couchsurfing in Montpellier $0
1 night in an 8-bed dorm at The Loft Boutique Hostel Paris $29.97

Note: This hostel was quite cramped and far from the areas I wanted to visit. In summer 2025, I would plan on a more central dorm for $60-70 a night.

Dining: $80.59

1 breakfast at smoothie stand in Montpellier $4.30
1 lunch at snack stand in Montpellier $6.28
1 lunch at Creperie Jean Moulin in Montpellier $7.52
1 lunch at Cafe de l’Ours (inside Musee d’Orsay) in Paris $10.17
1 lunch at Cafe Panis in Paris $16.18
1 dinner at McDonald’s in Montpellier $1.67
1 dinner with wine at Au Pied de Fouet in Paris $25.10
1 dinner at Autogrill between Paris and Turin $9.37

Note: You can get a better sense of modern dining costs from my 2023 Paris budget breakdown. On that trip, I typically spent $7-8 on breakfast, $5-10 on budget lunches or dinners like street stall falafel or crepes, $15-18 on a restaurant lunch, $30 on a restaurant dinner, or $75 on a major splurge dinner. I actually went to the exact same restaurant I did in 2016 (Au Pied de Fouet) and prices were only a dollar or two higher.

Entertainment: $28.90

Musee d’Orsay $12.16
Sainte Chapelle & Conciergerie $16.74

Note: In 2025, Musee d’Orsay tickets are 16 euro and the combined Sainte Chappelle-Conciergerie ticket is 22 euro.

Miscellaneous: $37.66

Replacement charger cable at Orange $18.71
Extra charger cable at Smarteez $10.90
2 bottles of water $5.51
Public restroom at Polygone $0.55
1 Orangina $1.99

Total: $318.75

Average Spent Per Day: $63.75

How I Saved

• Sleeping on buses
  You’ll see my transportation budget is way higher than my accommodations budget. Part of the reason that happened is for about a third of my time in France, my transportation and accommodations were one and the same. Sleeping on a bus is rarely comfortable. In fact, thanks to a really creepy male seatmate, another overnight bus I took in Italy was about as uncomfortable as it can get. But spending $40 on one overnight bus ride is far more sensible than spending $40 on a daytime bus and double that on a hostel after you arrive.
• Couchsurfing
  Couchsurfing completely saved my butt in Montpellier. This southern city is quite expensive to stay in. The cheapest tourist lodging I could find was about $60 a night, which back in 2016 really stung. Having a host who could take me in for free brought my accommodations budget down as low as it could possibly go.
• Using a collapsible water bottle
  You can see in my miscellaneous budget, there was one very hot afternoon when I forgot to bring my collapsible water bottle with me. I wound up buying bottled water twice to make it through the day. Can you imagine how expensive it would be to only buy bottled water? Not to mention the toll it takes on the environment. I’ve never left home without my own bottle again.
• Visiting free attractions
  I did shell out for a couple museums in Paris. But for the most part, I opted to visit free attractions. In Montpellier, I spent a lot of time people watching on the Esplanade Charles de Gaulle or simply walking around the city center. In Paris, I spent an evening on the Champ de Mars beneath the lit-up Eiffel Tower and also took a swing through Notre Dame. It’s a good thing exploring on foot doesn’t cost a dime – it’s my favorite thing to do in a new place!