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Trip guide · France

Splitting expenses on a Paris trip - what to budget, how to settle up

Last updated by The EvenRound team.

Boulangeries before noon, brasseries after eight, and one museum pass to rule them all.

Paris isn't cheap, but it's predictable. The price of a coffee is the price of a coffee at every café in the 6th. Where group trips go wrong is the museum pass - somebody always pre-buys a Paris Museum Pass without checking who actually wants to go to ten museums in four days. The other classic disaster is the brasserie dinner where one person orders the chateaubriand for two and three other people just have onion soup.

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Realistic per-person daily budget

Local currency: Euro (EUR)

CategoryPer person, per dayNotes
Accommodation€85–€140Marais or Saint-Germain Airbnb split 4 ways; mid-range hotels run €180–€280/night for a double.
Food and drinks€55–€90Boulangerie breakfast (€6), bistro lunch menu (€18–€25), brasserie dinner (€35–€55) plus wine.
Transport€10–€15Carnet of 10 metro tickets (€16.90) or daily Navigo Easy. RER B from CDG is €11.45.
Activities and entrances€20–€45Louvre (€22), Musée d'Orsay (€16), Sainte-Chapelle (€11.50), Versailles day (€21 + transport).

Common shared-expense scenarios in Paris

  1. 01
    Brasserie dinner with mixed mains and a shared wine bottle

    Le Bouillon Pigalle, Chartier, or Brasserie Lipp - main dishes vary from €11 to €38, and the wine is on the table for the whole group.

    Split tip

    Mains exact (per the receipt), wine equal among drinkers. Receipt scanning is built for this.

  2. 02
    Paris Museum Pass for half the group

    A 4-day pass is €82 per person. Some go to seven museums, some skip and just want the Eiffel Tower.

    Split tip

    Each person buys their own pass. Don't try to centralise this - the use cases vary too much.

  3. 03
    Versailles day trip with picnic

    RER C tickets (€8 round-trip), Versailles entrance (€21), picnic from a nearby Carrefour (€40 for the group).

    Split tip

    Train and ticket per-attendee, picnic equal among picnickers.

  4. 04
    Late-night taxi back from the Marais

    Uber from Le Marais to the 11th, four people, one card.

    Split tip

    Equal split among riders, logged at the door.

  5. 05
    Boulangerie breakfast run for the group

    One person walks to the corner boulangerie, gets pain au chocolat × 6, baguettes × 2, juice. €25.

    Split tip

    Equal split. These small runs are exactly what kills the books if you don't log them.

Recommended split mode for Paris

Exact for restaurants, equal for transport and accommodation

Paris bistro and brasserie menus have huge price variance per dish. Equal-splitting a brasserie meal where one person had the €38 entrecôte and another had the €11 omelette is the fastest way to start a group fight.

Sample 3-day itinerary with expense touchpoints

  1. Day 1
    Île de la Cité, Marais, sunset Seine walk
    • Carnet of metro tickets
    • Notre-Dame area pastries
    • Sainte-Chapelle entry (some)
    • Marais bistro dinner
  2. Day 2
    Louvre, Tuileries, Saint-Germain
    • Louvre entry
    • Quick lunch at Tuileries
    • Coffee at Café de Flore
    • Late-night brasserie
  3. Day 3
    Versailles + farewell dinner
    • RER to Versailles
    • Versailles palace + gardens
    • Picnic supplies
    • Farewell brasserie

Best for groups of …

Best for groups of 4–6. Larger groups struggle with restaurant reservations - most bistros cap at 6, and brasseries push 8+ to a separate room with a fixed menu.

Currency notes

Eurozone. Tipping is included in the bill (service compris) - leave a couple of euros for table service if you wish. Most places now take contactless. Avoid changing cash at boutiques near the Louvre - use any major bank ATM. Travelex at the airports has poor rates.

Paris rewards exact splits. The bistro menu IS the receipt - use it directly. Equal-splitting a Parisian dinner is how you end up paying for someone else's foie gras.

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