Most people who visit Paris also elect to take a couple of excursions out of Paris. The smart traveler will not automatically book a tour from Paris. She will save money, time and see much more if she creates her own tour. Here are a couple of comparisons between commercial tours and a personal tours.
Versailles:
Royal Day at Versailles is a 9 hour tour offered by an agency which I will not name. The cost is $145.
You can plan your own tour by hopping on the RER Line C5 train for $8 round trip and buying a $24 Passeport ticket direct from the Versailles ticket office that includes everything on the Royal Day at Versailles Tour .
Do the math: Commercial tour $145 Your Tour $32
How about a trip that is much farther from Paris?
Mont Saint-Michel and The Normandy D-Day Battlefields and Beaches
The 14 hour commercial MONT SAINT-MICHEL GUIDED TOUR gets you to the monastery in the early afternoon after about a 3 hour drive from Paris. You’ll take a short guided tour and spend a couple of hours exploring on your own. Then back in the bus for a 3 hour drive back to Paris. Price? $219.
Let’s add a commercial Normandy D-Day Battlefields and Beaches Day Trip out of Paris to the tune of $220 that takes an exhausting 14 hours—five to six hours of which is driving a round trip from Paris to Bayeux.
You plan your own tour or shall I say two tours: Mont Saint-Michel and the Normandy Beaches. Here’s how:
Book a round trip train to Bayeux for $98. Train time is 2 hrs. 19 min. Stay in a hotel in Bayeux for $131 which is cheaper than the one you would be staying at in Paris so we won’t add that into the trip cost. Take the shuttle to Mont Saint-Michel for $65. Pay $16. for entrance and an audio tour. Total for your tour $179.
With your good planning, you can get up the next morning, take the same Battlefields tour that includes everything in the commercial one for $111. Then hop on your already paid for train for your trip back to Paris in time to relax with a nice glass of wine.
Now do the math:
The two Commercial tours: $439 Your two tours: $290
Plan your own tours. You’ll save considerable money. You’ll have better trips. You’ll control your own visit rather than being part of a herd of cattle.
Photo: edificios
Global Mysteries 
I want one to Périgueux! Unfortunately I can’t manage the regular one much less the extra excursions, but I can wish.
🙂
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By: deepercolors on August 2, 2010
at 10:20 pm
You’ll go there in one of your novels.
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By: nancycurteman on August 4, 2010
at 2:54 pm
Thank you for this post! I am heading to Paris in November and will certainly be on a tight backpacking budget – this helps greatly!!
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By: Yarni on August 2, 2010
at 11:20 pm
Have a wonderful trip to Paris. I suggest you do some serious excursion planning before you leave.
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By: nancycurteman on August 4, 2010
at 2:55 pm
Thank you for being so kind.
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By: Carol Ann Hoel on August 4, 2010
at 5:42 pm
I will most definetly!
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By: Yarni on August 5, 2010
at 5:16 am
This segment of my life I am a caregiver. Travel is not an option. I do enjoy reading about the travels of others. Don’t feel sorry for me. My life is wonderful.
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By: Carol Ann Hoel on August 3, 2010
at 7:41 am
You sound like a wonderful, giving person. You will never regret caring for someone important to you.
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By: nancycurteman on August 4, 2010
at 2:56 pm
Excellent post, nancy
Often travelers are nothing more than a bunch of lazy sheep waiting to be herded from one place to another. Baa . . .
(Or should I say, Bah! Humbug!)
Travel should be an exciting adventure. Planning excursions on our own allows us to both think for ourselves and immerse ourselves more fully in the experience.
That said, I would like to hire you to be my tour guide the next time I want to leave the states. : )
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By: nrhatch on August 3, 2010
at 7:55 am
I’d love to hear about your travels. Travel for me is one of the most exciting experiences in life.
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By: nancycurteman on August 4, 2010
at 2:58 pm
Luv your travel advice.
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By: jvl on August 3, 2010
at 10:27 am
Thanks. I hope you some ideas from my posts. I will be adding more travel pieces
.
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By: nancycurteman on August 4, 2010
at 3:00 pm
[…] For more money-saving travel tips, visit Global Mysteries: How To Travel Smart and Save Big Bucks […]
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By: Frugal Living Tips « Spirit Lights The Way on August 3, 2010
at 12:02 pm
Thanks for the link.
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By: nancycurteman on August 4, 2010
at 2:58 pm
For lunch today, we toured the Normandy region, D-Day Battlefields, and Mont St. Michel with Samantha Brown!
She took us around to see the sites. Mont St. Michel and its surrounding village is gorgeous!
Samantha stopped for a light lunch (an omelette) at La Mere Poulet on one of the steep streets leading up to the monastery.
She also stayed in a gorgeous little village in Normandy, with “Fleurs” in the name, but I can’t recall the whole name. Do you know perhaps? It was near the D-Day battlefields.
Anyway, having just enjoyed this post, the show was a real treat! Thanks, again.
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By: nrhatch on August 5, 2010
at 2:01 pm
Yay, found it, Honfleur, not fleurs:
Hotel Absinthe in Honfleur:
http://www.filfranck.com/hotel_l_absinthe_honfleur_Normandy.html
Now, I’m ready to pack my bags! : )
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By: nrhatch on August 5, 2010
at 2:05 pm