Expensive cities on the cheap
PARIS
France is so popular that restaurants and hotels don’t have to try very hard to stay full. Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to save a euro besides sitting by the Seine eating baguettes and cheese.
The Vélib bike service launched in 2007. More than 20,000 bikes are kept in automated racks posted throughout the city, and the first half hour is free. Use your credit card if it has a smart chip; the chip is typically visible as a small gold or silver circuit board on the card. (some American Express cards, for example, will work.) Otherwise, you’ll need to buy a seven-day ticket for €5 to access the system. Pick up a free Paris a Vélo map for routes and bike paths.
To get a good feel for the city on foot, join up with Sandeman’s guided walking tour. The guides work for tips, so you simply pay what you think the tour is worth.
Freebie Marie Curie’s laboratory? The home of Victor Hugo? Eau de toilette? All free. In the pedestrian-friendly Marais neighborhood, the Musée Cognacq-Jay is free—and so is the Centre Pompidou, if you can time your visit to the first Sunday of the month. The Fragonard Perfume Museum doesn’t charge admission, and it won’t cost you anything to visit the Cathedral of Notre Dame on your own.
OSLO
The whole of Scandinavia rivals Japan for eye-popping prices, and it’s not easy to find a cheap place to sleep or eat in Oslo.
For $38 a day or less, you can use the Oslo Pass—sold at most hotels and at three tourist stations throughout the city—to control costs. It gives you entrance to 33 museums and attractions, unlimited public transportation, and a lunch cruise.
The city’s Oslo on a Budget website provides tips on cheaper accommodations and places to eat well for less.
Freebie You don’t have to go very far to find good public hiking and biking trails around Oslo, no fees required. There are an incredible 40 islands and 343 lakes within the city limits. An easy place to start is the central 80-acre Vigeland Sculpture Park.
HONG KONG
While expensive for business travelers trying to make the right impression, Hong Kong can be quite reasonable for regular tourists. Public transportation and basic restaurants are both a good value.
All government-run museums are free on Wednesdays, and other days the museum pass for seven major ones—good for a week—is around $4. Although it’s good form to give a small donation, all of Hong Kong’s temples are free.
You can set up your own sightseeing tour of Hong Kong for cheap. The double-decker trams only cost about 30 cents a ride. The half-mile-long series of covered escalators and walkways going up and down the steep hills between Central and Mid-Levels is free. Ride the Star Ferry to Kowloon and back for less than $1. Or take a ferry to a more remote island for hiking and beaches (less than $4).
Freebie Hong Kong’s tourism board runs a wide variety of free culture classes in English. Learn the principles of feng shui one afternoon; then practice some moves with a tai chi master the next morning by the harbor.
LOS ANGELES
There’s no getting around it: in L.A. you need a car and you’ll put a lot of mileage on it. You’re joining throngs of aspiring film and TV workers who are neither famous nor rich, so you can eat and have fun on the cheap if you know where to look.
Those in the know say L.A. has the best thrift shops in the U.S., and Hollywood estate sales turn up all kinds of goodies.
Cheap eats are plentiful: Try a double-double and a real milkshake from In-N-Out Burger, and stop by a taco stand for an authentic Mexican lunch.
For a quintessential L.A. experience, shell out $10 per person for a Sunday-night movie screening in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. You can bring a picnic dinner and a cooler of drinks—alcohol is permitted.
Freebie View the Hollywood sign and the city from the Griffith Observatory, or relive countless movie moments by admiring the sprawling city from nearby Mulholland Drive.
The beaches around L.A. are free and open to the public. Once you get north of Malibu to Zuma Beach and beyond, you can find free parking along the road.
