M8 bar
bar
go there to a snooker pool party
playing pool with friends is always fun while having a drink, it's even better when the owners are serving chinese food for cheap price
tip — quite hidden place, hard to guess this spot from the street
Welcome to Paris!
Below are my top 40+ cheap addresses in Paris.
I made this small guide to help you find good, unusual, and affordable places, while avoiding the usual tourist traps.
These are places where I actually hang out with friends. I also included some quiet spots where you can work for free, plus a few useful resources in case you’re here for art-related things.
If you need a map of the arrondissements, you’ll find it here.
If you see anything that feels off, or if you have better places to share, tell me. Also, please ignore the quality of my English—it shifts depending on planetary alignment.
Hope you enjoy your stay 🤪🤪🤪🤪
Bises,
Yves
last update: 11/07/2026
46 addresses
Bibliothèque de l'Institut national d'histoire de l'art
library 02nd
go there to work
beautiful library, full of people that look super smart reading super complicate books about art.
tip — Important : need to be a registred artist/art student to have access. There's one room available for everyone without registration but might get crowded
Bistrot de l'horloge
bar 03rd
go there to drink a drink
cheap bar, good location (near Pompidou center) and above all quiet (no car around)
tip — open from 4pm
La gaité lyrique
venue 03rd
go there to work
good place for working on a computer, also have good parties and exhibitions. Also good for free toilets lol
La mutinerie
bar 03rd
go there to its queers, women, trans people, dykes, and bisqueers, women, trans people, dykes, and bis meeting spot. I don't often go there but i thought it might be interstesting to add it in the list :)
beside being a lesbian bar, it's a place that need support because they are recently facing financial struggle !!
Le marais art galleries
area 03rd
go there to take a walk
as they say "les galeries d'art sont le plus grand musée gratuit de France" = art galeries are the biggest free museum of france, lol. I recommend the one around Le marais that are currently the best ones on the average. Carrefull there's a trap : the galleries in Place des Vosges are famous to be the worst one (commercial sculptures and fake street art).
tip — During openings (usualy on thursday night), you can to eat and drink for free.
check out :
Galerie Anne Baraut
Galerie Florence Loewy
Galerie Kamel Mennour
Galerie Continua
Galerie Templon
Galerie Perrotin
Le temple céleste
restaurant 03rd
go there to grab some chinese food
you can buy 5 baozi (stuffed bread) for 5€. best price around, it's quite fast and hot and good.
L'attirail
bar 03rd and 10th
go there to drink a beer
cheap beers (3,50€) + they offer potatoes each half hour
tip — There's actually 3 different bars by the same owner in the same area of paris
BPI (Pompidou library)
library 04th
go there to work
beside the art center, pompidou is also housing a great public library, full of art books
tip — carefull during the period of student exams (december and june), it get really crowded
L'académie du climat
café 04th
go there to drink a drink
good coffee in a good location where you won't find any other cheap place in the area
tip — check the opening hour before
Creperie Genia
restaurant 05th
go there to eat crêpes
cheap crepes (5,50€ for the salty and the sweet one + drink). On the other side, the service is not at all fancy. I therefore recommend eating it outside while walking along the seine
tip — fun fact : the menu is in spanish because latino tourists think it's the latino district (quartier latin) so they gather in this area, it's quite a mindblowing
Créperie Oroyona
restaurant 05th
go there to eat crêpes
cheap crepes (5,50€ for the salty and the sweet one + cider) +++ the owner is quite funny, feel free to ask him about his art career and the relation between paintings and crêpes
Daccord
café 05th
go there to tea/cake
not only the boss is super nice but she's also doing the best cakes i've ever eaten of my entire life
tip — there's not any exterior signs
La clef
cinema 05th
go there to whatch good films
it's the only associative cinema of paris and they are showing amazing films
La grande mosquée de Paris
café 05th
go there to drink a morocan tea in a beautiful mosqué
it's not cheap, but the experience worth it
La k'fèt
bar 05th
go there to dancing
the cheapest beers of paris (2€ the pint), located in the basement of l'ENS, the most prestigious french university. If you're lucky you can even get into a free drink party run by some student associations.
tip — you need to pretend to be a student to enter (they will probalby ask you to write down your name if you arrive late) and once inside ask for the localisation of La Kfet. Carefull, you need to be super smart to get accepted in this school, so do your best to look so.
Les arènes de lutèces
area 05th
go there to lay on the sun on romanian ruins
quite secret place, the former romainian arena, now surrounded by building. A good place to chill with a drink you can buy in grocery shop around
Ecole des Beaux arts de Paris
venue 06th
go there to visit art exhibition and party
A beautiful place, not open for tourists, full of students shows. Quite unique place in paris. There's two museums inside, and you can also book for spending some time in the library reading their amazing collection of art books.
tip — Ecole des Beaux arts de Paris is not officialy open to the public. tips to enter if you look like an art student : just look at your phone when passing the entrance. Otherwise, just say you want to book a meeting at the school's library.
Another tips : if Café Elisa (the student bar located inside the building) is open, you can get cheap drinks, and if you're lucky, good parties.
Bouillon Chartier Grands Boulevards
restaurant 09th
go there to eat traditionnal french food
it's a great place to try all kind of french cuisine for a cheap price (1,90€ for the oeuf mayo… wahh). the quality is not amazing and it's also quite noisy therefore definitly a parisian must-do.
tip — don't worry about the line at the entrance, it's really fast.
There's other ones you should check out : Bouillon Republique, Bouillon Pigalle…
Musée de la vie romantique
café 09th
go there to date
the coffee inside the musuem is really cute and not so expensive if i remember correctly. The museum is free :)
tip — i recommend to go there when the weather is good. you don't need to visit the museum to get to the coffee shop
Le Zorba
venue 10th
go there to see good concert
don't mind the small and dirty bar, the intersting part is down the stairs where you'll find a small and dirty music stage. I played there twice and it was always fun. Realy niche programmation
tip — usually this instagram account is taking care of the programmation : https://www.instagram.com/lasalepepiniere/
Musée des moulage (molding museum)
museum 10th
go there to a weird visit into the human bodiness
this place is orignaly made for medical student to learn about body's part and dysiness. You'll find intersting scultpures and molding.
tip — be aware it's quite graphic
Restaurant Krishna Bhavan 100 Veg
restaurant 10th
go there to eat vegetarian cheap indian food
good for a quick lunch around the area
tip — all the indians restaurants around are quite cheap and good
Le canal saint-martin
area 10th and 11th
go there to take a walk (with a beer?) around a canal
there's no more car allowed, when the weather is good, it's a great place to hangout, seat along the canal or
tip — you can buy cheap beers by going to the Franprix supermarket
La ménagerie de verre
venue 11th
go there to see contemporary dance show
best performance programmation to my opinion. also have a good café inside but not cheap i repeat : not cheap
Le chair de poule
bar 11th
go there to get crazy
nice bar with nice owners and quite punk programmation
Le valmy
bar 11th
go there to to observe cute dogs
there's a dog park nextby, it's quite fun to observe all the dogs passing. it's really enjoyable when the sun is out
tip — go for the terrasse
Bois de vincennes
area 12th
go there to walk around, party
greatest parisian park, you can have a long promenade during day. By night, the whole park is used as a place for party where you can find raves from hardcore music to french pop.
tip — In order to find rave parties, you just have to follow the sound ! be aware that it's quite dark by night. I recommend using velib bikes to get there, there's a bike station right in the middle of the park.
La cantine de l'aiguillage
restaurant 13th
go there to a fancy lunch in a trashy environnement
Good place for a fancy lunch not too pricy (around 20€). The food is full of surprise and the chef is also voguing lol, what other reasons do you need ? oh maybe that's in an historic artist-run space that's also interesting to visit?
tip — It's a place you'll need to book before if you want to find a sit
Le temps des cerise SCOP
restaurant 13th
go there to get some french food in south bank of paris
it's a cooperative enterprise, quite unique for restaurants in paris. i've never been there actually, but it seems fun, let me know if you wanna go there together :)
tip — the area of la butte au caille is really nice, full of bars and not really tourisic.
La réserve des arts
shop 14th and 93
go there to buy everyhing I need for the exhibitions I organized
La réserve des arts is a crazy place to buy big furnitures for it's actually the place where museums and fashions shows are giving all their leftovers. It's great to buy wood, metal, textile… for a insanely cheap price ! must go for artists and designers ! And the team is really nice
tip — they have two different spaces, one small in Paris 14th, and the other one, big, in Montreuil. You need to be an artist to be able to get in. If you're french they'll ask you your professional number, but I gess if you're foreigner they'll trust your word.
Guerrissol
shop 17th
go there to buy secondhandclothes
you can find a lot of options by going in the same street. it's not touristic as vintage shops in Le marais, so probably better for finding good deals
tip — there's about 10 different guerrissol in Paris, but my favorite ones are Avenue de Clichy
Le 82
bar 18th
go there to dancing
it's quite a cheap bar and you can danse on commercial music until 2am
tip — nearby montmartre and some concert venues (la cigalle…)
La Péniche l'antipode
bar 19th
go there to drink a beer
i love this place, there's allways available sits and the location is convenient + you're in a barge wich is quite nice. A bar on a barge lol
La gare de jazz
venue 19th
go there to jazz concerts
really good free jazz/expé concerts, but carefull, you're not allowed to talk during the shows
tip — there's a food-truck to buy caribean food at the entrance. The basement is a techno night club by night. the ticket is not cheap but some parties are nice :)
Le doc
venue 19th
go there to attempt art events by local artists
Former squat, this now-legal artist run space hold a great programmation of exhibitions and concerts
tip — you need to check their programm first, there's no event all the time
Parc des buttes chaumont
area 19th
go there to take a walk
weird park created in the 18th mimiking the alps montain and greek temples… Not touristic but full of parisians when the sun come out.
Pizzeria La tavola calda
restaurant 1st
go there to pizzaaa
not the best pizza of paris, but the location is great considering the price.(10€ for the margharita if i remember correctly). Also it's quite calm.
Le monte-en-l'air
library 20th
go there to buy books
cute team, cute place and cute selection of books. They are doing many book lauch events
tip — if you still books they will pretend not seeing it. wich is cute. But if you want to steal books I'd rather advice steeling from la FNAC for ethical reasons
Les Barques du lac Daumesnil
area 20th
go there to well, it's quite a big moove for a date but you can rent a small boat in a nice location
it's like in films… ffffff
tip — The Vincennes Park is the biggest of paris, it's also a cool place for a walk (as i mentionned in another line), check out the remaining ruins of the
Père populaire
bar 20th
go there to Drink a drink
Super nice bar, full of parisians working during days, tchatting during night. Coffee is 1€ and beers are cheap. it's this kind of bar where everyone is super sexy and super parisian
le relais de bellevile
bar 20th
go there to drink a drink
it's a place where many of my friends are hanging out… quite arty if I may say
Gibert Joseph
library 6th
go there to buy second-hand book
it's the historical second-hand books, good place to find really specific books, cds… not touristy and well located
Maison pop
venue 93
go there to fab-lab
beside the museum and the music scene, la maison pop also have an cheap fab-lab with laser cut, 3d printing…
tip — check out also their cool programmation
Puce de saint-ouen (flea market)
area 93 (outside paris)
go there to take a walk
a crazy place for second hand furnitures. Recently, it got quite expensive unfortunately
tip — be carefull with pickpockets please !
La Bibliothèque de la ville de Paris
library everywhere in paris
go there to borrow an instrument
beside a library, you can borrow instruments (guitar, synthetiseur, percussion…) for free !
tip — you need the paris library card, you might wanna ask a parisian friend for it
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Some extra tips
Careful with pickpockets
The myth about Parisian pickpockets is true. Never leave your bag unattended in a bar/café/party — and not only if you look like a tourist (I did get my computer stolen while having a drink with some friends in a quiet bar on a fancy street, rrrr). One piece of advice: most places in Paris now accept card payments, so don’t bother with cash.
Go east
Just don’t hang out in the west side of Paris. It’s empty, it’s boring, it’s bourgeois, and it’s empty (yes, twice). You’ll actually find nothing but tourists. Which means, if you go, the pickpockets will go too. I barely ever went there myself, except to visit the Palais de Tokyo — the most important contemporary art center in Paris (but the ticket is expensive, so I haven’t included it here). All the interesting things are happening in the east. Choose your side.
For transport
I recommend using the public bike service, Vélib’. It is the worst means of transport, but still better than all other options. (I used it for 9 years — it doesn’t work well, but it’s cheaper, more convenient, and more fun than the metro or a taxi.)
If you want totally free transport, just prepare a fake address to give to the metro police if they catch you without a ticket. Don’t pay on the spot — just say you’ll pay once you receive the fine.
For cheap beers
This app helps you find the cheapest beers around you. (You’ll need to install it on your phone — it does not work on a computer.)
For art
Forget waiting hours to enter the Louvre. There are many free museums in Paris, and some are excellent and almost empty. You can find a list of free museums here. Some are free only on the first Sunday of the month. There are also free or reduced rates for people under 26, students, artists living in France, and unemployed people. If you don’t fit these categories, you can try explaining that you don’t have money — museum staff are often artists themselves and may understand.
For concerts
If you’re looking for cool, niche, or experimental concerts, check Agenda Informe. It lists all kinds of shows.
For clubbing
Check the Culturel Paris Instagram account — they post solid weekend cultural and club event recommendations.
If you want techno-ish music: Essaim (a bit polished), Le Gore (a bit chaotic), La Machine du Moulin Rouge (the classic big one).
