Few cities are as evocative as Paris – a place where photo opportunities present themselves on every street corner. It’s beautiful enough to make the stoniest of hearts swoon, with world-renowned art and culture to nourish the mind and incredible food and wine to stretch the stomach.
If you would like to plan a gap year to visit or live in Paris there are so many options. You could find paid work, intern, study French, volunteer or just go sightseeing.
Featured Opportunities
Paris Travel Guide
Essential experiences include:
Enjoy world-famous art
Musée d’Orsay is best for the Impressionists and the National d’Art Moderne in the Pompidou Centre is a must for the Modernists, but the Louvre is the pièce de résistance. You can while many hours away in front of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa but no matter how many times you try, you’ll never escape her enigmatic gaze.
Celebrate the dead
Whether you visit the graffiti-covered grave of Jim Morrison in Père Lachaise or surround yourself with the dusty bones of revolutionaries in Les Catacombes, Paris certainly knows how to celebrate death in style.
Fall in love…
With Montmartre, Audrey Tautou found romance after wandering the handsome streets of Paris’ 18th Arrondissement in Amelie. And although you might not meet the man or woman of your dreams you’ll probably flutter your eyelids at its vintage shops and cute cafés.
Paris Travel & Backpacking Tips
Getting around
The art deco Metro stations are stylish and plentiful, but for a more leisurely route take a Batobus. The Seine’s river bus stops at all the main sights and is a budget alternative to the Bateaux-Mouches.
Cost cutter
Paris is home to the world’s top couture houses but even the most bedraggled backpacker can still get a fashion fix at Galerie Lafayette’s free weekly fashion shows.
Mean streets
Don’t fall for the wily charms of ticket touts in the Metro stations. Both the ticket booths and machines are straightforward and easy to use.
I’m a vegetarian, get me out of here
While not entirely tolerant of vegetarians, Parisian restaurants do cater for them. Waiters are generally helpful, but you must state that you don’t eat meat at all, otherwise they’ll assume you just don’t eat beef.
Save some space for…
A tiny pastel-hued macaron. Paris is famed for its food and the patisseries are enough to bring tears to the eyes of even the toughest traveller. Your backpacker budget won’t stretch to a Michelin-star meal, but frankly who cares when you can afford to buy half a dozen of these babies?
Conversation starter
The city’s most famous landmark, the Eiffel Tower, was only supposed to stand for 20 years when it was built in 1889. Which probably won’t fill you with confidence when you’re at the top swaying in the wind.
Eat
Make like a backpacker
Not every meal in Paris has to be haute cuisine – grabbing a baguette, ripe cheese and a bottle of vin de plonk for a picnic by the Seine is equally blissful.
As the locals do
The majority of bistros in the city offer prix fixe menus featuring good regional dishes such as coq au vin (sophisticated chicken stew) and saucisson (sausage). Three courses and a glass of wine are remarkably reasonable if you stay away from the main tourist areas.
Sleep
Make like a backpacker
Head to the hip Le Marais district for good, clean hostels with added grandeur. Plus, you’ll only be a stone’s throw from the nightlife.
As the locals do
While the Rue De Rivoli hosts hotels dripping with old-school glamour, the stylish SoPi (south Pigalle) is the only the place the chicest of locals choose to hang their berets.
Drink
Make like a backpacker
Head to the Latin quarter, the intellectual heart of Paris and home to the Sorbonne University. Here you’ll find down-at-heel student bars where you can indulge in high-minded discussions or just get hammered during happy hour.
As the locals do
Paris is all about café culture. While visitors head for the serviced tables, Parisians take their drinks at the bar for a smaller bill.
Be Merry
Make like a backpacker
Take it up a notch and head to La Bastille where the clutch of late-night cafés, jazz clubs and DJ bars are notoriously lively.
As the locals do
Every summer, the city welcomes the Paris Plage, a beach on the banks of the Seine. At night, locals grab a bottle and enjoy Le Festival FNAC Indetendances, a festival of free concerts, from a blanket on the sand.