How I vacationed in Paris for free

Sacre Coeur through Musée d'Orsay clock face

Sacre Coeur through Musée d'Orsay clock face

I love France.  France is a country where beauty matters, and the making of money is a means to an end rather than an end in itself.  She is a country of simple pleasures (country butter slathered on a crunchy, chewy baguette) and of refined tastes (world-class wine).  She is an introverted, thoughtful country -- a country of mathematics, philosophy, and art.  Ah, France. Be still my nerdy heart!

I've been to France twice before but haven't spent appreciable time in Paris.  It was time.  I've been travel hacking for several years, and friends had started to ask how it works.  So I floated the idea of a group trip to Paris in June.  We ended up with a total of four, including an art historian (one should always bring one's favorite art historian to Paris, if at all possible). We flew out of three different airports on three different airlines, but managed to find each other in the pre-arranged part of the airport.

We spent two weeks there, staying in an Airbnb house in the town of Nogent-sur-Marne just outside of the city.  We used the RER and metro lines to get around, and ate mostly from the local outdoor market, although we did eat out a lot more than I normally would, even on vacation. We visited the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, the Musée de l'Orangerie, the Cluny, Versailles, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, and Sainte Chapelle. So I probably spent more on museum tickets than on food.  It was delightful to turn a corner and suddenly be faced with a familiar work of art.  I didn't get to see everything that I would have liked, but I returned home with a full camera SD card, good memories, and the intention to return.

Airfare to Paris in June is normally about $800/person.  I traveled (with one friend) on American Airlines.  My points came from signing up for a Citi Aadvantage Platinum Select card.  If you're not familiar with travel hacking, these cards typically require that you spend about $3000 on the card in a certain amount of time.  The annual fee on this one is waived the first year, but you need to remember to cancel it in a year if you don't want to pay the fee.  If you're willing and able to do those two things, and watch for the offers of 60,000 miles (which is how many you need for a round-trip ticket to Europe), you can get to Europe from the US for almost nothing.  Airline fees for my trip were $88. Parking near the airport (using Global Airport Parking) was $60 for two weeks ($30/person).   So far that's $118 per person.

We researched options for travel in Paris, and went with the Navigo Découverte card.  It is designed for locals but available for anyone, and is much cheaper than the tourist card or buying individual tickets.  The week pass (Monday to Sunday) loaded on the Navigo  is 22.15€ for zones 1-5, and that includes CDG airport and Versailles.  A single ticket from CDG into the city is 10€, a 1-day visitor's pass is 24.50€, and a 5-day visitor's pass is 63.90€.  So the Navigo Découverte is a bargain.  The card costs 5€ and can be recharged any time in the next 10 years. It requires a small photo.  I had everyone email me selfies (against a plain background), printed them all on a single 10-cent print, and cut them out.

Navigo Découverte for Paris trains

The cards must be purchased from a human, but can be reloaded by machine.  You get a pack with three parts:  a card for the photo and your name, a card with a chip that you scan when you go through the turnstile, and a plastic holder to keep the cards together.  The chip will still scan through the plastic.  I'm including the photo because I found descriptions online but no pictures.  You write your name on the photo card, put your photo on the bit of sticker there in the corner, and cover the whole thing with a clear plastic sheet (with a peel-off backing) that is attached.

Cost of train travel in Paris: 5 + (22.15 x 2) =  49.30€ or $55.22.

Our Airbnb was a lovely three-story house that cost $548/person for the two weeks.  I neglected to take a photo, but here is the one provided by Airbnb:

The rest of my spending was $325, which covered the cost of getting in to museums, food, and a bit of shopping.  That brings me to $118 + $55.20 + $548 + $325 =  $1046.20.  So why am I calling the trip free?  I signed up for the Capital One Spark Cash card, which comes with a $500 bonus, and four checking accounts, which collectively yielded a bonus of $975.  So I actually had $428.80 left over for next year's vacation.

But it gets better.  Our flight home was delayed, and EU regulation 261/2004 requires that airlines compensate passengers who are delayed more than a certain number of hours.  I messaged American Airlines through their webpage and they promptly sent a form so that they could send us 600€ each.  That's about $670, so I'm roughly $1100 ahead.  That's not something we could have planned for, but it's a good thing for travelers to know about.

So that's how it works.  It takes a bit of effort to keep up with what you're signing up for, but the reward for that effort was very much worth it.

Update:  There is a world of information online on travel hacking.  The rules are different for each airline and it can get complicated, but I'll try to outline the basics.

If you're just getting started, the most important thing to be aware of is the Chase 5/24 rule.  This means that Chase will not give you any bonus-yielding cards if you have gotten 5+ cards from any bank in the past 24 months.  That means you should get five Chase cards first and then move on to other banks. Here is a summary of the 5/24 rule.

You can get business cards even if you have a very small ebay / etsy type business, and some of the best bonus cards are business cards.  They do tend to require that you spend more with them to get the bonus.

If you're a frugalista like me and don't spend enough to meet the requirements to get the bonus miles (typically $3-4K in 3 months) you can use the card to buy Visa-branded gift cards at Kroger, and then use those in the future.  That allows you to spread out the spending over more than 3 months.  You used to be able to use the gift card to load a Walmart or Target based cash account, but that is no longer an option.  I've heard of people using the gift cards to buy money orders which can then be deposited into your bank, but this has the disadvantage of looking a lot like money laundering.  Also, American Express does not like the gift card strategy.

Bank account bonuses don't count toward 5/24, but they do usually require that you set up automatic deposit with your employer.  This website keeps a listing of what is available at any given time.  The offerings change pretty quickly, unlike credit card offers.