Oui, you can explore the City of Lights without spending a cent. Paris may have a reputation for being an expensive European destination but that doesn't mean you can't experience the best the city has to offer on a budget. Here are our favourite Parisian experiences that are absolutely free.

Start with Sunday

1/19

On the first Sunday of the month, bucket-list museums such as the Musée d'Orsay, Musée Rodin, Centre Pompidou and Musée Picasso open their doors to art buffs for zilch. See the greats (including Picasso's Man with a Guitar and Van Gogh’s Self Portrait) without having to whip out your wallet.

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Get an artistic education

2/19

After you’ve seen the greats, visit the next generation of masters at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, east of the Champs-Élysées. There are around 15,000 contemporary works to appreciate in this light, airy space, with a good international contingent for a more varied range of perspectives and access to the permanent collection is always free.

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March through a marketplace

3/19

At the covered market of Marché d’Aligre, open six days a week, there’s a true cast of characters (a vegetarian butcher, a cheese-shop that specialises in chèvre) opening out onto a square where you can revel in your French fantasy of becoming fluent enough to bargain for your purchases. This is prime people-watching territory.

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Climb the cliffs of an inner-city park

4/19

Belleville – the suburb that straddles the 19th and 20th arrondissements – wasn’t always part of Paris. Prior to the expansion of the city, the former village was absorbed as part of the growing metropolis and with that, the gypsum and limestone quarry now known as Parc des Buttes-Chaumont was also transformed. Cliffs (yes, truly) and waterfalls are just a few of the unique features of this peaceful, elevated garden.

Marvel at the city’s rooftops

5/19

The Eiffel Tower certainly allows a stunning view of Paris but those pinching pennies will love the alternative offered at the very top of the city’s most glamorous department store. On the seventh floor of Galeries Lafayette Haussmann, after 10am, visitors have access to an expansive terrace that displays the city in perfect viewing mode – including the ever-present silhouette of La Dame de Fer (a local nickname for Le Tour Eiffel).

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Get off the tourist trail

6/19

La Promenade Plantée has been a quiet feature of the city since 1993. The abandoned 19th century viaduct was defunct for some time before it was transformed into the world’s first elevated walkway – a peaceful, shady 4.5-kilometre path that winds through the backstreets of Bastille. An arts precinct, Viaduc des Arts, is a welcome discovery along the track, with a handful of local artisans spruiking their wares from underneath a series of 36 red-brick arches.

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Step into town hall

7/19

As the seat of the Paris City Council, the gleaming exterior is certainly worth strolling past (especially in December when the traditional ice-skating rink is constructed for winter revelry) but the neo-Renaissance Hôtel de Ville also has more than council business inside. Throughout the year, a number of free exhibitions displaying works from cartoonists to photographers and even clothing are available free to visitors.

Swap the big for the small

8/19

Swathes of visitors overlook this eighth arrondissement gallery for its larger sister, the Grand Palais but art (and budget) buffs will appreciate the offering at the Petit Palais and not just because entry to its permanent collections is complimentary. Gracing the walls of this charming 20th-century building are the likes of Rembrandt, Cézanne and bronzes dating back as far as 520 B.C.

Go wandering

9/19

Parisian live their lives on their streets and have no qualms about watching others do the same – that’s why bistrot seats are refreshingly positioned to maximise gazing at passersby. Wind through the little-visited La Campagne à Paris, dream of living in an apartment above a bakery as you traverse Le Marais or bring a bottle of wine to hatch plans with idealistic locals on the banks of Canal Saint-Martin.

Take in the view

10/19

Like an impressive cake topper, the chalk-coloured domes of Basilique du Sacré Coeur cut an impressive figure atop the hilly suburb of Montmartre. From the entrance steps of this Roman-Byzantine-style church, Paris sprawls beneath. If you choose to enter rather than admiring the surrounds, you’ll be greeted with the largest mosaic in France, carefully crafted on the ceiling.

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Connect with history

11/19

Surprisingly, graveyards such as the Cimetière du Père Lachaise and the Cimetière du Montparnasse are bona fide tourist attractions. At the former, you’ll find the final resting places for celebrities from Édith Piaf to Marcel Proust, as well as non-locals such as Frédéric Chopin, Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde. At the latter, seek out the resting places of literary figures such as Simone de Beauvoir, Samuel Beckett and Jean-Paul Satre.

Go hunting for the hunchback

12/19

Although the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris suffered a number of structural setbacks during the French revolution, many notable aspects still remain: the three circular stained-glass windows still proudly display their 13th-century glass, for example. Newer additions are still defining features – take the sneering gargoyles added between 1845 and 1864, for example.

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Immerse yourself in the creative scene

13/19

Le 104, a former funeral parlour in the 19th arrondissement, is now the heart of the up-and-coming art scene in Paris, with a revolving array of activities designed to draw visitors deeper into the creative scene through talks, readings and public rehearsals of performances. Although there's a charge a fee for attendance, the collective regularly hosts a number of free classes, exhibitions and there’s even an on-site playspace for inquisitive children.

Visit a park

14/19

Place des Vosges – one of the city’s oldest squares – has a soothing symmetry in the red-brick mansion that straddles the corner of the grass-covered park, Parc du Champ de Mars doubles as the ultimate selfie backdrop thanks to the towering Le Tour Eiffel hovering over it and Paris Plages is the Seine’s answer to an inner-city beach come summer. You’ll only have to use your wallet if you decide to bring a baguette or two.

Float through a flea market

15/19

If you can’t bear to leave Paris without taking one of its treasures with you, the eclectic flea market of Marché aux Puces de St-Ouen is your best chance. There are over 3000 traders sprawled across nine hectares, selling an array of one-off gems – from vintage cameras and ceramics to old Converse trainers and beyond. If you speak French, now’s the time to use it – you’ll get better prices if you bargain in the mother tongue.

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Appreciate local art

16/19

There are 30 contemporary artists hosted at any one time at art studio 59 Rivoli and you can take a turn through the artwork-strewn Hausmann-era building Tuesday to Sunday from 1pm to 8pm for free. Even the exterior of it is a sight to behold, plastered in eclectic murals and enormous sculptures.

Step right into Rome

17/19

The fifth arrondissement is home to bursting bookshops, literary cafés that housed artists during writer’s block and many an intellectual debate: hardly the place you’d expect to find a 1st-century Roman arena. Arènes de Lutèce is the only remaining clue to the city’s Gallo-Roman past and, in its prime, could hold over 15,000 people. Today’s visitors can still see where the theatre’s animals and gladiators would bravely face off.

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Follow in Hemingway’s footsteps

18/19

Featured in Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast, energetic marketplace Marché Mouffetard on Rue de Mouffetard is crowded and crammed with charcuterie, cheeses, pastries, seafood and pates that have more than their enthusiastic customers in common: everything on offer is both fair-trade and organic. There’s a welcome extension on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays in the form of Marché Monge, which sells (among other treats), exquisite fresh bread.