OVERVIEW: Paris2024 (or How I Only Spent ~$1,550 in TOTAL for a Bucket List Olympics Trip!)

Updated November 14, 2024

I was hoping to spend €1,500 on Olympic events tickets (with a very large * that I would spend up to another €1K for a chance to see Simone Biles). So even I am blown away that I managed to spend less than €1,500/$1,620 IN TOTAL for a 13 day Paris2024 trip!

I am hoping that this trip will showcase why I am so passionate about travel hacking and sharing it with you. That it really is just a way to get out there and travel cheaply or even better, for nearly free. Then if you can elevate it to be a way to travel better, more often or all three, that’s just the icing on the cake 🙂

TRIP OVERVIEW

Cash price is what the going rate was when I booked XX (ie: flights, hotel, etc). Take those numbers with a grain of salt because when it includes things like premium cabin flights or even the cruise, these are not things I would be choosing IF I had to pay cash. But they are included because they give you an idea of what travel hacking looks like in action.

Each category/section lists a total spend and then further is broken down as applicable – this is where you will find my savings and information about where the savings came from. Check out linked posts if you’re wanting more detailed information.

FLIGHTS

Spend: 12,500 Miles & $189.18

Icelandair Econ: $127 spend. Savings from advanced seat assignment fee waived.

Flying within Iceland is so expensive as this was the price for a 35 minute flight!

KEF-FRA / FRA-CDG (LH Econ): 12.50 AC miles + $62.18 spend. Savings: 2K points (only 10.5 Chase UR points used with 20% transfer bonus/$22 preferred seat fees waived)

I was already in Europe as I had two comped cruises back to back and had decided to take a last minute trip to Iceland before the Olympics. Savings were significant as flights into CDG were pretty expensive. Note: I only accounted the tickets from Iceland to France as part of this trip.

HOTELS

Spend: 189,500 WoH points + 3x Category 1-4 WoH Free Night Awards (FNA) + 1X WoH Club Access Award + $191.52 (Housekeeping + Bell tips)

Park Hyatt Paris Vendôme

Spend: 90K points +$100.80/€100 (Housekeeping and Bell tips)

Hyatt Regency Paris Étoile

Spend: 90K points + 3x Category 1-4 WOH Free Night Awards (FNA) + 1X Club Access Award + $80.64/€80 (Housekeeping tip) / Additional Savings:Upgrade to Montmartre View Deluxe room/Eiffel Tower View Deluxe room (also included in other sections for savings: Lounge access:F&B + Complimentary breakfast)

Hyatt House Paris CDG Airport

Spend: 9.5K points + $10.08/€10 (Housekeeping tip) / Additional savings from upgrade room type

I opted to move hotels AGAIN (for the third time!) at the end of my trip to save points (9.5K vs 18K to stay another night at the HR Étoile) and my sanity (early morning flight from CDG)

FOOD

Spend: $200.04 Savings of $491.85 on meals + drinks from HR Étoile's Regency lounge access (daily breakfast, drinks during the day and canape hours in the evening: conservatively counted as $25/meal when utilized including if a friend joined me) & meals + drinks from airport lounge access (elite status perk even when flying economy!)

Note: savings numbers do not include meals/drinks paid for by friends to celebrate my birthday which was not insignificant!

Another reason why costs were so low in this category is that Paris2024 allowed spectators to bring in food vs having to pay astronomical sporting event prices so I would pack food from the grocery store or get some ready made items to go. I was also able to bring in and refill a reusable water bottle!

A sampling of what I ate during my Paris trip. As you can see from these pics how spending so little didn’t mean that I didn’t eat well (and often)

As always, a fair bit of my food costs are for ice cream and at Paris2024, I became obsessed with the bars shown in the top left: it’s a creamsicle but passion fruit flavored / Top center: from one of the Lafayette Galleria food shops / Top right: A Gelato (and sorbert) flower cone w/macaron @ Amorino Vavin Paris

I am a big proponent of seeking out specialties of the place that you are visiting. Middle center: hot chocolate (@ Lindt) / Middle right: profiterole and peach melba @ Bouillon Chartier Paris (after a meal featuring a terrine and duck Confit) / Bottom left: rotisserie chicken w/potato gratin / Bottom center: creme brulee

Bottom right wasn’t in Paris but at the Frankfurt airport in the Lufthansa lounge: I am all about the runway views and was pleasantly surprised by the offerings in this lounge (esp the nonalcoholic wines and desserts!) I wasn’t willing to spend over $800 to fly directly to CDG, so it was great to be able to spend a layover away from the chaos of the airport plus not having to pay for drinks and food! Plus it worked out as I kept my large (carryon) bag at the hotel in Frankfurt and could book the least expensive Icelandair flights

TRANSPORTATION

Spend: $138.97 Savings not calculated*see below

Whilst Paris did increase the mass transit rates during the games, I purchased two multi-day passes that allowed me to travel on all lines (includes metro, RER, bus, tram, airport) for a set price. A seven day pass was $78.28/€72 and the 3 day pass was $46.24/€42 vs €4 Olympic price per one way within Paris (and €11.80 RER to/from CDG). With all the Olympic venues spread out over Paris, I would take 4-8 rides daily and got significant value from my passes.

ACTIVITIES

Spend: $736.40

Costs were so low here as Paris2024 actively kept ticket prices reasonable plus I was able to take advantage of a number of free events. It also helps that I have visited Paris multiple times and didn’t feel compelled to revisit any museums or attractions.

I hope to eventually write about the individual events/venues but in the meantime, here’s a quick recap of all I was able to see and do for that amount!

Tennis @ Roland Garros: $122.31 (5 Matches)

I really love sports and seeing a French Open is still on my bucket list but so happy to have been able to see some matches at Roland Garros. Some of the highlights include: seeing some BTS with tennis rackets stringing (Top Right) / Having a rain delay and getting to watch the grounds crew work their magic (Middle right) / An upset by Auger-Aliassime over Medvedev (Bottom left) / Seeing and being so close to Casper Ruud / Seeing Gauff/Fritz (even though they lost)

Men’s Water Polo @ Center Aquatique: $41.85 (2 matches)

Highlights included: watching the US team (who ended the games with Bronze!) with the US goalkeeper scoring a full length of the pool goal at the buzzer! And then later watched Serbia (who ended up being three time Olympic gold medalists) battle Espana.

Women’s Football @ Parq des Princes: $0 (Semi-Final Match)

I lucked out not only being able to see the US Women’s football team beat Japan in the semifinals on their way to gold but with a seat six rows back from the goal – and that the ticket was generously gifted!

Beach Volleyball @ Stade Tour Eiffel: $132.75 (Men’s and Women’s Round of 16 matches)

The first of my “you know the seat is good based on where the TV cameras are AKA when there’s no one behind you besides them”. Six rows back from the action and DIRECTLY across from the Eiffel Tower. Women’s match was exciting with so many set points.

Such a cool locale but also Beach volleyball is just fun to watch and being in the stands amps up the experience: the crowd gets into the music being played between points (when it goes to commercial or cuts to other events if you’re watching on TV)

Athletics (Track and Field) @ Stade de France: $327.18 (Epic night is an understatment)

My seat was on the railing above club level which was directly over the section where the cameras were! And ended up seating next to someone who had competed at the 2004 Olympics for the US team 🤯 who was able to give me some very cool insight into the BTS.

I had no idea that there would be medal ceremonies for the previous night events so that was very cool to see (top middle with Richardson getting silver for women’s 100 m)

And that evening’s events? I saw the Men’s 400M round 1, Women’s 800 semis, Men’s 1500 semifinals (esp crazy considering how that final turned out! – middle right pic) and Men’s hammer throw final (and finally saw how the hammer are safely transported by remote controlled cars).

With two nail biter events: first with the Women’s high jump finals (Nicola Olyslagers from Australia is so joyful and so fun to watch. Plus props to her for showcasing mental health: she journals after every jump as seen in the Middle left pic) and Yaroslava Mahuchikh from Ukraine continued her domination in the event with a gold (middle center).

And then there was the marque event: Men’s 100M semis and finals was so incredible to watch and lived up to the hype – the bottom left photo is a still taken from the video I shot on an iPhone! So incredible to watch Noah Lyles and happy to see him take home the gold and ringing the bell

Concorde Urban Project: $26.61

Another amazing use of Paris landmarks as backdrop to the Games. This was the first time all urban events (ie 3×3 basketball, BMX freestyle, breaking and skateboarding) took place at the same location, Place de la Concorde. While this ticket did not get me access to ticketed events, I was able to see demonstrations and had solid views of many of the events (just not a seat).

Champions Parade @ Champion’s Park: FREE

There are many reasons why this Olympics was so special but this event for me embodied the spirit behind (and thinking behind) Paris2024.

First you have how Paris incorporated the city as part of the Games and using the monuments to be part of the action. Champions Park will be located in Trocadéro Gardens, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower (bottom right)

Then of course, there are the Olympic athletes. What an incredible experience for the winners after years of hard work and dedication paying off to be able to participate in a Champion’s Parade: where they are cheered on by an enthusiastic crowd and end up posing for photos with their medals (with the Eiffel Tower serving as the background!). Being able to take some time to really celebrate whilst still in Paris and at the Games.

And not to be forgotten, the spectators. This was a completely free event (with the capacity control being the limiting factor) but you could come cheer on/offer congratulations to some of Paris2024’s biggest stars! Oh and as a bonus, many of them would hi-five and/or take selfies with the crowd as they walked down the catwalk!

The day that I was able to get in the opening show was Mourad Merzouki’s hip-hop parade featuring thirty dancers and urban artists (Top middle) who were atheletic in their own right.

I heard Novak Djokovic describe how this Olympic medal was the greatest achievement of his career (top right) and also watched a majority-French crowd cheer on their beloved mixed Judo gold medal winning team (bottom left)

Live Screening of Main Finals from the Games @ Champion’s Park: FREE

I was able to watch and then cheer for Simone Biles as she won the Women’s Gymnastics All-Around gold medal from the second best place besides the venues (or maybe the best for many since this was free!)

Olympic Hospitality Houses: Free up to €325 (ofc that would be the US pavilion)

Some national Olympic Committees set up hospitality houses to celebrate their athletes and showcase their country’s culture and heritage. They can be found around Paris but there were 15 hospitality houses at the Parc des Nations @ Parc de la Villette including Club France.

Paris2024 Cauldron/Olympic Torch: Free

The tickets to see this up close (top left) sold out immediately but since it was so large, I was able to see it whilst wandering about. It didn’t matter if it was during the day or at night or at sunset (when it was cast up), it was always so awe inspiring to see.

Panthéon: $0

Highlights: Foucault’s pendulum and the crypt of the Panthéon, the last resting place of the great personalities honored by the nation including Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Emile Zola, Joséphine Baker and Marie Curie amongst others.

In life, nothing is to be feared, everything is to be understood. Marie Curie

Ticket Sale Fees + Souvenir Tickets: ~$50 with selling some tickets and also buying souvenir tickets of events

It can’t be stressed enough how ticket prices remained reasonable because Paris2024 took great pains to ensure that they would. Even when tickets were released close to event days, the ticket pricing remained unchanged (vs dynamic pricing that we are used to in the US).

And as importantly, the secondary market was kept in check by having those tickets listed on an official and controlled site – to purchase resale tickets, there was a 10% surcharges and 5% fee to sell.

This was not seamless as the sites (official and resale) were often slow but compared to the inflated prices I have paid for concert tickets and other sporting events close to the dates of events, it was a little annoyance but worth it.

MISCELLANEOUS

$102.72 Spend Mainly Paris2024 merch  

HELPFUL HINTS

Loyalty pays: learning about then maximizing Hyatt’s loyalty program: World of Hyatt (WoH) was vital in how my trip went as I was able to use Free Night and Club Awards earned via WoH Brand Explorer Award and Milestone Awards.

My original plan was to stay only 2-4 nights in Paris especially as I used up quite a few points on my stay at the Park Hyatt Paris Vendôme but WoH made it possible to spend twelve days including unexpectedly celebrating my actual birthday in the City of Lights!

Facebook Groups: Even in 2024, I haven’t found a real replacement that allows you to readily access a lot of information (including changes that don’t show up on official sites) along with the ability to connect (online and irl). I am in a number of female travel groups and they had so much helpful (and up to date) info, the most useful tips and also were a source of free tickets! My friend was the one that scored the gratis women’s football ticket through another Olympics FB group (along with our free Parthenon tickets!)

SUMMARY

It seems unbelievable that I could decide, then book flights and accommodations for the OLYMPICS in PARIS, France a week and a half before flying into CDG and having the type of trip that I did. Oh and for an amount of money that some people were paying just to fly from the US to Paris.

But that’s the beauty and power of travel hacking….are you starting to believe me now?