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Student eats · November 2026
Studying abroad in Paris
Every meal here costs €12 or less.
About $14 US. Typical prices, checked November 2, 2026.Paris has a secret every student learns in week one: the student canteens (CROUS) feed you a full lunch for a few euros. Around them, eat falafel in the Marais, crêpes from a market stall and the old bouillons, where a three-course dinner still costs less than a cocktail.
A day of eating for €26
- Breakfast, €4: Boulangerie Utopie, a croissant and whatever's new in the window
- Lunch, €10: L'As du Fallafel, the falafel special in pita, to go
- Dinner, €12: Bouillon Chartier, œuf mayonnaise, then the sausage with mash
Breakfast, lunch and dinner: €26, about $30.
Eat for €12 or less
1
€4Breakfast
Boulangerie Utopie
Get: A croissant and whatever's new in the window
One of the best bakeries in the city, in a student neighborhood, with prices that are still bakery prices.
2
€10Lunch
L'As du Fallafel
Get: The falafel special in pita, to go
The line on Rue des Rosiers moves faster than it looks. Take it to go and eat on the steps of Place des Vosges.
3A photo like it
€10Lunch
Chez Alain Miam Miam
Get: A galette or the giant sandwich, made in front of you
Alain cooks every order on a big griddle at the back of Paris's oldest covered market. Worth the wait.
4A photo like it
€12Dinner
Bouillon Chartier
Get: Œuf mayonnaise, then the sausage with mash
An 1896 dining hall with waiters in black waistcoats who write your bill on the paper tablecloth. Starters cost about €2.
5A photo like it
€12Dinner
Chez Gladines
Get: A huge Basque salad in a bowl, enough for two
A packed Basque bistro on a village-like hill full of students. Share a table, share a salad, stay late.
6A photo like it
€11Dinner
Pho Banh Cuon 14
Get: Pho tai, the big bowl
Paris's Chinatown does the best cheap bowls in the city, and this is the one people line up for.
The market
Tuesday to Sunday mornings
Marché d'Aligre
Bastille, 12th
Get: Fruit and vegetables at the end of the morning, when the stalls start shouting prices down
Go around noon for the cheapest produce. The covered hall next to it (Beauvau) has cheese and a good bakery.
The supermarket to find
Franprix, Monoprix or Lidl
- A baguette for about €1.20 at any boulangerie
- Monoprix's ready salads and sandwiches for lunch
- Picard (frozen food shop) for cheap, good dinners at home
Lidl and Carrefour Market are noticeably cheaper than Monoprix. Big supermarkets on Sundays close at 1pm.
How students save in Paris
- Use the student restaurants (CROUS): a full lunch is a few euros with a student card, and many exchange students can get one. Ask your program.
- At lunch, look for the 'formule' on chalkboards: starter and main, or main and dessert, at a set price.
- Water in a carafe ('une carafe d'eau') is always free. Coffee standing at the bar costs less than sitting.
More for Paris
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Prices are typical, checked November 2, 2026, and move; places with branches all over (chains) are named so you can use any of them. "A photo like it" is the same kind of food, not from that place. Chef Amazing is not paid by any place on this page.
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