Paris and Beyond for the Eras tour- How much it cost and how to make the most of it
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How much did I spend to see Taylor Swift in Paris? I think the real question is how much did I make *girl math!
Seeing Taylor Swift locally in Florida was both out of budget and would still require a short trip. When I saw the list of the European cities on the next leg of her tour, I was hopeful. Shortly after the tickets initially went on sale, I managed to snap up two floor tickets on StubHub for Taylor Swift’s last night in Paris. After fees, each ticket was $427, but I got cash back through the Capital One Shopping Portal, which brought the net price down to around $376. A steal compared to the thousands of dollars they wanted for tickets to the US shows. You might want to keep an eye on last minute tickets to the shows though, I saw some upcoming Taylor Swift dates in Europe for as low at $80, meanwhile they want $2500 for nosebleeds in Miami for the Eras tour.
FLIGHTS
Then came the planning. This was not our first time in Paris and while in France we might as well spend some time in the South. We considered that it should be warming up by mid May and the Cannes Film Festival was taking place so we were interested in more celebrity spotting (easier said than done). For the outbound flights we booked MIA to LHR for 6,000 virgin points + $150 (economy, during a 50% award sale) and LHR to CDG on British Airways for $182. Decent fares were available directly from Florida to Paris on French Bee, but we had waited till the last minute to book, so they were not so reasonable then. For the return flight we booked a connecting itinerary (NCE-LHR-MIA) on Air France and Virgin Atlantic using for 22,000 virgin points + 205 euros for premium economy on the long leg. I really enjoyed the service and seat on this flight. Check out my review of Virgin Atlantic’s premium economy on the Airbus 330 here.
HOTELS
For the three nights in Paris, the Astotel hotels came in handy averaging $173 a night (4 nights). This was another last minute booking and hotel prices were a bit high due to the French holiday that week. Then we took the train to Marseille ($70) where I used my annual free night (with this card) and 5,900 IHG points to cover the one night stay at the Intercontinental. We were upgraded to a spacious suite with a balcony along with other perks like welcome drinks, due to my platinum elite status with IHG. The cocktails were inventive on the gorgeous terrace, the spa was the perfect way to relax after the train journey, and the room made us never want to leave. This hotel was phenomenal in every way with incredible service. This is the point we regretted even booking return flights.
Getting a hotel in Cannes during the Film festival was a much more difficult task. After booking a few airbnbs that canceled on me, I went with the Hilton Canopy Cannes. This is a nice location, with old town, shopping, and restaurants flanking it on one side of the harbor, and beach clubs on the other. We did not get to try the spa (an additional fee applies), which looked very nice, but we did try the restaurant which was excellent along with incredible views (do make a reservation). This hotel we best acquired by using Hilton points. I used some from my stash to cover the first night, and purchased $400 (80k points) to cover the next night. There was a two night minimum due to the festival. This was a significant savings over the nearly $700/night cash rate.
Then we moved on to Nice, where we stayed at the Holiday Inn Nice. While rates were quite reasonable, I used points to get the fourth night free, paying a total of 81,000 points for the stay. IHG points can regularly be bought at $0.005 each, so the value for the stay could be put at $405. Here, thanks to my platinum elite status, we were upgraded to a larger room with a nice view towards the old town and glasses of wine at the restaurant as the welcome drinks.
For hotel perks that mirror or are even better than having status, contact me to help you book your upcoming stays.
ACTIVITIES
Most of the time we spent shopping (i.e. Zara) and sleeping in. We did an organized tour to the Loire Valley Castles through GetYourGuide from Paris which was a wonderful but long day. This tour was an easy way to get out of the city and see the fairytale castles that inspired Disney. The cost was $160 per person and was another opportunity to get cash back via Capital One Shopping, which bought the net cost down to $112 per person. To get in a culinary experience we booked croissant class ($118 pp) in Paris via Airbnb experiences. I would not recommend this tour, as you can see from our burnt flat looking croissants below. Do book your pastry class well in advance, because the best ones fill up quick!
Otherwise we used public transportation to take day trips to Monaco, Eze, and Villefranche-sur-Mer. These towns were very easy to get to from Nice, and you can learn how to here. Train tickets for these short trips ranges from 5 to 10 euros each way. There were other areas we wanted to visit, like Saint-Paul de Vence and the Calanques National park, but we ran out of time and were not having the best weather.
