Paris on Points: How This Sign-Up Bonus Can Fund Your Budget Trip

We’ve talked a bit about using points for premium or luxury travel, but we wanted to get back to basics with this post and show you how to stretch those points as far as possible. We’re going super budget in this post to show you how to book a solo trip to the city of lights with a Capital One Venture sign-up bonus.

Planning the Points Strategy

Sometimes the best way to ensure you have enough miles to cover a trip is to partner with a travel companion, whether that be a significant other, friend, or family member. That way you can share accommodation and transportation expenses to rack up the savings – and share your points pools. But in this budget example, we’ll focus on solo travel and create an itinerary using the current Capital One Venture sign-up bonus of 75k. (Note that you must spend $4k in the first three months after opening the account, so this could require some planning, and you should check the rules that apply. There’s also a $95 annual fee.)

After meeting the spending requirement, you’ll have 83k points and a $250 portal credit to work with (based on the current offer). Let’s assume you’ve met all these requirements, received your points and are ready to book right now.

[Some of these strategies will work with Citi and AmEx, too. And if you’re not eligible for a sign-up bonus, do you have a cache of points you’re ready to use? If so, these tips may help you as well.]

Getting There

Flying Blue is an essential frequent flier program to have in your toolbox. You can use points for travel with KLM (Amsterdam hub) and Air France – and it’s a transfer partner for major credit cards including Citi, Chase Sapphire, Capital One Venture, and Amex Platinum. All you have to do is figure out how many points you need and transfer them from your credit card portal to your Flying Blue account. Just make sure there’s award availability first.

Flying Blue lists monthly specials, usually including long haul and short haul flights. For example, in March, they’re offering plenty of one-ways from major U.S. cities to Paris for 18,750 points for the next few months:

Instead of entering a date, you can leave it blank and check the calendar for award availability:

In this scenario, direct flights from Washington Dulles to Paris are available roundtrip in April for 37,500 points and about $300 dollars in taxes.

If you want to erase that $300 charge, you can pay with your C1 card and apply 30k points post-purchase (so long as it is categorized as travel) – but now that’s starting to feel a bit expensive at 67,500 points.

Can we find a better deal? You may want to wait until there is a transfer bonuses available from C1 to Flying Blue. We also checked Virgin, which is a transfer partner and can have great options depending on your home airport. But the Flying Blue availability was much better.

Let’s go super budget and super easy: We can book a flight on Play (Iceland’s low-cost carrier) from Baltimore to Paris with a layover in Reykjavik for $416 roundtrip. You can book directly with the airline, pay with your C1 and apply 41.6k points post-purchase to erase the charge (so long as it’s categorized as travel). This fare is absolutely no frills with tight seating and no carry-on or checked bag allowance, only a personal item. I traveled with only a personal item for many years and you can read my tips here.

The connections are tight, but Play promises it’s fine, and I personally have experience very smooth transfers in Reykjavik.

Is the no-frills flight worth it? I prefer the direct flight for 37,500 points and $300. But your points will go a lot further with the budget option. Our options are either to wait for better airfare or a transfer bonus – or make the most of it and head to Paris next month. If you choose the latter in this scenario, let’s talk about accommodations next.

Finding a Place to Stay

If you have a $250 travel credit to use through the C1 portal, you’ll want to look for accommodations there. You can use a combination of credit, points, and cash.

When we’re on a budget, we like to stay near Gare du Nord, the train station that connects the city to CDG airport and Belgium and the Netherlands. There are many affordable dining options in and around the train station, and if you walk a bit towards the Seine River, you’ll find some great cafes and bakeries with more of a local feel and less of the hustle and bustle directly by the station. You can get to many of the city’s attractions on foot or by metro from Gare du Nord.

For hostels, we love Generator Paris. This is in a more local area of the 10th arrondissement. You can book a bed in a comfortable 4-person dorm for 6 nights here by using your $250 credit plus 8k points (after taxes). This hostel does have private rooms but the Ibis below was cheaper for private rooms (this time around) and in a better location (at least for me).

Generator has a great breakfast option and a beautiful little restaurant on the roof. It’s a little off the beaten path, but you can walk to Gare du Nord in about 20 minutes and Gare de l’Est in 12.

If you’d prefer a hotel, we like Ibis when we’re on a tight budget. It’s nothing fancy, but we’ve had comfortable and affordable experiences with the chain. We have not stayed at any by Gare de Nord, but this one (ibis Paris Gare du Nord la Fayette 10ème) would be an affordable option — just note you’ll have to fly Play and cut your trip to 4 nights if you want to stick to your points budget.

Here’s the Breakdown

• Air France and Generator Hostel for 6 nights: 75,500 points plus the $250 portal credit
• Play and Generator Hostel for 6 nights: 50k points plus the $250 portal credit
• Play and Ibis for 4 nights: 83k points, $250 portal credit, $42 extra dollars

If you go for the cheaper options, you can use the remaining points to erase travel purchases, like tours through Viator, transportation charges, or seat selections and other incidentals. Of course, these are the deals and prices at a moment in time when I was doing the research, so it all could change tomorrow. But I wanted to walk through a realistic view of what you could find on any given day.

Are you ready to book a budget week in Paris? Where would you stay and which flight would you chose?

Up Next: How to Spend 48 Hours in the City of Lights

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