Paris confidential: The city's best experiences that don't cost a dime

Paris has a reputation for being fiendishly expensive. And oui, c'est vrai (yes, it's true), you could easily splash out $3000 for a night at the Ritz, another 800 bucks for an 11-course tasting menu at a three-Michelin-starred restaurant. Even a more budget-friendly trip, staying in sensibly priced hotels and dining at rustic-chic bistros, can dent the bank balance, especially when you tot up the entry fees of those classic Parisian draws: going up the Eiffel Tower, catching the Mona Lisa at the Louvre and the impressionists at the Musee d'Orsay.

But Paris is also blessed with gratuit (free) things to see and do. There's walking for starters, the pleasure of being a flaneur in Europe's most densely populated capital, where there's life, fashion and extraordinary architecture around almost every corner - not to mention the scents of freshly baked goodies drifting from the bountiful boulangeries, where a croissant will set you back about one euro ($1.65).

You can break up your ambles by visiting attractions that are both admission free and (usually) won't have you wasting valuable holiday time standing in lengthy entrance queues. Some of these diversions are located in familiar districts, others in neighbourhoods that you wouldn't ordinarily visit. All have the potential to deepen Paris's spell on you.

Spread across two Renaissance-era mansions in Le Marais, one of Paris's most charming enclaves, this excellent museum charts the city's fascinating history, from its origins as an Iron Age settlement for the Parisii tribe to its multicultural, post-pandemic present. Delve into key periods from Paris's past, including its ancient Roman, regal and revolutionary epochs.

Browse bygone street and shop signs, and admire stunning life-size re-creations, including a fin de siecle jewellery boutique and sumptuous replicas of salons crafted by Charles Le Brun, a 17th-century designer who decorated the Palace of Versailles. The museum dates from 1880 but it's looking sleek and modern after a four-year revamp extended, brightened up and digitally enhanced the gallery spaces. With lots of hands-on exhibits, this is a good option for children as well as adults. Please note, like most Parisian museums, the Carnavalet is closed on Mondays. carnavalet.paris.fr

Post-visit: Fancy a drink and a bite? Enjoy everything from tea and sandwiches to champagne and small plates at the snack bar and restaurant spilling out into the museum's topiary-filled garden. fabula.paris

While you're in the area, you'd be remiss not to mosey another five minutes to Place des Vosges, Paris's oldest planned square. Boasting a grassy, picnic-ready park at its centre, it's framed by handsome, symmetrical stone and red-brick townhouses and vaulted arcades. There's a flurry of stylish boutiques and eateries here, but most intriguing, on the second floor of house No. 6, is Victor Hugo's former apartment. It's now a small but engaging museum devoted to the French author, who moved in with his family after the publication of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831) and stayed for 16 years. You'll learn more about Hugo's life and writing as you move through the rooms, variously fitted out with period furniture, personal objects, manuscripts and family portraits. maisonsvictorhugo.paris.fr

Post-visit: Wander into Bastille, a now-trendy district east of Le Marais. Among the hip addresses here is Back in Black, an antipodean-inspired coffee shop where you'll get a good flat white. backinblackcoffee.com

Only in a city as monumental as Paris could somewhere called the Petit Palace (Little Palace) be as big, bold and beautiful as this Belle Epoque-era lovely. Like its slightly larger sibling, the Grand Palais, which it faces across Avenue Winston-Churchill just off the Champs-Elysees, it was built for the 1900 Paris World Fair. Now home to the city's wonderfully diverse fine arts collection, the Petit Palais's marble-and-mosaic-strewn galleries and corridors flaunt French and international talents. One minute you'll be perusing Greco-Roman sculptures, the next masterpieces by Rembrandt and Rodin, or art nouveau delights by Hector Guimard, who conjured some of the flamboyant entrances to the stations of the Paris Metro. petitpalais.paris.fr

Post-visit: There's not a great deal, refreshments-wise, in the immediate vicinity, but the museum has an enticing cafe with tables in the palace's lushly-vegetated interior courtyard.

Tucked away on the Left Bank of the River Seine, this botanical garden is a quieter, leafier alternative to the picture-postcard, but often-busy, Jardin du Luxembourg. It was established in 1626 as a royal garden for medicinal plants, opening to the public a few decades later and continuing to grow thanks to French botanists, zoologists and explorers, who'd return from their global travels with exotic flora and fauna.

Pottering around Jardin des Plantes' 28-hectare site, you'll discover themed gardens, aromatic herbs, fruits and vegetables, and vibrant seasonal blooms, including sunflowers, dahlias and roses between May and August. There's some interesting wildlife here, too. You might glimpse, grazing in grassy enclosures, red-necked wallabies and eastern grey kangaroos - part of a wider menagerie that is mostly fenced off from prying eyes as it's one of the garden's extra paid-for attractions. jardindesplantesdeparis.fr

Post-visit: Situated about halfway between Jardin des Plantes and Jardin du Luxembourg, Rue Mouffetard is a narrow, hilly market street with shops, stalls and contemporary bistros like Flocon, praised for its keenly-priced lunch menus. restaurantflocon.com

If you're a fan of street art, it's worth hitting this sprawling Left Bank quarter, which doubles as a giant open-air gallery. In projects backed by Jerome Coumet, the district's art-loving socialist mayor, creatives from France and abroad have daubed walls and lofty apartment buildings with their experimental brush-strokes and socio-political messaging. High above a boulangerie-patisserie on Rue Nationale, near Place d'Italie, is a huge mural by Shepard Fairey, an American activist-artist best known for his Barack Obama Hope poster. Here the French tricolour is portrayed with the national motto: "Liberte, egalite, fraternite." It's easy enough to find the murals yourself - some pieces are gigantic - but you can also join guided neighbourhood tours. streetarttourparis.com

Post-visit: Check out Buttes-aux-Cailles, a quaint pocket of the 13th arrondissement flush with bars and eateries. Chez Gladines excels in hearty dishes from southwestern France, with its facade sporting the stencil art of Miss. Tic, a late, pioneering female French street artist. chezgladines-butteauxcailles.fr

Back on the Right Bank, this legendary department store oozes glamour, its perfumed aisles rich in luxury clothes, bags, shoes and jewellery. It may be hard to resist filling your shopping basket, but you really don't have to buy anything here. Instead look up and admire the store's splendid art nouveau design, the gilded ironwork on the soaring balconies and the astonishing stained-glass dome, which was restored in 2021. The icing on the cake is the building's lounger-peppered roof terrace, where you can take in panoramas of the city, picking out famous Parisian landmarks. haussmann.galerieslafayette.com

Post-visit: Restaurants pop up on the terrace in the warmer months, but if you're hankering for Asian food, there are several spicy options in the streets north of the store, including Thai dishes and cocktails at chic Moom Mam. moommam.fr

Occupying the eastern wing of the art deco-style Palais de Tokyo, MAM has a 15,000-strong collection of modern and contemporary art, spanning an array of genres, from Bauhaus and cubism to surrealism and post-impressionism. Big names - like Chagall, Matisse and Picasso - are represented here, but arguably most dazzling are the vast, multi-coloured abstract canvases by Paris-born painter Robert Delaunay. There's a fair chance, however, you'll be distracted by the Eiffel Tower, looming across the River Seine through the gallery windows. mam.paris.fr

Post-visit: Head over to the west wing of the Palais de Tokyo, where you'll find temporary, for-a-fee art exhibitions, a fine book store and two all-day dining spots, Italian-influenced Bambini and French star Monsieur Bleu. palaisdetokyo.com

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Hidden down a quiet side street in Pigalle - a gentrified neighbourhood just south of Montmartre - this snug museum is set in an attractive villa with lime-green window shutters. It's the former abode of Ary Scheffer, a 19th-century Dutch-French painter, who welcomed and entertained writers and artists such as George Sand, Eugene Delacroix and Charles Dickens here. Elegantly furnished with paintings, fashions and literary effects from back in the day, the museum has a tranquil courtyard garden with a wrought-iron greenhouse, from which top Parisian bakery Rose runs a tearoom. museevieromantique.paris.fr

Post-visit: Around the corner, Rue des Martyrs is a historic sloping thoroughfare with an eclectic mix of food and drink offerings, including a delectable chocolate store by Michelin-acclaimed chef Alain Ducasse. ducasse-paris.com

It's perhaps an offbeat way to spend a few hours, but Paris's cemeteries are made for strolling and tomb-seeking. Although most visitor interest is focused on Pere-Lachaise cemetery - the resting place of about a million souls, including Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison - you'll find atmospheric alternatives with tree-shaded paths unfurling by striking tombs, chapels and sculptures.

Within walking distance of the Moulin Rouge and the Sacre-Coeur basilica, Montmartre's cemetery contains the graves of notable French figures such as novelist Alexandre Dumas, impressionist Edgar Degas and film-maker Francois Truffaut. Meanwhile, at Montparnasse cemetery, on the Left Bank, try locating the tombs of philosopher-lovers Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, and the poet and celebrated flaneur Charles Baudelaire.

Post-visit: A stone's throw from the cemetery, next to Montparnasse station, Food Society is a funky new food hall dishing up everything from crepes and croque monsieurs to tacos and lobster rolls. There's craft beer and cocktails, too, and sometimes live music and drag shows. foodsociety.fr

Getting there: Emirates flies to Paris from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane via Dubai. emirates.com

Getting around: Paris is best navigated on foot, but the Metro is handy for covering longer distances if you're in a hurry, or if your legs have had enough. ratp.fr

Staying there: A smartly designed, budget-conscious option on Paris's western edge, Mama Shelter Paris La Defence has double rooms from about $200. mamashelter.com

If you want to stay more centrally, but still within a reasonable budget, the Oh la la! boutique hotel in Bastille has double rooms from about $220. ohlalabastille.com

Explore more: parisjetaime.com, france.fr

The writer was a guest of Mama Shelter.