PARIS — The City of Light can be pretty heavy on the wallet. Even college kids backpacking through Europe said Paris was their biggest budget buster. Even so, there are ways to tour the city without going broke. Here are some suggestions:

Many top attractions, including spectacular churches and intimate parks, are free. One of our favorite mornings was spent people-watching in Luxembourg Garden.

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When you have all of Paris to cover, you might find your budget busted quickly. But planning can keep expenses to a minimum.

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If you plan on visiting several museums, consider buying a Museum Pass (on sale at the airport and most attractions). The pass will save you money and time, allowing you to bypass ticket lines at most destinations. A two-day pass is $47, about what you'd spend to enter three museums.

Eat on the street. We had street food — crepes, paninis and pastries — almost every day for breakfast or lunch (sometimes both). Not surprisingly, the food prices increase the closer you are to a major tourist site (the 3-euro crepe in the university area cost 5 near Notre Dame).

Curtail your shopping. I spent under $150 during the week, mostly on trinkets for my kids and a few bottles of wine. That doesn't mean I didn't window-shop.

Pre-plan your splurges and then skimp on other expenses. Our biggest expenses included a concert at Saint-Chapelle, a nighttime bike tour and a five-course meal in the Loire Valley. Our hotel costs averaged about $155 a night.

Consider renting an apartment, which can save you both lodging and food costs. We ultimately decided to stay in hotels because we weren't familiar with the city and figured (correctly) that we'd need the expertise of the on-site staff.

I probably could have saved $50 on coffee alone by buying at McDonald's instead of the high-priced cafes we enjoyed most afternoons. But sitting at a cafe is a quintessential Paris experience. You're getting much more than a $7 cup of coffee — you're living life as a Parisian for 45 minutes.

Sometimes our efforts to economize simply backfired. Our last night, we sought out a restaurant near the Eiffel Tower recommended by several guidebooks for its traditional French fare at the bargain price of 15 euros ($23) per entree. But if we wanted vegetables with our dinner — and, after eating bread and cheese all day, I did — it was another 11 euros ($17) for a salad. Suddenly, my bargain dinner cost me $40.

You'll need cash on hand. We went through euros much more quickly than we expected. Several restaurants didn't take credit cards at all. Nor do the French pull out the plastic for small purchases, like coffee, the way Americans do.

I've read that some overseas travelers have had trouble using their U.S. credit cards in France and other European countries, which are converting to plastic embedded with computer chips to prevent identity theft. We didn't have any trouble using our cards, but I did notice that restaurant staff never took our plastic out of our sight. Instead, a waiter would bring the processing machine right to the table to finish the transaction, preventing any possibility that unauthorized eyes could see our card number. That's one practice we might consider adopting from our French allies.