ericjdaniels

I was offered an apartment to rent at this location for 90 euros per night. It can sleep 4, has a kitchen, shower, and everything is provided as far as sheets, etc. It is being offered through vrbo.com and someone named "Gilles de Clerck."

We had planned on staying in the 5 or 6 arr. How is this location? It seems near to the Louvre, where we will be going for a day. We also wanted to spend a lot of time relaxing in the gardens, but I am not sure what is close to this property. Let me know what you think. Thanks so much!

Eric

111op

It's fine. I've stayed at the Hotel Tiquetonne, near r. St-Denis (where there're some harmless sex shops), but you'll be further west of there.

You'll be within walking distance of the Louvre, Les Halles, etc. I like this location.

ericjdaniels

Anyone familiar with this exact address? If there are seedy areas in the general location, it would be nice to know if this apartment is located in one of the bad areas.

Are there any hotels right near this that I could check out?

Thanks so much!

111op

As I said you're west of the intersection of Tiquetonne and St-Denis. I looked up mapquest, and it looks like you're near the intersection of Etienne-Marcel and Tiquetonne.

Honestly, it's a perfectly fine location. Further west is Place des Victoires (and Galerie Vivienne).

You're also within walking distance of Beaubourg and the Louvre.

If the apartment is in good condition, personally I'd take it in a heartbeat -- but then I don't know how much apartments in Paris rent for (but 90 euros for 4 sounds very cheap).

SuzieC

I peeked at your address on pagesjaunes.com ... seems OK to me.
Business district...close to the Bourse ...(stock exchange).

er....um... I didn't notice is there were any specific gardens ...

I like apartment rental in Paris... you'll be fine!

Christina

There are probably seedy areas within some proximity, but that's true in a lot of a big city. I wouldn't worry about that, exactly -- that's a popular area with trendy shops right around there. I wouldn't choose a place to stay because you plan to go to a certain museum one day. It isn't real close to relaxing gardens -- I suppose the park area around Les Halles, but that's not the same as gardens to me. It's not that close to some other nice parks over that way (like Place des Vosges. YOu can certainly go to parks to relax with no problem, but they won't be a short distance from that apt. It's near a good market street for food, rue Montorgueil.

That is reasonable for a nice apt, of course, and things will be cheaper in that part of town. There is a cafe at that address. That guy advertises on a lot of web sites. If you really like the apt., it should be fine. If there is nothing special about the apt. or things you don't even like about it, it's possible you might prefer a different location nearer to a nice park.

Suzanne2

We rented an apartment on Rue Mandar in that area in October. I loved the market street. Rue Monterguiel (sp. This area is part of a bustling garment district so its pretty busy during the day and quiet at night.This is a very old part of the city so the streets are very narrow. The Street called Rue St. Denis does have some seedy looking parts but they are avoidable. They say the area around Le Halles is bad at night. We made sure not to walk there at night. My personl opinion of the area is that it was run down and has now become trendy (due to rising real Estate costs no doubt)so its changing. It was nice to stay in such a non-touristy area. I would not recommend staying on Rue St. Denis but the rest of the 2nd is fine. Close to metro and shopping. The Tuileries is a beutiful park next to the Louvre. I like parks so I find a new one each trip. We had a great afternoon at a park in the NE called Butte Chamuont. Fabulous park.
I doubt tht I spelled that right

ericjdaniels

OK, here's the deal. I basically have two choices: stay at this apartment (which has a kitchen to cook in which would save us money)

or to stay in Hotel de la Sorbonne - for the same price with A/C and near the gardens.

I am having a tough time deciding. I am leaning towards the Hotel because of the location and A/C, but the money factor is big because the dollar is in the gutter.

Are there places to buy food cheap near the apartment? Would it be worth the trouble. We travel real light. (we lived on protein bars and loaves of bread our first and second trips)

Thanks for the help. This is tougher than I thought.

WillTravel

What time of year are you going? That will help decide whether A/C is needed.

ericjdaniels

June 2-5th...I was assuming it would be quite hot based on other people's suggestions.

What do you think?

JeanneB

From your last post, I take there will only be 2 of you. If that's the case and the price is the same, I would opt for the hotel. I like the area around the Sorbonne much better. Don't know that particular hotel, but here are some recent reviews on tripadvisor.com

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187147
-d302989-Reviews-Hotel_de_la_Sorbonne-Paris_Ile
_de_France.html

One reviewer liked the next door Hotel de Cluny Sorbonne much better. It has good reviews on the site as well.

Christina

It could possibly be hot, but the odds are that it won't in early June. Where did you get the information that the Hotel de la Sorbonne had A/C? I suppose it's possible, but it's only a budget 2* hotel and never used to. I don't see it saying that on their web site, but maybe I missed it.

I would prefer the location of the Sorbonne, probably. Yes, there are places to buy cheap food near that apt. -- rue Montorgueil, as one place. At least, as cheap as it may get on a market street like that, I don't know what you expect. Personally, I don't think you are going to save a lot of money on food because you can get very reasonable prix fixe dinners in Paris which will probably be a lot better than what you are going to cook yourself. Besides, do you want to go to Paris just to stay inside and cook stuff yourself? Maybe you are a gourmet chef, I don't know, but dining out is part of experiencing a city to me and part of how I spend my evenings for enjoyment, also.

As for lunch, you could save money there if you plan to go back there for lunch, but I wouldn't want to spend the time doing that during the day. You can eat lunch real cheaply while out in the city or sightseeing, anyway, as you can buy takeout or stuff from grocers or stand where you are. As for breakfast, you also can buy stuff from a local patisserie or whatever regardless of where you stay.

So, I personally would never choose to stay in an apt as a way to save money on food, but you could be planning something different or have different habits. You might enjoy the apt for lots of reasons, though.

Personally, I think you'd like the Sorbonne location better, I would -- but are you sure it has AC? I haven't even seen the apt. you are thinking of as I couldn't find anything on vrbo that matched that description, but that would just be my taste, anyway. I really dislike a lot of cheap Parisian rental vacation apts.

Suzanne2

I think this is all a matter of individual taste. $90 a night for anything in Paris is really unheard of so I don't know what you are getting for that price. I've been to Paris several timea and only tried the apartment thing last year. I don't know how much money if any we saved on the food but I did enjoy the convenience of the kitchen. In the morning my husband walked to Rue Montorguiel and got our fresh crossiants while I was getting ready we had a pot of American coffee and orange juice. A few days I cooked eggs and bacon. The last time we stayed in a hotel they charged $15.00 ea for the buffett breakfast. On most days we ate our main meal at lunchtime in whatever cafe we happened to find during our explorations. We went out to a few good evening meals but mostly brought back takeout food found on Rue Montorguiel. We had great Chinese food and rotissee chickens among other things. It was nice too kick off our shoes, light a candle or two and open a bottle of wine and relax for the evening.

kismetchimera

Years ago I was in Paris with my older daughter..I could not make a reservation with our usual hotel for 5 nights,but only for 4, because there was a Convention in town.
Anyway I made a reservation for a hotel in Rue Clery..I noticed that the taxi driver was quite surprised when I gave him the address.
We never felt so uncomfortable being in that part of town, actually was quite scary..
It seemed like that were the only 2 western women walking , everybody was staring at us..Needless to say , we were quite happy when the next day we were able to leave that area..

Suzanne2

Are you sure you were on Rue Cler? That is the safest street in Paris.

kismetchimera

Suzanne,is not Rue Cler but Rue Clery 2nd ARR.
To be fair, we were there at the time of the American's Hostage situations in Beirut, which was many years ago....perhaps this was the reason that we were a little nervous going around by Ourselves.