Hello All. This is my first post on this forum. I am from Australia and in September and October 2020 I will be leading a party of eight adult relatives and friends on a driving tour of France. We will be traveling in two vehicles. I would like advice/recommendations on accommation close to but not in the centre of Paris. I am not keen on driving in Paris and I know that parking can be problematic. I would like a place close to a rail line so as we can commute easily into the city which is in a good safe neighbourhood with parking. Our planned stay is for three nights Thanks in advance for your assistance. Cheers Pete.

Is Paris at either the beginning or end of your itinerary? If so, definitely consider staying more central and picking up the car when leaving Paris to travel elsewhere or when arriving in the city from elsewhere in France.

Having a group of 8 staying well outside Paris and attempting to commute in each day will be a big time waster.

Hi Thanks for your prompt reply. We will be Threequarters through our trip.

My family group of seven recently stayed in this apartment just outside the city limits of Paris, in the town of Bagnolet.

https://www.booking.com/hotel/fr/mai...les.en-gb.html

It's really a little independent house, with three bedrooms and two baths, on two levels. One bedroom ad one bath are on the ground level, and there is a double sofabed in the living room, that folds up and down very easily. It's advertised as sleeping eight. There is no advance deposit, you can cancel without penalty until within a few weeks of your stay, and payment is by credit card. There is a security deposit, payable in cash, which is returned when you leave. The owner and his wife live in their own house behind this apartment.

There are two metro lines, a tram stop, and two bus stops in the immediate vicinity. The tram brings you to a stop on a third metro line. (Unfortunately, we were there during the transportation strike, so several of these options were not available. We had the tram, with a connection to a working metro line, and one bus line.) We went into the center every day. I can't tell you how long it would usually take, because the strike slowed things down considerably. However, Google Maps says that the trip (including walking to the bus or metro) would take 28 minutes by bus and 33 minutes by metro. At rush hour, I would prefer the metro. I don't think that's an unreasonable commute time. The RATP app gives very similar times.

Bagnolet is a working class neighborhood, with a large immigrant population. It seemed perfectly safe. There were two restaurants on the same street, an excellent butcher, who sold some ready-to-heat dishes, and a small grocer. There were also two pastry shops, one of which was excellent, and one right next to the apartment, which was satisfactory. There are several supermarkets within walking distance.

The apartment is beautiful and modern. There is a table that seats eight, and plenty of plates and cutlery. There is a dishwasher, washing machine, and dryer in the large kitchen. Apart from the living room, there is another little social area at the top of the stairs on the second level. It has everything you need for your stay, including shampoo and all the essentials of a kitchen pantry. (Usually when I rent an apartment, I have to go shopping for dish soap or the like, but not here.) There are even some thoughtful little extras, like a shopping cart, and an extra umbrella.

There are many more restaurant and shopping choices in the vicinity of the nearby metro stops, but since the metro wasn't running, we didn't explore them. There is also a large shopping mall in Bagnolet, but we didn't visit it. Our favorite restaurant was La Fleur des Lilas, which is an unpretentious little neighborhood restaurant with a great chef, just a few minutes' walk from the apartment.

Based on my experience, it would be virtually impossible to find a reasonable legal apartment for eight people any more central than the one we stayed in. My next best option was the Adagio Buttes Chaumont, in the 19th arrondissment. Its largest apartment slept five, so I would have needed to rent a separate studio apartment. The commute time to central Paris was about the same, and the accomodation was much smaller. The rating on booking.com was lower, and the price was 1/3 more. I didn't find any legal apartment in central Paris that would have accomodated all of us.

There is plenty of parking in Paris. The problem is that when moving about the city, public transportation is faster and parking is expensive. Leaving empty cars in unsecured lots, anywhere in France, is dangerous. Break ins and theft are common, particularly for rental/lease cars.

There is also the concern of transportation costs and travel time consumed with staying outside the city.

There are a number of apartment/hotels available in Paris, such as Adagio and Citidine which have legal accommodations to meet your needs. You are also wise to do this as soon as possible as September/October is peak hotel season in Paris.

hello

just park outside and sleep inside. Do t bother with an apartment for only 3 nights. Besides 8 in one apartment is many.
Tou can park along RER lines and then travel to Paris. Or even sleep at day Senlis or compiegne and take the TER to Paris. I often park at compiegne close to the station there is a parking that costs nothing - something like less than 10 euros a day I think and it was full last time so I parked outside. No cost.

I agree that you can park outside and then take the RER into Paris. If you would rather stay outside of Paris in a nice walking area-take a look at Saint Germain en Laye. It is in the western suburbs of Paris and they have an secure underground parking lot right at the RER station essentially called Parking Indigo Saint-Germain-En-Laye Château. Here is the website:

https://fr.parkindigo.com/parking/sa...utm_content=FR

The advantage of St Germain is that it is a scenic mostly pedestrian walking center so that you will find it easy to shop and eat by foot easily. And since it is the end line for RER A it will be easy to get on and get a seat for the 30 minute ride into Paris.

If you take a look at booking.com you can filter for apartments. Really any suburb along the A line from Saint Germain en Laye into Paris are in relative nice suburbs-this issue at some of them might be to be able to get secure underground parking....

As you explore places to stay here is a good website that we use to find parking in and around Paris

https://parclick.com/

I don't think the OP had the idea that these 8 adults of several families would all be staying in the same apartment. I hope not, anyway, that was never stated as a goal. And I don't think different families would even want to all stay in the same place, I sure wouldn't. Besides, he never even said they were looking for an apartment. Which means there are zillions of places you could stay near a metro or RER stop not in the center.

He never said he wanted to be 40 miles away, just not in the dead center of Paris, In fact, he said still near the center, or easy access to it. This just means the outer arrondisements by my terms, or near the peripherique.
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The aparthotels concept is a good idea as they probably have several vacancies so you could all be in the same building and there are enough of them around to get a decent location. You'll probably still have to pay for parking, of course, but some of them have it available (others do not, I don't think the Bercy location does). The Adagio aparthotels in the 15th arr (43 rue St Charles has a nearby carpark, for example, that's a nice area). and that's not a long commute at all, in fact, I've stayed in that area, it's very nice.

this is that one
https://www.adagio-city.com/gb/hotel...es/index.shtml

I think some Ibis hotels have parking also. The one in the 15th right near the Cambronne metro stop does. This would be fine if you just wanted a budget hotel, again, they probably have enough rooms available.
https://all.accor.com/hotel/1400/index.en.shtml

They even have private parking. I think they charge between 25-30 euro per day, which isn't unusual in the ctiy.

Thank you so much for your detailed reply. It sounds like what we are looking for. Cheers Pete

Thanks for your advice. Pete

Yes I see now you aren't necessarily looking for an apartment accommodation-but booking.com is still a great place to look at for both hotels and other types of lodging. If you really want to stay outside of Paris then I do think to west along the A line is a good choice but as Christina pointed out there are other properties in Paris proper with parking that wouldn't be too hard to drive into.

We have stayed at the Holiday Inn Paris - St. Germain des Près when we were traveling with an uncle who was disabled, so we needed to drive a minivan the whole time. The advantage of that property is that it has attached underground parking and it is on Rue de Vaugirard, which is the longest street inside Paris' walls and makes it very easy to access when you are driving into Paris. And the location in Paris itself is really good since it is pretty much at the corner of Vaugirard and rue de Rennes-which is in the heart of the 6th district with lots of restaurants shopping etc. nearby and great public transport.

https://www.ihg.com/holidayinn/hotel...I-_-FR-_-PARSG

You might also look in Boulogne-Billancourt.

That sounds like a great solution.

It is not far from my favorite hotel in Paris. A fabulous area!