thanks for all the comments on november or december. we decided on december. just meeting the change from low season to high season!
we are considering an apartment since we will just be in paris and be there 8 nights. does anyone have any experience with this. i have found quite a few sites on the web. one in montemarte interests us. anyone have any ideas on staying in montemarte. we will be hitting all the sites during the day but are not so much into disco, nightlife (57 and counting). thanks for any input.

Taking an apartment in Paris for only 8 nights in December might be a little difficult, depending upon what you want to settle for. Instead, I suggest that you look at something like Residence Hoteliere Le Vert Gallant in the 13th, not far from Gare D'austerlitz and Montparnasse stations, and close to the Gobelins and Corvisart metro stops. The price for 8 nights would be very reasonable for Paris, but you will have to book early since it only has 15 rooms and is a popular destination.

One thing that might come in handy is to remember that a number of restaurants in Paris close for the December holidays. Le Vert Gallant has one of the top southwest (Pays Basque) restaurants in Paris, L'Auberge Etcherorry, which is open all year. Also, some of the rooms are equipped with kitchenettes if you don't want to go out to dine, but then that is one of the very reasons we go to Paris.

I'd look at the listings (and now, advertisements as well) on www.slowtrav.com

And there are (or used to be?) some fairly favorable comments about Citadines "aparthotels" here on this forum - - I don't know anything about these personally.

Best wishes,

Rex

For eight nights an apartment sounds great. We took one for a recent 10 day stay and loved it. There are so many online that it is difficult to choose. Monmartre is not really the best place to stay if you are interested in the touristic sites. Too, often areas billed as Monmartre are actually in shabby/seedy locations (e.g., around Pigalle.) We really like our place in the 4th - a great quiet neighborhood close to two good Metro stops (Sully Morland and Bastille) and plenty of shops within easy walk. We found it online at www.paris-vacation-rental.com (the Rue Mornay property) and the US owner was great to deal with. The same folks have another place on the Ile St Louis, and it also looks nice but we didn't actually see it in person.

Many place to look for apartments...vrbo.com, parisperfect.com, paris-sleeps.com are just a very few to look at....

You will have no trouble with finding restaurants...I spent Christmas Eve at Violon d'Ingres, Christmas day(evening) dinner at Les Ambassadeurs..all your hotels will be serving and you will have no problem finding food in Paris!!

As to location...some is personal choice..I find the 6th to be a great location. The Paris perfect apts. are in the 7th..great location too.

Take a look at some of them.

Enjoy................

I just enjoyed touring the apartments at parisperfect.com Lovely! If I were staying in Paris for a week or more, this is definitely the way I would go.

We stayed in an apartment for two weeks and liked it very much. I think you get a lot more space for your money in an apartment; but you give up some of the hotel services, such as a concierage. On of the attractions to us was our own breakfasts. We like a lot of orange juice, and prefer tea to coffee, so our first visit was to a monoprix for orange juice, wine, butter, and eggs. My wife hard boiled all the eggs and each day I would get up early and visit a patisserie and we ended up with great breakfasts.

Another attraction was a washer and dryer (not all have this). With these you can pack far fewer clothes and have more room in your luggage for souveneers. Their washers are smaller than US washers, but we just started them when we left in the morning and the clothes were done when we got back.

We enjoyed dinner out, but a few days we had overextended ourselves and were just to tired to go out, so we got prepared food in the stores that surrounded our apartment; the food was generally good and not too expensive.

In our apartment, previous tenants had left many condiments and books, as did we. I suppose in this age of terrorism some people would want to buy their own.

There are a lot of apartments if you are staying a week or longer. There are fewer that will rent for less than a week.

Some things I didn't like about the experience:

Our apartment wanted cash on arrival; we had to drain a couple of ATMs to get enough and the wad of small bills was impressive. I would have preferred to pay with a credit card. To their credit, our owner took a check for the damage deposit, and returned it to us just before we left, so that was a convenience.

Getting the contract done was a hassle. They emailed me the form and asked that I fax it back, but I don't have fax capability. I cleverly scanned it, changed to a jpg (picture) format, and emailed it back to them, but there ISP blocked my email, apparently because of the large attachment. I had to go to a UPS store and have them fax it.

They insisted that I wire them the initial deposit; banks charge about $35 for overseas wires. Again, I would have preferred a credit card, but I haven't seen a lot of apartments that will accept a credit card.

Many of the appliances differ from ours, and you get a quick lesson when you arrive, and then you are on your own. We could work the washer/dryer and microwave, but I never could get the TV channels right, but then we didn't try very often as we had better things to do.

Coordination of arrival and departure went smoothly for us (we left very early in the morning, so they returned our check the day before and had us leave the keys in the apartment), but its not like a hotel where there is always someone there if you are early or late.

Enjoy your trip.

We recently rented an apartment on Ile St. Louis from Chez Vous (www.chezvous.com). They required 1/2 deposit with the contract and 1/2 within 45 days of the stay. In a way it was kind of nice knowing that it was all paid for when we got there. We were met at the apt. by a guy whose English was perfect. He was very, very helpful and friendly. The apt. was probably not as nice as the Internet pictures but still was plenty comfortable and clean. It was great to have a washer/dryer and a kitchen. Though we didn't cook other than breakfast, we liked having coffee, tea, and orange juice, oranginas, cheese, etc. in the fridge. The overall experience was excellent and I'm glad we chose an apartment. There were also lots of books about Paris in English that were helpful. Chez Vous was very easy to deal with (they're out of Sausalito, CA)so I would recommend them as well.

You couldn't be better taken care of then with a Paris Perfect apartment. I have also rented from Paris-Sleeps..they meet you etc...all paid in advance also...the vrbo ones vary..it will give you the info on the individual sites............

Something to keep in mind is the isolation of an apartment vs. a hotel. Some people may miss the opportunity to chat with or ask questions of hotel staff or other guests, particularly if you aren't the type to talk to strangers during your sightseeing rounds.

You have trade offs, of course. Apartments are in every location and area of Paris. Many prefer the extra space, laundry and cooking facilities available to them. If a concierge is important to you, along with other hotel services, then you may prefer a hotel. I have done both, and enjoyed both for dfferent reasons for the time thatI was there.