Attnymom

I would appreciate any advice on which arrondissement I should concentrate on in searching for an apartment in Paris. My husband and I will be traveling with our 8 year old, so I would like someplace that is safe, close to restaurants and shopping, and close to a Metro station. I have been searching the various websites offering apartment rentals, but I don't know much about the different neighborhoods, so I don't feel like I can make an informed decision. I am hesitant to rely on the owner's description of what a "wonderful" location the apartment is : ) As for price, I don't want to break the bank, but I'm not interested in a dirt cheap place either. Any suggestions would be great! Thanks!

AnselmAdorne

Attnymom, a couple of comments and suggestions. There have been quite a few posts here over the last few months on apartment rentals in Paris, and the discussions often touched on preferred neighbourhoods, areas less known, ease of transportation, and availability of restaurants and shops. Here are just a couple of them to get you started. If you search this forum using "apartment rentals Paris," you'll unearth many more.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34922172

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34916913

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34869737

These threads also mention web sites that offer rentals. My wife and I have used VRBO and Holiday Rentals for places in Paris and French Connections for homes elsewhere in France.

If you find a place that appeals to you, try posting a question about it here on Fodors. There are some pretty keen eyes here who might spot features that you should be aware of, and there is a fair chance that someone here has either rented the place or has stayed in the neighbourhood.

Good hunting.

Anselm

Christina

I'd suggest you get a map of Paris, if you don't have one. Then choose a location (very broadly, like arrondisements or neighborhoods as you have found) based on what you personally prefer in terms of proximity to attractions or whatever you plan to do in Paris. I think you can assume almost all apts. for rent to vacationers on those websites are going to be in safe areas (I haven't seen any that were in really unusual areas I would say are not safe in general), and almost any place in Paris is close to restaurants and shopping. Maybe that sounds unusual, but it's like any large urban capital city, where apts are located and people live, there tend to be shopping, etc. Of course there are some areas that might be more convenient to a particular kind of store or lots of stores versus few -- the farther out you get, you might be farther from stores. If you have a map, you can tell how close to a metro stop it is. So, you might rule out places at the outer ends of the very large arrondisements in the outer circle, as they might not be as close to public transportation or stores right outside your door (ie, 15th, 13th, etc.) But there aren't really that many vacation rental apts listed for those type of locations.

Then maybe when you've narrowed something down to what you like, and have a half dozen choices or whatever, you could ask advice on the very specific location of those in this regard.

Some folks will just tell you which arrondisements to look in. I don't usually do that, but if you just want someone to narrow it down for you so you won't have to look in more than one or something, that wouldn't be too hard to do. For example, often folks would recommend you just look in arrondisements 1-7 (probably not 2) but there may be dozens of areas even in there that might be called a "neighborhood", but it narrows it down if you want. Others will tell you to include others in that list, but it really depends how much time you want to spend on this.

If you want someone to just tell you to pick one, as you requested -- I'll leave that to others to tell you which one they'd tell you to choose.

57BelAir

We (parents and 3 kids) stayed at the two bedroom Place des Victoires apartment from www.vacationinparis.com in 2003. It's in the 1st arrondisment, on a quiet block-long street (rue Herold) about a five minute walk from the Les Halles metro station and about a 10 minute walk from the Louvre. It's also about a ten minute walk from the Palais Royale, which has a very nice park in the courtyard, restaurants, and a store with toy soldiers. We liked staying there, since it was pretty quiet and close in. There are lots of restaurants within a 10 minute walk.

Attnymom

Thank you for all your great comments. I will continue to research and once I've narrowed down my choices I will post again for advice. Thanks!

lacohn

We rented an apartment from parisperfect. We haven't gone on our trip yet, but they have gotten wonderful reviews on this forum. We are also travelling with our children. You may want to check out their website:
http://www.parisperfect.com

balsac

My husband and I stayed in the 3rd arr. over Thanksgiving. We stayed at Homelidays.com property #88868 which was great. It has a separate bedroom and living room with pull-out couch. The location was 2 blocks from 2 different Metro lines. Had computer with high-speed internet access, kitchenette, 6th floor with small elevator. Apt is very well stocked for the traveller (umbrellas, electric converters, etc.) Owner speaks English and was very accommodating.
I would absolutely NOT recommend property #24550 (in the 4th arr). This owner rented to me, I wired him the money, and then he rented to another person despite my contract! What a hassle to get my money back (I did.) I would recommend only dealing with someone who takes Paypal or credit card so you have more leverage and less fees than Western Union. Good luck!

balsac

Oops. I listed the wrong property # for Homelidays. We stayed at #33629. The other property (88868) was the same owner but wasn't available.

BarbMH

We too stayed at the Place des Victoires apartment on Rue Herold. Cute little place (itsy bitsy kitchen, but the bedrooms and living room/dining area were a nice size, particularly by Parisian standards. The locations was pretty good. I had wanted to stay in "the heart" of the Latin Quarter, but this place won out and it was not too far away from any of the major sites. We were able to walk to the Latin Quarter in about 10 minutes; Les Halles was even closer; good shopping nearby (Rue Montegreuil). We were very happy with it. If I had to recommend other great areas -- Odeon and, of course, St. Louis come to mind (in addition to the Latin Quarter). Bonne chance! Oh, one more thing -- In addition to vacationsinparis.com, another good website with great apartments is www.parispiedaterre.com.