Apartments in Paris?
 

My husband and I are taking his elderly parents to Paris in the spring. We thought they might enjoy better a place where we have the option of eating in. Can anyone recommend accommodations with kitchens, etc?

Hi,
If you enter 'paris apartment' in the search box at the top of this page you will find some good info.

Mike

we are renting from "vacation rental by owner" (vrbo.com). they have lots of apartment choices in paris.

While you are searching, pay attention to the numbers of rooms. I looked for an apartment for 2 couples last fall and many listing said "sleeps 4" well, they did, but that meant 2 people on a pull out couch in the living room and the other 2 in the apartment's only true bedroom. There are true bedrooms, just take note while searching. That said, I have to admit I had a lot of fun looking at the listings on-line.

Here's one I've had bookmarked for a while since finding it on a thread here by someone raving about loving this place. Although one of the two bedrooms is on a convertible sofa -- at least it is a separate bedroom.

http://bienvenueaparis.com/apt-sebast.htm

We rented from RentParis and it was a very good experience. Since you mentioned elderly parents, please be adviced that many apartments are accessible by stairs only, ie, no elevators.

I bookmarked this apartment as worth considering at some time. Two bedrooms with elevator near the Place des Vosges.

http://www.vrbo.com/15502

Patrick & Nikki - nice apartments! I added them to my paris file, thanks for sharing!

Another one to consider is Paris-Perfect. I just booked with them last week for a stay in March, so I can't give you a first hand report just yet, but you can take a look at their website www.parisperfect.com and decide for yourself.

I can tell you they were very promt in answering all my questions, and booking was very easy. They are more expensive than some of the other apartments I saw on line (I am hoping they turn out to be worth it), but they are in a great location and most of their apartments have a wonderful view of the Eiffel Tower.

As others have mentioned, "sleeps 4" usually means 2 on a pull-out couch. The apartment we rented has a sofa that converts into two twin beds (or can be pushed together to make a king), rather than the typical pull-out type sofa. Most (but not all) of the paris-perfect apartments offer this option, and as I was searching, I noticed a few other vacation rental companies offer this arrangement as well.

You might see my longer Paris trip report about my husband and
I taking my parents to Paris earlier this month, but this is the details from it about our apartment. (To see my longer report click on my screen name and you will see all my postings.) It was a lovely place in a great old building in a fun and "real" neighborhood, only about 3 blocks from the Seine. The only note for 2 couples is that although it had 2 "real" bedrooms, the one had a double bed and the other 2 twin beds. One benefit for older people is that it was on the second "American" floor ("first" European floor), so only one flight of stairs up. Many other apartments I looked at on the internet were on higher floors without an elevator.

Apartment. 24 rue St. Paul, 4th arrondisement. It is owned by an American man and managed by Pascal Zytomirski at www.rentalfrance.com. This apartment was a 2 bedroom, on the first "European" floor. They manage other apartments too, some of which Pascal owns and some he just manages for private owners. Pascal speaks excellent English. All the arrangements were exactly as expected. The apartment was even nicer than the photos. An apartment is not the same as a hotel, however, and you should be expecting to get by on your own. (There were excellent and detailed written instructions in a "house book" for all appliances, neighborhood services, etc. prepared by the owner.) It was perfect for us. And for 4 adults the price was right too, 1400 Euros for the week.

Enjoy planning your trip!

Laurie-Ann thank you for the great advice! And very good to know about the European floors!!

We just returned from Paris and rented an apartment thru vrbo. We were very happy with the apt. and the location, but had one problem I hadn't even considered. The bed was barely off the floor and the mattress was very firm. I have walking problems and it really did a number on me. This may be part of your inquiry when renting. It will be mine in the future.

We rented thru Paris Perfect last year and believe me it is Paris Perfect! We were throughly delighted with our lovely apartment "Cabarnet". Madelyn and Philipe were wonderful to deal with. I know they have 2 bedroom apartments as well. www.parisperfect.com. They are not cheap but you know, you get what you pay for and this is worth it.

The apartment is just as it looks on their web site (not always the case as we have found out) and they are very thorough in giving you details, information, ideas, etc. I highly recommend them.

We rented a four bedroom apartment through France Lodge in June. The apartment was in a residential area of Paris (the 14 arrondisement), with about a 10 - 15 minute metro ride to the center of the city. Their rates were reasonable and the apartment was spacious.

We travelled with our 3 kids and my 75 year mother in law. We ate most of our meals in the apartment, and picked up take out meals from some of the gourmet groceries in the neighborhood.

For our group, an apartment was the way to go. Search the postings here, there are a lot of good recommendations

I'm ready to go back !!

Shar, we will be renting from Paris Perfect in March. The Cabernet was our first choice, but it was unavailable for our dates of travel so we opted for the Pinot. I believe these apartments are in the same building, or perhaps in buildings next door to each other.

I am pleased to hear that you were happy with the folks at Paris Perfect and your apartment was everything you hoped it would be.

Any advice or lessons learned in renting from Paris Perfect that you would like to pass on? Any issues gaining access to the apartment upon arival? Neighborhood shops or grocery stores that you found to be especially helpful or convenient?

Thanks!

Newsttraveler: When you rent from Paris Perfect they send you every bit of information you can think of. There is a whole booklet of information on restaurants, shopping, grocery markets, metro system, etc. They have a code to enter the building that will be sent to you along with all the above information. We did take them up on a couple of their recommendations for eating and we also just used the market across the street and cooked at "home". The building is just a few blocks away from several wonderful street markets as well.

They receommended a driver to pick us up at the airport but for some reason we never connected so we ended up taking a cab.

You will love the apartments and the view is outstanding. It is one of the most charming places we have ever stayed, the other being Calboccia in Umbria but that is another story.