Lauram018

Hi,

My friend lives in this area: Boulevard du Général de Gaulle, and is offering her place to stay while we are seeing Paris. She said it's about 18 minutes on the RER to the center of Paris and about 45 minutes to the Eiffel tower.

Do you think it's worth the travel time for a free place to stay or would we be better off paying for a place closer to the things we want to do/see?

We're only there form the 17-21st so we realize that time is valuable as well.

What do you think?

PalenQ

Is it the Blvd Gen De Gaulle by Porte d'Italie - if so that is not so far out - in a university area I would think - but there may be more than one Blvd De Gaulle in Paris - better to give the area of Paris it is in - You could save probably $500 at least - end of question for me as it is not that far out if only 18 mins by RER.

Nikki

Free sounds like it is worth it by definition.

Hard to know where it is though. If it is outside of Paris, do you know what city or town it is in? Somebody here might be familiar with the specific area.

StuDudley

It's hard for someone else to answer your question unless we know whether a $500-$800 saving is "important" or "no-big-deal" for you. Also, it would be nice to know exactly where the property is located and how much time it takes to get to the RER station. The RER will most likely require a few metro changes to get to the various locations in Paris. For me, if this was a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Paris & $700 was no big deal - I would stay closer to the "core" of Paris.

Stu Dudley

Lauram018

Villemomble

PalenQ

Farther out than I though but in a nice enough modern part of the Paris urbanity:

http://fr.mappy.com/plan/93250-ville...1,48.88762/Z8/

Christina

It wouldn't be worth it to me, at all. I value my time and vacation too much to spend it in places I don't want to be and going through all that will entail to get any place. But no one can say how much that money means to you. 18 minutes on the RER doesn't equate to 18 minutes time, as it is leaving out your time to get to the RER, and possibly wait a bit. And that is only if you are talking about a direct route on the RER E to say, gare St Lazare or Gare du Nord. Then the RER time alone would be about that.

Plus, what are you going to do at night? DO you intend to go out near that location? I have no idea what's around there but I suspect not a lot that's very interesting. Would you be near the RER or tram stop? If not, I really would't do it. If you intend to go out in Paris (ie dinner or whatever), then it will be a long slog to get back late at night.

AlessandraZoe

What Christina said.

Lauram018

It's a direct route on RER E to Gare St Lazare and du Nord and she lives right beside the station.

The point about going out for dinner though, since I understand it's usually later than i'm used to, and then having to make our way all the way back sounds tiresome...

Ahh decisions, decisions.

crosscheck

If you were visiting New York, would you stay in New Jersey?

Sassafrass

You are so smart to consider how much time can be wasted traveling once you are in Europe. So many people don't. They spend so much money to get there, then waste time going back and forth, or they get cheap tickets to some city they have no interest in, then use a day getting to the first real destination and another backtracking, plus the extra cost of travel involved.
Kudos to you!

It is sometimes nice to have an apartment and make believe you are living somewhere. However, it is also great to walk right out of your hotel and be someplace interesting. If this is your first trip to Paris, I would stay as central as possible.

PalenQ

2 days in Paris - 2 days at friends - save $200-300 and experience both worlds?

Lauram018

It will be my first trip to Paris but because I have a good friend who lives very close, it won't be my last.

PalenQ - That's not a bad idea, I've always wanted to see their place, could save that for the last 2 days and get some laundry done and such.

Judging by most responses, it's not as ideally close as it could be, so I will have to weigh the pros and cons and decide if it's worth it.

Thanks for helping to answer one of the many questions i'm going to have while planning my first trip to Europe!

kerouac

The Raincy-Villemomble station is on the RER E line that goes to Gare du Nord. It is a quick ride to Gare du Nord and any additional time depends on where you are going in Paris.

kerouac

Frankly, since you can get trains back out there until after midnight, I would accept the offer.

When I was little, my family always stayed at a great aunt and uncle's place in the suburbs, and it did not bother us at all to take the train into Paris every day.

Michael

<i>If you were visiting New York, would you stay in New Jersey?</i>

Possibly, but definitely in Brooklyn. Part of the choice depends on habits. I used to stay at my daughter's in Brooklyn (4 stops from Manhattan) and it took me 1.5 hours to get to my mother's in the Bronx. Anyone used to commut9ing in a large city might find a 18 minute train ride to a fairly central location acceptable.

Lauram018

It wouldn't be a question if my friend was actually there because I'd be visiting her and Paris, but she'll be in Brive getting ready for her castle wedding, the reason i'm going to France in the first place -I'm a bridesmaid!

I guess i should really see how the husband feels about the options. Someone pointed out the distance in relation to cities i'm familiar with in Canada and i'm thinking it may just be worth saving the money...