Hotel or Apartment?
 

Hello,

We will be travelling to Europe next year with our (then) 20 month old twins and will be spending 4 nights in Paris and 4 nights in Rome. Would it be smarter to rent an apartment in both cities or stick with hotels?

With such small children I think apartments would be best.

1. You'd be able to heat baby food whenever you wanted.
2. You'd have a fridge for snacks and cold drinks.
3. If you got two rooms you could let the babies sleep in one room while you do something else in the other.

On the other hand, make sure there is an elevator, so you don't have to carry both kids and bags and baby carriages up lots of stairs.

I agree...apartments are the way to go when you have infants. And yes, make sure these places have elevators.

Agree with kids that age an apartment is a better idea - both to have at least limited kitchen capabilities, but a room they can sleep in while you are dining/relaxing (assume they won't want dinner at 8 or 9 PM).

Assuming you are going in the summer make sure that the apartment has AC - unlike in the US many homes do NOT have AC - and in the summer Paris may be pleasant or can be hellishly hot (we've had upper 90s and humid and without our hotel AC would have melted).

And do be aware that floors are counted differently than in the US. The floor on which you enter is the GROUND floor (rez de chaussee), the floor up one flight of stairs is the FIRST floor. And since most buildings are older with high ceilings there can easily be 20 steps or more between floors. So an elevator is a must - but, just in case of an elevator outage, stick to ground or first floor.

Apartment it is, thanks.

I'm not concerned about baby food, by 20 minutes they'll be eating what we eat but I was definitely thinking have a separate bedroom would be nice for their naps. We've been to Paris twice before and Rome once before so we know what to expect when it comes to the AC/elevator issues lol.

Can anyone recommend a good site to book apartments through?

There are tons but here are 3 for Paris....what I am not sure of is the ability to rent for less than a week. I also would choose one destination rather than 2 - you will enjoy the trip more and see more than splitting your time between 2 cities in 8 days.

Paris Perfect
Guest Apartment Services
Haven in Paris

We use Paris Vacation Apartment but they only rent for a week or more.

https://www.airbnb.com/s/Paris--Fran...ire+home%2Fapt

https://www.airbnb.com/s/Rome--Italy...ire+home%2Fapt

Use filters to narrow choices by bedrooms and price, location too, if you like.

"I'm not concerned about baby food, by 20 months they'll be eating what we eat". Oh, you wish. :)

For Rome, I like the agency Rome Loft

Haha MonicaRichards, they already eat what we eat for most of their meals and they're barely a year. With twins there was no way I was buying baby food any longer than I had too!

I guess I was just thinking that my kids at that age ate a lot more babybel cheeses and chicken nuggets than I did! Finger food but definitely not what I was eating. Definitely get an apartment, though, you don't want to eat three meals a day in restaurants with kids that young, they just can't handle it. When we went to Italy and my youngest was 18 months and the older four we ate at McDonalds something like 10 times in a three week trip, just because they couldn't last the restaurant meal for dinner after having already done it for lunch. And we NEVER eat fast food, and definitely not ever McDonalds here.

For Paris, you can try Vacationinparis.com. They do rentals for less than a week. Also, I would monitor the enforcement of the laws related to vacation rentals in Paris just to be sure that I don't get caught off guard if there is a major shift in the current relative non-enforcement of the laws that generally prohibit short term rentals in Paris. There has been talk lately that the authorities are going to step up enforcement of the laws under the theory that reducing the number of vacation rentals will free up apartments for locals who are priced out of the Parisian housing market. You as the renter would not have violated the law so no worries there. I am more concerned about a last minute cancellation that catches you off guard.

Vacationinparis.com

We are renting from them for less than a week in early October.

rentalinrome.com rents for less than a week. We've used them a few times; they aren't deluxe but they're OK.

Ohhhh, that kind of baby food! I thought you meant like the jarred stuff and all I could think was "what kind of baby is still eating purees at 20 months??" Haha, yes I'm anticipating a lot of fast food unfortunately..and frequent gelato stops in rome.