Paris - 3rd Arrdondissement questions
 

Hi Fodorites -- My husband is going to Paris in June on business and I'm tagging along. This will be our first time there. His business will take him to the Rue Beaubourg/Rue Michel Le Comte area which I understand is in the 3rd Arrondissement and we are hoping to rent an apartment close by ideally where he would be within walking distance or a short subway ride. I've emailed several contacts through VRBO and I'm waiting to hear back from them. Are there any areas which we should not consider or are not desirable?

We would also consider a hotel and are hoping to keep it within 100E per night budget.

Any information you could give me on the area would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Here are a couple of websites with lots of info about the Marais area:

http://www.parismarais.com/

http://www.parislemarais.com/

Just a bit west of the street name you gave is the rue St Denis, which might be a little 'off-putting' due to the 'ladies' and shops that trade there. Nothing dangerous. One street over and you'd probably never realize.

Thanks very much Travelnut. I'll be sure to keep my husband away from there!

Once you receive your offers from VRBO, post the apartment links here and often you will get some advice about the specific properties.

We almost rented this apartment but the days didn't work out:

http://www.vrbo.com/171439

It is in your budget. There are some dates in June still available and Steve is American and very nice. Here is a thread I posted about the apartment:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35123149

I also received a nice reply from the people who are listed on the guest list with photos. There is also a link to other photos of the apartment on the thread above.

We will be in Paris at the end of June. Perhaps we will be there at the same time!

One apartment that we've heard back about is is Studio Tournelles listed with
www.homerentalconnections.com. Apparently it's about 15 mins walk from Rue Beaubourg/Rue Michel Le Comte area. The price for 8 nights is 740 Euros + cleaning fee of 60 Euros.

Another is www.vrbo.com/74503 -
8 nights is € 650 + € 40 cleaning. The apartment is located on #13 rue Froissart which I don't think is convenient to our desired area.

If anyone has any comments or suggestions it would be greatly appreciated.

PS -- My apologies but I can't seem to insert the addresses as hyperlinks --- I think I need 'Internet for Dummies'!!!

PS - I'm sorry, but I can't seem to insert these as hyperlinks --

Also it seems I must learn to edit!!

Thanks for that suggestion Ronda. It looks great and I would definitely consider it but according to their online calendar, it's booked for the dates we need.

That's too bad.

The second one looks rather nice and it does say it has an elevator. The area description sounds good and it might be better for you to stay in a better area and have your husband catch the metro to "work". Have you checked out the metro at www.ratp.info to see what he would have to do to take the metro to work?

There are usually more "apartment experts" around but it is Sat. evening.

I like to look at apartments addresses on http://www.mappy.co.uk/ as they have pictures of the building and the streets although it doesn't seem to be working well tonight.

I also like to use www.viamichelin.com If you put in the address of your husband's business, you can make it show you Michelin hotels in the area.

Gee, I just looked up his business address which looks like it is close to the Picasso Museum. It looks like he could WALK to work from apt. 2. You can use Via Michelin to calculate the distance between the two places. Less than 1 km I estimate.

That is not to say that there is anything wrong with the area around the 1st apartment. It is close to Place Bastille. I had Travelnut's post confused (Rue St. Denis by work) with Rue Tournelles.

Hi, Kiddo.
We just returned from a month in the 3rd, and my wife posted a small write-up of the neighborhood in the post entitled "Thank you for Paris help". Maybe you'll find it helpful.
I topped it for you.

Thank you Les and Ronda. I'll definitely read your trip review.

I just heard back this morning on another rental: http://www.homelidays.com/location175314
It is 742E for 8 nights which seems very reasonable. Apparently it is quite close from rue Michel Le Comte and rue Beaubourg. The precise address is 5 passage de l’Ancre. The passage is pedestrian; it begins 223 rue Saint-Martin and finish at 30 rue Turbigo.

Does anyone have any comments or stayed at this apartment?

Kiddo gave the street "Rue Beaubourg" - looked that up on Google maps, and can see rue St Denis 4 streets "to the left" of rue Beaubourg. She mentioned looking for apartments 'near the area' and for areas deemed undesirable. Rue St Denis is known for being a mini-red light district.

You are correct Travelnut, I just got the areas confused.

's ok, someone besides me needs to be confused once in a while.

Great travel report Les. I'm looking forward to reading more.

Lynn.

Thanks, Lynn.
What you read was my wife's take on our neighborhood, in response to one of the other replies to my post.
My actual trip report (still a work in progress, but I'm getting my notes together) has yet to be uploaded (but soon, hopefully).

At this point, we're leaning towards the flat through homelidays.com.

Has anyone had any experience renting through them?

ttt

Kiddo, put homlidays in the search box above and you will find several responses in threads about them.