Paris
 

We have narrowed down Paris apartments to the St. Germain Des Pres area or the Montorgueil area. Any advice on one being a better location than the other, as far as access and the neighborhood?

I love St Germain. We stayed right off Blvd St Germain at rue Conde and Rue St Sulpice. The Odeon metro stop was so close and convenient. We enjoyed going to Gerard Mulot for pastries every day and there were lots of cafes and restaurants close by. Very easy to get to the famous sites and great shopping all around us.

While I love the food shopping area of Rue Montorgueil, I'd muchprefer to stay in the St Grmain area, more lively during the day and evening and nearer a lot of sites

They're both excellent places to stay, but I too prefer St Germain des Pres. Best aspect of Montorgueil is that it's a multi-block pedestrian neighborhood, which means that it's going to be much quieter at night than St Germain (assuming, of course, that you're in the pedestrian section). St Germain is filled with interesting streets/shops/bistros/places to pick up take-home food supplies.

Only caveat would be to check the addresses. Sometimes an address that's said to be in "St Germain des Pres" turns out to be next to Montparnasse station.

She just said the apt was in the Montorgueil "area", not necessarily right on that street. Besides, being on a busy pedestrian shopping street is not necessarily quiet, although it will be very late at night, sure, but rest of time noisier than normal. It would be no different than being on rue de Buci in St Germain. So I wouldn't make any bets on noise of either without knowing where they actually area. There are plenty of quiet out-of-the-way areas in St Germain. Both of these are just "areas".

I'm not crazy about St Germain, but other than rue Montorgueil itself, I'm also not crazy about the Sentier neighborhood. So if the apts were truly equal in all ways in desirability, I'd probably prefer St Germain as I generally prefer the Left Bank, in general. But it might depend exactly where it was.

Sounds unanimous so far! Thanks for the input!

I know both areas and choose St.Germain. I rent an apartment there and although I've stayed all over Paris, as far as St.Germain goes, I've stayed mostly in the same neighborhood of St.Germain over a 30 year period.

As far as noise goes, that can also depend on the building. The apartment I rent is quiet, although it's in an active area of St.Germain; rue de Seine, rue Buci, rue Jacob. It faces a courtyard. Plus, as for noise in an apartment a lot also depends on the other people in the building. I've stayed in areas where it was supposed to be quiet and then had ridiculously noisy tenants. My Parisian friend has a major tenant noise problem. So, I just always back earplugs when it comes to possible noise. Have fun. Happy Travels!

We're definitely looking in St. Germain, after all the suggestions. Ear plugs will be packed!:)