We are planning to go to Paris in May or June for a week and considering renting an apartment instead of a hotel. Have looked at a bunch of rental web sites and none of them seem to have real 2 bedroom/2 bath apartments - which we really need. Has anyone stayed in such an apartment and can they recommend the rental service/owner?

Try this site:
http://www.parisperfect.com/

Check out Paris Vacation Apartments. We rented a 2BR/1.5BA in the Palais Royale from them last year but they have added some new 2BR/2BA apartments to their list this year. (I'm not sure what you mean by "real"...no sofa bed, perhaps?)

The Palais Royale location was unbeatable and the service excellent. These are family-owned apartments (all one family) and you are met/taken care of by their very professional representative. Facilities in our apartment were modern, decor was lovely. And did I mention the location?

Ooops...for you sticklers (and I know you're out there) there should not have been an "e" on Royal.

Here we go again because new posters never look at prior threads before posting (perhaps because they do not know how to do it):

I had an excellent experience dealing with Pascal Zytomirski.

Here are the apartments he rents:

One bedrooms :
75 Bd Malesherbes, 4 people, in the 8th district, Madeleine Opera area, Metro St Augustin
24 rue des Vertus, 4 people, in the 3rd district, in Le Marais, Metro Arts et Metiers
11 rue de la Huchette, 4 people, in the 5th, Metro St Michel in the Latin quarter.

Studios:
11 rue Duvivier, Studio for 2 in the 7th district, MEtro Ecole Militaire.
24 rue Xavier Privas, Studio for 4 in the 5th district, metro St Michel, in the latin quarter
37 rue de la Harpe, Studio for 4 in the 5th district, metro St Michel in the latin quarter

You can email Pascal at [email protected]

Pascal acts as the rental agent for all the owners. He will meet you at the apartment with the keys after you arrive in Paris.

I rented the apartment at 11 rue Duvivier and was very satisfied. Apartment rentals work best if you are staying longer than a week. My apartment was quiet and totally modernized with a washer/dryer. The cost was much less than a hotel room would have been for a lot more space.

http://www.parisperfect.com/

They have wonderful apartments, treat you like family and make it an easy experience. They are $$ and in the 7th. These two facts are not what some are looking for. We loved it!!

Amy,

I always want to put an "e" on Palais Royal--it just seems right somehow.

thanks for all the responses - i'll look into parisperfect and paris vacation.

lauren - I'm not a new poster and yes, naturally I did a search first - but did not see anything related to 2 bedrooms. sorry, pascal will not work for us - as I posted, we need 2 real bedrooms, each with a double or queen bed - no sofa beds or L-shaped living rooms - and 2 real bathrooms. (We are 2 unrelated adult couples - and not THAT friendly.)

We have been able to find this in London - but it may not be readily available in Paris.

thanks again.

See http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34476405

Best wishes,

Rex

See my post below on True Paris Apartment etc.

Thanks for the info - we will look into it. Sorry if the "real" was confusing - but after looking at a lot of rental web sites it is apparent that many think a sofa bed in the LR or in an L off the living rom, or an open loft bed constitutes a second bedroom. For us, it doesn't. What we are looking for is an apartment with 2 complete separate bedrooms each with a full or preferably queen size bed and a full bathroom.

Sorry if I seem frustrated - but it seems like 2 should be easy enough to understand - but for many of these web rental companies aparently it isn't.

Parisperfect won't work for us - all of the 2 bedroom apartments have twin beds in the second bedroom and none of us is ready to make the sacrifice. Paris vacation apartments seems to be just what we need - with great Palais Royal location and the prices aren't bad either - but they are booked already for May and June. Perhaps we've left it too late considering how rare 2-bedrooms seem to be in Paris.

Any other suggestions gratefully accepted.

I understood what you meant -- two bedrooms is two bedrooms, pretty clear. The beds are being more particular (no twins). That is difficult to find in Paris, and they are usually rather expensive, of course. I think your planning is a little late, also, unfortunately, to book a good apt. for this May-June, but you might get lucky.

I do know a few real 2 bedrooms apts. One is in Montparnasse (probably between bds Raspail and St-Michel, it appears). It's on Barclayweb and has one BR with a double and another with 2 twins. That's a nice area and it's about $300 a night.

Another places with several nice (modern) 2 BRs in the Latin Quarter is on www.paris-apartments-rent.com They have two on rue Victor Cousin which are 2 BRs and split-level. They are also about 300 euro a night.

www.aparisianhome.com also has quite a few real 2 BRs, and you can search by that.

YOu'll have to read the fine print as to bed configuration, I know they have two bedrooms. The one I like on Barclay does have twins, which you don't want, and some of the others do, but I notice #106 on paris-apartments-rent says the twins can be put together for a queen. A lot of hotels do that now, anyway. Two real bedrooms is pretty good in itself, but finding a rental with only double beds may be almost impossible. They put twins in to accommodate different types of families/groups, I imagine.

www.lacigaleparis.com

NO RELATION, this is a doctor I met on line that has two or three apartment he rents. Nice site to if only look at.

I have stayed in 2 bed-room/2 bath apts that were very nice, bordering on luxurious.The only negative is they are not for budget seekers. Both have already been mentioned in this thread, Paris Perfect and La Cigale, and I know both owners and recommend them unreservedly.

Thanks for all the info. I will look into all the new suggestions. Our major objective is not saving money (although we're not averse to it) - we're focussed on getting more room (a living room) and the convenience of a kitchen (I hate room service just for a drink) without breaking the bank (a 2-bedroom hotel suite). And naturally the feeling of living in a real neighborhood vs a hotel experience. We thought a good price for a reasonable hotel would be $250 per night and so estimated an apartment budget at that - about $3500 for the week. We did find one that was equipped as we want - but tres luxe - that was out of our price range (about $6000 for the week).

We'll keep searching - thanks again.

ttt

My family and I returned yesterday from a week in Paris, and we rented a real 2 bedroom with queen beds/2 bath apartment from Paris Vacation Apartments, the same owners recommended by Amy40. It is located in the 18th, an area some people suggest avoiding, but we loved the apartment and the neighborhood, and hope to go back next year.

You can find out details at http://parisvacationapartments.com/prop.pl?7. There is a floor plan--note that the 2 bedrooms are not the same size--and comments from others who have stayed there.

I suspect the location may not be to your liking, as it is the 18th, and not within walking distance of many of the must-sees and should-sees. We used the Carte Orange and found it easy enough to get everywhere.

As I said, we really enjoyed our stay here, and it does fit many of your requirements. Let me know if you have any questions.