I started reading all the messages about Paris apartments and my head started to spin. SOOOOOO much information I don't know which way to turn. This is our first trip to Paris. We will be there for a full week and would like suggestions for a one bedroom rental, preferably in the 6th but we would also consider the 5th near the Luxembourg Gardens or the 7th.

Also, has anyone ever stayed at the "Yellow Flat" in the 15th?

Any and all suggestions appreciated. Thanks. JDOG

vacationinparis.com #122. Happy Travels!

I would suggest you to stay in Montmartre instead. The prices are better and there is a wonderful view over the entire city. Paris, despite the appearences, is a pretty small city when you don't consider the suburbs (which are not interesting anyway) and can be all toured walking. Staying in Montmartre has the advantage of being in a sort of a village, very alive and pretty quite at the same time while you are a few metro stations away from anything else.
Also there is no more parisian and bohemienne atmosphere then the one of Montmartre.
I have rented this apartment in the past but the same company has a lot of more apartments anywhere else including 5th and 6th district: http://www.paris-apartment-rent.com/.../abbesses.html

My wife and I stayed in a very nice apartment in the Saint-Germain des Pres neighborhood and highly recommend it. Very well apointed and located. See it at www.parisbestlodge.com It's called Studio Mazarine on that site and there is a link to a very comprehensive review from a respected third party on the page. The owner also has some nice apartments in other areas of Paris.

My husband and I are staying at this apartment in the
6th district thru Haven in Paris in June, 2010. A couple of people on the Trip Advisor website have stayed here and they loved it.

http://www.haveninparis.com/rental/VieuxColombier.php

I would also check the following site for recommendations:

http://www.slowtrav.com/france/vr/list.asp?r=Paris

Obviously, need to read them all with a grain of salt, but I've found some comments to be dead on.

There are hundreds of apartments--do you have any requirements? I.e. budget, elevator, a/c (depends on time of year), and number of bedrooms?

You can always check the Paris apartment thread too. http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ent-thread.cfm

We have been happy both with www.parisvacationapartments.com and www.parisianflat.com.

Thank you all. Through your links, I've found some great places.

You need to decide how metro/bus dependent you want to be when selecting an area. People have different preferences which have been expressed on this forum. Some like taking the metro more, some walking more, and some the bus, or a combination.

I personally like to walk, from my residence, to a lot of places as I'm not keen on subways, no matter what city. I use them if I have to get somewhere really fast...like when I might have lollygagged too long somewhere and need to get across town fast to meet a friend for dinner or something. However, I prefer walking and using the bus as it really helps to get one's bearings in a city and discover things along the way.

For example, last week, my Parisian friend and I got on the bus to go across town to do some errands. Although he's born and bred in Paris, he doesn't really know the bus system as he's a metro person. I've been using the buses for decades. He didn't want to take the bus as the metro is faster. I was in no hurry to get anywhere. I was on vacation, plus he had the whole day off. It was nice to slow down for once.

I had mentioned to him that I wanted to check out a luggage store in his area. We didn't know exactly where it was. Well, while on the bus going somewhere else, I happened to notice the store, out the bus window, and pressed the button to get off the bus. It stopped almost right in front of the store. We got off, went into the store, and then 3 minutes later the next bus came and we got back on and continued our route. I wouldn't have seen it had I been underground on the metro. Happy Travels!

When you are looking, don't rule out large studios too quickly. We always had a 1BDR and the BDR was so small. Then we stayed in www.guestapartment.com Large Studio-HIBISCUS. That was our favortie place ever---too bad it was already rented for our trip coming up.

I do agree that I don't like a studio with the kitchen in the same room.. HIBISCUS had a separate kitchen.

After you've chosen a few, run them by us Fodorites to see if anyone stayed in them.

Good Luck!

We stayed in www.vrbo.com/58971 in the 6th in April. Super location for walking to places as well as two minute walk to Sulpice metro and bus outside the door.

Jessicadog;

We are staying at a B&B inside a family's home in the 7th district for 4 nights this month. It is within walking distrance to the Louve and Norte Dame. We found it on bed-and-breakfast-in-paris.com. We will be there for 4 nights and were only charge 385 euros. The owners are a french woman and her American husband, which will come in handy since we don't speak french. There are many english speaking owners you can choose from. I really found this site to be very helpful and it was recommended by Vacations magazine. Hope this helps you or someone else. b.

We stayed in a 1-bedroom on Rue St. Andre des Artes, wonderful place with a lift, walkable to the Louvre, St. Chapelle, Notre Dame, just a 1 or 2 minute walk to several metro stops, incredible location. When we looked out the large windows, we saw the Paris we'd always imagined!
www.perfectplaces.com, ID 24752.

Has anyone had dealings with Paris Attitude? They are asking for a E900 security deposit on the apartment we've chosen. Is this normal?

I've read posts on here from a few folks who have used them and had good experiences (Paris Attitude). I've looked at a lot of theirs and considered them as they have a very big selection. Those terms are sort of normal, but not totally common. I mean, you find a couple agencies who do have those stiff deposit requirements (I think it is equal to the rent or something) which really adds up if you rent for very long. IF it is just for less than week, it can end up not being too different from other agency requirements, which may be more like a fixed amount (500-100 euro isn't that unusual from ones I've seen). It depends on what the projected rent for the place you want is as to how big that is compared to others. Some places might ask for about 30 pct of the rent, I've seen that, and that could easily be 900 euro. I've seen others that may be around 300 euro for a studio and 500-600 for a larger place, not related to rent amount.

Thanks, Christina. That helps. It's almost a week's rent but I inquired and it's returned the day we depart.

jessicadog, I just received quotes from them for dates in December and they offered to waive to security depoit after we emailed a couple of times (at that point I didn't even know they had a security deposit). You may want to ask them if they would do that for you.

Jessica -

We stayed here (2 BR) and were very pleased with the unit and location.

http://www.alacarte-paris-apartments...rche-Midi.html

Also check over on tripadvisor.com. There was discussion about Paris Attitude of which there were some problems. Happy Travels!

I forgot to add that vacationinparis.com #122 is located on rue St.Andres des Arts. Happy Travels!