Looking to rent an apartment in Paris sometime in mid-September. Would appreciate any recommendations from firsthand experience, especially apts. that rent for less than a full week (but will consider all others).

I already have checked the recommendations on slowtrav and done other searches. Just looking for more information from Fodorites to help me with my decision.
Thanks.

September is a very busy time. It could be difficult to find something. Most do not rent for less than a week.

I will be there in Oct. and April of 2008. I have had both rented for some time now.

Good luck........

Recommend booking a hotel room forthwith (hotels fill quickly way ahead for September)taking note of the cancellation policy, then shopping for an apartment.

At this late date, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to find an apartment for less than a full week in mid-September.

We were able to find a 2 bedroom apartment in Paris duing Easter week on about 1 month's notice. However, 90% of things were booked. (this was for 6 nights, but I was willing to pay a 7th night if I had to in order to get the apartment I wanted).

In order to answer your question, we need to know the following:
1) what arr?
2) how many people? how many beds/bedrooms?
3) stairs ok or is elevator a requirement ?
4) a/c ?
5) price range

Rather than us doing all the research for you, how about searching all the sites and finding which apartment have availability and meet your basic criteria. Provide those links in your post and ask for the relative merits of each.

People are very good at comparing them and telling you the positives and negatives of each --

surfmom: Already did that, but the choices are so varied that it just seemed easier to say, "Tell me about the apt. you stayed in?" Which is what I asked.

A sunny 4th floor studio with a balcony (and elevator) that I really like in the Marais rents for only 90 E/day and is showing availability for Sept 16-22. But I have no idea if this would work for you since I have no idea if you're traveling as a couple, with children, etc.

They've rented to me before for 5 nights and I'd imagine they'd be open to doing so again since having to turnover/clean the apt in less than 4 hours can be a hassle for them.

Here's my review of the studio with some pictures of the apartment and surrounding neighborhood.

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34916913

Here's the vrbo site:

www.vrbo.com/28993

Why don't you check rentparis.com , we did that for this mid september and they seem to rent by the night. I checked many many apartments for September and most would only rent by the week, those that would rent by the night were raising there prices, due to the high demand in September. Rent paris seemed good, and I have seen reviews on this sight for some of their apartments. We opted for a hotel instead, because we will only be there 3 nights.

Thanks to all, especially to fishee for the lead. I have e-mailed them re reserving that apaprtment.

There are two of us, so a studio or one bedroom would work well.

happy: Thanks, too. Rentparis is one of the sites I e-mailed previously. Waiting to hear from them.

also try out paris hideaways:

http://studio.provaction.com/index.html

I will be staying in the Pastis apartment in Marais in November. So far, I have enjoyed working with Katia from Paris Hideaways and Thierry, the owner of Pastis.

Since I discover this studio I always go back to it. The private garden is simply unique in Paris. At for such a well-equiped and decorated place the price is cheap. No tourists around and normal prices.

Here is the link www.vrbo.com\103254

We had a larger apartment because there were 3 of us, but we LOVED rentparis.com, apartment #10.

The man we dealt with in the US was just a tad curt in his emails, however, the staff in Paris were fabulous.

We even left the cleaning guy a huge tip. And we called about a problem, and it was fixed by the time we came back in that day.

I can't speak highly enough of them.

Thanks again to all. Much appreciated.

Rentparis gets mostly high marks from the research I've done, but I did see a couple of really bad reviews on slowtrav for two of their apts.

Again, thanks. I will definitely follow up with the individual recommendations.

luckyluc -- very cute studio at a good price. Is the futon that white sofa in the picture? Is it a full size and do you feel it was comfortable?

Hi, J --

We stayed at a RentParis studio in the Marais in March, and had an excellent experience.

The transaction was painless (via email and PayPal), Fabrice (the owner) was punctual, friendly and helpful when he met us there, and the charming apartment lived up to the description on the website.

Bon voyage!

Fishee. Yes that is the futon, full size and confortable. I am returning next month for two weeks and I love being so central yet without any tourists around.

Vacation in Paris, www.vacationinparis.com, will rent for less than a week.

LuckyLuc, that looks like an intriguing place. It's in the 11th; would you mind telling us what street it is on?

Anselm

My daughter and I stayed in this hotel.
http://www.vrbo.com/60877

I can highly recommend it. My daughter used the pull out bed in the lounge for her room. The closing doors worked well.
For a couple it would be more than comfortable.

j_999_9

Actually, one of those awful reviews on slowtrav is for apartment #10, the one we loved. I had to take the chance, keeping that bad review in mind. But there was something about the review that didn't seem right to me: not a big enough kitchen to cook... complaining about the ladder to the loft...

Anyway, since the website showed all those things very clearly, we decided to take the chance. All three of us agreed that the person who gave the apartment an awful review must be either very very spoiled, or an impossible to please crank.

Myself, DH and my brother shared the apartment. It had a laundry room! More closets and drawers and storage than we could ever use. A huge bathroom with tub and walk in shower. Free phone calls. Fabulous location.

Since none of us really wanted to cook in Paris, the small kitchen wasn't an issue for us. We had breakfast, and snacks several times, and coffee and tea every day, and found it all more than adequate.

The entry wasn't deluxe, but we didn't stay in the entry way, which is in one the oldest parts of Paris and can hardly be expected to be modern and shining.

After staying in that apartment, I thought the bad review was incredibly unfair.

Oh, the washer and dryer were the best we ever used in Europe.

I have hardly used slowtrav since February, because I just don't trust those reviews anymore.