Paris Flea Markets
 

I am traveling to Paris in May and would like some advice on the flea markets. Which are the best for furniture? Should I pay a guide to help with my purchases?

In my opinion, the Marche at Clignancourt is best. There are no steals. It is HUGE. I suggest, since you have the time, that you read up on it or consult their website. If I were planning a major purchase, I'd allow myself a lot of time to shop the market as there is no substitute for &quot;experiencing&quot; the merchandise. I'd also do as much pre-trip homework as possible.<BR>How would you go about finding a guide to help you with this?

Mary, If you type &quot;Paris Flea Markets&quot; in the text search box at the top of the page and select France for the country, you will get all kinds of info.

Leslie, <BR>Would I find nice pieces of furniture here or is it Bric a Brac? Have you ever bought anything and had it shipped to the U.S.? I'm sure all the flea markets prefer cash, but should I trust them? Did you take a tour in Paris? I would like to hire a personal guide for a few days. Any suggestions? Thanks for responding!!! Mary<BR>

Mary, I think the Clignancourt one (to the north, also called Saint Ouen) is the only decent one for furniture. I think you may not realize what it's like because you ask whether it's decent or only bric-a-brac. It is not really a flea market in the usual term, it is an antique store area (there are some used goods that wouldn't be called antiques and that might fall into the bric-a-brac area, also). So, there is definitely furniture, but it is not cheap and you have to know your goods. They will take credit cards at some places and ship for you at Clignancourt (or there are shippers at the flea market to make arrangements with), but not some of the other flea markets. There is info about shipping on their web site.<BR><BR> As for a guide, I think you would need one if you don't really know furniture or the value of it and you would be basically buying the services of a professional buyer or designer. I'm sure you can do that, but I don't know anyone or how. There are some shopping guidebooks to Paris that probably cover this subject, look in a good bookstore.<BR><BR>There have been periodic posts asking about the same thing and those will probably give more info. YOu can find out more about what the stores are like on their web sites, eg:<BR>www.parispuces.com <BR>www.les-puces.com<BR>www.curiositel.tm.fr/Saint_Ouen/ <BR><BR>The latter may be only in French, I'm not sure, but I think it may be better for immediate info on the stores.<BR><BR>As for guides, there is a section on official guides in Paris on the tourist office web site (they are licensed):<BR>www.paris-touristoffice.com<BR><BR>They do have a section on a few guides that specialize in shopping, but only one looks very good for your purposes. That is Paris Gourmet (www.paris-gourmet.com). They have several shopping tour itineraries, one of antiques (although not the flea markets), but it looks like you could ask about a personal guide. This other one looks sort of fun (www.advconseils.com) as they'll do shopping tours into the designer and couturier ateliers.