rolshan, I've lifted the description below from a post to another thread a while back about apartments in Paris. Given your budget you could choose one of the apartments on a higher floor in the same building---a bit more luxurious and even nicer views.

As for your particular family, I'll add some additional info that you may find helpful. There's a Monoprix with a grocery store a couple of blocks away, so that's convenient for every day sorts of groceries, and a little minimart right on Rue Montpensier if you just need something very small.

You've got your choice between two Metro stations, each a couple of blocks away, so you can take the Metro anywhere you'd like.

I ate at a couple of the restaurants very near to the apartment, a Thai restaurant right across the street that was pretty good (a French friend's choice) and around the corner (near Le Grand Vefour) a Corsican restaurant called (I think) A Casaluna.

Because you're right on park you can send the kids outside to play if you'd like: no traffic on the way, and you can see them while you relax.

We walked to the Louvre, the Seine and the islands (so Notre Dame, etc.) and the boat landing for one of the bateaux mouches (which your kids will enjoy, or you could get tickets for the Batobus and get around that way).

"The ground floor of the Palais Royal is mostly shops (upmarket---there's a very cool place that sells vintage designer things near the apartment). The shops are accessed from either the garden side or the street side (Rue Montpensier), and there are lots of people visiting the garden or just taking a short cut through it during the day. I felt very much part of the "flow", and French friends who visited me during our stay were, frankly, stunned at how nice a location I'd snagged.

Because the apartment takes up the entire width of the building, there are views over both the garden and the street, with the former running the entire length of the apartment, from the lounge, down the long hallway, and finally to the bedroom. The windows are large, reaching nearly to the floor, and semicircular in shape. The other bedroom, the main bathroom (there are two full baths in this property), and the kitchen overlook the street. There are several restaurants and bars on Rue Montpensier, so there's some street activity pretty much all the time, but it's not a particularly raucous crowd. Towards the end of our visit there was a crew of nice young guys stationed on the street 24/7: their job was to "take over" parking spaces as they emptied in preparation for a film production that weekend.

The apartment is beautifully furnished and equipped. There's an elevator, but we didn't bother to use it very often, as the walk up the curving stairs was easy (and very pretty). Kitchen well-equipped (though a bit awkward in the layout, such that I was happy to not be cooking elaborate meals), including dishwasher and separate washer and dryer (relatively unusual in European properties---they often have combination machines that don't so much dry your clothing as cook it).

I'd stay in this property again in a heartbeat. Absolutely great service: we were met when we arrived, and again the morning we left (they even insisted on carrying our luggage down to the pre-arranged cab)."

I have never stayed at the Paris Perfect Apts but have friends who have . I visited their flat when I was in Paris. Firstly, there are probably the most reliable high end agency. There are people close by to intervene if something goes wrong. You have 3 kids with a diversity of age- you need an apt not 2 hotel rooms for their sanity and yours. You need a place for snacks and cereal in the am. I would suggest the 7th for a family. Parisians with kids live in the 7th..very few live near Palais Royale. Be sure you have air conditioning in August (I think the PP apts all do). I know there are excellent apts through VRBO ect but if anything goes wrong you may or may not have the back up you need. I have great memories of my son running around the Champs de Mar and begging to look at the armour..also running around the gardens of the Rodin gallerie(my kids did a lot of running). Although the Tuilleries is close to Palais Royale, I really like the family nature of the 7th (one of my god children lived in the area until she was 8 so I think I know of what I speak).

I've never stayed in one, but have read their website due to the mentions. They are too expensive for me, but why do you say they all have air conditioning? That's one reason I wouldn't consider them as I usually go to Paris in the summer (and their rates are astronomical in summer, to me).

As far as I can see, they only say two of them have A/C, the Cote de Nuits and Richebourg. I just find it odd that they wouldn't mention having AC if they all do, as they would be a big selling point. If they say they all have AC somewhere, I must be missing it.

I think you will find that ALL the Paris Perfect apartments have air conditioning..even the little Kir. I have rented the Grenache..it has A/C....

I stayed in the PVA Palais Royale Graden Triplex in 2003. It was wonderful an the staff very professional. What I can tell you is that the staff is the same and the furniture is different. What this means to me is that the owners are still there and are always making things better! Our place is probably too small for you, but with your budget, get a big one!

The location (Palais Royale) cannot be beat for convenience to everything. The PP apartments do look divine, but I think I'd prefer to be in the thick of things with children.

rolshan, in the end I think you will be very happy with either Paris Perfect or Paris Vacation Apartments, as they've both got beautiful properties in great locations, with great management and every amenity. And there are certainly other agencies and individual property owners that will also have great apartments to let.

I wouldn't agonize too much either way---contact the agencies, see what's available, and just pick one that fits your budget. You'll have a great time, and will likely become a huge fan of apartment rentals for family vacations.

Our family of 4 with 2 teens stayed at the Hotel du Palais Bourbon in July 2005. We had a wonderful two room family suite for 170 euros/night. The teens stayed in a connecting small bedroom with 2 twin beds. They had their own shower and sink next to their bedroom. The larger bedroom was very spacious-plenty of room for an added bed for a toddler. Lovely full bathroom with tub and shower off larger bedroom. Very centrally located on the same street as the Musee Rodin and an easy and pleasant 15-20 minute walk to the Eiffel Tower. We passed the Rue Cler enroute to the Tower. A/C worked well. Hotel is a two star- not luxurious but very clean, quiet and charming. Great continental breakfast too- fabulous coffee!

gracejoan, that's very interesting information, I really wondered. How do you know they all have AC? If they told you that, do you know why if that is so, they don't mention it on the website? IN fact, if I were going to rent one, I never would have even pursued it because they don't say they have AC, and I would thus assume they don't -- especially because they explicitly mention it on two descriptions and not on others.

I have just talked to them, some apartments do not currently have ac but are having it installed and they promise it will be fully functional by this summer. The website will be updated upon installation of ac. I do not know if this is true, but this is what I was just told by Parisperfect.

I stand corrected re all the Paris Perfect having A/C. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. It is not easy in those old buildings!

I personally never travel in the seasons needing A/C....too crowded for me...

I will be previewing some of them in Feb. when I am there. I will get a list of those with and without and those that are currently being updated with it!!

I will then be there in Oct. and will see how many more have been done..also will be there in April, 2008!!

Used vrbo for and apartment with ac in the Marais in 2004 for family of 4. It was great and we were there during the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Paris so there were flowers up outside all the apartments where Jews had been taken from there homes during the holocaust.
Staying in an apartment definitely makes you feel more attached to the neighborhood and in our case I don't think our girls will ever forget getting in our tiny elevator and opening the huge door to the apartment house to see flowers directly across the street with the names of the family members that were never to return.

Oh boy, now I'm getting worried. We're about to book an apartment for our family of 4 in mid June, and none of the one we're considering (that are in our budget) have A/C. Are we going to wilt? It just seems that very few of the modestly priced apartments offer A/C, and we can't afford the leap to some of the ones mentioned in this discussion. Have any of you gone without and not regretted it? Thanks.

We were in Paris in '03 and '04 during the June heatwaves. With cross-ventilation, any lodging should be bearable. (Caveat: the temperature when we left home was 110°F, so 90 doesn't seem hot to us.)

I don't really understand all the fuss about air conditioning. Most French people don't have it (I think there is a statistic that only 5% of the buildings in France, including office buildings, are air conditioned). I have lived in Paris for 6 years and have never found this to be an issue, even during the 2004 heatwaves, which I think must be the motivation for some of these places to install it. Surely the apartments that don't have A/C have some fans?

Visiting Paris in August has advantages and disadvantages. Most of the locals will be on vacation and so there are a lot of tourists. I would recommend staying in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th or 8th arrondissements (districts). You can tell which district by the postal code (all Paris post codes start with 75, and the 1st arrond. is 75001, the 16th, 75016, etc).

I agree with you on public transportation, with a toddler it will be a pain. However, it won't be as crowded as during other times of the year and the metro is generally pretty efficient. Taxis will be difficult because most won't take five people.

Hope this helps.

Just my 2 centimes on the subject of public transportation in Paris ... try taking the bus! Of course it takes longer than the metro, but you can see the scenery, and the buses are modern, clean, and generally not too crowded. I'm a longtime Parisian, and I often take visiting friends on "bus tours." One of my favorites is the No. 67 bus which goes from the foot of Montmartre, down across the Grands Boulevards, and then down past the Palais Royal/Louvre, then follows the quai along the Seine, (sit on the right hand side of the bus for views across the river to the Ile de la Cite and Ile St Louis); then crosses the river near the Institut du Monde Arabe and passes by the Jardin de Plantes and on to Place d'Italie. If you have a Paris Visite or Mobilis card you can hop on and off at will. Generally there's no more than a 5 or 10 minute wait for the next bus. The only caveat: This may not work after 8 pm and on Sundays/holidays, when many bus lines stop running or sharply curtail their service.

USeful thread. Thanks.

By the way - the bus doesn't <u>always</u> take longer than the M&eacute;tro. In a case where you have short stages and a <i>correspondance</i> in between, the bus often wins.

In any event, on the bus you don't have to climb down into the ground and out again.

By far the best apartment rental agency in Paris is Paris Vacation Apartments. The company owns all of the apartments, so you aren't dealing with managers, you're in contact with the owner himself. www.parisvacationapartments.com