Hi All. I know there are many posts about paris perfect apartments, but my specific question is whether anyone has experience with Corton or Bordeaux? We will be visiting with our 5- and 7- year old children. Bordeaux seems ideal because of proximity to Champ du Mars parc, but I can't tell how close Corton might be to the luxembourg gardens, which might be my preference.

If I won't be able to walk to luxembourg from Corton with two kids anyway, I might just go with Bordeaux and then metro over to luxembourg.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

I am not familiar with those apartments, but read where they are located. The website is a little mysterious because it doesn't give exact addresses for some reason, but it appears Corton is right near rue du Bac metro and the other one is somewhere in-between Ecole Militaire metro and Pont d'Alma RER stops. So the Corton is probably about 750 meters from Luxembourg Gardens, or around 3/4 of a mile. So it depends how far you are used to walking with your children.

Don't know how you intend to take the metro to Luxembourg Gardens from that apt (Bordeaux). First, you aren't that close to a metro stop there, 4 blocks away as the website says(I might choose the Carton just because it is within a block of one). There is no simple itinerary by metro from that Bordeaux apt to Luxembourg gardens. It is fairly simple from Carton those, as you could take it 3 stops directly to Notre Dame des Champs metro which is about a block away from the bottom or southern end of the gardens.

I can't even state a simple or quick method by metro or RER from the Bordeaux, I guess you'd take the RER from Pont d'Alma and then transfer at St Michel to the Luxembourg stop. That's quite a trip, but you could do it, sure. I don't think there is any easy route by metro. It would probably make more sense to take a bus, bus 82 goes there from somewhere around Ecole Militaire. That would be the best idea, most likely.

sorry my figures were a little confused on the distance from Corton to Lux Gardens, my maps estimate it somewhere between .7 to 1.2 km, which is around 3/4 mile at the top end since 1 km is around .6 mile.

Bordeaux is in the same building and same floor as Champagne - where we have stayed several times.

Excellent location for views (Eiffel Tower), restaurants, groceries, wine shops, boulangeries, boucheries, and many many cafes. Also excellent transportation by bus - which is the only means of transportation we normally choose to use.

Here are the bus routes from Bordeaux - and what major sites they service. N designates that it is a night bus also.

Bus Routes
28N 42N 63N 69 72N 80N 82 87N 92N RER-C Batabus

Bon Marche 87N
Ile St Louis 87N, 63 N
Jacquemart Andre 28, 80N
Louvre 69, 72N
Luxembourg 82
St Germain de Pre 63N, 69, 87N
Pl Madeleine 42N
Opera 42N
Arch de Triomphe 92N
Marais 69, 87N
Montmartre 80, or 80 to 30, 54
Castel Beranger area RER C
Belleville 63 (Odeon or St Michel) 28, 82 (Montparnasse), 69 (St Paul) to 96 OR 69 to 26
Train Bleu 87N, 63N,

Note that the 82 bus goes to Luxembourg Gardens.

Stu Dudley

Christina--thanks for reminding me to focus on the metro stops! I can't believe I hadn't thought about that. We've never taken the little ones to Europe and this is a whole new ball game. I need to step back and reconsider.

Stu--we've never done the bus in Paris, just metro because it seems so easy. Is the bus system fairly easy to navigate? The last time I used busses in a foreign city was Amsterdam and I was terrified!

Kelly - once you use the bus system - you will probably never take the metro again. When we first started using the bus system, we spent several days using it as a sightseeing method. It is above ground, & you can "check out" neighborhoods, shops, markets, etc as you pass by. The Metro gets depressing (IMO) after the novelty wears off. Almost all the buses I indicated go directly to the sites.

Here is a site for some "souvenir" books my wife put together for a few Paris Perfect apartments - all of them either in the same building as Bordeaux or across the street. The books have pics of the neighborhood, shops, restaurants, etc.
http://parisperfect.shutterfly.com/

Bordeaux is actually on the corner of R St Domonique & Av de la Bourdonnais - on the west corner.

Neither my wife or I have any association with Paris Perfect - just a happy customer.

Stu Dudley

thank you Stu! Beautiful. I am certainly open to the bus system--my children complain that they never ride the city busses in Kansas City! And I can't help but think that they would really love the Eiffel Tower views--it is certainly what they associate with France at their young ages. And my husband read somewhere that the park across the way has a basketball court and he seems to think he and my son will be playing there!

I have a hold on Bordeaux. I'll keep you posted!

We've stayed in that location in a Paris Perfect apartment three times for its location and the convenient bus routes. We take the buses everywhere and rarely ride the metro. The proximity to food shopping, trateurs, etc., is outstanding.

Even if you were in walking distance to Luxembourg Gardens, the gardens are enormous!

I've stayed in this area a few times and only recently tried the bus system. It's a whole new way to see Paris! I wish I had Stu's list with me, it would've saved me a lot of time picking out the bus routes.

-Roberta

Excellent point about the size of the gardens anyway! And everyone here has gotten me enthused about the bus system. Thanks so much.

Kelly, a few things to add.... we've been to Paris twice with little people (working on the 2nd trip report now).

First time: 2 girls - ages 4 and 6.
2nd time: girls ages 8 and 10, boy aged 6.

We've stayed both times near Palais Royal - near the Louvre. We love the convenient location and the ease of hopping on the metro and line 1 connections. However, the best part is the black and white columns in the gardens of Palais Royal. We stopped there daily on the way home and it felt like "home"... 20 minutes of jumping on the columns and burning what energy was left.

We stayed in this apartment:
http://www.parisvacationapartments.c...id=179&lang=en

and would stay there again, in a heartbeat. I can unconditionally recommend the apartment and the agency.

I'll dig up my old trip report and post a link and I'm continuing to work on this past years (it got lost for a while).

have a magical trip!

here it is:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ttle-girls.cfm

TT

The bus system is great. I forced myself to learn it back in the 70s and am glad that I did. I take the bus far more than the metro, as I'm not keen on subways in general.

I like to see things along the way and it's a great way to get one's bearings of a place. Sometimes, I just jump on a new bus route to me, and see where it will take me. And it's so nice to be able to jump on and off if one sees something of interest. Happy Travels!

Taking the bus is a lot nicer than the metro, the only time I might consider is if I was going to Montmartre due to traffic.

Read surfmom' s trip report if you have time, it really good.

You can't go wrong with Parisperfect, their apartments are beautiful, you will feel like a real Parisian!

A few of the apartments have creaky floors and they advise people to take their shoes off when walking around. This was no problem for us, but with kids..... Worth an e-mail perhaps.

Surfmom--thank you for sharing your trip report. It was wonderful!! I'm going to look into your apartment and I particularly appreciate the stroller thoughts. I wouldn't have thought to bring one because our daughter--like yours--hasn't used one in forever. But rather have one there and not need it than spend a week wishing we had one.

To others---thanks again for the bus insights. We will certainly and happily try it!

We have used both Paris Perfect and Paris Vacation Apartments more than once and would recommend both agencies.
In fact, in September, I'm staying at a PVA apt with my husband then moving to a PP apt with my daughters and some girlfriends.