Paris - Safest Neighborhood at Night
 

This is a duplicate post since the first time I left out the city name

"I'm traveling next June with my then 14-year-old daughter. I hate sitting in my room in the evening. I love being outside. I don't necessarily have to be doing anything, but I don't like to retire to our room until I'm just about ready to hit the hay. So, I want to be sure to get an apartment in a neighborhood that is safe in the evenings. I'm not looking for night clubs since I'm with my daughter, but I don't want us to be in a desolate area with no activity in the evenings. I don't mind walking in the evenings to a populated area as long as it's safe to walk back to our lodings after 9 pm. There are a ton of apartments in Paris so I just need to decide what neighborhood to concentrate my search in. How about some suggestions?"

Latin Quarter never goes to sleep (5th arrond)

You'll be perfectly safe in almost every neighborhood in Paris. I guess my only advice would be to avoid the Chatelet area, Pigalle area (just tawdry, not unsafe), and any really outlying banlieue area where you wouldn't normally be getting a hotel anyway. The 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 11th, and 16th arrondissements are probably the best to choose from, but honestly, Paris is a lot safer than most big metropolitan areas in the USA and I'm often out alone after midnight there and don't worry about a thing. Same thing when I was alone there with kids.

An Italian tourist (actually apparently a famous journalist) died on Sunday in the Eiffel Tower area. He had a bag snatched at the Bir-Hakeim metro station at 9:30 pm. He tried to hold on to it but fell down the stairs, cracked his head open and died.

According to his family, there was absolutely nothing of value in the bag.

Anyway, this is a very rare incident, but it goes to show that wildly unexpected incidents can happen. The only thing that I wish to point out is that tourists are generally targeting in the "nice" tourist areas. One is often safer from that sort of crime in the poorer neighborhoods as long as you don't have a camera hanging around your neck, for example.

i traveled to paris last year with another single girlfriend of mine and we felt perfectly safe at night staying in the st. germain des pres area.

very disconcerting to read about the italian journalist killed in the rue cler neighborhood in the earlier post...i felt very safe in that area as well.

We've always felt perfectly save in the Place Victor Hugo/Passy area of the 16th, ditto for the Auteuil neighborhood, which is VERY quiet at night. And I've never had any problems wondering around St. Germain on my own after dark.
With a few exceptions, I feel fine pretty much anywhere in Paris (my exceptions include the areas around Barbes Rochechouart and Denfert Rochereau, but I don't hang around those at night anyway).

I answered your other thread. I didn't even notice that you had left out the name of the city. I assumed it was Paris. But, I don't remember you stating that you were looking for an apartment. I gave you the name of the hotel that I've used for years. As for an apartment...vacationinparis.com is very easy to deal with and I'd suggest apt#122. This area is prime and you can walk a lot of places. This is the area I've stayed in almost annually since the early 80s. Happy Travels!

Thanks for all of the advice. I'm so glad Paris isn't like St. Louis. I wouldn't walk in most area at night with my teen.

And I wouldn't walk around my hometown, DC, at night, alone, either. But Paris...no problem.

I saw a lot of parents with teens in the Eiffel Tower area the other night at about 10 pm, though I actually did feel like it was a bit dodgy (hundreds of tourists = lots of pick pockets). I'm sorry to hear about that Italian journalist.

modglila - the Champs-Elysees is really fun at night. I wouldn't necessarily want to stay there, but you and your daughter would have fun walking around and getting ice cream.

My friend and I caught a movie near the George V station the other night (apparently English-speaking movies with V.O. after their title are in their original language, whereas those with V.F. are in French) and when we came out at midnight, the place was still packed! Lots of kids, too.