Paris trip - need apt. rental agency recs
 

My son, daughter and I (all over 30) are going to Paris for a week in May -- first time for any of us. I'm looking at apt. rental, and am so glad I found this group. What a wealth of info! Every agency seems to have great apts., but I'm wondering if some agencies are better to deal with than others. I'm thinking we want to be in the Marais, or possibly Isle St. Louis, and we'll need a 2 bedroom. (Don't know if that makes a diff.)

vacationinparis.com is very easy to deal with and have some nice apartments in the Marais. I have also used rentparis.com. Good Luck

This topic has been discussed a lot on this site. Do a search.
Your budget is key in answering this question. Guestapartments has many lovely ones on Ile St Louis which is a terrific location but they are not cheap.

www.parisperfect.com is probably one of the very top places for rentals.

Enjoy.......

I'm renting an apartment from Rent Paris (rent-paris.com) on the edge of the Marais right now and everything has been great. Very easy... you can pay via PayPal, and there aren't any hidden charges.

From what I remember, they have one or two really lovely, affordable 2-bedroom apartments in that area.

I can recommend Parisaddress.com as well. Had a very positive experience with them in March as did friends on another occasion. Susequent to our using them, someone else posted a postive review here as well.

You do have to be careful as some agencies have great track records and others do not. I did a lot of research on this site and basically decided to only choose agencies that had been recommended by Fodorites or on the Slowtrav.com site.

The ones already listed here came up recommended frequently. You should not have a problem finding a two bedroom - i would also consider St Germain, the 6th for first time visitors.

Isle St Louis may be limited - but the Marais will have a lot.

Do search for Paris Apartments here as there are several good recommendations for the Marais as well.

This is the thread that helped me decide on which agencies to use and some of the pitfalls.


http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...amp;dirtyBit=1

I have posted before about the apartment we stayed in September 2004, me, my husband and my parents. It is still advertised as available at www.rentalfrance.com. It is the apartment that goes by the name there of Propriete Royale on Rue St. Paul. The address is 24 Rue St. Paul. In the Marais, just about 3 blocks from the Seine, across from Ile St. Louis. Its current advertised rate for a week on that website is 980 to 1200 depending on the season. It is a simple but very comfortable apartment. It is in a great old building and retains some of the original features inside like stucco and beam walls and ceiling, but the furnishings are all modern. The front bedroom has two twin beds and the back bedroom a full bed. It has one bath with sink and tub/shower and another with sink and toilet. The living dining room is quite large really but the bedrooms small (but comfortable). It was quiet. It is above an antique shop. It is on the second floor (American second floor) so we didn't need an elevator. It is very near restaurants, cafes, grocery, metro, everything you need. I think a great value for the space and location. I know Paris a bit and had gotten and emailed a reference the manager gave me of another woman in the U.S. who had recently stayed there with her parents with many questions so I had done my homework and knew what to expect. I would think it was a good match for a family of parents and two young adults. The proprieter was easy to deal with and everything was professional and as expected.

We are booked for January '08 with www.vacationinparis.com - so far they have been great to deal with, and paying in dollars is a huge plus. Only $300 deposit to book, and only a $150 refundable damage deposit - others I have seen were 600€ and up. Hope this helps.

L.

We were very pleased with vacationinparis.com as well. We stayed at ID#1, the historic apartment. There were four of us, myself, DW and two college-aged sons. It is just two rooms, one with a queen bed that doubles as the living/dining room and the other with a trundle bed w/ the bathroom and kitchen area accessible through this room. The budget price was amazing for the location, but we weren't in the apartment all that much anyway. I also liked receiving the key in advance in the states. The location was excellent for us, near Les Halles metro (2 blks) and Montorgueil market (1 blk). They were extremely helpful in the packet of information for the apartment, and the local contact was there quickly when a fuse to the water heater blew.

Good luck and enjoy!

Try parisbestlodge.com he has some really nice apartments in some really cool areas!

We had a lovely 2-br apartment on the Ille St Louis (which you say is one of your possibilities) through parisaddress.com, and were very pleased with all of our interactions with the agency.

bookmarking

Another vote for parisaddress.com
We used Xavier and were very pleased.