Please Help w Feedback on Paris 18th District
 

I am considering family apartment on rue Damrémont in Paris 18th district. Would anyone offer feedback / thoughts on this location, i.e., general vibe, attitude, safety, accessibility to paris sites, etc. Is proximity to red light area problematic?

MUCH THANKS in advance.... best, jfm5x.

When my husband, two teenage daughters and I walked through Montmartre redlight area on our way to somewhere else, the ladies calling to him from doorways politely desisted when they realized he had plenty of female company.

My personal thoughts are it would be too inconvenient a location for a simple tourist trip where your main goal is seeing tourist sites in the central of Paris (and ET, no doubt). As well as perhaps daying some day trips by train, so you'd have to get to a train station from there. If you knew Paris fairly well and knew the area and distance and had an agenda, it could be fine if you knew what you were getting into (I've stayed not far from there, but just south of the 9/18 border), but that's not the case here or you wouldn't need to ask.

That is a very long street, so it would be helpful if you gave specifics as to address. It runs about the entire N/S length of the arrondisement, and the north end is about on the peripherique (well, not quite). The sourthern end is near the cemetery. It's just not that near a metro stop, which might bother me, although there is some bus that goes up that street I think.

It isn't particularly close to the main sex shop/hooker areas anyway, so no, that is not a consideration. I wouldn't consider that at all in my decision. It would be fine, I just don't think it suits most tourist's purposes, but if you don't mind walking quite a few blocks to a metro stop, it should be fine (assuming its in the southern end). It's near a lot of shops and market street on Caulaincourt and Lepic. If it's on the northern end, I wouldn't even consider it myself.

Given there are so many apartments available in Paris, I wouldn't choose one so far out from the main sites unless you have a particular reason for wanting to end up in Montmartre every night. When I'm in Paris, I want to maximize my time to the fullest, so wouldn't want to be spending much time getting into and out of the center of the city.

I'm told the apartment is 1 mn from Abbesses district and 2mn from the Blanche metro stop... I think that would be the southern end of rue Damremont ? Does that help place the apartment in better geo-context ?

yes, except it is impossible to be one minute from the Abbesses metro stop on rue Damremont, so that is landlord over-exaggeration to begin with. Depending what they mean by "Abbesses district" -- if they mean the metro stop by that name, it's about 5-6 blocks from there at the closest point. If they just mean the street, it's 2-3 blocks at the closest. It's also impossible to be two minutes from Blanche, since it's 3-4 blocks at the closest. Maybe if you are sprinting.

Sounds like it's just above the cemetery, which is better than on the northern end. I might not mind it, but don't think it's best for most first-time tourists. But you won't be too far from the metro, obviously, if you love it, should be okay as long as you understand there will be long metro rides to get places. Won't they give you the exact address? I insist on that whenever I consider an apt. as it tells you a lot and you can even look it up by photos on pagesjaunes. It's even a big different to me if I find out it's on a corner or next to a nightclub or whatever which you can only do with exact addresses.

You may glean something of interest from this thread about Montmartre: http://www.ourparisforum.com/index.c...ay&thread=1820.

Damremont is a street with many cafés, restaurants, a Delmontel bakery and an excellent small cheese shop. As Christina stated, the northern end is removed from most points of general interest, but the southern end is fairly lively with one of the most interesting cemeteries in Paris and is within easy walking distance of metros and the excellent #80 bus. If you are a 1st time visitor, this may not be an ideal location, unless you love Montmartre.