I am a female in my sixties, and will be on my own in Paris for a few days while waiting for my family to join me from Naples. Our family includes myself, my son and his wife and two young teens. I will meet them from the states and am wondering what is a safe area of Paris to find an apartment both for myself (while waiting) and for my grandchildren to venture out on their own in the neighborhood.

The 5th, 6th and 7th arrondissements are a sure bet, as is the 15th and the 16th. Paris is generally considered a safe city.

Anywhere.

The 14th, but agree that Paris is pretty safe where ever you are, there are some areas more convenient to site seeing and such. I love the 14th for it's neighberhood feel.

You are safer in Paris than in any of the 20 largest cities in the US.

Stu Dudley

As St Cirq says anywhere and I am speaking as an over 70 female. I feel safer in Paris than I do here at home in Orlando. Choose somewhere that is convenient for what you want to do though anywhere is good as the trnsportation system is More than excellent!

Don't worry about Paris...do the smart things you would do at home to be safe and you will have no reason to worry at all!

If you will be in high tourist areas, be very careful with your belongings and avoid the "is your ring?", "will you sign this petition?" and other scams....better to be rude than ripped off!

It is indeed important to know that the biggest chance of being a victim of theft (pickpocketing or snatching) is in the most touristy areas of Paris. But this is just a matter of being careful with your belongings, as denisea already said. Violent crime is quite rare except in mafia circles.

In terms of making teens happy, I recommend the 5th arrondissement among those already mentioned, or the Grands Boulevards (2nd-3rd/9th arrondissement) area or Montparnasse (intersection of 6th/14th/15th). I am assuming they are younger teens, because if they are independent teens, they would be a lot more interested in the Bastille area -- but in such cases, who cares, because they'll be taking the metro all over the place by themselves.

For the ideal family setting, the very best place would be one of the numerous properties available along rue Caulaincourt in the 18th, though.