Staying in Marais?
 

I'll be staying in Paris for 2 months. There seem to be more apartment options for me in Marais than my desired areas. Marais has never been my favourite area to stay in but I've always stayed short-term. If you've stayed in Marais, I'd like to hear how you would describe your experience.

What is your more desired area??? Memebers can draw comparisons of their various stays/trips to Paris.

~Jay

Well, it would sort of depend on what part of the Marais. We have rented three times on the Rue de Turenne and like: easy access to the rest of the city by bus (mostly) or the Metro at St Paul, the variety of shopping and restaurants, and convenient practical shopping like the Monoprix on St Antoine (? -- I can walk there but can't tell you what that main street is called at that point). I don't know about the end up toward Republique or closer to the Rue du Temple.

I like 7e. This has previously created "discussions" due to extreme love or hate of some fodorites for 7e but I do like it because it's central, close to St. Germain but far enough to be dead quiet at night. I like quiet.

Rue de Turenne area... the part in 3e or 4e? And is it busy at night? Are there nice small shops close by or do I have to hop on the bus to get to things?

I stayed in an apartment on rue de Braque, which is a small 1 street (just one block long) between rue du Temple and rue des Archives, right in front of les Archives Nationales. I loved that it was close to Notre-Dame, le BHV, lots of bars and restaurants in the Marais... We walked all over the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th arrondissement from there and I am far from being in perfect shape.

I'd go back in a heartbeat! I loved the area a lot, and so did my travel partner.

I loved being in the Marais, a little over two weeks. I stayed in a hotel on the Vielle du Temple. I loved the energy, the shops, the restaurants. A female alone, was never worried about going home alone after 1AM.. It's the only area where shops are open on Sunday.

That's great to know. Would you say the Marais was quiet at night for you? I get slightly worried about noise from restaurants as I don't tend to stay up until 1am :)

my room was in the back so slept soundly and I am a light sleeper and that's the busiest street

We stayed in an apartment in the 3rd on rue St Gilles for a week. We had no street noise at all. There were plenty of restaurants and shops in the area and we were very close (l/2 block)to the Metro. There was a patisserie on one corner and a grocery store on another corner. It was a great location, and we would certainly stay there again.

I would check to see what is around the apartment as far as bars, restaurants, etc. If the apartment is on the ground floor, there could be more noise. Also, if it is over a restaurant or bar, it could certainly be noiser.

Great info, thanks. I actually don't have a specific apartment yet and when I do, I will be coming back for big help again. For now, I wanted to see if I should even expand my search to include the Marais and based on your advice above, I'm going for it. Many many thanks!

Definitely look for an apartment on one of the smaller streets (rue St. Gilles is lovely), and that advertises itself as "quiet." The Marais can get pretty lively, but I think the part closer to the Place des Vosges (though NOT rue Francs Bourgeois) is the nicest. Good luck!

Thanks a bunch everyone. I hope I can be as helpful to your travels at some point in future.

Glad you got some good tips. I think the previous "discussions" about the 7e get heated because the paucity of restaurants and the absence of public gardens doesn't seem optimal for many people who go to Paris to really enjoy the cafe life and people-watching gardens that are so missing in the US. The overwhelming reason the 7e is "quiet" is because everything shuts down once government bureaucrats and the tour buses for the Eiffel Tower and Les Invalides leave. Weekends are dead. This description from a relocation agency strikes me as on the mark:

Being the home to Paris’ most famous landmark, the Eiffel Tour, as well as the Musee "d’Orsay, Ecole Militaire and Invalides, it could be assumed that the 7th arrondissement would be a hive of activity. This is true of the areas where these tourist attractions are found but this district, one of the largest of the central arrondissements, is in fact one of Paris’ calmest.

"Other than a small pocket of restaurants and bars between the Champs de Mars and Invalides, the area is devoted to government buildings and other institutions such as the headquarters of UNESCO. The remainder is purely residential."

Here's a description of 4e from the same website:

"A great mix of lively bars, restaurants, boutiques, galleries, beautiful squares and an open minded population will be found in the narrow medieval streets of one of the oldest Parisian districts known as the Marais. Once an area for Royal residence, testimony of which is the beautiful renaissance arcades of Place des Vosges, the Marais is now one of the most bustling areas of Paris.

"To the west is the cobblestoned Beaubourg, famous for the Pompidou art gallery and is a favourite with tourists and street artists. Centrally the diverse communities of Jewish, artist, and gay, give the area a cosmopolitan soul."

I'll go with cosmopolitan soul in Paris any day, although I like quiet so much I usually opt to sleep on Ile St Louis and simply cross the river -- in either direction -- for the abundance of restaurants, bars and great public spaces. The public spaces in the 7e are vast but without charm.

Sorry not to respond, but I am on the road, sadly for work rather than fun.

I don't know which arrondisement we were in, but we were a lot closer to Francs Bourgeois than to Filles du Calvaire, in fact just around the corner. A bakery almost across the street, a Monoprix two blocks away, boutiques around the corner.

Most residential/commercial buildings in the Rue de Turenne area of the Marais are built as hollow squares around a courtyard. The key to quiet is being sure that the apartment you rent is on the back side of the courtyard. We never heard a sound from within or outside the building.

I seem to feel the opposite about wanting to be courtyard side in an apartment. I much prefer having a streetside apartment with windows that I can look out of and observe life going on below. Yes, it can be noisy at times, but I really enjoy all of that. I live in a small rural town and love to be in the city. I grew up on L.I. and maybe that's why, but give me an apartment in the marais with a street scene and I am very content.

Opaldog ........ I second your view entirely. Give me a street side apartment any day. I hate a courtyard ....... a double glazed window one could make note of, but the noise just doesn`t bother me. My morning coffee at the window enjoying the street life gets no better.

goldwynn: I also enjoy a coffee or a glass of wine with cheese while watching the goings on of the neighborhood I am in. The last apartment we stayed in in Paris was a major disappointment. I cheaped out and ended up with a small studio on a courtyard that turned out to be more of an air shaft. I learned my lesson. In October we are staying in an apartment on rue Franc des Bourgeois in the Marais. It has a living room on the street and a bedroom on a courtyard. It looks perfect. I'll review it when we return.

Another vote for the rue St. Gilles. Mywife and I stayed in an apartment (VRBO #79965) there for two weeks in September and it was ideal- quiet, convenient, close to the Metro and a patisserie across the street. What more could one want.

The OP was concerned about quiet.
Courtyard rooms are quieter than street view rooms.
You may prefer street life to quiet.
Chacun à son goût.

You are so right Ackislander. I was weighing in with my personal opinion which is something the OP was asking of fodorites. Hopefully the apartment I rent in October will give us the best of both worlds.