Has anyone stayed in Vacation in Paris rentals ID: 259, 262 or 177? Any input on your experience in these rentals would be amazing. From what I have read so far, VIP seems to be amongst the favorites of the Fodors community. Thank you.

I've not stayed in those apartments, but I have used the VIP agency and was very pleased with the service. I liked that I could make a phone call and speak to someone to have my questions answered.

We stayed in Classique #08 on Rue St Dominique, and were very pleased with our location and the apartment. We were right on the #69 bus route and a ten minute walk to the Eiffel Tower.

#259 seems a bit out of the way, but only a short block to the Metro. I think that a bedroom on the street level might be a bit noisy for me, but it's hard to tell.

I always go to Google Earth and "walk" the street to see if it's a neighborhood that I would like to live in for a week.

Celticharper,

I am not very familiar with Pari's layout. Could you elaborate on your comment about #259 being out of the way?

I look at the map at the bottom of the page and you can find the address pop that into google to find the address and what the street looks like. It's on the extreme outer edge of the 6th so it will be a metro to just about anywhere you want to go, I love being able to walk to sites, but I prefer to walk everywhere when we are in a new place so I can enjoy the experience more. That's just personal preference.

Here is the link to google earth street view, there are a few cafes and grocery around the corner.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&su...ed=0CBoQ8gEwAA

It's not very close to most of the tourist areas you'll want to see and there doesn't look like there is a wide variety of places to eat. But it's all a matter of choice.

Find a good map of the arrondisments showing where the sites you want to see are located and see if you are comfortable with the distances to your apartment.

Here is one map that is very helpful, though I don't recommend the Paris Pass as it is overpriced for what you get. The Museum Pass is the way to go, ours paid for itself several times over. The site however has some great information on it.

http://www.parispass.com/paris-tourist-map/index.php

Celtic,

Thanks for the help! We have nixed that option.

How would you rank these locations, they all seem to be pretty much near everything.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationR...de_France.html

This seems to be in close walking distance to many sites.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationR...de_France.html

and

http://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationR...de_France.html

Obviously there are site to see all over Paris, however I really don't know which are most important yet, but am willing to go for very long walks...

WorminRome,

The first and third in your latest list are very well located. The middle one is not as good as the other two but is certainly good as well (though République is a very popular nightlife area for younger people, if that's a plus for you).

A VERY general rule of thumb for <b>first time</b> visitors is "the closer to the islands/river, the better". Of course there are many, many other good areas to stay when visiting Paris but, IMHO, they are better for a second (or subsequent) visit.

Thanks bardo, we have reserved the first one in my most recent list as my wife and I thought its centrality would be best for us.