We're traveling to Paris (from the US) in September with two children. About the only affordable accomodations I can find (with a flexible change/cancellation policy) is a 1 br apt @ Citadines. They have many locations, but I don't know which one to choose. Any help is appreciated. Thank you!

How can you decide when the website doesn't give pictures of the apartments located in each location?

Since their kitchettes and bathrooms and furnishings are all about alike, I would choose according to price and/or location. We stayed at St. Germain, very convenient to the metro, RER train and most places of interest to sightseers. Also close to many restaurants and La Semaritaine dept. store. The Louvre Citadines is also well located. Just make a list of what you want to do and pick the building that is the nearest to most places. The lowest priced buildings are out in the farther areas like La Defence so would require more metro riding. Choosing requires an hour or so of studying a large, one page map of Paris, IMO.

Laura, The best located Citadines in Paris is the Saint Germain location, in my opinion. Walking distance to many sights and an easy walk to the right bank. Wonderful restaurants in the area around your apt. Have a wonderful time!

Hi Laura-I live in Paris and stayed in both the St. Germain Citadine and the one at LeS Halles (for almost 2 months as temporary housing)and I can tell you that at the "interior" level they are are pretty interchangeable, so posters are right-choose by the neighborhood. Be careful about going with the less expensive ones (Nation, Les Halles) because they really aren't in great locations (Les Halles actually is a great location in terms of being very central-but the area is kind of a "hangout area" at night and can get a bit seedy. Many times I had to step over people who just sleep on the doorstep in front of the door of the hotel-so not sure I would really like having my children have to do that..........that said it still felt felt safe) I didn't actually like the St Germain location as well-it is right on the river but I found it a bit too touristy-but I was going to work not sightseeing...people have told me that the Opera Vendome one is really nice. It is quiet, near the big department stores and it changes the experience a bit from the Latin Quarter-I would also second the Louvre location. If you want something much more calm in terms on neighborhoods, check out the one in 16th called Trocadero or the Eiffel Tower one.<BR><BR>By the way, there aren't pictures on the website of each location, but I have seen 4 or 5 rooms in 2 or 3 now, and I can tell you they are almost exactly what you see on the website-the only thing to check out is not to be too near the elevator and I also requested to move down a floor from the top floor because there was a noisy air conditioner unit on the roof of the les halles one.<BR><BR>In general, I agree to choose the neighborhood especially if you have kids who might want to go back to the hotel every so often

We are staying at the Citadines Opera Vendome with our two kids in August. Friends stayed there this spring and really liked it. I picked this one because of the A/C, the daily maid service and the 24 hour front desk.<BR><BR>The reservation process, done over the internet, was painless.

A number of years ago through a timeshare exchange we stayed at the Citadines Voltaire Republique and loved it. Our apartment had a small balcony overlooking a charming street in between the Place de la Republique and the Bastille. It is one of the less expensive Citadines in Paris. We were there in late August and it was comfortable in the room which is a risk at that time of year (the Voltaire Republique does not have air conditioning). Since then we have been to Paris several times and have stayed in hotels. Overall, we prefer the convenience of Citadines, with a washer/dryer in the basement, a refigerator to hold our wine, meat and cheese and a friendly concierge to help with reservations. We will be going back to Paris in early September and will be staying at the Citadines Bastille Marais. We love the location and it has air conditioning. Good luck. I think you will enjoy the Citadines.

I am surprised no one has mentioned that Citadines' beds quite often are pulldown sofabeds, like futons, and not real ones. We booked a week in Aix-en-Provence and were very uncomfortable.