Our group, including 2 young teens are possibly staying in the Marais area from rentparis.com

Some possibilities are on 5 rue Pecquay or 38 rue Ste Croix de la Bretonnerie. From posters on the board and research, it seems Bretonnerie is in the center of "gay" paris.

Without this turning into a gay bashing post by other posters, all I wanted to know is the enviornment around these two apartments. Do either of these area's have noisy bars or are they in a seedy area of the Marais?

Anna, we (my parents, my husband & myself) stayed in the Marais last October and absolutely loved it! I looked at my map, and from what I can remember; the streets you mention aren?t anything to be concerned about. I know we were walking around in the area of Ste Croix de la Bretonnerie because we walked through there to get back to our hotel from the Pompidou, and I do not remember feeling out of place. Maybe a local could give us more specific information. There are fabulous boutiques, great restaurants, museums, and we thought it had a nice "neighborhood" feel to it. We walked all over the area, at all hours. Each morning we would go sit at a cafe and watch the people go to work, and watch shopkeepers open their stores. I would stay there again in a minute!

"The Marais" is a gay district. It is also a Jewish district. It will be obvious to you when you get there that it is Jewish but it won't be so obvious that there are a lot of gays. I spend a lot of time in the Marais and I am not gay. Stop worrying; you won't bother them and they won't bother you. Gays are no more violent or troublemaking than any other group and probably a lot more gentile. The Marais is a perfectly fine neighborhood. What....better you should stay in "Pigalle"?

Have fun.
Larry J

There was another thread a few months ago with someone asking if his elderly father would be offended by staying in the Marais. Maybe you can locate that thread - there were a couple dozen posts on it. The consensus was that he would be fine.

Anyway, if you can visit San Francisco without dying of shock, I'm sure you will be fine in the Marais.

From my research, it seemed like the Marais was "the" area to go to hip nightclubs, so I was a bit concerned if it gets rowdy at night. For anyone whose familar with the area, are there alot of clubs near the apartments I listed?

Anna1013--I'm not certain of your specific concern. My wife and I stayed at the Bretonnerie for 6 nights last year. It is a fine hotel, very secure and did not experience any "rowdy" street noise--maybe we were lucky. It is in the heart of a gay district which had little, to no impact on us as a couple. It is a very lively area with restaurants, cafes, live theater, bars and clubs as well as great boutique shopping of all kinds from kitchen and home decorating stores to clothes and book stores. It is also home to ethnic and historic neighborhoods. I'm certain you could find rowdiness and problems, but you would have to be searching for it. We found the hotel and the area great, convenient and interesting. Would return if possible.
Have fun--cheers. Paul

Face it: if it weren't the so-called "gay" area then it wouldn't be nearly as "hip" and "chic" to use rather 1980's terms as it is. Perhaps if you end up staying there you can stop being a prisoner of your own stereotypes.

Ana, you'll be fine. As mentioned above, for a seedy, rowdy, nasty and unsafe area you'll have to travel to the area around Pigalle which is well known for heterosexuals behaving badly.

Yes the Marais is gay and yes rue Ste Croix de la Bretonnerie is a particularly gay street.

It seems to me that if you have to ask, the answer is probably yes, you will be uncomfortable since you already are.

Hi JonJon

If it ain't hip to say "hip" or chic to say "chic", what are the expressions among today's hip, chic crowd?

Thanks for asking, Ira, I'm curious too. I am amazed how often I hear my generation's "cool" being said now by high school kids. Then I find out it's now spelled "kewl" not "cool". Guess that makes all the difference in the world.
But what are "chic" and "hip" now?

Anna, your apt. is pefectly situated, in a nice area, has tons of dining and shoping options, is safe, and is convenient to major tourist sites. By all means, grab it.

If you have to ask you will probably be uncomfortable although I have to say
the Marais is one of my favorite neighborhoods in Paris. There is much to be seen there including the old Jewish Quarter. You can read inscriptions on the various houses that tell of how many men,women and children were deported to the camps because they were thought to be "undesirables".

At the risk of being stereotyped by JonJon, my wife and I find the Marais "groovy," "far out" and "awesome." We've reserved the 5 rue Pecquay for a week this summer (we're taking our kids too).

In 2002, we spent a week just around the corner at another rentparis.com apartment, 29 rue Rambuteau. I posted a review on the slowtrav.com site if you want to give it a read.

I've found that most apprehensions people have about other people are based on unfamiliarity with folks different from ourselves. Spend a week in the Marais and you and your kids will be the better for it. I wouldn't stay anywhere else.

It seems to me there are two separate questions here. If Anna's concern is truly about late-night noise from nightclubs, I'd post that question, worded exactly like that.

If seeing men holding hands on the street or having an obviously romantic dinner together would be shocking to any of their party, then that's another matter.

I live in a very gay neighborhood in Seattle, so that's where my comments are coming from.

The area is not seedy at all. Quite the opposite. There are certainly bars, but the streets seem lively rather than rowdy. All sorts of people walking around the neighborhood from tourists to locals.

I stayed in a Rentparis apartment last year with my husband and teenage daughter, although it was farther from the center of the Marais than the places you are considering. Had a great time and really enjoyed the Marais, a neighborhood I had not previously explored. If you click on my name, you can find my trip report called "February Vacation Week in Paris...".

Ok, apparently I worded my inquiry in a wrong way. The reason I brought up the fact that the marais seemed to be the center of "gay" paris is because I had seen some discussions on how some people were comfortable, while others were not at all comfortable in the Marais area.

I actually found another possible apartment in the 5th(near rue moffetuard), which has me deciding between the 5th or the Marais area.

Our group is not into the nightlife/bar scene, and I would like to go to a quiet for a night's rest...do neither the 5th or Marais qualify as this?

If I had to choose between the Marais and the 5th, I'd choose the Marais in a heartbeat.

If it's noise you're worried about, in general, it's worse in the 5th.

Unless your hotel room is directly above some "disco" there will be no problem with the noise, especially if you have airconditioning, which I'd highly recommend.
Some people stay there and never even realize it is supposed to be gay.

Hi Anna, I can certainly understand you not wanting to check you family into "party central" be it gay, straight, or alien! Before we settled on a hotel I was considering an apartment in the 5th too, but in a different location than yours. After some investigation I discovered that this particular street was in an area that was very popular with the college students at night - and before I open another can of worms; no, I do not have anything against students! Anyway, I knew this was not the place for us, and I looked elsewhere. I can not vouch for rue moffetuard as we were only there during the market, but I can speak well of the Marais. We slept well each night (remember you will be on the go all day and will be pretty tired anyway!) and I loved the central location. Some nights we walked over to the Seine, one night to the Pompidou, another to the Louvre Courtyard. The boutiques and cafes were plentiful and many of the museums we wanted to see were close by (although the metro is fabulous so it really is easy to get just about anywhere!)

Oh, the people who say "if you have to ask if you'll be comfortable, it means you won't be" are all wet. You are simply trying to choose the best location for your family and sometimes that is tough to do from thousands of miles away when you have never seen the places you are trying to choose from!

You can also type your apartment addresses in at this paris website, and "walk" down the street to see what it looks like. Try copying this address into your address bar and hitting "go" : http://www.pagesjaunes.fr/rc.cgi?lang=en