Best neighborhood for Paris appartment location?

Can you give me advice on your fav location for a Paris Appartment and why? I’m currently looking in the 7th, 6th, 1st , 2nd & 4th. Any opinions on Ile de la Cité? Does that put you too far away from things being on one of the islands? I’m currently booked at hotel in Rue Cler but might snatch an apprtment instead. If you have an particular appartment you love please PM me.

Craig, I won’t say “best,” because I haven’t stayed in many, but we just got back from Paris. We stayed on the Ile St Louis and I can’t imagine a better location. It is like a little village in the middle of the Seine, with all of the main attractions either in easy walking distance or an easy Metro ride (Metro stop at the foot of the main bridge to the right bank). We weren’t all that crazy about the apartment, but the location was fantastic and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Those are all dynamite locations. Go with the best apartment.

+1. The apartments (I’ve stayed in several) vary enormously. Look out for the pictures, practically all Paris apts. are very small and the shots are taken to look them make larger (ditto for hotels, BTW). For ex., if you are tall, look out for overhead beams! Some places are very noisy, others quiet. Etc. etc. And make sure the firm you are dealing with is reliable. There has been a thread or two on that here in the past.

We stayed in the 7th in an apartment 2 blocks from Musee d Orsay- was a fantastic location. The aparment was very nice- but as Peter said small. Was not a problem for us- as it was just the 2 of us. Easy walk to metro stop, and all the necessities right there- cheese shop, great bakery, and the grocery store(Monoprix) all within a couple blocks. We were very happy with this apartment- and will only do apartments from now on. Was nice to have our own “place” to come home to. We were very happy with this place- oh. was 3 floors up.

http://adrianleeds.com/parler-paris-apartments/la-maison-dorsay

After staying in hotels in the 1st, 16th, 5th, 6th, and 7th, we have rented an apartment for October near Blvd Saint-Germain and Rue Bonaparte the past several years. Two good Metro lines and a handful of good bus lines. Near two grocery stores and several street markets. We love the neighborhood and are renting again in the 6th this year. All from the same agency, Just France, which does more than act as a broker and actually and professionally manages the apartments they rent. Can’t overstate how much we like them. Their apartments, while not inexpensive, are beautifully appointed, kept in primo condition, and are in good buildings.

I think the keys to look for are: an interior apartment, high floor if you can get one, professionally managed (not a VRBO type outfit that just acts as a broker), near at least one good Metro line and several bus lines, and near a grocery store (like Monoprix or Carrefour) and street markets. For a short stay, some of these things are less important than for a long stay.

We like the 6th, generally in a quieter area near the river. Last stay we rented an apartment on Place Michel (on the border of the 5th and 6th). Boisterous area (lots of foot traffic) but our apartment was quiet and we were on the Metro and RER, which was important to us since it was the first time we brought our kids for a while and we were in tour mode. A lovely view of Notre Dame from our living room window made up for some of the boistrosity

Our best place was in the 6th (I forget where). Older building, but in lovely condition. On the 2nd (US) floor, but it faced a courtyard, so was extremely quiet.

Preferences for apartment locations in Paris really depend on what you want to do and where you want to go.

You can stay in the 6th and 5th and be in or near the hub of many touristy things and lively nightlife.

You can stay in the Marais for some West Village’ish (NYC) type neighborhood or the Bastille which is a more locals area, but a bit of a distance from the main touristy places. I like the restaurants and bars in the Bastille.

The Montmartre area is a lot more, pardon the word, challenging for somebody who is not used to a mixed and just slightly seedier neighborhood. Plenty of fun locals markets and restaurants.

We’ve stayed at Rue Cler a few times before, as my wife attended culinary classes in nearby Le Cordon Bleu, and we like it because of the markets and it has more of the locals feel and ambiance. Other than being very near The Eifel Tower, the area of Rue Cler is a bit of a distance to anywhere touristy in Paris.

It really depends on what you want to do and how far away you are willing to get to places that you may want to visit.

Craig,

Like Neal (and we’ve both commented on this before in a different thread), I’ve stayed on the Ile Ste Louis (4th), and I’d look to do it again before looking elsewhere. The Pont Marie and Sully Morland metro stations are just across the river on the right bank. You are close to everything, yet the ISL is quiet at night. If you stay on Ile de la Cite, the Cite metro station is on the island.

The markets your wife would like are mostly in the 6th.

I used Paris Sejour Reservations in Chicago.

My wife and I just returned from 10days in Paris and stayed in a nicely appointed 1BR on Rue Bonaparte. 4th floor, building had a small lift which is nice for luggage and, as Mark notes, good access to the Metro as well as plenty of restaurants, boulangeries, markets, etc.

Thanks guys. Do you have any must avoids? Do the courtyard facing appartments generally mean you’ll want to keep the drapes pulled for privacy?

Does anyone have any other sites I should visit for apartment rentals?

We stayed on Ile St Louis for a week in 2011 and found it to be an charming & excellent home base for our first visit to Paris. It was a huge 2 bedroom , 2 bath apartment on the Seine , 3rd floor with a two person elevator.
Many great memories , especially after a week in Bordeaux with private tours & tastings at Latour, Lafite ,Cheval Blanc, Smith Haut Lafitte (where we also stayed & dined with the Cathiards) .

Sounds a lot nicer than where we stayed!

I’ll be a contrarian and say I love staying in the less touristy areas near the center of the city, though I did have a great apartment once near Odeon (almost above Le Comptoir!). Nowadays, if I’m in Paris, I want to live like a Parisian, so I stay in the 9th or 17th, and sometimes at the outer edges of the 5th or 6th. They’re more residential areas, with good street markets (Rue Mouffetard and Rue Poncelet, for example). Also, you tend to get more for your money the farther out from the center you get.

Between the Metro and good walking shoes, it’s easy to get anywhere in Paris.

We stayed here in the 2nd:

Quite spacious (600 square feet), lovely apartment, very quiet, and close to both the Opera Metro station and the bus from CdG airport. The only downsides were

a) neighborhood lacks charm (though the courtyard this was attached to was nice)
b) not a short walk anywhere other than Galleries Lafayette, but it’s within walking distance of many places and the metro is very efficient
c) the bathtub/shower had ridiculously high sides that made it difficult to climb in/out

Here is where we stayed.

Looks like a lovely apartment. And what a spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower!

I’ve stayed at the Relais Saint-Germain. Nice neighborhood. An old Paris hand like you can afford to stay out of the tourist areaas, because you don’t want to do anything touristy. I’ve stayed in the 16th for business (some pretty nice apartments) and in both the 9th and 10th, which I think may be a little far afield for folks that don’t spend a lot of time in the city, even with the metro.