Looking to stay just outside of Paris for 3 months next year--hard finding a place 'in' Paris for that long for a decent price. Trying to figure out which neighborhoods to target. Aiming for a safe, trendy, cute area with lots of shops, cafes, and grocery stores. Doesn't have to be 'family' friendly, just fun and cool. Nothing that's rough around the edges or 'in transition.' I won't have a car, so public transit must be plentiful and walkability high.
Thanks in advance for your ideas!
I don't know Paris at all, so I have no location suggestion for you. However, you need to be extremely careful about your timing, assuming you'll be traveling on a non-EU passport. Folks from the US and Canada are allowed to stay only 90 days within any 180-day period in the group of countries constituting the Schengen area. France is one of those countries. Both your arrival day and your departure day count. Three months is likely to be a day or two too long.
Overstaying the Schengen limit can result in a substantial fine and being banned from returning to any of the Schengen countries for years. It would be prudent to give yourself a little slack, planning for only 86 or 87 days, so it's not a disaster if your departure is delayed by something like an airline strike.
Yup, I'm aware of the stay timing details...thanks! :)
Les Fontenelles should have places that are freshly cleaned and painted but maybe it's farther out than ;you have in mind.
That is 5+ hours outside of Paris
hey hey Jill
what does "decent price", "in transition", and nothing rough around edges mean?
prices have gone up everywhere around the world, making up for loss during pandemic, inflation.
took me about 3-4 months couple years ago to find one bedroom apt, ended up in the 14th and was not that happy. after paying for transportation, would have rather stayed nearer in the 4th to 6th arr.
many apartment rentals had a crackdown couple years ago, local residents having hard time to find places to rent, like everywhere in the world. may be too early for whatever you dates are. who knows if things change by the end of year or next year.
many travelers that were pented up are on the go all year long. doesn't seem to be off season anymore.
good luck, be patient and when you find something book it.
aloha
Looking for something outside of Paris altogether. Just need neighborhood info and I will look at pricing from there.
Paris is huge. it would depend on what part of Paris you want to get to in 10-15 minutes. It takes like 30 minutes to get from Notre Dame to the Eiffel Tower by public transit. Are you saying you want to be within 10-15 of one of the major Paris rail stations?
You might take a look at an RER map and look for places near the stations.
https://www.ratp.fr/en/plan-rer
https://parisbytrain.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/paris-rer-map-2014.pdf
Thanks Mary! Not looking for 10 to 15 minutes to any specific part of Paris, just trying to look at neighborhoods all around the perimeter of the city. Once I'm in the city, no biggie on how long it would take to get from point A to point B.
I will be working remotely from home, so I'm not looking to commute into an office or anything. I would just be going to the city for fun.
St Germain-en-Laye is a charming, wonderful town about 20 ish min outside Paris by RER. It has a famous chateau, lots of shops, cafés, restaurants, outdoor market, the chateau of Alexandre Dumas (The Three Musketeers author) and it’s beautiful grounds. Very nice, very safe town.
Le Marais (3 and 4th arrondissement) is the most trendy within Paris. Outside Paris I don’t know any trendy places (if they exist at all). We stayed in Sannois one time for a couple of days (very lovely house in the garden behind the owner’s house. The house was across the station. Sannois is connected with Paris through line J) and in Orsay ( just overnight). And both places felt safe but weren’t special.
I like St Germain-En-Lay (mentioned above). You can also look at the area near the western terminus of Metro Line 10 (Boulogne Pont de Saint-Cloud). It's safe and cute with shops, cafes and groceries. I would not call it cool but my definition of cool might be different from yours. Have you looked at the town of Orsay? It is a university town with decent pubs/bars for nightlife and is on the RER B line. Also, take a look at Nogents-sur-Marne, which is a charming commuter town on the Marne. These are all nice places to stay meeting
your list of must haves except for trendy. The areas on the outskirts of Paris that I think of trendy are in transition.
You could look at Argenteuil. I don't really know much about it except for it's association with the Impressionists of the late 19th early 20th c. Looks to be <20 mins by train from Paris central.
Annabel Simms has written 2 books that might give you some ideas. One is ‘An Hour From Paris’ and the other is ‘Half An Hour From Paris’. They are geared toward taking a day trip from central Paris but she offers excellent descriptions that may be of use for your research. She has a website as well.
Bourg la Reine, Sceaux are lovely leafy suburbs. You can look further down that RER line, too. Closer in you have the La Place and Arcueil Cachan stops, less leafy but with some good streets. All the burbs have shopping streets, some more uppercrust than others.
When is this trip?
@Badger No specific timing as of yet
Thank you to those who provided neighborhood ideas, very helpful! And good idea to check the RER line stops.
I would avoid anything to the north. From Nanterre to Bagnolet.
Outside of Paris the suburbs don't have a lot of nightlife. People go home there. They live there. They go to the marché. They cook. You won't see tourists there. Only locals.
Look at the south. From Boulogne to Montrouge.
You won’t see tourists in St Germain-en-Laye (northwest of Paris) yet it’s full of life with locals everywhere. But it’s a thriving town, not a suburb.
I know St Germain. I like it but it's 1h from Paris on the RER. I will be visiting my uncle in Sartrouville and my cousin in Houilles in September. I was raised in Colombes et used to ride my bike to the St Germain forest. I totally agree that it's beautiful there.
Google Maps right now says 23 min from the Arc de Triomphe to St Germain-en-Laye and that’s what it’s always been for me.
I go there often. I grew up in St Germain-en-Laye, it’s my hometown.
I've done some vaguely similar searches and my impression is that anywhere nice within a reasonable commute is not much cheaper than Paris proper. What you might get is more space for the same money.
Personally I would look at Antony/Fontenay-aux-Roses/Bourg-la-Reine/Sceaux area. Not sure it counts as trendy, but a very liveable middle-class area. And the Parc de Sceaux is lovely.
Vincennes is just east of Paris and looked like a nice area when I visited there briefly some years ago. Two Metro stations and an RER station would make it easy to get in and out of the big city. Next to it is the Bois de Vincennes, one of Paris' great forested parks. You can learn more about it here and here.
“anywhere nice within a reasonable commute is not much cheaper than Paris proper.”
Very true.
Sceaux is very nice. Not quite as lively as St Germain-en-Lay (lively in a fun way), but very nice. And the park and Chateau de Sceaux are fabulous.
Argenteuil was mentioned: it's definitely a 'no', not 100% safe in places.
St Germain en Laye is a very good call. Sceaux is less convenient (the RER to Paris is a slog). Vincennes is great but won't be much cheaper than Paris. Levallois, Neuilly, Puteaux (near the train station), Issy, Vanves, Montrouge are fine almost everywhere. Nogent could work well too if you are close to the RER A stop, and Maisons-Laffitte as well if close to the RER.
Merci balso.
What Susan said! 😊
balso, What do you think of Montreuil?
I lived there for a year in the mid-70s, haven’t been there since but i’ve heard it’s nice.
The OP specifically wants to avoid neighborhoods that are "in transition", and Montreuil, while gentrified in many parts (mainly around Robespierre metro), is still rough around the edges, and parts of it are rough full stop. That's why I didn't mention Montreuil.
balso, thanks for your info… it was really for me, i was just curious.
Versailles is more than just the Palace. Take a look there. Please let us know what your final destination is and why you chose it.
Enjoy.
Someone just reminded me about the Olympics being in Paris in July and August next year. Definitely avoiding those dates and surrounding dates! Will aim for the fall.
we also enjoyed Saint Germain en Laye, But if you stay there, you might be careful to stay somewhere near the RER station, to lessen the time it takes to get to Paris. I have never stayed in Versailles (the town) but did visit some French friends there some years back and found it to be charming. Again, you might want to find a place near the RER station. Peter
Vincennes was my first thought too. It is basically a Paris neighborhood, but also a bit of its own village. Love the castle there, nice weekly markets, good restaurants, etc.
If you are willing to expand your radius a bit, what about Chartes? About an hour into Paris but a "world away," as they say.
Another tool that might be useful is this one, which shows all the direct train routes to a particular city, or in Paris' case, each individual train station. It shows you the timing of the direct trains, so you can start looking at neighborhoods/villages at the 15-, 20-, 25-minute mark, etc.
