Our apartment in Paris

Grocery stores. Just google

grocery store near metro Pigalle Paris.

The same with restaurants.

Input the address of your apartment in Google maps. When the map comes up pinpointing your appointment, on the left side of page you'll see a "bullseye" with the word NEARBY under it. Click that and choose "restaurants" or enter the word "groceries" or "points of interest" or whatever else you come up with. Easy-peasy.

I just was checking on Google Maps Street view and its near Boulevard de Clichy. The area seems to be a center for “adult entertainment.” Be careful!

With 3 teenagers, I would advise against the HOHO buses for 2 days. They will be bored put of their minds. The HOHO buses are not good for transportation between sights because they are slow and get stuck in traffic, or even get rerouted. You can also waste a lot of time waiting for the next bus. For an orientation that the teens would probably enjoy, consider a 2 hour narrated bus tour with a company like Foxity.

The public transportation system is easy to navigate. Your teens will have it figured out after one or two trips. Tickets will be MUCH less expensive than HOHO tickets for 4. A "carnet"of 10 tickets costs less than €14 and can be shared. Two carnets will be enough to get you started. Ask for the Plan Deux map at a Metro station. It has the Metro on one side and public buses on the other. If the kids will have a smartphone, have them download the Citymappers app.

If you have not already done so, give your teens a good guide book so they can help plan your visit. Rick Steves' Paris Guide is a good one for a short first timers trip. It has detailed information about using public transportation, as well as as a wealth of other info.

Good luck and have fun making wonderful memories with your grandchildren.

There is a large Monoprix grocery store on the Blvd de Clichy, despite nearby night life. There are also plenty of apartments in the area and people have to eat. You are not too far from rue des Martyrs, a foodie haven.

I’d recommend just one, full circuit, tour on the HOHO bus (don’t get off). My teenage son loved it, we’ve done many all over Europe and even here in SF b/c we both like them so much. Sitting up top, at the back is very enjoyable.
I agree it’s not good for transportation, and only enjoyable for a one-time, full circuit tour.
The mêtro is easy. My 11 yo figured it out, with no help, in minutes his first time there.
The busses are super easy too if you use Google Maps.
The mêtro and busses are the best way to get around imo.

There is a Flunch quite nearby which will fill teenagers and adults alike with tasty reasonably priced fun food.

1-3 Rue CAULAINCOURT, right where Boulevard de Clichy turns. It is behind another shop, if my memory is correct up a set of escalators. They open for "breakfast" at 9, seven days a week. At lunch or dinner you might try the Tennessee Rosti Burger - the like of which you will never have seen in Tennessee. Pretty good though, and all the veggies you can eat.

http://restaurant.flunch.fr/paris/flunch-paris-caulaincourt/?store=18&origin=48.8850462,2.3297426

There are real buses - very easy to work out, and cheap and fast from Pigalle into the centre of Paris. Because of the straight route I have found that they are faster to my Flunch than the Métro often. After the first couple of hours on the HoHo you will agree that the HoHo is pretty awful for transportation.

As far as the figuring out the transportation, I think you have nearly a year? is that right ? before your trip. Plenty of time to give the teens some homework, and study yourself, a few maps and Youtubes, and Rick's book, and others.

There are two apps good for Paris transportation and Citymapper for both walking and transportation. Are the kids good with phones?

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with that part of Paris. With that said, it is not an area where I would rent if I wanted to be in the thick of things, or if i wanted to enjoy a pleasant Parisian neighborhood. As is stated above, you are in an area that is sketchy at night with all the attendant adult oriented business. It is not unsafe, but it feels rather seedy in places. One of the disadvantages is that it is a bit away from most of the traditional sights in Paris.

If you have time to review your plans, consider other areas closer to the central Parisian core, in Arrondissements 1-8, where you can walk from museums to cafes to churches to restaurants. I actually prefer the 10th, but that is because I like the energy of the place.

Learning the metro system, and the bus system, is an easy process, especially with teens helping you around.

I'd rethink wasting two days on the slow slow slow meandering HOHO bus; it sucks up time and you have so little. I'd have each teen plan one half day and use the metro.

One of the glories of an apartment is you don't need to waste time money etc on breakfast. Cafe breakfasts are basically croissants and coffee or hot chocolate and maybe juice. And not that much of any of it. There are bakeries all over Paris with fabulous breakfast breads as well as baguettes. My husband and I actually prefer the great French butter and baguettes for breakfast but there will be croissants, pain chocolate, raisin snails, choquettes and a dozen other delectable goodies many of them with chocolate in any bakery. We always buy one fancy pastry to share for dinner when we get the breakfast bread. For the cost of two cafe breakfasts you can have coffee, yogurt, hot chocolate, juice and a feast of amazing breakfast breads and as many as the teens want to gobble up. And it is fun to go buy the bread while someone is making the coffee. The morning bread run is the highlight of my trips to Paris. Even if you plan to eat major meals out, breakfast is just better at the apartment and certainly cheaper, but better is the key. Take a different teen to the bakery each morning to choose the feast

This is not an area well equipped with super markets but there will be small greengrocers which often carry milk and juice and wine and such and there will be smaller shops. You may have to seek out a larger store to stock the apartment.

Sounds like a great trip. My oldest grandchild is 8 and I am looking forward to taking her to Paris in a year or two and can hardly wait.

What a wonderful gift to your grandchildren. They will remember this trip forever!

A few blocks north of the apartment is Rue des Abbesses with great bakeries and a variety of restaurants and cafes, some open for breakfast. There is also a local bus you can take from there that goes all through Montmartre.

But, as others have mentioned, just so you are not surprised by the apartment’s immediate neighborhood of strip clubs, sex shops, and bars, use Google street view to take a tour of the adjacent streets in advance.

I learned during this year’s visit that Monoprix (small grocer) will deliver orders over €50 free of charge to your apartment. I usually rent an apartment for a few weeks and while I love and frequent markets where possible, do plan to use this service at least for my first “stock up” order. You advise time frame for delivery and they apparently match it quite closely. So a bit off topic but may be helpful to poster esp. as four in their party.

Don't waste your time on a HoHo bus. For that matter, given you have 3 teens accompanying you, I wouldn't even bother with the metro or city buses either. Just sign up before you leave for an Uber account, use the Uber XL for a group up to 6 and take those when you need to move everyone from place to place and it's not within a comfortable walking distance.

While the Metro and public bus system are super easy to figure out, it's really not the handiest way to get around for a big group. And some Metro stations are very large so you'll find yourself doing a good deal of walking underground to catch a connecting line and going up and down lots of stairs (escalators are not really common or can be out of service), so when you are tired from walking all over sightseeing it can be nice to just have door-to-door service from an Uber and there's so many of them around. We used them quite a bit on our last trip and never waited more than 3 minutes for one to show up.

Google Maps will definitely help you pinpoint everything that is close to your apartment by punching in the address, and you can also use Street View to see what's immediately near you. Also, plenty of websites created by foodies if you are specifically looking for restaurant suggestions for your particular arrondissement.

Despite the warnings and comments, I wouldn't get too nervous about staying near Pigalle. Yes, there are adult entertainment venues in the area, but the bouncers standing outside will not be bothering a grandmother and her 3 teen grandchildren trying to get you to come inside to see a show or visit a brothel. You may pass by some stores displaying naughty lingerie, sex toys and goofy bachelor/bachelorette party joke gifts in the windows. Sure, it's not The Disney Store you are walking past, but it's just really not a big deal - and if you are really concerned about seeing anything like that, then it's one more reason why it would be a good idea to catch an Uber XL after dark to get door to door service rather than walk to/from the Metro.

It may be a bit "seedy" but it is not dangerous, especially for a family group which includes a grandmother and 3 grandchildren. Lots of families live in the area.

Like everyone said...the area is very "adult" oriented and a lot of it is out in the open. We spent time there when my son was about 10 and I had to keep directing his attention to the interestingly shaped leaves on the ground, funny shaped clouds, birds in the trees, etc. Your teens might get more of an education than you bargained for especially at night. Not dangerous but with a strong R/ NC-17 rating.
The HOHO buses are not an efficient way of getting around. They are slow and I think your teens would be quite bored. The metro is quite easy. Download the app Paris Metro Map (the RATP version) and it will make getting around the city incredibly easy! I look at where i want to go on google maps, find the nearest metro station to me, then find the nearest metro station to where I want to go (they are clearly marked on google maps), enter both into the Route Planner feature of the app, and I'm off! Once you get the hang of it you'll be getting around like a Parisian.