I just returned from a week in Paris, travelling by Eurostar from London and staying in a rented apartment in Montmartre. If you're thinking of going to Paris in the near future, I'd be happy to help as much as I can with any questions you might have.
I also have 5 posts about Paris on my blog, with photos, if you'd like a look it's at www.maggiesmagicpantry.blogspot.com
I'm posting today for D-Day, the Paris posts are the next 5. There's also one about Amsterdam, a bit further back.
Sarah - The batobus is a great way to get around from site to site, but not the best way to see the river at night. It stops running before it is completely dark so you don't get to see everything lit up. They have other river cruises. The one we took departs by the Eiffel Tower. I would skip a dinner cruise...too expensive!
My family will be in the Paris area for 12 days in late July/early August. What were your favorite places (neighborhoods or attractions) and if you have any great restaurant or cafe suggestions (reasonably inexpensive, nothing fancy - we are travelling with two children, age 7 & 11). We'd love to hear what you enjoyed most!
I enjoyed the Batobus, hop-on-hop-off boat on the Seine. It stops at 6 or 8 major places including the Eiffel Tower and D'Orsay. The boats run on a schedule and are easy to include in your tour plans. The kids will probably enjoy traveling by boat. With the Passe Navigo for the Metro, you get discounts on Batobus.
Hi, I will be in Paris in late June and early July. We want to take a boatride along the Seine at night. What would you recommend?
I noticed your post to the family above, should I use that same service?
We hope to buy our tickets once we arrive--but do you think we should purcahse ahead?
Hi Kerry,
It's hard to say what we enjoyed the most- it seemed like every day was great!
We were staying in Montmartre, and I loved the area around Les Abessess, but that was because there were lots of little shops and cafes; and also some great music in the square by the Metro entrance.
We are an older couple, so I don't really know what to suggest for a younger family- I think the suggestions made here about the boat trip sounds very good.
As for food- we liked the sandwiches from the Paul's outlets. But there's good food everywhere (as my waistband can prove).
I hope you have a wonderful trip.
Best wishes, Maggie.
My husband and I will be heading out to Paris for a week this fall. What do you think is the best way to find a good apartment? A lot of great ones seem to be booked already.
Sandy
I've rented 3 apartments through VRBO and there has always been a local contact person (if not the owner) to let me in and help out if there's a problem. I don't think I would rent a place if this was not available.
Hi Sandy,
We found the apartment we rented through VRBO.com. We were very happy with it, except with hindsight, we'd have taken somewhere not so elevated. We were right round the corner from Sacre Couer, so a long climb to get home in the evening (there is a lift, but my husband wouldn't use it).
The other thing is, I think I'd rather have an apartment with someone in charge nearby. The owners of the place we rented live in Ireland. So if something had gone wrong in the apartment (the shower drain had started to back up) there were instructions on where to find a plumber, but who wants all that on vacation? And we don't speak French.
Plus, if you manage to get locked out, you're in trouble!
But that's just me.
There are some other agencies I've seen recommended on here, one of them is Homeaway.com.
We really enjoyed staying in an apartment and would definitely do it again.
Best wishes, Maggie.
Glad to know someone else thinks the same BG.
We rented our apartment in Paris through VRBO. The owner lives here, but there was a local contact person who met us at the apartment and walked us through everything. She gave us her phone number in case we had any questions or problems.
I have rented from Isabelle who lives in Paris and is very helpful her website is: apartment-in-france.com/ also from": vacationinparis.com/ who have offices in the us and really good. Most times you have the keys before you leave.
I rented my last apartment with paris-interiors.com and was one block from notre dame. Excellent location but was on the 4th floor, so not good if you hate stairs.
Yes, a lot of the older apartment buildings in Paris lack elevators. We were 2 floors up, which was OK on it's own, but the building was right round the corner from Sacre Couer, so every evening, to get home, we had a hill to climb first. Mind you, we were much fitter when the week was up!
We just got back from Paris. We rented our apt using Homelidays.com. We either use Homelidays or VRBO to rent apts in Europe, and have always had good luck.
A local contact is a "must" when you rent an apt. We had some hot water problems with our Paris apt. and we had quick resolution using the local contact.
We also make sure that there are several good reviews from US customers....the Europeans are a lot more forgiving of minor problems than we picky Gringos.
We are in the planning stage of a two week trip and have found the perfect apartment through HomeAway. It is in the 4th Arrondissement Pompidou Le Marais. Are the accomidations through HomeAway as shown in their photos accurate? And is this a good location to become a resident, not a tourist?
Dennis, we only got over that way one day, to visit Notre Dame, but the 4th looks good from what I saw and what I've read. I had a look at some comments on the VRBO site and they were all favourable.
Maybe you could post this as a question? You'd get more reponses, I think, from people who know more than me!
The 4th is a great area!
Hello Maggie,
We are planning on renting an apartment in Paris very soon. We'll rent either through vrbo or rentmyhomeinparis. Do you have any advice for me? Some of the rentals require money to be wired to a bank, this vs. credit card or paypal account... Any thoughts? Thank you!
Hi Celeste,
We paid through Paypal, which was one option offered to us by the people we were renting from.
In future I will only rent if there is someone close at hand to solve any problems with the property. We were lucky, nothing went wrong and we didn't get locked out, but if anything had happened, our 'landlord' was in Ireland, so not much help! Some of the other folk here have agreed.
I think I would also check how many floors up the property was (but then you are probably younger than me and don't care!).
Hope you have a great time.
We found a studio/apartment to rent a couple of blocks from the Eiffel Tower in the le cur (spelling?) area. We are staying there for 6 days/nights for under $500.00. I found it on CraigsList.
