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Paris Apt Arrondissement 6 or 5?

Hi Everyone and thanks in advance for your advice.

We are a couple in our early 30s, first timers to Paris. We enjoy slow travel & are major foodies. We would like to stay in an area of Paris that is convenient and slightly quiet, but also accessible to nightlife.

We have narrowed our search to an apt on VRBO. The location is in the "6th, Corner of Blvd Saint Germain and Rue Du Seine, steps away from the famous cafes like Les Deux Magots and Brasserie Lipp."

Does anyone know this area and if it is a good area to stay for a week?

Thank you so much for your input!

Posted by
9110 posts

That's absolutely the best of the best. It's been my favorite area since way longer than you've been alive. Take it!

Posted by
5 posts

Thanks Ed! Can you tell me just a bit about why it's your favorite area? Any cons? Thank you!!

Posted by
4555 posts

I love the area! Close to everything, some great restaurants on Saint Germain and up into the Latin Quarter, but avoids the worst of trhe crowds along the Seine.

Posted by
2778 posts

It's a great area! Very convenient; you can walk to so many of the best sites in Paris, and you're near an excellent market area. I'm not in to night life, so I can't tell you about that. I don't know that it will be quiet, though. We stayed in an apartment in a little side street right by there and my husband could hear people on the streets at night (not loud and obnoxious; just talking). I slept and never heard a thing.

Posted by
875 posts

We really like the 6th because of easy access to good cafes/bistros/restaurants and major sites that we are interested in. This will be our 2nd time to stay in different apts on Rue St. Andre des Arts, just off Blvd. St. Michel and only a block off Seine -- close to the metro, St. Chapelle, Notre Dame, the Louvre, etc.

Posted by
10605 posts

Josie - Like everyone else has said, it is a great area. I don't think you will be sorry staying there.

Posted by
9110 posts

Fifty years and hundreds of trips; stayed all over town, always keep going back to that area. No cons at all. Also, one kid lived within a few blocks for a year while she was in school -- she also thinks it's the best.

Posted by
88 posts

Yes! Don't miss the Musee de Moyen Age (Museum of the Middle Ages) and Caveau de la Huchette, an excellent jazz nightclub a block back from the Seine just off rue St Jacques.

Posted by
6 posts

What site did you use to find your apartment? That is a great idea! -Jamie

Posted by
5 posts

Merci Beaucoup everyone! Such helpful comments.

We ended up losing the apartment we wanted :-(
but are now intent on staying in that area based on all the glowing reviews. Crossed fingers for a good deal and location in Arrondissement 6!

Jamie - we are using VRBO.com

Posted by
5 posts

Hi everyone, just wanted to pop in again and ask you guys what you think of Arrondissement 5. Most of the apartments we are looking at now are "Near Rue Mouffetard"

The apartments in Arrondissement 5 are cheaper and more available then those in 6.

Is this still a good location - or do you think it will be too touristy to stay there?

Still hunting,
Josie

Posted by
64 posts

I stay in that area every summer, it is great in my opinion. Just be sure when checking apartment rentals, many do not have a lift (elevator). If the price appears to good to be true, it generally is a walk-up. Have fun

Posted by
250 posts

Hi Josie - we just got back from a week in that area and loved it! Lots to do, lots to eat, lots of great shopping & nosing around. Rented an apartment by St. Sulpice on a quiet street thru rentparis.com. Off-season rate with a minimum 1-week stay was 75 euro/nite. Great streets to wander: rue du Buci and rue St. Andre des Arts - one feeds into the other.

Posted by
10605 posts

We rented a one bedroom apartment in the 5th. I found it on vrbo.com and we loved the apartment and location. I highly recommend renting an apartment.

Posted by
1266 posts

Josie - I haven't used VRBO.COM, but did use vacationinparis.com. Their rates are comparable, and they are based in the US.

Posted by
875 posts

Another rental site that has a good supply of apts is holiday-rentals.co.uk
You can check them by arrondissement.

Posted by
9110 posts

You realize, of course, that the difference between five and six is one side or the other of Blvd St Michel? My initial comment apply equally to the new area -- they're both great.

As an aside on the use of 'arrondissements':

They're simply municipal adminstrative districts and have little bearing on anything else. Nobody, except for folks who have only been to Paris a couple of times (this includes guidebook writers who, I strongly suspect, have only ....), uses them for anything else. Folks that live there know which one they live in since it's part of their postal code -- but probably couldn't place more than five or six others on a blank map.

Paris is a bunch of villages that have grown together, so people will tell you thay live in Montmartre, Montparnasse, or Montreuil.

Directions are generally given in terms of a metro station; e.g., Rue Vignon, four blocks northeast of Madeleine.

Sometimes directions may also be given in terms of a prominent landmark, e.g., Notre Dame. Confusion can ensue since there's a metro stop named Notre Dame des Champs (they're a mile and a half apart).

Thus endeth today's lesson on the political geography of Paris. :)

Posted by
5 posts

You guys are terrific!

And I love the little extra geography lesson ;-)

Using www.homelidays.co.uk to look for a place now and finding the properties cheaper then VRBO. Sent off 8 requests and waiting for a response....

Thanks for all the tips everyone! Can't wait to book something so I can stop worrying about it!

Josie