Rue Cler Neighborhood vs. Marais

My husband and I spent a week in Paris earlier this month and stayed in the Marais. We loved it! It's on metro line #1 (St. Paul stop) but two stops away is Chatelet where you can connect to many different lines. Once we got the hang of it we found the metro to be very user friendly. We walked down Rue Cler but I did not spend much time here so I can't comment on it. I felt like the Marais was a very "real" place to be. There was plenty of foot traffic and we had bakery, grocery, and dining options all nearby. I would definitely stay in the Marais again. I hope this helps! Let me know if you need a recommendation on a place to stay, we loved the apartment that we rented.

Hello Cary,
We have been to Paris twice recently. If you would like to be able to walk to most locations instead of being dependent on always using transportation, IMHO the most central neighborhood is the Latin Quarter.......If you prefer the two neighborhoods you listed, we found the Marais to be busier and crowded, by comparison the Rue Cler area felt quieter and wealthier. (Of course these are just our impressions, others may disagree.) .......You might consider dividing your time between the two. It's not that difficult to change hotels. When we did that last time in Paris, it took us about two hours total. It was interesting to have a new "home base" for evening walks and restaurants.

Either will work out well. You can think about where you will be wanting to spend your time without having to hop on the metro every time you want to do something. For a week trip you'll be hitting all the "big" sites so you'll be well practiced on riding the metro and the buses. Some of the big central metro stations have so many lines coming together that transferring takes a long time to do and only after a long walk. Rue Cler is nice because it's easy walking distance to the Eiffel Tower, the Army Museum and Rodin Museum. It's an easy bus ride (82 or 87 - I think) to the Cluny and that's pretty close to Notre Dame. Bus 69 shoots you right into the Marais and Louvre. The neighborhood is pretty quiet in the evening with the Rue Cler being a pedestrian street. Marais seems more "busy" and noisy. More of the nightlife is there. Depending on where you are staying, you may be close to the Louvre or Notre Dame but not both. It's obvious I'm recommending Rue Cler but there are definite boosters of Marais.

Hi Cary, Both neighborhoods are OK. It is mostly a question of preference. And neither of them is the "downtown" (commercial) type. Paris is not that big... it is like a good book ... every page/block has an interesting item. My wife and I go often to Paris and we mostly stay in the rue Cler area: Quiet, classy, good food... All métro stations in Paris are within easy walking distance (about 5 minutes) of any place. And the métro in Paris is the easiest to navigate. If you have an IPad, or an IPhone, download Métro Paris (free). You use it offline. It is in English. Easy to use. 1) You find out where you want to go by checking the address from a travel book, and the train station from a métro map; and any additional distance during the day; and from which station you will be coming back to your hotel; 2 )It allows you to program every destination, round trip. 3) It shows you, as you board the train at your nearest (home station) which station will be next until it is time for you to exit;
4) If you find yourself in unscheduled territory, you may plan a new route in minutes. Just find the nearest métro station. Can't miss. I hope this helps. jean-frantz

We prefer the Latin Quarter and find the location to be fairly central to many sites-walkable to ND, etc. There are some great restaurants in the ET area though. Love the Marais for exploring but we do like to sleep quiet and our Latin Quarter hotel is very quiet and comfortable. You may want to look at an apt if you will be in paris for a week.

I've spent a good portion of my life in Paris and I prefer Ile Saint Louis (the little island east of Notre Dame - 4th arrondissement) the Latin Quarter (5th arrondissement), and the Marais (3rd & 4th arrondissement), in that order. I'm not a fan of rue Cler but lots of people like it and there is nothing wrong with it. It's far from the center, where I like to be, boring and not near the river. My favorite areas are surrounded by or close to the river and Notre Dame. The Marais is old and very charming, and Ile Saint Louis is like a little village surrounded by the river Seine - beautiful and charming - in the heart of Paris.

Cary, I tend to prefer the Rue Cler area, as it's so convenient to many of the main sights (as mentioned in an earlier reply). There are lots of nice Hotels and restaurants there, both on Rue Cler and in the surrounding area. Just about anywhere in Paris is convenient for access to the excellent Metro or RER system, and the Ecole Militaire station is only a short walk from Rue Cler. I've never stayed in the Marais area, but have certainly been through there numerous times. I'd suggest checking the Guidebook for a description of the "character" of each area to see which one appeals to you the most. Happy travels!

I prefer almost any other area then the Rue Cler area,.
The Marais and the Latin Quarter have more interesting cafes and areas to enjoy( rue Cler is ONE street, lined with cafes and markets) whereas areas as the 4th 5th and 6th have many nice cafes etc . So to answer your question, to me, I would absolutely choose the Marais( or the 5th or 6th). The 7th that the Rue Cler is in is more residental, so dead at night, and the transportation hubs are more in the 4, 5th, the RER from the airport runs right in there.

I have stayed in both areas, and oddly only those two areas, several times each. Hands down, Marais. The food: markets, restaurants, cafes, are at the top of any list the 7th is on. As far as navigating the sights, both seem to be equal to me as I use the Metro everywhere. You can also walk to a list of attractions from each. I was a block from the Eiffel last year and it was neat to have it as my back yard, but as pat says, it is a dead neighborhood after dark. Marais is an area that seems to have longer hours and more to do after you check off the list of tourist sites. Since this is your 1st trip, you will have a great time at either location. I just would be prepared to not be enamored by Rue Cler and you might see what the earlier 'pioneers' saw in it. My 3rd favorite place in the world. Enjoy!

We go to Europe every summer and when visiting Paris we always stay in the Rue Cler neighborhood. There is nothing there that would cause us to go elsewhere. I hope you have the current edition of RS Paris Guide Book. You should love Paris as most folks here have. Happy travels.

Thank you everyone for the replies. Mixed reviews, as I expected. The Ile St. Louis is too expensive for us, but we will expand our search to include some of the Latin Quarter. We aren't really nightlife people, so the fact that the Rue Cler area is more dead at night is actually kind of appealing. One of my worst (it's all relative) memories of Europe was our hostel in Bern when it was 100 degrees, no AC (so window had to be open), and there were people in the street until 3 o'clock in the morning yelling and screaming obscenities. Not necessarily likely in any of these neighborhoods, and the weather will certainly be nicer, but my point is that personally, I'd rather travel to the nightlife and have it quiet where I'm trying to sleep. :-) Within these areas are there any glowing reviews or "absolutely nots" that people care to report on? Thanks again!

The Marais is pretty quiet at night. The advantage is that after sightseeing until 8 or 9 pm, you can still get a meal or a drink across the street from your hotel. The Latin Quarter is similar. From my experience, the Latin quarter is frequented more by students, many (most?) of them foreigners. The Marais is more yuppie and more residential. The Marais and the Latin Quarter are walking distance from each other, with Notre Dame in between. Rue Cler is more remote.

I agree that Ile St Louis is an ideal location but WAY too expensive for our budget. Hotel Lutece looks great and the apartments there ( checked out several) but are too pricey. We are, however, considering the hotel within the hospital near ND. It is very quiet-affordable too.

Cary, one of the things I don't see mentioned in the earlier posts is Rue Cler's street market where wealthier Parisians shop. You can shop for breakfast or find cafes not far from the business/gov't hub and I get unusual souvenirs at the Assemblie Nationale gift shop. You'd be close to the Rodin Museum, too. As for night life, evening strolls by the Eiffel Tower, Les Invalides, Alex. III bridge are easy and just lovely and you can always Metro or cab other places for dinner. Bonne vacance!

Stayed in the Marais on my wife's insistence over RS's advice on choosing Rue Cler. We enjoyed the area but after visiting Rue Cler she wished we stayed there. I know it is over run with Americans who have read RS but that didn't matter to me. The Marais is busy during the day and people party all night on the weekends. There were lines out the door at Starbucks and people spilling out of the bars at night. None of that really bothered us but the Rue Cler was much more residential feeling.

Our last trip to Paris we stayed in both Rue Cler and the Marais with a trip to Reims in the middle. Both are great, I agree with the comments regarding which sites are you going to see and which is closer to your potential hotel. If you were staying in warmer weather, Rue Cler would be a no-brainer with its markets that are great for shopping for picnic food. If I had to pick one location, I would choose Rue Cler.