Looking for the best place to stay in Paris
Finding the best place to stay in Paris could include apartments to rent
Hi Rob,
Hi Teena, I will be staying in Paris in late June for 11 days with my wife and two late-teen daughters. We need accommodation and think an apartment would be best for that length of stay. We wish to do the usual central Paris highlights (Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Louvre, tour of the Seine etc). Can you recommend whether an apartment is the way to go and which part of Paris would be best for our stay to get a first sample of Paris life; markets, shops, events etc. Any particular things to look for in regard to accommodation amenities would be appreciated. Thank you.
Rob
You’ll be in Paris at the same time as me, a lovely time of year :-)
Yes an apartment will be a wonderful solution, rather than a hotel. There are many apartment rental websites for Paris, and a few questions to ask and to look out for might be:
- Is it easy to get in contact with someone after you arrive, in case you need help with anything in the apartment (water doesn’t work, etc etc etc). Make sure you get a local contact number … just in case.
- Make sure that when you are given the key you do a quick inspection WITH the person handing over the key; if there are any obvious things you need to mention (like cleanliness) this would be the best time to bring it up, so there are no surprises later when you try to get your Deposit back.
- Which floor is the apartment on? if it’s not the ground floor, is there a lift or elevator? French buildings are centuries old, and so many older apartments do NOT have lifts. Check to make sure before you pay any money, as this could definitely be a deal breaker. Nothing worse than having to walk up and down 5 or 6 flights of stairs several times a day. French translation of lift/elevator is “ascenseur”, and stairs is “escalier”.
- Many apartments have very small kitchenettes and bar fridges rather than full-size fridges; with a family of four you might need to look for a full-size fridge and better cooking facilities.
- Will you want wifi? Many apartments will have it for free, but you will need to ask if it’s not listed.
- How close is it to the nearest Metro? You may not want to be walking for 15-20 minutes if you’re in a hurry to catch a train.
- How close are the shops to buy bread, milk, staples? Again, the closer the better. Many apartment owners provide detailed maps and instructions to help you get oriented, but it’s also good to ask in advance.
- Many apartments have a Cleaning Fee to be paid when you leave, or you could opt to do the cleaning yourselves. Give this one some thought – speaking from experience – do you really feel like scrubbing toilets and washing linen etc the day you’re moving out? It’s often easier to just pay the cleaning fee and not have to hassle with washing the sheets etc.
- If you ARE lucky enough to get a washing machine with your apartment, don’t jump for glee just yet. It’s quite normal for a ‘wash’ to take up to 2 hours – this is just how the washing machines work, and it’s much faster to simply go to a laundromat to wash AND dry your clothes. I used to live there, with AND without a washing machine, and have recently rented an apartment in Paris which had a washing machine. I was very disappointed to discover they still take 2 hours to do one small load of washing (without drying). Luckily you can find laundromats everywhere as it’s quite common to NOT have a machine at home (small apartment sizes).
- The size of the apartment may or may not be a factor for you, and of course the larger the place the more you’ll pay.
For the best place to stay in Paris
I’d avoid staying out on the edges of the city (called the “Peripherique”, which is like a “belt” [“ceinture”] around the 20 suburbs/districts/arrondissements) mostly because it will take longer to get into the heart of Paris and easily come and go to your apartment. There are so so many fabulous districts to stay in, it’s too hard to list them all. As long as read the Reviews on the apartment websites, you’ll see what other folks have said about the location, cleanliness etc.
If you might enjoy being near the markets, here is a list:
When you look at a map of Paris, I could easily say the Arrondissements 1 through to 11 would be perfect, and the outer ones maybe not. But then there are fabulous little pockets of Parisian life everywhere, and if you’re there for 11 days, you might not need to be right in the thick of things – here is a map which shows the 20 arrondissements (numbered from 74001 to 75020, which is the actual postcode of each of the 20 suburbs).
I hope this has been of some help, bon voyage and good luck finding the best place to stay in Paris!!!
Cheers
Teena
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