A trip to Paris in the fall! Great! We want to rent an apartment, terrific!

But how to find the right accommodation in the right part of the city? Not so easy, as it turns out.

Most often, people ask their friends where they stayed, then they look at all the online booking and review sites possible, but making a decision is difficult and so time consuming. Not fun.

I’d hoped to create a streamlined list of steps on how to decide this, but it’s really a rather fuzzy process.

For Paris, I thought this would be pretty easy, since last fall I stayed in the 14th arrondissement (neighborhood) between the Luxembourg Gardens and the Montparnasse Cemetery, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It was such a great neighborhood, I’d go back there any time. My travel buddy Julia was ok with that idea, so that’s where we started the search. 

Here’s a link to the fantastic program I attended in Paris while staying in the 14th Arrondissement:

 http://www.heirloomvacations.com/paris-workshop/

But first: Disclaimers:

1.I am not paid to endorse any website or booking engine, so any place I might recommend will be based on my personal use and experience. And if I have a bad experience with any website or booking site, I will let you know. You need to do your own due diligence and research.

2. My “mind map” of Paris is just that: what I remember about where things are in Paris. DO NOT USE THIS MAP for reference. Really. It’s just my recollection I’m sharing with you.  You have Google and/or Apple Maps to get the right info.

Obviously I need this return trip to get some things in the right places!

 The (Fuzzy) Decision Making Process:

Step 1: Know what you need to feel comfortable

MS and I have traveled together before and so we now know what we need in the way of an apartment accommodation. After stays in Rome and Venice, we have decided on this list:

• Apartment above the second floor must have an elevator in the building. (Remember in Europe the ground floor is usually 0 so 1st floor is our 2nd floor, 2nd floor is our 3rd floor, etc.)

• 2 separate bedrooms

• 2 separate bathrooms (with WC and shower/tub)

• Decent kitchen with dining table.

• Excellent reviews-especially looking for comments such as “comfortable beds” and “good neighborhood.”

• Close to public transport

Step 2: Using Filters Helps Define the Search

On the popular apartment rental sites there are different filters that you can use to narrow down your searching. We search for: 2 Bedrooms; 2 Bathrooms; a price range;neighborhood or area; dates.

These search filters can be helpful and also frustrating. I like the feature on the HomeAway mobile app that lets you draw a circle around an area and search there. It is also frustrating because it’s cumbersome to go back and forth between maps and apartments. Changing one search parameter can kick out all the other filters so be aware of that.

We started the search in the Luxembourg Gardens area and then the Montparnasse Cemetery area. The filters were helpful, and there are plenty of 1 bedroom/1 bath places, but not one that fit our needs. We had to widen our search area and put the size of the place we wanted first, location second.

Step 3: Read the Descriptions and Comments Properly

This is where it gets fuzzy.

There is a trick to reading those online apartment reviews from AirBnB or HomeAway or country-specific sites. Just like in real estate listings, there are key words to look for: “cozy” means “really very small.” Also if there are more comments about the host’s friendliness than the actual apartment/space, beware. Look for descriptions and comments such as “appliances easy to use,” “layout worked well for our group,” “stairs were too small to carry suitcase up and down,” “there is an elevator but it starts on the second floor.”

We skip any places with no reviews (too new on the market).

Step 3a: Give the photos careful scrutiny

 I especially like the photos that have the floor plan of the apartment. That is truly helpful. I always look carefully to see if the second bedroom is a true bedroom space, or just a corner of the living room, or perhaps a loft space. Look at the decor and see if there are actually pictures of every room, or just one or two rooms from different angles. Are both bathrooms pictured? Are there more pictures of city sights than of the actual apartment? 

 Step 4: Ask questions and use Google Street View

When you narrow down the options, start emailing the hosts. This tests their responsiveness and you can get questions answered that might have come up in the reviews: how big is that staircase and elevator? We quickly found that most hosts are responsive and will answer questions. We also found a nice place that was unavailable for our dates, but the host hadn’t updated the calendar.

Step 5: Final Decision-allow the Fuzziness to guide you

Given that we wanted to be in the central section of Paris we looked north of the 14th arrondissement towards the Seine and beyond. We found a few options that fit our requirements in Step 1.

One was closer to the Eiffel Tower but that was too far west for us. One was very close to the Shakespeare and Co. Bookstore, right near the river. Great location, right? But we looked on Google Street View and saw a super touristy busy street, lined with kebab cafes and souvenir shops. Not really for us.

Finally one apartment kept popping up in our search filters: 2 levels, 2 bedrooms, 2 WCs and bathrooms, in a building with an elevator. Neighborhood: Marais,  a little further north of the river. Comments were all excellent, with people talking about the place working out well, the friendly host, and the great neighborhood. We looked on Google Street View and saw cafes, shops, old buildings and people out and about. The host answered the questions we had about cancellation fees and location. Price was within the range, so we ended up booking it. Decision

I feel good about our choice for this trip, although we ended up in a different neighborhood than planned.  I have to thank Julia for truly being the apartment whisperer and making the process (almost) fun! Let me know how you decide where to stay in Paris or other places-the more info we have the better!