Where to stay in Paris, self-catering, 2 DCs?

[Wigeon]

How does one go to Paris, self-catering, with children? Is it horrendously expensive to stay? Can you basically just get an apartment? Has anyone done Airbnb successfully there? Does anyone have a recommendation for the perfect place, central-ish, not too expensive, good for children (who would be 4 and almost 7)?!

I have tried googling but am rather overwhelmed already with all the options...

Bumping, as we are also planning a trip.

I was just going to stay at the Novotel- their family rooms are usually a decent size.

We stayed here a couple of years ago. It was brilliant.

Thanks for replies. That apartment does look lovely, justabigdisco, although was hoping to find somewhere quite a bit less than 330euros a night!

Hm, haven't stayed in a Novotel - do they do interconnecting family rooms?

Check out onefinestay

CItadines?

We have done "aparthotels" a few times - there are a few in La Defense, much cheaper than central Paris, quite interesting area (food shopping not far too) and quick on the Metro to the centre, or walk the straight line to the Champs Elysee if feeling energetic.

They have separate kitchen/bathroom, one bedroom and sofabeds in the living room. Only downer was that to get an evening in the living room we had to give up the bedroom to the kids, or move the kids at our bedtime. Much better than a hotel though.

la defense is V easy to get to

My friend lives by the Bastille metro which I think would be a good location to base yourself.

I think an AirBnB with lots of reviews would be ok.

Thank you! I think we are still getting used to how to go on holiday now the children can't just sleep in a travel cot and blow up bed - usually do self catering cottages, but there arent many of those in the middle of Paris!

Is the sofa bed in the Citadines places horribly uncomfortable? Or bearable for 3 nights? DH and I aren't that tall or heavy, so can do sofa beds, but I do want an ok night's sleep...

Have just had a look at prices: Montparnasse or Gare de Lyon citadines are 140/150 euros, slightly less than La Defense at 165 e...

Sorry- novotel has a double bed and a double sofa bed in same room, as family room, rather than interconnecting.
I could not trust my 5yo in a room by himself, really- he's not sensibly behaved in his own bedroom!

Acces Adagio Porte de Charenton. We stayed last month with DD1 it has 2 room apts including full kitchen facitlies. Very near Parc De Vincences so DC can run off energy etc It is officialy not in Paris but is about 5m from Paris boundry so no tourist tax, Supermarket within 5 minute walk plus on zone 1 for metro so cheaper transport .They have another hotel Tour de Eiffle with a swimming pool but its lots more expensive

We stayed for a short break at the Citadines in Boulevard Richard-Lenoir and liked that. The sofabed in our apartment was fine for a good night's sleep. There is a small children's play area in the street just outside the apartment block.

We've just got back from staying at an aparthotel called 'residence Blanche' which was literally 30metres from the Moulin Rouge in the Montmartre area.
It was a little over €100 a night but perfectly nice with a v comfy sofa bed. It is in a busy area but the windows are very soundproofing.
There are a few sex shops nearby so I did a bit of distracting when we walked in that direction. But we were generally very happy with the area and would recommend! - also has a little tourist train right outside which the kids loved.

We stayed here at the Citadines St Germain des Pres and would happily go back there.
Great location, with a largish Carrefour supermarket and some great boulangeries literally around the corner but handy for lots of attractions too. Sofa bed was fine too.

If you sign up on the Citadines website, there is a special offer running on stays until 31/12/14.

Have a look at Paris Autrement. We stayed in a really central apartment and was very pleased with it. I recommend them to everyone going to Paris.

We stayed at a citadines near to gare De Lyon/bastille in May with DC aged 6 and 4. They slept in twin room and we had sofa bed which was perfectly comfortable for four nights. Apartment was absolutely fine for our purposes as we hardly spent anytime there, not luxury but not completely basic either. Had a fridge and basic hob and possibly a microwave. We cooked a couple of simple meals and ate out for a few nights.

It was a 2 min walk from the nearest metro (reuilly diderot), a small supermarket across the road and two boulangeries nearby. It was easy to get around the metro and our kids enjoyed the whole trip, although they were very tired.

We got a metro ticket each which lasted for five days I think, can't remember what they were called but they were well worth it as we could use the metro whenever we felt like it and didn't need to faff around getting change.

The apartment was near to the old railway line that has been converted into a park which was nice for a walk and there was a play area about 15 mins walk along it.

We bought a batobus boat ticket so could make unlimited trips in one day on the seine. We walked up the Eiffel tower to the second level, cheap, no queues, great views and exhausting! Also went back to watch the Eiffel tower lit up at night from the other side of the river, trocadero gardens I think it's called. Kids loved it!

We also went up l'arc De triomphe which had good views as well especially of the Eiffel tower.

We did a lot of walking around the botanic gardens and from the louvre up to the l'arc 're triomphe. Also went to parc de Luxembourg which is lovely and has a good play area (you have to pay a small entrance fee) and parc de villette which was modern and unusual and a bit different. Also wandered around sacre Coeur and Notre dame and had lovely ice cream on the smallest of the islands on the seine. Also want to monmartre but wasn't massively impressed, it was also the only place we got hassled, properly hassled, by men trying to put wristbands on us in the steps up to sacre Coeur. No problems anywhere else.

All in all it was a great but exhausting trip!

Hi, we just got back from a lovely short stay in Paris. Rented an apartment through Housetrip Paris www.housetrip.com/en/paris which was much better value (well...cheaper certainly!) than OneFineStay. IIRC, £770 for 4 nights. Had 2 double beds, good size.

So sorry to disappear from this thread! Thanks so much everyone for sharing ideas - looks like an apart hotel is the way to go. Although House Trip looks good - OneFineStay is a bit pricey for us. maxmissie - thanks so much for taking the time to put lots of really useful info - sounds like you all had a great time, good to hear it's do-able with the age of my DC.

Hi there,
We have a 2-bedroom holiday rental flat in central Paris that has availabilities this Fall (we just started renting it out!).
The rental company does personal greetings and can add a lot of baby friendly items if you are interested, like a crib, a changing table, a high chair, etc.
Have a look at our VRBO and AIRBNB listings!

VRBO: www.vrbo.com/575559
AIRBNB: www.airbnb.com/rooms/3470445?checkin=08%2F12%2F2014&checkout=08%2F17%2F2014&guests=5&s=Y6Yl

That's a lovely apartment!

Unfortunately it wouldn't suit us as DC are too old to share a double bed. We always need a twin for them now. I have to discount many apartments and holiday villas for this reason.

Same here. I'm either going with a bunch of girlfriends, or DH and DC, so a double plus 2 singles is much more flexible.

I was just about to start a similar thread as planning a trip to Paris for 3 adults, 1 child next year on a budget. I'll just tag onto this thread and check out some of the suggestions instead

Feel free, Tortillas!

We rented an apartment for two nights a few years ago - we had two nights in Paris tacked on to the end of a fortnight in the south of france

I found a great apartment (with its own garage) on Home Away holiday rentals. I think they must have taken it off now, as I can't find it. anyway it was in the 19th (iirc) and had two bedrooms and an outdoor terrace with jacuzzi. It suited us well - as we were two adults, and three boys. The eldest boy took the sofa bed in the lounge. It was 200 Euros per night.

i think location isn't too big a deal as the metro is cheap and fun to get around.

It was much better for us than a hotel - that's for sure.