Should we move to Paris?!

[Sparklemotion1982]

Hello!

I currently live in London with my husband, and he has been offered a job in Paris. I don't like London, I'm lonely here and hate the weather (before here we lived in Dubai for 7 years which I really loved, and I would love to go back there).

We have to decide whether to take the job in Paris and was wondering if anyone had any advice, having moved there.

We don't have children at the moment but would probably TTC over there as I am 32. I work from home so wouldn't meet anyone through work so am wondering what areas would be best to live in, and whether it is easy to meet people. We both only have rusty GCSE French so would have lessons over there.

Any advice would be very much appreciated as we are very confused!

Thank you!!

Dont buy in paris until you ve lived here a bit. The quartiers (the bits that make up the arrondissements) are all so different and everyone has different tastes.

As a young couple we lived in the 17th near Ternes. Was great for what we wanted (no clubs/bars but restaurants, shops and sports facilities and convenient for transport)

We moved to the 16th after DS arrived. Yes its not trendy but its very nice, loads of flats (we bought and there was NOTHING available in the 17th in the size we wanted) and we live next to a fantastic park. DS has already made friends with some boys we see regularly and he starts at the local (fab) school in Sept when he'll be 3.

The people here are all well off (judging by clothes!) but very friendly. The atmosphere in the park is lovely.

I love our flat but I have French friends who would hate to live where we do - all individual taste.

We're in the rural south Bonsoir where I suspect things are a lot worse! Can't have a Harmony test here, or a home birth or a ELCS, and that's only the pregnancy related refusals we've had (the worse of the other ones was no sedation for a 16mo with suspected brittle bone disease having a scintigraphy - that one put me off the entire country). I am not a big fan of France, you can probably tell!

Basically, the 17th is divided into two: Batignolles and the staid bit around Parc Monceau. Batignolles is young, edgy, with good, cheap restaurants and bars. It's lively in the evenings. It is a mixture of small and cheap apartments and larger, grander ones. If I was childless, I would have preferred to live here than near Monceau, which is very residential, bars and restaurants tend to close early. You should also avoid the area around Porte de Champerret, as there is a lot of social housing there, it's a bit grim and not particularly nice after dark.

Without knowing your budget, it's a bit difficult to advise. We were paying around 4,000 euros a month for a large-ish 4 bedroom apartment near Parc Monceau.

Thanks for this. Our budget is only around 2200 euros a month...and we'd like unfurnished. I thought this would mean a one bedroom but our relocation person said we could get a 2 bed. Our ideal would be light, big windows, parquet floors and a balcony for our cat. I'd like to be near some good shops, Id love to be close to a zara, h&m etc! Or if not possible at least a few small shops, bakeries etc?

I live in the 15th and I love it here, there's all the services you need and good public transport. I also like 12th between gare de Lyon and bois de Vincennes. It's a good idea to look for a place close to your husband's work or at least convenient for commuting.
Around rue de Rennes there are lots of shops, and near Edgar quinet and vavin there are lots of restaurants and bars.
For 2200eur you should be able to expect around 60-70 sq metres easily in most arrondissements so 3 room/2 bedrooms. You can check seloger.fr to see what you can get.
I had my son in France last year and have no complaints about my treatment or after care. A colleague of mine has lived here for years and speaks awful French and manages to get by.
Good luck!

Sparkle - does that include the "charges"?

With that budget, I think you will probably need to look in the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th arrondissements, where you will get more for your money. Parts of the 14th are lovely. Maybe the 10th, but parts of the 10th are very grim indeed. Also bear in mind that you will probably have to put in a kitchen, and possibly a bathroom. If you want a balcony, you will probably be looking at a modern block, rather than a traditional Haussmannian one.

Lots of little shops in Paris, much nicer than the chains!

EUR 2,200 will get you a perfectly reasonable small classic apartment in the 16th - we recently relet an 80 sq m 3-room in Passy for almost precisely that amount. You will get more floor space for your money and a nicer apartment if you get a "double sejour" (sitting room and dining room separated by an open archway or double glass doors) and one bedroom than if you want a two-bed.

I don't think I would recommend the 16th to someone under 60 though, Bonsoir - and not sure you would either! (Although Passy does have Zara and H & M.) I lived in Passy when I first moved to Paris. It was OK, and convenient for work.

You get better rental accommodation by far in the 16th than in the 11th for your money these days - and there is no Zara in the 11th.

The market is not "obvious" and there are real downsides to the more recently invested areas IMO. Fewer expats too.

The 16th (particularly rue de la Pompe and rue de la Tour) is absolutely stuffed with Americans (as are parts of the 7th). I do think if you are coming to Paris absolutely "cold" and don't speak the language, that you need some kind of guidance. Maybe an expatty area would suit the OP better, for that very reason?

A general warning - don't listen to bonsoir - I think all the fumes from the peripherique have gone to her head. She is well known for doling out her particular brand of weird and bad advice all over mumsnet. Her main motive seems to be making out she's something she's not!

I lived in Paris for many years, working in the 16th and living in the 11th, near Oberkampf, for a good part of that time. The 16th is boring and staid while the 11th is much more fun. Great transport links, too. It depends on what you're looking for, really.

Oooh, I worked in the 16th, too, WWNW. I would recommend the 11th if you are unencumbered by enfants.

I lived in the 11th for 11 years - I moved there before all the bars etc moved in - and prices have gone through the roof. As owners of rental property in both the 11th and 16th I think I have some idea of the market.

We pay less than that for a big, bright 2 bedroom in Batignolles, we moved in 2 years ago though and not sure what prices are like now. Locally there are mostly independent shops and restaurants although we are only 20-25 mins walk from all the chains at Opera. If you prefer to be nearer to big chain stores the 15th and 16th might be good. I would also advise to try to find a flat you would be staying in for a few years (i.e. not to to small if you want kids) as finding places to rent is a hideous nightmare in Paris.

Was about to take offense at the 16th being called boring and staid but then realised that compared to many other livlier parts of Paris it is!

Still, I love not being woken by all the people sitting outside bars and cafes / young neighbours having all night parties so each to their own I suppose.

We did a year in Italy last year. I am fluent dh is (still) learning.

He felt isolated and lonely. I got really fed up of having to organize absolutely everything for him and the family.

It was a much bigger deal than we imagined.

So I would say yes only if you can plan very very intensive language courses before going !

I lived in the 18th near Jules Joffrin until 2012. I liked it a lot, very boho. I now live in a part of the suburbs that would make you faint in horror if you think Porte de Champerret is dodgy ;-)

Pommedeterre - I felt your pain too!

GreatAuntDinah - I loved that part of the 18th as well - had a good friend who lived there. Porte de Champerret is just dull and a bit menacing with no redeeming features, IMO. It doesn't have the boho charm of other "working class" arrondissements, just relentless blocks of charmless flats. Where are you now? Montreuil?

Nah, Montreuil is positively salubrious compared to our corner of the 93 ten minutes from the gare du nord and literally four times bigger than my Paris flat, for 250 euros a month less.

This thread has made me realise just how much the Parisiens talk about where they live/size of flat etc. Never prices but Ive spent hours talking flats/location/commute especially when someone buys.

The eternal debate of central Paris (small, expensive flat) vs outside Paris (larger but a commute which is especially difficult when there are strikes...)

The commuter train links from the suburbs to central Paris are terrible compared to London and it just isn't aspirational to live in a large pretty house in a nice village and commute in every day in the way it is for many people who work in London. There aren't the large pretty houses in nice villages to start with!

I very much adhere to the advice given by others, and think that you need to live in Paris for a while to work out where you would like to live. I nevertheless feel quite strongly that if you aren't a fluent speaker of French, going to live in an area where there are very few expats isn't wise.

I commuted in UK for a while, and it was hell (though lovely at the weekend and once I got home - it was a fab cottage in the country). I said I would never do it again, and was determined not to live out in the sticks in Croissy or somewhere when I was working in Paris. And I no longer commute in London, either. Hooray!

There aren't the large pretty houses in nice villages to start with!

Bollocks. Of course there are.