The Good: Location, Style and Comfort
Location: Staying at Franck’s place in the Marais puts you two blocks to Notre Dame, two blocks to the Pompidou, 1/2 block to Hotel de Ville, and around the corner from the Hotel de Ville metro stop, which means everything you need is close and you can get anywhere in the city quickly and cheaply. Restaurants, bars, grocery, boutiques – all in the immediate area and every three minutes a train takes you anywhere else you may wish to go.
Style: Franck’s is a classic Parisian apartment. 3rd floor walkup. This is how people live. When you leave the street and open the door to the building (courtyard access), you don’t leave Paris behind. It is a very efficient apartment, but it is not new. Some appropriate updates have been made but they do not transform this classic apartment into Ikea showroom. This is more of a “Last Tango in Paris” type feel.
Comfort: The bed was very comfortable, and for Paris, the place was spacious for two. I enjoyed waking up and having bread, cheese and coffee with a kitchen available. And in general, despite being in the middle of a busy area of town, more often than not the place was dead silent, almost unnervingly quiet (the new windows do a lot).
The Bad: To be fair, with the old building and style come sacrifices. It is a three-story walkup. At the end of the day the winding stairs made for one last adventure. And if the neighbors had an argument, you knew about it as the walls were thin. Of the six nights we stayed, the downstairs neighbors decided to throw a party one night with music until 1:30 AM and the smell of cigarette smoke worked its way through the floors. Franck is available if there are problems, but I have had greater inconveniences in more mainstream hotels.
Recommendation: Next time I am staying in the area (Marais) I plan to return. You really can’t beat the location.