The apartment listing is aptly named—“Perfect Paris Escape!” We could not have been more pleased with the apartment, its location, and the owner ( Henley). The apartment is exactly as pictured. All aspects of our experience were absolutely PERFECT, especially for our first trip to Paris.
Henley was a great host—easy to reach and responsive both before and during our stay. While we weren’t able to meet her in person upon arrival, the directions for access were easy and she was in contact with us via the Airbnb App, WhatsApp, and phone.
The apartment is a lovely, comfortable space that quickly feels like your home away from home. The kitchen is equipped with more than you’ll ever need to prepare meals. The dishwasher, clothes washer AND dryer were a bonus after hand washing dishes and using drying racks durning our previous 10 days in Italy. But of course that is all part of the charm of living like a local.
The one concern we had prior to booking was the size of the double bed, as we are used to a king bed. We found the bed and bedding to be comfortable and slept quite well despite our initial concern. The roughly 6 miles of walking each day probably helped! The small patio provided a private outdoor space to take in some fresh air with your morning coffee or evening drinks. The street noise was largely pedestrian traffic and we enjoyed hearing the “action” drift in from the front windows and the patio. But simply closing the windows created a very quiet and restful space when ready to sleep.
The Le Marais is a vibrant and centrally located neighborhood. We found interesting streets, restaurants, bakeries, groceries and cafes around every turn. Make sure to explore further East by walking down Rue de Rosiers and on to Place des Vosque. Also, the area S.W. of the Pompidue (the eastern edge of the First Arrondissment) has plenty of restaurants from which to choose. The apartment is a short walk to the Seine, Notre-Dame, the islands, and bridges to the Latin Quarter (5th Arrondissement) and Saint Germain (6th Arrondissement). A walk to the Luxembourg Gardens is well worth the time. Metro and bus access is close by and (once you get past the leaning curve) easy to use when you want to venture to areas further away.
My husband and I travel to NYC multiple times a year and love to just hit the streets and see where each day takes us. We found Paris has stolen our hearts and would gladly return to Henley’s Perfect Paris Escape to continue our exploration of this lovely City of Light.