Comfortable setting, warm reception. A home away from home.

The description is accurate, although the apartment is smaller than we imagined from looking at the pictures. The neighborhood lies just outside the touristic center of Paris, within a 10-15-20 minute walking distance away from the Marais, the Pompidou, and the il-de-la-cite.

The neighboorhood is friendly during the day, but with a large share of homeless families literally living in the streets during the nights. As the building is closed off from the street at all times using a heavy locked metal gate, none of this impacts the tranquil feeling in the inner courtyard or the apartment itself.

The supermarket across the street has all you can need in order to cook your own meals, and Valeria's kitchen is fully equipped. She even left us a bottle of wine!

2 issues, none of them major, but I think you should be aware of:

1. As I said, the apartment is on the small side. This surprised us when we arrived, but we got used to it within a day or so, and it became a non-issue
2. We are a family - 2 adults and 2 children. The entrance to the shower is via the master bedroom, with no door to close, and no shower curtain or door to hide the person taking a shower. What this means is that the apartment is only suited to 4 people intimately comfortable with each other. Again, to us it was a minor issue, but I can imaging families where this could be a problem, and even more so when 4 people who are not family will rent this apartment.

Other than that - we really enjoyed our week-long stay at this apartment.