Thomas’ place was great! I wanted to include some highlights in my review, as well as some notes that are more of a “good-to-know”. First, Thomas’ place is a 5 minute walk from Gare du Nord. We were happy about this in particular because we were arriving from London via the Eurostar at Gare du Nord. The apartment is tucked away in a small street off the Boulevard de Magenta. The apartment is on the second floor and to get to it, there is a narrow, winding staircase. Be careful as to not slip. There is a light switch to shine light on your way up the stairs—which we didn’t know about until our check out day.
The apartment itself was nice and cozy. It is perfect for two people- two very close people who don’t mind sharing their personal space. If there is a 3rd person, then 2 people would have to share the bed and the other person can take the couch. The floor is also wooden and creaks as you walk on it. The walls are thin, so any movement from you or the neighbors is heard.
There are a few restaurants around the apartment that make it convenient to get some food. I was happy there was a Domino’s across the street because the first evening we arrived, we were so tired that staying in with some pizza just sounded really good.
I was also happy there was a washing machine available! I had no issues with drying my clothes, expect for my jeans. Those took 2 days to get completely dry because we locked everything up while exploring the city. We would also lock all the windows because the mosquitos would make their way into the apartment and bite us. Be sure to bring repellent with you to keep the mosquitos away.
The location of the apartment was good for getting to the Sacre Coeur and Montmartre — it was only a 20 minute walk. The Moulin Rouge was also nearby, but we decided to take an Uber there since it was late at night (11 PM). Since we only used Uber to get to the other attractions in Paris, we found that we had to be very careful with making sure we placed our pick up marker at the exact spot of the apartment for a quick and easy pick up from Uber. Since we didn’t use the Metro or bus, we felt that the apartment was far from other attractions like the Louvre Museum, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Luxembourg Gardens, etc, especially when traffic was crazy. But this didn’t stop us from enjoying our stay— we just had to be more strategic on how we planned our days.
Overall, I would recommend staying at Thomas’ place! His apartment was clean and cozy, and he was very responsive to my needs. Both him and Smail were very helpful!