My wife and I stayed at Renato’s place in Paris for 27 days in September. We had a fantastic time. We are on a global tour for a year, starting with Paris, and it couldn’t have started any better. Renato’s apartment is in the PERFECT location to explore Paris. It is just minutes from two Metro stations, and Ile Saint-Louis. Our co-host Alice met us at the apartment on arrival and let us in. Alice was wonderful. She explained all the workings of the apt, wifi password etc, and gave us a nice hand-drawn map of the local area with suggestions for useful places. Since we were going to be there for 4 weeks, we were able to take advantage of those places, like the Sunday morning open market Marche Bastille which is only 10 minutes away. We visited it every Sunday for food and fresh produce.
Everything in the apartment worked well. The wifi was perfect. We had NO issues in our 27-day stay. Our only comment would be that it is a studio with a small kitchenette area and a small bathroom, so it will work well for a single person or a couple, not planning to do a lot of cooking. For a small apartment, it is very well arranged – lots of closet space and storage. The fold-out bed is very comfortable. There is a dishwasher and fridge in the kitchen and a laundry washer in the bathroom. There is even a set up in the bathroom to hang clothes to dry by lowering and raising the bars. The building is very safe, and quiet. During the day, there is traffic noise on the one-way street below, but it is easily eliminated by just closing the windows. At night, the street is very quiet.
We purchased the Navigo Metro pass for a month, and were able to travel all over Paris easily, using the Metro or the Bus or the RER as convenient. We also walked along the left and right banks of the Seine. The walk along Rue Saint-Louis en I’Ile was our favorite. The location made this all so easy.
There are three very good restaurants in the same building, a convenience store on one side and a bakery on the other side just in the next buildings.
The location is convenient if you are traveling by trains. Gare de Lyon is a just a 10-min walk, which we did when taking the TGV to Nice, and the Metro stations can get you to other train stations in just minutes.
All in all, we highly recommend Renato’s place simply for it’s perfect location, and well-organized set up, as long as you are OK with a studio apt, a small kitchen and a small bathroom. We were, and we loved staying here.