my daughter and i will be in Paris for a week in late June. we are looking at renting a studio apartment that is %26quot;near Montmarte%26quot; %26quot;steps from the Marx Dormoy Metro station%26quot; , then %26quot;10 minutes to Central Paris%26quot; on the Place Torcy. the apartment looks very nice and is much less expensive than others we have looked at.
does anyone know if this is an OK area to stay? Safe? not so far from everything that we will spend too much time traveling?
thanks for any advice
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It%26#39;s priced lower because it is off the beaten path, not very central at all. Still, it might be a great value, especially if you don%26#39;t mind extra time on the metro and walking.
Even the heart of Montmartre is not especially close to the majority of Parisian tourism sites, such as the major museums, Notre Dame, the Seine, etc....and this isn%26#39;t the %26#39;heart%26#39; of Montmartre. Don%26#39;t understimate the extra amount of time you%26#39;ll need to get to those tourist sites if you stay here.
Then again, it might not be the safest neighborhood, since it is on the edge or in the direction of some of the poorer suburbs of Paris. However, you need a definitive answer to that question from someone who actually lives in Paris and knows this neighborhood well, since most tourists (including me) don%26#39;t generally find our way there. I had never heard of the metro stop you cite and I had to check the Metro map to see where it is...and I%26#39;ve been to Paris 9 times.
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It all depends on what your priorities are and if you%26#39;re heading to Paris to be a tourist. If the answer to that question is yes, I would skip it.
The Metro line (12) that Marx Dormoy is on isn%26#39;t the most convenient to tourist ground zero, and you%26#39;d want to change at Marcadet Poissoniers to get on line 4, which will take you directly to Ile de la Cite, Notre Dame, the QL, etc. It%26#39;s a really busy, crowded line, and you%26#39;ll be sandwiched-in for most of the trip. Line 12 will take you directly to the Champs Elysees, but most here will tell you that one trip there is about enough.
The beauty of staying in areas like the very popular Marais, St Germain or Quartier Latin is that you can enjoy dinner and then a wonderful stroll back to your hotel. If you stay at that apartment, your evenings will end at 11pm every night so you can be on the metro to get home before it closes, or hope you%26#39;ll find a taxi to take you back at around 15€ a pop.
It might be a great fit for someone who%26#39;s going to Paris after many visits and wants to experience living more like a local than a tourist, but if your goal is see the %26quot;must sees%26quot;, it%26#39;s going to make for some long days. I wrote a long post several months ago about my stay in Montmartre last September (I%26#39;m usally a QL guy), lamenting the fact that I spent two hours a day on the metro to get where I wanted to go. A half hour to the center, a half hour back before dinner, a half hour to dinner, and another half hour back to the apartment. And I really missed the evening walks after dinner up and down the Seine to see the lights, the boats, the people....without a care as to when it had to end.
My advice, FWIW, is to stay where you think you%26#39;re going to spend the most time....otherwise, you%26#39;re going to spend the most time getting to where you%26#39;re staying.
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%26gt;%26gt; However, you need a definitive answer to that question from someone who actually lives in Paris and knows this neighborhood well, since most tourists (including me) don%26#39;t generally find our way there. I had never heard of the metro stop you cite and I had to check the Metro map to see where it is...and I%26#39;ve been to Paris 9 times.%26lt;%26lt;
It is really not the nicest neighbourhood, and even if it is /reasonably/ safe, the surrounding area feels somewhat run-down and intmidating. However, if you%26#39;re into discovering truly off-the-beaten path Paris and living in a neighbourhood which will be in a few years the next hip-and-trendy area, you might want to take the challenge.
It%26#39;s up to you to weigh the balance - definitely, poor transport and extra precautions on the minus side.
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I agree w/ superhero. I don%26#39;t think I would choose it to stay w/ my daughter, especially for a first trip (?) but to each his/her own.
And it is not 10 minutes from central paris. Not in a million years, unless the metro doesn%26#39;t stop at any stops.
Les
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