Paris with the Family, and for Longer: How to Choose the Neighbourhood and the Apartment

A long visit to Paris changes the question. It is no longer “what to see” but “how to live”: where to have breakfast, where to take the children for a walk, whether it will be quiet in the evening, whether everyone will have a room of their own. A hotel room for a few nights can still be borne. For two weeks with the family, you need a home.

The neighbourhood first

We advise choosing the neighbourhood before the apartment. ACT 3 chooses its addresses across Paris. Here are three neighbourhoods at the very centre, seen through a family's eyes.

Saint-Germain-des-Prés. The Left Bank, between the Seine and the Luxembourg garden. The garden becomes an extension of home: alleys of chestnut trees, green chairs, the great pond where children sail little boats. All around are bookshops, cafés and quiet streets near the church of Saint-Sulpice.

The Upper Marais. A neighbourhood of seventeenth-century mansions that have become museums: the Musée Picasso, the Musée Carnavalet with the history of Paris, and the Musée des Arts et Métiers, where children love to examine the inventions. Nearby are the Square du Temple and the oldest covered market in the city, the Marché des Enfants Rouges.

The 2nd. The smallest arrondissement in Paris and one of the most convenient: covered passages that children explore like a labyrinth, the market street of rue Montorgueil, and the Opéra and the Palais-Royal gardens not far away.

Then space

For a family, what counts is not the square metres themselves but how they are arranged.

• · Two to four bedrooms, up to eight guests depending on the apartment.
• · Bathrooms. Many apartments have as many as they have bedrooms, and the morning stops being a queue.
• · A real kitchen. The market in the morning, dinner at home, a children's lunch without a restaurant.
• · Air conditioning in every apartment, which matters more in summer than you might think.
• · For the youngest. A high chair in almost all our apartments, a baby cot in several of them: tell us your children's ages and we will suggest the apartments with the right equipment.

Calm and privacy

An apartment gives you what a hotel does not: your own front door, no shared corridors, quiet while the children sleep. We know every home we offer, and we choose buildings with character at good addresses.

Our concierge works seven days a week, and the team can be reached at any hour. An airport transfer, a restaurant table, a last-minute request: you write to one and the same team before your arrival, during your stay and after it.

A few practical tips

For a long stay, it is worth telling us in advance about any particular needs: your children's ages, your arrival time, your wishes for the bedrooms. That way the home will be ready for your first evening. If your visit is longer than usual, write to us: a discount is possible for long stays, and the invoice can be issued to your company.

Live the city, not a hotel

See the collection, the page for the Marais or our family apartments. When you book direct, you get the best available rate with no service fees added to the price, and free cancellation more than 30 days before arrival.

The ACT 3 Team