[lilmissmuffet]

DH will have long service leave in three years and we have been discussing the possibility of travelling overseas with our children (who will by then be 8 and 5 years old) and staying in a city or region for a month. Need to start saving now really!

We'd love to go to Paris and would like to stay in an apartment so we don't have to drag our luggage all over, plus we can really get to know the city properly. And if there are tantums or signs of tiredness we can venture out on another day. Sounds good in theory, right?!

Has anyone done this? Would it be too long to stay in Paris? We could use it as a base for visits to other regions? Any idea of costs to budget for? We figure our grocery bill wouldn't be too excessive as it would replace what we spend at home, accommodation in an apartment better value than a hotel, trains to get around. Airfares would be biggest expense.

DH and I have been to Paris as young backpackers but it would be such a novelty as the children are learning French at school .

Any thoughts and experiences to share would be great!

[BobTheBottersnik...]

Someone will be able to give you websites that let apartments for that length of time, which will be preferable to a hotel. Paris will be an ideal base to see other places from, as the TGV is fast and relatively inexpensive (from memory). Also, avoid the temptation to shop in the bijou little local street markets and get the majority of your groceries from the more prosaic, but far cheaper supermarket!

And have a ball. I am very deeply envious of you

[amabanana]

Sounds excellent! Can I come?

Our last trip to Paris we spent 2 weeks and only scratched the surface. One month would be great.

Having an apartment is great because you can save a lot of money by cooking a lot of your own food. I didn't find grocery shopping expensive at all. Although, you WILL want to eat plenty of local food. (Where IS that drool icon?)

[Dionysus]

ooh, we are thinking of doing the same in a few years. DH will have long service leave (and I have some anyway) and we are thinking of 8 weeks in Europe - 3 weeks of those in an apartment in/outside of Paris. DD will be 7ish.


Hope you get some good suggestions here!

[protart roflcopt...]

Well jell!!!!

[Mocha Coffee]

Try Rent Paris.com

We used them (only for a week) but I loved, loved, loved the apartment we had.

[Ehill]

I LOVE France and many years ago DH and I spent 3mo living in the Loire Valley. That was prekids. We always say how we would love to do it with kids.

So what would I do? Well, I probably wouldnt choose Paris but a smaller French city. I love Paris but it is stupid expensive (although the strong Aus $ does make it better), it is a very busy, noisy and crazy city which you only really notice when you are pushing a stroller along a busy road crawling with scooters.

We had a few days in Lyon and I would live there in a heartbeat. OMG lovely city. Other cities include Bordeaux, Tours, Dijon maybe, Nantes but Lyon is my favourite. You just need to choose a city on the TGV system and then getting around should be okay. As much as you think you will, you wont get to that many places anyway. A month isnt that long especially when you are trying to get to know a city and area. We spent 3mo in the Loire Valley and still didnt see as much as we thought we would! And that was with no kids! You could use the local rail to visit the regions around your base city (a concept that I highly recommend), visit the local markets, go wine tasting etc etc.

We went there in Oct-Dec and rented a cottage through a UK holiday website. There are loads of holiday websites and if you avoid summer, you can pick up a great place on a long term let at a discount as they generally sit vacant out of summer. It made life a lot easier dealing with a British owner than navigating the French.

I LOVE France, i would move there tomorrow......champagne, frois gras, cheese, red wine......my lips are watering just thinking about it. great idea.

[Apageintime]

I will be spending a month in a Paris apartment over Xmas this year.

Your trip is a while away so I won't recommend apartments. No doubt things will change by then.

But i have a huge list of things to do while I'm there and I don't think I'll get through it all.

I used the lonely planet thorn tree forum and trip advisor for planning.

[*Greenbag*]

Sorry, I'm unable to curtail my jealousy long enough to provide helpful suggestions.

[AvadaKedavra]

We did this as our last holiday before kids. It wa awesome. Made friends with other people in the apartment block, had 'picnics' on the roof with our new friends, bought cheese from the cheese store at the bottom of the block everyday... Bliss!

We could have spent more time there. We spent about $10k for two for a month including all flights, accom, living expenses and shopping. We didn't eat out much because we had an apartment, but cooking is Paris was a treat anyway - French chanterelles that retail in Aus for $100/kg for less than a tenth the price! Amazing bread and cheese, so much fresh amazing stuff. Copious amounts of wine - drunk the French way, in glass tumblers!

Only thing to bear in mind is that August is the best weather (still cool by Aust standards), but it is 'les grandes vacances' - the big summer holidays when Parisians go to the beach/countryside and Paris is quiet except for tourists. It is nice in some ways, but not 'authentic' Paris, IYKWIM.

In terms of where to stay, I'd suggest somewhere in or around the 5th arrondissement. But if you can't specifically find a suitable place, anywhere near the Luxembourg Gardens should be a must - the Jardin des Tuileries is more famous, but the Luxembourg Gardens are delightful for kids.

You'll have a ball!