Marais Bastille Listed*** Apartment W/ Fab View on Whole Paris - 90sqm

Sometimes great things happen by chance. We found Catherine on Sabbatical Homes and her apartment looked great so we decided to book a 13 day/night stay. What a fantastic decision. Her apartment is charming, spacious and clean and has beautiful light and views. It is in a great neighborhood and we felt like locals by day 2. It's the way we like to travel. Catherine is charming and so helpful. Her restaurant recommendations were spot on and we loved every minute of our stay. I would recommend this beautiful apartment to any of my friends and to my family. 5 stars!

Great location; well equipped and comfortable; host was very helpful; wonderful stay in Paris

Catherine's apartment is one of the hidden gems of Paris. I stayed at her apartment in the dead of winter and I have felt the warmth and comfort her place accorded me, apart from the numerous Cedric Grolet floral edibles and indulgences I consumed sans guilt.

I highly recommend her place and will not hesitate to book it again. It's clean, very secure, close to: Bus Stop and the Metro, Le Marais, the Bastille Opera House and many more. The Eiffel Tower and the top of Notre Dame Cathedral can be seen from her living room. I actually walked from her place to the Eiffel Tower!

My stay was definitely one of the highlights of my Paris wanderlust. Thank you for this chance.

Catherine is a wonderful host who replies very quickly. The flat is immaculate and comfortable. Best of all for academic nerds like us, it's an easy 20 minute walk to the BN. Otherwise it's right near Quai de la Rapée metro, and about 5 mins walk from Place de la Bastille and/or Gare de Lyon. I had a great stay and hope to return next time I'm in Paris for research.

Our stay was lovely and I recommend not only this member but this property to anyone looking for a calm, central, and beautiful place to stay while in Paris.

This apartment is easy to live in with two bedrooms and two baths, a good kitchen good internet and lota of books. Catherine is a thoughtful host who speaks English well and was easy to reach when needed. The loxation is excellent. A beautiful view of the yacht basin. The neighborhood is down to earth with nearby shopping. It is very easy to get to the Jardin des Plantes or Ile St Louis and an easy walk to place de la Bastille area where there is a fine market on Sundays.

I have visited Paris several times and lived there for a year, not far from Catherine's apartment. There are a number of interesting areas to explore nearby and the access to the Seine riverside walkway was new to me and a quiet and tranquil way to explore the area.

Catherine was a great host and the apartment is spacious, clean and very comfortable.

FABULOUS rental! From the initial contact, Catherine was clear, accommodating and very responsive to any and all questions. As newcomers to Sabbatical Homes, she made the rental process very easy including helping us learn to use PayPal for international transaction. She sent us clear instructions on how to get from the airport to the apartment, and she accommodated our early arrival and departure times. She also had Jeni, meet us at the apartment to show us around and make sure we could find (& use) everything in the apartment and know who to call if we needed anything during our 10 day anniversary trip. And WOW- the apartment was perfect. While it was only the 2 of us, we could have brought our 2 grown sons and had plenty of space and they would have appreciated the location as well. The apartment was clean and beautifully updated. It included everything and anything you might possibly need if you were living in Paris- wifi, printer, washer & dryer, bedding, towels, hair dryer, a well stocked & complete kitchen (including wine accessories, microwave, ovens, dishwasher, trash compactor, espresso machine!), shopping bag with wheels (for groceries), umbrella, ironing board, iron, TV, VCR, DVD player, CD and cassette player, and instructions on how to use each appliance. There were also specific items useful to families of small children and babies. There were 2 walls in the large open dining/living room filled with books of all genres and appealing to all age groups (kids included) in multiple languages. There were family friendly games and too. This same room had 2 large windows overlooking the canal and the Seine as well as a perfect view of the Eiffel Tower, which would sparkle at night every hour until midnight! We could make espresso in the kitchen, sit at the table to plan our day or relax on the comfortable couch with a glass of wine and always see the Eiffel Tower (& the skyline). The apartment’s location was perfect- away from the tourist hotels, quiet and safe. We could easily travel by any means – though we mostly used the Batobus (a hop on- hop off boat that travels up and down the Seine) and walked everywhere we wanted to go in Paris- including many museums (Louvre, D’Orsay, Rodin, L’Orangerie, Picasso, Pompidou, etc.), Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph, Champs Elysees, Gardens (Tuilleries, Luxemburg, etc.), Il St. Lous (Il de Cite, St. Chapelle, Notre Dame), Place de la Concorde, Latin Quarter, Place de Vosges, BHV Marais, Opera, etc. etc. The bus and metro were easy to access- across the street - though we preferred walking. In addition to all the above, Catherine had a binder of helpful information, recommended excursions, shopping, and places to eat and buy wine and cheese. Quite frankly, her binder was better than my Paris travel guidebook I had purchased. Her restaurant recommendations were absolutely outstanding and NOT known to most tourists. We had a great time sitting along the Seine with a bottle of wine, cheeses and baguette. The apartment was the perfect basecamp to be able to explore Paris and Catherine and Jeni made it all so easy and cozy. Perfect for families and up to 4 adults. Would rent again without question.

Our trip to Paris was wonderful - we stayed 15 nights and could have stayed longer. Yes this apartment is comfortable and can house 4-6 persons as there is a sliding door between the LR and the hallway. The apartment was as posted - a complete modern update of an old world early 1900's building. Each couple had just remodeled our homes and saw that the bathroom cabinets and handles and flooring were the same/had elements that we originally selected. My husband and I had organized the trip with a fellow classmate of mine from Barnard College, Columbia University and her husband a retired math dept chair from Georgia Tech who had not returned to Paris for nearly 50 years since his summer at Rouen when he was an undergraduate at Yale. Our 30 year old son was in Germany and Spain and joined us for two weekends. We had been returning to Paris every few years for a short week or less to the convenient and tourist centered Sorbonne and Tour Eiffel and Left Bank areas and found that this was much nicer to be in a true neighborhood. Montmartre is great to visit but just too crowded and the Champs de la Mar is isolated. This location in Bastille Marais is very much like it is in the Upper West Side near Columbia University ie W72-116 and the older NYC Chelsea or San Francisco out by the Richmond or Boston. It is not touristy and quite safe. There are many cafes and groceries but not many shops other than flooring and bathroom remodeling places until you walk to the Marais area. It was easy to walk to Notre Dame, Ile de St. Louis, the Jardin de Plantes, and even Place de Voges and Sacre Coeur. The small elevator worked perfectly every time. We had a washer-dryer and printer and internet and telephone and even a TV which we never watched. The owner is a world traveler and there are two walls of wonderful books you can read and there is an excellent personalized guide reference. Although we did not need it even baby high chairs and mats. The view of the Tour Eiffel twinkling 8p-midnight on the hour was charming almost every night when we had our glass of wine. The area is within walking distance of Quai de la Rapee and Bastille and Gare de Lyon metro stations. The stairs are fewer at Quai de la Rapee and it is less crowded. We discovered the convenience of the nearby buses 69/20/24/63 to Sacre Coeur, Louvre, D'Orsay, all the way to Tour Eiffel -Champs de la Mar once we could find that stops and the directions. The buses are slower but more relaxing and one can enjoy the ride to see the neighborhoods. There were three farmers markets - Aligre, Ledru-Rollin and Bastille and Carrefour and Monoprix plus terrific cafes open till midnight/2am even on a weekday. I still must return again to the Bastille farmers market for Coquilles St. Jacques - yes fresh scallops in their shell at a price more reasonable than London. Yes we did enjoy going out till almost midnight to Nuit Blanc and the Montmartre Wine Festival. We dined nearby at "A La Fragate" - a terrific seafood restaurant with souffle and the traditional brasserie Bofinger all within walking distance. Our son enjoyed Cafe de la Presse and Chez Papa all within blocks. We were next to La Maison Rouge museum which our Paris resident friends told us is a terrific contemporary museum and it is. The Paris Bastille opera is within blocks. We went out of town to Giverney -Rouen so did not get to enjoy every day in Paris so must of course return again and this apt is a wonderful and easy base. Our son who is half our age and we equally enjoyed being in this neighborhood.