We have, but it had 5 br. We really liked the Canal St martin neighborhood

Are you sure you want Paris?

I’ve stayed in the Canal St Martin area many times, and love and recommend it. An apartment in this area was my very first Airbnb experience in 2012 and it was AMAZING- really cool and beautiful. The owner and her husband were welcoming and just a delight; they invited me over for an apéro on several occasions when I came back to Paris.
This woman is now editor-in-chief of Marie Claire Idées! I’m in Paris right now, as it happens, and had a great stay at an Airbnb in the 19th. We loved the area. I love staying in and exploring different areas.

Why not Paris? I have been here for a week, and I wish it was three times longer, at least. There is so much to see and do, and day trips are quite easy from Paris. We are traveling to Lyon today, then Annecy, then home a week from today.

Personally it's no longer my fave European city, but also:

Paris has at least 60,000 Airbnb listings, while the number of properties available for long-term rentals has fallen by 73 per cent in the past three years, with a 50 per cent drop in 2023 alone, according to SeLoger, a residential lettings website.Feb 2, 2024

PS Total aside, but i watched a Homeworthy recently and the HO had framed butterflies, which I am suddenly seeing all over in those videos. His came from Deyrolles in Paris, a place I've never gotten to but should have! https://deyrolle.com/. My parents bought butterflies framed/pinned like these eons ago, wonder who has them. Good video too! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoOvCJpnIrU

Well yeah, we really want to go to Paris.

Even if the Airbnbs are more limited, many hotel chains have gotten the idea and are renting cute apartments (eg like Sonder in the states). Do you ever use booking.com? They often show not just hotels but all sorts of rentals. Bonne chance!

Thanks Mtn — have never used booking.com but I see a couple of nice apts within hotels there.

Side note, mtn: what is your fave european city?

In recent years Booking.com has been my go-to when I am looking for places to stay. They seem to have the most variety, and I really like the layout of their booking page. They do a great job of summarizing room options (with links to photos) and pricing options (cancellable or not, breakfast or not, etc.).

I also give them kudos for handling an issue we had in Medellin. We chose a cute hipster hotel and had non-refundable rates. We had 3 rooms, all had sliding glass doors with a balcony. The balcony was the width of a shoe, and it looked onto --- a cinderblock wall you could reach out and touch. It was otherwise clean and nice and I can't say I was ever guaranteed a view. But Booking.com refunded it all immediately and we moved elsewhere.

BRB on your other question.

Paris is my favorite city. I grant you permission to go😉. Hotel gal here, so I can’t help, but when youre ready, I’ll be here with restaurants, etc.

Am also going next Spring- solo for at least 10 days. Friends have offered to join and have been politely declined.

First, I didn't mean "are you sure you want to go to Paris?" I meant "are you sure you are choosing Paris or still considering because, in part, the Airbnb situation had changed there?"

And I didn't mean Paris is "not my favorite city," I meant Paris is not my favorite city. Not sure if any of that makes sense, LOL1

I feel as though Paris (and here I am talking about the most touristed arr.s) are now feeling more and more urban to me and suffering from those urban ills more. It feels dirtier with more petty crime and homelessness. I also felt that the food scene has deteriorated. Yes, of course, you can find some of the best food in the world. But for years I felt that you could stroll into almost any restaurant in Paris and have a very good meal. Now I feel that a very high % are tourist traps and quite mediocre. I feel these same things about NYC, too, for example.

That's not to say that I don't think everyone should see Paris at least once, and probably twice. Also, in thinking about my favorite European cities, I am not sure how many of them would hold your interest for two weeks. Spending two weeks in one spot is a different kind of trip (and sounds so nice, especially alone!).

All that said, some of my fave European cities, in no particular order. Prague (nice to combine with Vienna and Budapest). Madrid and Seville. Amsterdam. Istanbul.

Two different types of vacations: going or being.

I love that line, Spanish!

A friend of mine just left to go to Amsterdam for a month! Solo except for a one week visit from a friend. Not sure how I’d feel about a month alone but I do love a solo trip once in a while…not that I have done it much, but I would like to do it once a year, say.

Spanish, good thought. I think of this Paris trip as a being trip.

Meanwhile, we are visiting two of our other faves in just a few weeks: Venice and Geneva. Can’t wait. We are enjoying re-visiting places we have been to previously with kids. Such a different experience. Loved traveling with the kids but everything is easier with 2 versus 5 people!

Oh, i hear you. On one hand DH is always saying "who knows how much longer they will want to travel with us," let's take them and OTOH I am like "Wow, this is so easy with two people. Neither of us moody either!" 🙄

Hope your trip to Geneva and Venice is delightful! We expect your usual fine reportage upon your return.

Staying a while at any one place and living at a different pace than purely sightseeing is definitely a different mindset. Staying outside the most popular districts can open up a different experience. The Canal St. Martin is one with great restaurants and boutiques (with easy access to the adjacent upper Marais), but you can even go further afield into places like the 11eme. I would say that yes, Paris is suffering from some of the same issues that are plaguing other cities: homelessness, entrance of chains/commercialization, overtourism. It has gotten worse, but still not like the US. (We have a key to a friend's pied-a-terre in the Central Paris)

I have a recommendation that comes with the caveat that I’ve not booked a Paris apartment through them, but I recently came back from two weeks in one of their London apartments. Take a look at parisperfect.com I believe it’s a family-run operation that manages the rental of the individually-owned apartments. Some of the Paris properties are spectacular (and the prices might reflect that!) but there are apartments of all sizes available.

I had a great experience in London and wish they had been on my radar when I went to Paris five years ago. Good luck with your planning!