I booked an apartment through centreparis.com for my first time trip to Paris for 10 days. Before sending the deposit over I came across some articles saying the nearby area used to be red light zone. Should I be concerned?
I am wondering if anybody has stayed in this area and could share your experience? Since this is our first trip to Paris, safety will be first priority. Thanks much!
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I%26#39;m looking in my Michelin Paris Par Arrondissements and don%26#39;t see a rue du Carie at all. I looked in my Streetwise and don%26#39;t see it there either. Can you check the spelling?
Most of the 2nd is just fine though. I might avoid walking around Les Halles at night, not because it%26#39;s terribly unsafe, but gaggles of teenagers hang there and it makes me uncomfortable.
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We stayed at a Centreparis apartment in May, not far from where yours is (rue Aboukir), and we loved staying in the 2nd arrondissement. While it%26#39;s true that rue St. Denis does have prostitutes in the evening, we didn%26#39;t feel unsafe at all walking down the street. As you get to the lower St. Denis area, it%26#39;s a bit grittier towards Les Halles with many sex shops, peep shows etc.
Having said that, you don%26#39;t have to take rue St. Denis to get to your apartment. The area is mostly a garment district with many wholesale women%26#39;s clothing stores. A few streets over is the wonderful rue Montorgueil that has fabulous bakeries, cheese shops, fruit markets etc.
I wouldn%26#39;t worry about staying in that area at all. We quite liked the fact that we were living among the locals, it wasn%26#39;t overrun with tourists, and you could walk to so many sights.
If there are any other questions I can help with, feel free to PM me.
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Happygoin, I think the OP meant rue du Caire.
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WOW! Thank you so much for your prompt responses! It is helpful! Yes, I mean Rue du Caire.
Since we are also offered another shared apartment very closed to Montparnasse station (boundary of district 7 and 8) by another agent with lower price, it%26#39;s kinda hard for me to make the decision. It seems very convenient and lots tourists around the Montparnasse area (so it is safer? maybe I am wrong) but it may be a little bit far from attractions and we have to share the apartment with owner. So, if I don%26#39;t mind sharing, will the Montparnasse area be a better choice?
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Personally, I would stick with the 2nd. The area is still quite safe. As I said, there are prostitutes on rue St. Denis, but these women don%26#39;t approach you, they are just standing there waiting to be approached. They aren%26#39;t aggressive, didn%26#39;t appear to be strung out on drugs or anything. Really, I wouldn%26#39;t hesitate to stay in that area again.
You can walk from your apartment easily down to the Seine, across to Notre Dame, over to the Marais, to the Louvre, to the Opera, and countless other sites. We didn%26#39;t use the metro at all except to take the RER from the airport.
I have not stayed in the Montparnasse area before, but I believe the location in the 2nd arrondissement will be much more central.
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Don%26#39;t worry about the prostitutes. They are grown-up, well-fed women - not skinny,miserable drug-wrecks as you amy see in other big cities. Treat these ladies respectfully: they earn their living in the toughest possible way.
Rue du Caire is fine, filled with clothes-and-accessories shops. You can see some pictures here: (scroll down) http://tinyurl.com/km2qog
p.s. there are no unsafe areas in central Paris.
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amy = may
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Dear tripsan...I too have stayed on rue d%26#39;Aboukir near rue de Care and found it a perfectly respectable area. As others have said working girls are to be found on rue st Dennis and around the Strasbourg St Dennis Metro but if I had not been told I would not have noticed them. It is not as seedy as (I feel) the Pigalle area.
This is my favourite area in Paris. Feels real. Lots of ordinary French people going about their daily business. There are tourists of course but not as many as in the 4th, 5h and 6th. It is very accessible for everywhere. As has been said, rue Montorguiel and you can walk to the river. Even in the gardens outside Les Halles in the summer evenings last year I did not feel unsafe. There was no evidence of the gangs of youths I had heard about or drug dealing . I wondered if they had been moved on by the powers that be.
Denise
love from england
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