The Paris arrondissements – the secret to finding your perfect Paris property…
When you live in Paris, life revolves around your arrondissement, the title given to the districts of the city. If you’re thinking of moving to Paris you need to know your escargot as Parisians nickname the snail-like layout of Paris’s twenty districts, known as arrondissements.
The Paris arrondissements – a series of villages
When you live in in Paris, whether full time or part time, understanding the arrondissements is essential. Arrondissement number 1 is in the centre, that’s where you’ll find some of the biggest landmarks, the Louvre Museum and the Arc de Triomphe for instance. Then the arrondissements spiral out in a loop until they reach the 20th – Belleville, a former working-class district and one of the greenest spaces of Paris, which in parts has a villagey feel.
Each arrondissement has its own distinct character, Paris is like a series of villages in a way and Parisians think of their city in this way. The best way to really know a place in Paris is to experience it, check out where the metro stations are, people watch at the local café, wander the streets, the squares and parks, and take a look at the restaurants and shops – that way you’ll really know which arrondissement is best for you.
Where would you live?
The 7th, AKA Palais Bourbon district, is where you’ll find the Eiffel Tower, excellent metro connections, local boulangeries and a lovely street market in rue Cler. The neighboring Vaugirard district, the 16th, has wide leafy avenues. The 1st arrondissement is the most touristic, home to the Louvre, wide avenues, monumental architecture and major attractions. The 2nd arrondissement is more compact with narrower streets. The 5th, known as the Latin Quarter, is one of the oldest parts of Paris. The 12th, between Marché d’Aligre and Bastille, has a village-like neighborhood but with excellent amenities including Gare de Lyon from where trains head south, Bercy from where trains head to Burgundy and beyond.
The Latin Quarter neighbors the Marais district, which straddles the 3rd and 4th arrondissement, two of the most charming districts in Paris.
In the Marais you’ll find the Marché Enfants Rouge, at around 400 years old it’s the oldest market in Paris and named for a former orphanage on the site where orphans wore distinctive red-colored clothes so they could be identified. Nearby streets have wonderful food shops selling distinctive chocolates, caviar, baked goods, cheeses, and more. You can find charming places that still sell wine and olive oil from a barrel that you can put in your own containers and take home, and shops with vintage signage painted directly on the front of the building, selling seeds and spices and all sorts.
Everyone has their own idea of what works best for them – though a classic Haussmann-style apartment in an area of art galleries, within walking distance of a park so that you can take a bracing jog at the start of the day and unwind in the evening, close to a metro station and all the sights, is certainly the dream of most.
One thing is for sure, Paris property is expensive. But there is a way to have your cake and eat it, as a famous French queen once said! Fractional ownership.
Fractional ownership Paris
Pied-a-Paris offers fractional ownership in a gorgeous Haussmannian property in an iconic neighborhood in a quintessential Parisian district from which you can walk to all the famous sights, to a park, and the metro is minutes away. You buy a share in the two-bedroom, magnificently decorated, fully furnished apartment for a fraction of the price, with all the admin and housekeeping taken care of. And Pied-a-Paris’ fractional ownership costs are much more affordable than many we’ve seen in Paris – about the same as 5 nights at the Ritz in Paris in the Coco Channel suite!
You can find out more about owning your own piece of Paris in the most beautiful arrondissement at: pied-a-paris.com
