Luxury Art Deco Splendor--Paris 17e (Batignolles)

Description from the owner

Imagine enjoying your own private retreat in the heart of Paris--a place you can relax after every thrilling, but exhausting day of visiting museums and palaces, of strolling along grand boulevards and threading through medieval passageways, and of indulging in too much shopping and eating. Envision a place with no grumpy desk clerk or housekeepers who wake you up too early.

At nearly 51 square meters (550 square feet), the apartment is spacious by Parisian standards and can comfortably accommodate up to four adult guests. A fine collection of original Art Deco furniture and accessories from the 1920's and 1930's is supplemented with... modern upholstered pieces, bedding and hi-tech appliances. The walls are decorated with a growing assembly of original early- to mid-20th century paintings of Paris landmarks. A private balcony, stretching along the full width of the apartment, is an ideal spot for people-watching, enjoying a simple meal, reading a book in the sunshine or sipping a flute of champagne before dinner.

The sun-filled living room is a welcoming spot for relaxing or entertaining. It accommodates a generously-sized seating area, a dining area and a fully-equipped computer work area. A laptop is computer is provided, and guests are welcome to bring their own computer for use with our unlimited WiFi. A WiFi color printer/copier/scanner/fax is also available. Rainy days are made more tolerable with HD TV, pay-per-view videos and video gaming.

The apartment's private areas show equal attention to elegance and convenience. The bedroom, larger than most Parisian hotel rooms and furnished with the finest quality bedding, is a restful spot to gaze out over the rooftops and plan the day's adventures. Sophisticated Italian stone tiles, natural lighting and a glass-walled, double-size walk-in shower contribute to the calming spa-like atmosphere of the bathroom.

The large, professionally-designed kitchen is furnished with the latest high-efficiency appliances to make cooking and cleaning tasks a pleasure. The space easily accommodates the preparation of a gourmet meal as you watch the lights atop the Eiffel Tower trace a path across the night sky. A dinner party of eight? No problem!

We can supply additional services that will make your stay in Paris truly memorable. Just about anything is achievable with sufficient advance planning--private airport transportation, cooking or wine classes, gourmet treat or luxury bath baskets, dinner reservations, theatre tickets, weekly cleaning services, etc. We encourage you to let us know what you desire to make your stay as enjoyable as possible.

Living in our vacation apartment will allow you to discover a side of Paris you've never experienced before, even if you've been a frequent visitor. Set away from the most touristy areas, our neighborhood is a place where the Parisians you'll encounter every day are those who are on their way to work, escorting their children to school, relaxing in the park, or chatting with the local merchants. It's a wonderful "villagey" atmosphere all within 15-20 minutes of nearly every major tourist sight. It's a place where the Parisians you encounter every day are those who are on their way to work, escorting their children to school, relaxing in the park, or chatting with a neighbor. You'll find them to be friendly, helpful and genuinely pleased to see you enjoying their neighborhood!Read more

Additional Location Information

An ideal day in Batignolles begins with the simplest of pleasures--a perfect pastry and strong coffee enjoyed at the marble and iron bistro table on our private balcony. Even more so than most Parisians, we Batignollais are spoiled when it comes to bread and pastry. The two bakeries closest to the apartment are consecutive winners of the highly-competitive "Best Baguette in Paris" award, each enjoying the exclusive right for a year to furnish baked goods to the President at the Elysée Palace. Choosing between Pierre's almond-pistachio-chocolate croissants or Laurent's raisin-and-custard pinwheels is a daily burden!

Batignolles is compact and ideally explored on foot. The main streets of the neighborhood--rue des Batignolles, rue des Moines, rue de Lévis, and rue des Dames--are lined with bakers, antiques dealers, florists, perfumers, cobblers and nearly every other specialized occupation you can imagine. The people of Batignolles are warm and friendly. Within a day or two, you'll be greeted by familiar smiles accompanied by the characteristic singsong "Bonjour!"

The Square des Batignolles is perfect for a mid-morning rest. The neighborhood's grand park was part of Napoléon III's plan to beautify Paris. More than 150 years later, it's still the largest green space in the arrondissement and is one of the most impressive parks in all of Paris. Designed in the English naturalistic style, the Square des Batignolles features a fish pond fed by a rushing stream that emanating from a outcrop of craggy rocks. Flocks of wild birds, including several rare species of swans, make their homes alongside the pond. The plantings are elegantly understated and include an important collection of majestic old trees including the only giant California redwood. Children especially enjoy the park's playgrounds, antique carousel and ice cream vendors, while adults busy themselves with seriously cut-throat games of pétanque. You can join in, if you dare.

Visit some of the craftsmen's shops and artists' studios in the neighborhood or stop at specialist merchants to purchase wild honey, rare goat's cheese from the high reaches of the French Alps, or handcrafted chocolates filled with basil ganache. Once you've worked up an appetite, there's a choice of cafés and bistros in the neighborhood ranging from corner take-out stands to fine Michelin-starred restaurants.

A sunny afternoon is perfectly suited to adventures further afield. Montmartre lies just to the east. This tallest hill in Paris, best known as the site of the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur, is one of the city's quirkiest neighborhoods. Time seems frozen in the era of Toulouse-Lautrec in the back streets, while the main thoroughfares are filled with tourists and tacky souvenir shops. The neighborhood has countless wonderful cafés and restaurants, artists' studios, bookstores, museums, historic cemeteries, windmills, and Paris' only remaining working vineyard.

The experience of shopping can't be duplicated anywhere else in the world. Using Batignolles as a base, most of the world's greatest department stores, jewelers and couture houses are a short walk or Métro ride away. The grand old department stores, Galeries Lafayette and Printemps, anchor the area just north of the Opéra, while the store windows just to the south display a king's ransom in jewels by Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Bulgari, Mikimoto, Boucheron and others. Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré and rue Montaigne house Dior, Gucci, Balenciaga, Hermès, Chanel and the like. The warren of streets around rue Drouot and rue de la Grange Batelière are filled with innumerable antiques shops clustered near the famed Drouot auction rooms.

Paris is home to more than a few famous museums, but many or her treasures are collected in exquisite lesser-known museums arranged around the periphery of Batignolles. Le Musée Cernuschi, le Musée Jacquemart-André and le Musée National Jean-Jacques Henner are all worth a visit, while the extraordinary collections and tragic story behind le Musée Nissim de Camondo should place it on every visitor's "must see" list. For lovers of quirkier collections, le Musée de la Vie Romantique, le Musée de la Parfumerie Fragonard, le Musée d'Eroticisme or l'Espace Salvador Dali might just fit the bill.

Surprisingly, Batignolles is just a few blocks from the all-night adult fun area stretching from place de Clichy to place Pigalle. Here you'll find the brightly-lit spinning windmill of the Moulin Rouge. More tacky and innocent than threatening, Paris' historic adult playground hosts innumerable restaurants, bars, nightclubs and cafés always ready to cater to the hordes of tourists bent on staying out until dawn.

As you walk back to the apartment and watch the neighborhood grow ever more quiet and intimate, you'll be more amazed than ever before that such as hidden jewel as Batignolles can still exist in the heart of legendary Paris!

Location Type Away from it all, City, Village

Rental fees

What Past Guests Are Saying

• Luc and Jeffrey
  Ottawa, Ontario

  Better than home!

  Left on 05/16/2011 for a stay in March 2010
  
  

  The neighbourhood or the apartment? We can decide what give us more pleasure. Your sophisticated apartment had everything we could possibly desire and the Welcome Book, which we refer to as that Magic Book; allow us to feel at home and help us discovered places we would have never found.
  In comparison with other Parisian apartments we have rented yours is by far the best.
  The kitchen was well equipment with modern appliances and everything we needed, there were lots of clean fresh linen and towels, and even the bathroom was comfortable. Your good taste in decoration give the apartment the feel of a 5 stars hotel. We also found very useful the Paris tourist guides in the bookshelves. Every morning we took our coffee on the balcony and it did felt like we were Parisians. One can dream!
  What we enjoyed the most was to be in a part of Paris with less tourists, where we could experience a more authentic Parisian life and at the same time have the center just nearby. The Batignolles square has become one of our favourite destinations, park, we now understand what the French called promenade. We can't wait to return next year.
  
  

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