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An Apartment in Paris

Cooper Paris Flats

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ABOVE: The living room of our temporary one-bedroom home away from home on the Île de la Cité.


When you're staying in Paris for a week or longer, an apartment can be cheaper and more convenient than a hotel. Even if the price is the same, you'll typically get more space for your money--plus a kitchen and the fantasy of living as a Parisian with a foreign accent.

During a visit to Paris with our 18-year-old son, we booked a one-bedroom apartment through Cooper Paris Flats. Our landlord was Glenn Cooper, an American who has lived in Paris since 1991 and owns or manages more than two dozen apartments in central Paris. (See our sidebar on An American in Paris: Glenn Cooper.)

After studying the listings on Glenn's Web site, we chose Rue Chanoinesse 2, a one-bedroom apartment on the Île de la Cité near the cathedral of Nôtre-Dame. (We got the bedroom; our son was given the convertible sofa in the living room.)

Reserving the apartment

Booking the flat was more complicated than reserving a hotel room, but not onerously so: At the time of booking, half of the rental amount was charged as a deposit to our credit card, and we were asked to fax a signed copy of the rental agreement to Abby Cooper, Glenn's mother and the U.S. representative of Cooper Paris Flats, in New York. The second half of the payment was due a month before our arrival. (We would have received 90% of our deposit back if we'd canceled earlier than a month before the rental date.)

After we'd made our second payment by credit card, we received a detailed e-mail from Glenn Cooper's Paris office with arrival tips and instructions on how to pick up our keys to the apartment.

Next page: Arrival and check-in


An Apartment in Paris:
Introduction
Arrival and Check-in
Our Apartment
Advice for Renters
Our Landlord: Glenn Cooper

About the author:

Durant Imboden photo.Durant Imboden is a professional travel writer, book author, and editor who focuses on European cities and transportation.

After 4-1/2 years of covering European travel topics for About.com, Durant and Cheryl Imboden co-founded Europe for Visitors (including Paris for Visitors) in 2001. The site has earned "Best of the Web" honors from Forbes and The Washington Post.

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