An Apartment in Paris

Cooper Paris Flats

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

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