We had a very unpleasant experience with this company. The apt we rented was advertised with phone,…read morewifi, tv--none of which worked on arrival and it took three days to contact agency to get them fixed since we had no phone or internet and they were not in office during their office hours when we walked over. Further the apt was advertised as quiet but was on top of an all night bar. Plus, they said apt was equipped with toaster when it wasn't. Finally, in arranging the final 'inspection', they set a date and time, asked for confirmation, and then 'forgot' to come. All in all, we'd say skip this resource for apartments in Paris and try something else!

Those relying on travelling in France would be better served to avoid the SNCF railway. Choose…read moreanother carrier. SNCF is a confused, dysfunctional clown show. Our train stopped unexpectedly for 20 minutes. The delay caused a dozen passengers to all miss a connecting train to De-Gaulle (CDG) Airport. One would think a major train service would have a contingency plan for unexpected service failures, but not the case here. Finding an English speaker was a challenge, so they provided a greasy yard worker. He offered a bottle of water and said there was nothing he could do. We were on our own. Make enough noise for a management staffer, and finally 'Mr. Pepy" appears. Seems he is the CEO of SCNF. Like every clown show, there is a lead clown, and Pepy earned that title. He had no idea what to do. No answers, no solutions. What a way to run a company. He provided an inedible SNCF snack and told us were on our own. 'Wait overnight for the next train to GDG'. 12 customers all missing flights because of a dysfunctional railway and an incompetent boob in charge. Eventually, SNCF buckled in and provided train tickets to Paris, still not getting us any closer to the Airport. Suggestions for a van or a bus fell on deaf ears, and most were now facing an overnight stay. In fact, they couldn't even tell us the train platform. "look for a TV screen." Seems this attitude has permeated the country. Now, off to Paris, navigate the subways with full travel luggage, then the airport, purchase new plane tickets ($400 USD) and now 4 hours late to the destination. SNCF and Pepy get an "F" - find alternate transportation. Epilogue: Returning to the US, we submitted a refund claim via the SNCF website for the incomplete trip. True to SNCF form, our claim submitted in English received a French response advising we would receive a voucher for the incomplete trip that we could use anytime in the next year. Pathetic.

What's the best way to see paris for $2? On a bike!…read more One of my Paris highlights were this bikes! Though they may look clunky and hideous, they are great way to get you anywhere. After a couple days of walking everywhere my legs were dying. As much as I wanted to see everything paris had to offer my legs were telling me NO! Good thing we decided to try these bikes out because they saved our legs and took us to places faster than our two feet ever would. The website makes renting these bikes simple enough. You register online and pay with card and create a PIN. An email is sent to you with user numbers, that you'll need to enter in the kiosk to get a bike and don't forget your pin. As long as you return the bike to a station within 30 minutes you're guaranteed a $2 paris excursion all on two wheels. Most of the station are available on most popular areas and around the corners in big intersections. You can always rent the bike from the kiosk if you don't have time to register online. When you return your bike make sure to see a green light appear on your stand. If not, you can go to the main kiosk and troubleshoot from there. My light went orange in one instance because I shoved it in the wrong angle and the kiosk released it, so I could retry sliding it in. It was fun biking around like a local because even the locals use them. It was super scary biking on crowded roads with cars, but compared to America, french drivers are totally aware of their surroundings. The insurance you have with these bikes are they are heavy and big enough to keep you stable and withstand a lot of beatings. The fenders on the bike also come in handy for those spontaneous mother nature drizzles.

Velib was super easy to use. I bought a 1-day use ONLINE for $1.70 euro or $2.12 USD. (The first 30…read moreminutes of each bike use is free and then you get billed 1 euro for every 30 additional minutes.) After buying online, it was super easy. All I had to do was enter in my account number, which was sent to me in my confirmation email, enter the PIN number I created online and then select the bike number I was going to use. Done! Most of the bikes are in good shape with quick release seat, bike light, bike lock etc but a few needed a quick tune-up. If you find yourself returning your bike to a full station, you can enter your PIN number into the machine and you get 15 minutes to find another nearby station. What is amazing is that there are over 20,000 "community" Velib bikes across 1,500 different stations that are located all over Paris! There is even a smartphone app that you can use to find out where the closest Velib station is at so you can return the bike and which station has available bikes to use. It was a great way for us to see Paris from a different perspective. Most of my friends that saw our Paris pictures said, "Wow, that's so cool that you rode bikes in Paris."