Recommended Apartments in the 14th Arrondissement of Paris (Montparnasse)

A compact, practical studio for a couple, well equipped and at one of the saner prices on my lists. It sits right by the Montparnasse junction, and if you plan to combine Paris with trips out of town, that’s a real advantage: high-speed trains leave Montparnasse for Brittany, the Loire Valley and southwest France, so you don’t have to drag your suitcases across half the city on the morning you leave. Metro lines 4, 6, 12 and 13 meet at the station, which means you can also reach almost anywhere in Paris without changing trains. I’ve gathered the attractions in the 14th arrondissement on a separate page. Keep in mind that a studio is one room with no separation between the bedroom and the living room, so it’s for a couple and no more. I recommend it to a couple staying a few nights who will use the apartment mostly to sleep.

The apartment is near Rue de la Gaîté, and if you love theater as much as I do, you’ll see right away why that matters: this is the historic theater street of Montparnasse, and the Théâtre Montparnasse, Bobino and the Théâtre Rive Gauche are still open there today, a few minutes from each other. All around are the big Montparnasse brasseries, the ones that were home to Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920), Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) and Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) in the 1920s. The train station and the metro are a few minutes away. And that’s also the obvious drawback: a theater street is a nightlife street, and on weekend evenings it’s noisy until late. I recommend asking for a unit that faces the inner courtyard, and I wouldn’t skip that.

A fairly large apartment at a price you can’t get closer to the center, which makes it especially sensible for a big family that counts square meters rather than walking minutes. The area in the south of the 14th is quiet and truly residential: apartment buildings, neighborhood grocery stores and very few tourists, and that’s worth something after a day in the lines at the Louvre. From here it’s a few minutes by metro to Montparnasse, and from there to anywhere in the city. Good to know: the food market street of Rue Daguerre, one of the prettiest neighborhood markets in Paris, is in this arrondissement. Keep in mind that you’re far from the historic center and depend on the metro every time you go out, including on the way back at night. I recommend it to a big family coming for a week that weighs cost against space.