Recommended Apartments in the 1st Arrondissement of Paris (the Louvre and Les Halles)

The apartment sits on Rue Étienne Marcel, a few steps from Les Halles, and its 40 square meters (about 430 square feet) are divided the right way: a separate bedroom, a living room and a fully equipped kitchen with a microwave and a coffee machine. The building has an elevator, a detail that sounds minor until you’re dragging a suitcase at one in the morning. Les Halles metro station is 200 meters away, and Châtelet is about a five-minute walk. Note that there is no front desk here: you get in with a digital code through the app, and strict quiet rules apply after 10 p.m. I recommend doing your breakfast shopping on nearby Rue Montorgueil, because that’s exactly what an apartment gives you and a hotel doesn’t.

An attic studio in an old building on Rue Saint-Honoré, with antique furniture, a fireplace and the feel of a real Parisian apartment rather than a rental unit. The kitchenette has an oven, a microwave and a toaster, and the bathroom has a tub. The building has an elevator and a place to store luggage, and the Tuileries Garden is only a six-minute walk away. The owner even offers bike rental. Keep in mind that this is a studio in every sense of the word, meaning one space that does everything, so it suits a couple better than three people. I especially recommend it to anyone coming to Paris for the second time who wants to feel like a local and not a tourist.

At 8 Rue de Richelieu, in a 1908 building with an Art Nouveau facade decorated with sculptures and balconies, there are 51 suites ranging from 27 to 40 square meters (about 290 to 430 square feet). Each one is a proper apartment: a kitchenette with a dishwasher and a washing machine, plus a gym that’s open around the clock and a breakfast buffet. The front desk is staffed 24 hours a day, which is a real advantage when your flight lands at midnight. The building is right next to the Palais-Royal and the Comédie-Française theater, and the metro station is two minutes away. Note that prices are at five-star level, and an extra bed can’t be added to a suite. I recommend the Royale suite for anyone willing to pay for a balcony overlooking the theater.

A small apartment building near the Palais-Royal, offering 12 to 14 square meter studios for a couple and 23 square meter apartments (about 250 square feet) that can sleep four. The location is the story here, right between the Louvre and the Palais Garnier, and the price is much lower than any hotel in the area. But let’s say it plainly: there is no staff on site, you get in with a code sent in advance, and some of the units face an inner courtyard and get very little natural light. I recommend checking with the host which way your unit faces, and saving their phone number before you land. If you want someone to walk you through check-in, you’ll prefer another place.

A compact studio on the little street named after the church right next to the Louvre, so you walk out the door straight into the east courtyard of the most famous museum in the world. The building is run by the same WS chain that operates several similar studios on the street, all with a small kitchenette and air conditioning. It’s a practical choice for a couple who wants to save walking time to the museums without paying for a luxury hotel. The shops and restaurants of Rue de Rivoli are a few minutes away. Good to know: the windows face a busy street, so if you’re sensitive to noise, bring earplugs.

A building of renovated studios on Rue Saint-Honoré, right between the Louvre and the Opéra, owned by the same WS chain that runs several similar buildings in the arrondissement. The basic studio is small but functional, with a kitchenette and air conditioning, and it mainly suits a couple looking for a convenient base for wandering the city. The big plus is the number of reviews: over two thousand, which gives a fairly reliable picture of what to expect. Nearby you’ll find Place Vendôme and the grand avenues that lead to it. The entrance is not always staffed around the clock, which suits people who prefer privacy over a staffed front desk.

The upscale version of the same building on Rue Saint-Honoré, with a separate bedroom instead of an open studio, new furniture and a higher level of finish. The very high guest score, over nine, reflects the attention to small details: quality bedding, a better-equipped kitchen, and sometimes a view of an inner courtyard that is fairly quiet compared with the street. The location is the same as the chain’s regular units, meaning close to the Louvre and Place Vendôme. Good to know: this is a fairly new category, so the number of reviews is still modest compared with the regular units in the same building.

Another building of the same WS chain, on Rue Saint-Florentin, a short walk from Place de la Concorde and the Tuileries Garden. Besides the regular studios, there’s also an apartment with two separate rooms, a double bed and a single bed, which mainly suits two adults who want a bit more privacy than an open studio. The high number of reviews for the building, close to seven hundred, gives a stable picture of its consistent standard. It’s the same chain that runs the Saint-Honoré and Saint-Roch buildings on this page, so if you’re after a consistent level of service, you can compare the three buildings in the same neighborhood. Good to know: the two-room apartment is meant for three guests only, not four.

More studio apartments from the WS chain, on Rue du Louvre itself, right across from the north corner of the museum. The location is considered one of the closest in the chain, within walking distance of the Tuileries Garden and Rue de Rivoli. As with the chain’s other units, these are compact studios with a double bed, a small kitchenette and air conditioning, mainly suited to a short stay of a few days in the heart of old Paris. Over two hundred reviews have been collected for this building, fewer than its busier siblings on the street, which points to a location people really want. Good to know: here too it’s an open studio without a separate room.

If you’re coming with kids and planning a day at Disneyland Paris, this is probably the right address in the arrondissement. The apartments on Rue des Halles range from a 21 square meter studio to a 38 square meter one-bedroom (about 225 to 410 square feet), all air-conditioned, with a full kitchen and soundproof windows, and the building has an elevator. Châtelet metro station is 60 meters away and serves five lines, and the RER station with direct trains to Disneyland and the airport is 300 meters away. You get in with a personal code rather than at a front desk, and luggage can be left only until 4 p.m. I recommend asking for a unit on a high floor and not on the ground floor.

A 30 square meter apartment (about 320 square feet) on Rue Pierre Lescot, with a bedroom, a living room, a fireplace and an equipped kitchen that includes a coffee machine. It faces an inner courtyard, so it’s unusually quiet for one of the busiest areas in Paris. Étienne Marcel metro station is around the corner, and the Centre Pompidou is a six-minute walk away. And here’s a point you have to factor in before you book: you can’t arrive after 7 p.m., and between 7 and 7:30 p.m. there’s an extra charge. If your flight lands in the evening, that can be a real obstacle. I recommend it to anyone arriving on a morning or midday flight who can make that window.

The apartment sits on Rue de l’Amiral de Coligny, right across from the Louvre. It has a separate bedroom, a living room, wood floors and an equipped kitchen, plus large arched windows that fill it with natural light all day long. Pont Neuf and Louvre-Rivoli metro stations are a two-minute walk away, and the bridges of the Seine start just across the road. Note that this street is a main traffic artery and not a quiet lane, and that here too you get in through an app, with no front desk. I recommend asking for a unit that doesn’t face the street directly.

At 200 Rue Saint-Honoré, two hundred meters from the Louvre, there’s a 35 square meter apartment (about 375 square feet) with a bedroom, a sofa bed, parquet floors and a kitchen with a dishwasher and a washing machine. Palais Royal metro station is 400 meters away, and Rue de Rivoli with all its shops starts around the corner. The price is fairly reasonable for this location, and there are two reasons for that: the building has no elevator, and four people in an apartment like this will be squeezed. I recommend it for a couple or for parents with one child. The host opens dates only a few months ahead, so it’s worth checking back even if you didn’t find availability the first time.

A private one-bedroom apartment on Rue Saint-Honoré, a short walk from the Louvre and Place Vendôme. Unlike the big chains in the area, this is a single owner who knows the property inside out, and it shows in the high guest score. The living room has a sofa bed that lets it sleep up to four guests, a good solution for a small family or two couples who don’t mind less privacy. A fully equipped kitchen lets you cook instead of relying only on restaurants. The shops of Rue de Rivoli and the metro station are minutes away. Good to know: the split between the bedroom and the sofa bed in the living room doesn’t give full privacy to two parties sleeping there at the same time.

A one-bedroom apartment on Rue Saint-Denis, in the heart of the Les Halles area, which over the last decade has become one of the liveliest spots in central Paris. The apartment has a sofa bed in the living room that brings it up to four guests, ideal for a small family that wants to save money by cooking in the equipped kitchen. The location gives you quick access to Châtelet, one of the most important hubs of the Paris metro, and the Centre Pompidou is within walking distance. Rue Saint-Denis itself can get lively and loud at night, so not everyone will find perfect quiet here, but if you like living in a busy area, this is exactly the place.

A fairly quiet apartment on a small side street called Rue Saint-Hyacinthe, within walking distance of the neat gardens of the Palais-Royal. The name already tells the story: an apartment meant for four guests, with a large double bed and a sofa bed in the living room. The high score for a fairly small number of reviews hints at a place the crowds haven’t discovered yet, so if you want to get there before the average tourist, here’s your chance. The building itself is quiet, with no main street below it, which is rare in the historic heart of Paris.

Two buildings on either side of Rue de l’Arbre Sec, a quiet one-way street two minutes’ walk from the Louvre, hold 16 serviced apartments between them. They have central air conditioning, a washing machine, fiber internet and an elevator, and on the ground floor of one of the buildings there’s a reception office open Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Outside those hours there’s phone support and self check-in. Note that checkout is at 10 a.m., which is fairly early, and daily cleaning costs extra. I recommend the renovated units in building 44, which overlook the street and not the inner courtyard. The other sights in the area are gathered on the 1st arrondissement attractions page.

The Citadines chain is a safe bet, and that’s exactly its strength. On Rue des Innocents there are 189 studios and one-bedroom apartments from 21 to 54 square meters (about 225 to 580 square feet), all air-conditioned, with a kitchen that includes an induction cooktop and a dishwasher, and a TV that lets you stream from your own accounts back home. The front desk is staffed 24 hours, there’s a gym, and the lobby offers free coffee and water. Châtelet-Les Halles station is 200 meters away. The price of this perfect location is that the building sits above the largest underground transit hub in Europe, and every now and then you hear a train passing below. I recommend asking for a unit on as high a floor as possible.

A three-bedroom apartment on Rue Pierre Lescot that sleeps up to eight people, which is almost impossible to find in central Paris. It has high windows, marble-clad fireplaces, vintage patterned wallpaper and a play corner for kids, along with a fully equipped kitchen that really lets you cook for everyone and not just reheat. The Les Halles area, with all its shops and transportation, is around the corner. Note that the building has no elevator, which matters when you’re a group with lots of suitcases, and that here too there’s no front desk. I recommend it for two families traveling together who want to share the cost (and the kitchen).

This is the apartment I like most on this list, and not because of its size. It’s in a hôtel particulier from 1700 that is listed as a Monument historique, meaning a building protected by law, and it has chandeliers, wood floors and a stone fireplace. The antique furniture is combined with fully modern equipment, including fiber internet. Châtelet metro station is 280 meters away, and the Louvre is four hundred meters from there. And now the important warning: the apartment is on the third floor of the building on the right side of the courtyard, and you can reach it by stairs only. I recommend it to anyone who comes to soak up Paris, and less so to anyone arriving with a baby stroller.