My family (minus one) and I recently took a trip to Paris! We had a lot of fun, and I thought I would break down the experience into three parts. (Part 1, Part 2)

Paris

Easy Go Shuttle:

We used Easy Go Shuttle for a Paris City Tour and transfers from CDG to Paris hotel, from Paris hotel to Disney hotels (our party was split into two hotels on the first night due to lack of space at the preferred hotel), and from Disney hotel to CDG.

I can’t imagine trying to navigate the Paris subway system (or streets, for that matter) with luggage and a stroller, as there are no elevators and few escalators down to the subway platforms. Taxis would have been prohibitively expensive. Easy Go was prompt (15 minutes early every time) and efficient. The drivers navigated the confusing and busy streets with ease.

They provided a car seat for free, even though infants are not required to be in a car seat in a professionally driven car in France.

They do require CASH ONLY at time of use, but as long as you know this in advance (they do mention it), it’s easy to budget for it.

They email 24 hours in advance to remind you of the time they will pick you up, which is nice. They ask for a phone number to contact you…we didn’t have a phone, but that didn’t seem to be a problem. You might be able to give your hotel’s number? I’m not sure.

Paris City Tour

The Tour from Easy Go Shuttle (we requested 4 hours) was incredible – the driver stopped directly in front of every major attraction, and took pictures of all of us in front of them. He also gave us little tips of things to notice, like the shop section behind Montmartre that we would never have seen if he hadn’t pointed it out.

I would recommend at least 5-6 hours for the tour, if you want to see some of the lesser known gems of the city, and to start at 9-10 am to avoid rush hour on weekdays.

Things to note: they do not provide entrance to any of the attractions. Since we were only on a 4 hour tour, it would have taken way too long to wait in line to get into any of the places. So we saw the outside of a bunch of places instead, and took a little extra time in Montmartre because it was the end of the tour.

Appart’City Clichy Mairie:

Location: directly across the street from a Casino Brand grocery store (I highly recommend the store brand products!), a half block away from the subway blue line, a cute kid’s French bookstore (La Petite Librairie) just around the corner, great bakeries in any direction. 5/5

Room: we stayed in the 3-room accommodation, as we were 4 adults and one toddler. We were on the 6th floor, and had a humongous balcony (if it had been warmer, we would have pulled the dining room table out onto it to eat dinner) and could see quite the distance. If we leaned over the side, we could see Sacre Coeur!

They brought the crib up within minutes of our arrival and set it up for us, and provided a Strawberry Shortcake balloon (life sized!), which equally fascinated, terrified, and excited the toddler.

The carpets were dingy and didn’t feel clean (and the toddler kept picking up dirt from it, so that was gross), and there were some pretty big stains/burn marks in one spot in the living room. The bathroom had some mould near the bathtub (probably from the shower dripping onto the floor). The furniture was dated, but usable.

It included a tiny stove-top, kitchen sink, fridge (full sized in Europe), a tiny dishwasher, and all the dishes needed.

They provide you with very little dish soap, and you have to pay for more – go to the grocery store across the street to get more, and you’ll pay less for it. We were also given a dish towel.

There was only one garbage can in the entire space, which was odd to us, but we managed by rigging up a diaper bag disposal in our room. You have to bring the garbage bag down to the garbage room yourself (nbd). The hotel staff are not going to enter your room until you leave unless you pay extra for them to come and clean your room. (I mention this because I saw reviews of people being annoyed that they don’t clean the rooms or take away the garbage. It specifically mentions that they don’t in their policies.)

WiFi was inconsistent, but functioned well enough that we were able to watch Netflix at night. It seemed to depend on the device being used – my cell phone lost signal maybe once the entire 4 days we were there, same with my husband’s laptop. But my mother’s laptop was constantly losing signal. I blame the age of the device. 😛

There is laundry in the basement (we didn’t use it) but we did go look at it. There are 2 washers and one dryer. I think the cost was 4.50 EUR/wash, and 2 EUR/dry.

We were given more than enough towels in the bathroom, which was really nice. We had a bit of an issue with the shower spraying onto the floor, but we managed to figure out a method with the shower door that limited the spray. (I think this is a “us” issue, not a “hotel” issue.)

We didn’t partake of the breakfast, but it was 8.50 EUR pp.

We didn’t see any bugs, and we checked, because of the toddler. 4/5 (lost one star because of the carpet grossness)

Beds: possibly more comfortable than my own. 5/5

Staff: very friendly and helpful. A bit of a language barrier with some of them, but it worked out eventually. They suggested an architecture walking tour of Clichy that we enjoyed, but wished there had been more information about the buildings we were looking at included on the map. 5/5

Note: not very accessible for people with mobility issues. Tub was very high to step into, toilet room was not big enough for a rollator, and the main door into the room was very heavy (pushed inwards into apartment, lip at doorway). Plenty of space for a rollator in the main part of the apartment, and the bedrooms were pretty spacious as well.

Are you interested in travelling to Paris? You can contact Jennifer Desmarais through Orleans Travel. jennifer.desmarais@orleanstravel.ca