Moving to Paris for 6 months... Post Reply

[Chantal2011]

Hi all,

My husband's job is being moved to Paris for six months from June this year. We have two little ones aged 3 and 1. Does anybody have experience of any good billingual nurseries in the city? Indeed, where in the city would be a family-friendly place to live? Doesn't have to be super central, but would need good transport links.

Any ideas very gratefully received!

Thanks in advance. x

[balhamite]

Wow, that's really exciting! We did a similar thing recently and moved out there for a year with our kids who were then 4 and 2. It was amazing and we had a super year.

If it's only 6 months I would totally advise you to live centrally. It is much more normal for families to do that in Paris than in London and despite initially apoearances we found central Paris to be pretty child friendly. We lived in the 15th which I would totally recommend.

As for nurseries, I know lots of bilingual ones in the 15th but the 6 month thing might be tricky and most close for a couple of months over summer. Are you getting help from a relocation agent?

Best advise I can give is to join message. http://www.messageparis.org/public_website/ an English speaking mums group which is very active. Once you join you can access their online forum which is very like this one.

Anyway, feel free to pm me with any questions

[monaco]

Paris is very different from London where areas are so extended. You can pretty much live in any of the 20 arrondissements and get to the other end of Paris "intra muros" in 30 minutes by tube.

Agree that for six months, you should ideally stay between the 1st and 15th arrondissements, with 13 and 14 sometimes being a bit less well connected in terms of tube lines.

Areas that are popular with families are
- the 15th arrondissement indeed (this is also where I lived)
- the 9th arrondissement (Saint George)
- the 10th and 11th (République, Bastille and in particular close to Canal Saint Martin)

If budget allows, the Marais (3rd and 4th, especially near Montorgueil) or the 6th and 7th (Saint Germain) and the 16th are fab.

I have a post on my site about what to do for families and restaurants recommended by my friends (I am French and lived in Paris for 15 years but moved here 12 years ago). Just search for "paris" in the search bar at the top.

Enjoy!

[Chantal2011]

Hi both,

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply. This is all very helpful indeed.

Will take a proper read and may well come back with one or two more questions!

Thanks again!