We stayed in the apartment for 9 nights in late September of 2025.
First and foremost you couldn't ask for a better neighborhood. Place d'Aligre includes one of the city's largest outdoor markets and an indoor market as well (both open 6 days a week). There are many eateries and food shops as well.
To be more specific, running alongside the apartment building where we stayed is rue de Cotte, which covers barely three blocks from rue Charenton to rue Faubourg de Saint-Antoine. It might not look impressive, but just along one of those blocks you can find Lebanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Argentinian, Italian and a Michelen-starred restaurant all cheek-by-jowl with one another. Running parallel with rue de Cotte is rue d'Aligre, home to the eponymous market in the mornings and a plethora of food businesses.
You're just a couple of blocks from the promenade plantée (Coulée vert René-Dumont) and close to Metro stop 8 and bus no. 86.
The noise late at night can be a bit of a nuisance, and there is the occasional early morning ruckus with the opening of the markets but otherwise it's a pretty quiet place.
However, we encountered several issues with the apartment. The entrance to the building is by a side door because the key fob currently does not work on the front door. And speaking of keys, the host did not know the codes to get into the building — if the fob wouldn’t work that might be an issue.The elevator worked fine.
The main problems were inside the apartment.
The oven did not work, which the host acknowledged when we checked in. The kitchen faucet drips constantly at its base (even when not turned on) and most steadily when the water is running. Again, the host acknowledged the issue but had not gotten around to fixing it. One of the sliding doors to the very small corner shower was off the track, which made showering a tad more challenging than it would have been otherwise.
The host warned us that the toaster might burn the toast if we didn't pay attention. Thankfully it did not.
Of a perhaps lesser concern, but rather important for those staying a week or more and planning to cook, several key items were lacking in the kitchen: no cutting board, nothing remotely approaching a good knife, no pot holders and only one rather thin rag of a towel. There were two aprons.
The bedroom had plenty of storage, the bed was comfortable and the pillows just fine. Bedside lamps worked fine. Both rooms had the ever-present outside metal shutters that worked fine with the remote controls. Curtains in the bedroom were thin and in the living room they didn't span the entire window area.
As noted in the bathroom there was an issue with the shower door on a sliding track, other wise the shower was functional The toilet worked and there was ample storage for various toiletries for the traveler.
The view from the 6th (7th) floor overlooking the Place and the wider neighborhood is quite dramatic to be sure.
One deficiency was the absence of any instructions (where garbage was to be taken, what to do with recycles, what to do with the key when checking out, etc.), emergency numbers, or even a list of recommended places to eat, wine shops, grocery stores nearby, etc. These are all pretty standard with the places we've stayed at in the past. Even just one page is usually sufficient.
It should be noted that the heat is controlled by the building and according to our host they do not turn the heat on until October.
Would we recommend staying in this particular apartment? At this point, we would have to say no. If the host/owner fixes the faucet, oven and shower slider, we would give it a tentative thumbs up. But be prepared to improvise when it comes to cooking. Ask yourself, how would Julia Child deal with it?
