Having a tough time searching for a Paris rental for July 2010 with a/c. The apt. we rented in 2006, which was a very nice place (from Rental France) was advertised as having a/c, though it didn't really work -( the mobile unit had nowhere to be vented except up the chimney; and the wall-mounted unit didn't actually blow any cold air at all...Luckily the apt. had ceiling fans and we only had a couple of warm nights.) So i'm not confident that i can believe a listing even if it says it has a/c! Anyone have a successful experience with a/c in a Paris apt.??
I had been thinking of Paris Perfect, but I'd like to spend E1500-1800/week for a 1 bedroom, which is below the price for any of their properties.
I also came across a service called Paris checkout - someone has started a business where for $30 they will go check out an apt. for you. I don't know that this would work for checking out air conditioning in the winter... but wondering if anyone has heard of this service??
I wish I could go at another time of year and not worry about the darn heat, but i am tied to school vacations right now...
Posts: 20 | Location: california | Registered: 18 October 2005
Sorry no first-hand experience - just a recommendation to ask the owner/agency the question very directly. State that decent working A/C is very important to you. It won't be a guarantee, but if you get back a solid response, it would be a good sign.
Remember even if someone can point you to an apartment with working A/C, that's no guarantee that it's going to be working by the time you rent the place.
I know this is going to sound negative, but I have to say it. If air conditioning is the most important thing to you during your vacation, Paris, or even the rest of France, is probably not the best destination to choose.
The whole idea of slow travel is getting to know how people live in a place different from the one you are used to. In France, people don't live in air-conditioned houses and apartments. AC is so seldom necessary that it is an extravagance. It is also seldom very effective by American standards. Central air is unheard of. There's a reason for that: it's just not necessary.
I've been living in the Loire Valley for seven years now, and I lived in Paris for seven years before that. The number of nights when I really felt the need for AC, I could count on my ten fingers.
You know, I was going to say something along those lines but thought I'd try to be politically correct (for once) and not bash posters who may be temperature-challenged.
But since you got the ball rolling.... two other reasons the French aren't big on A/C: 1) electricity is really expensive in this country and 2) running air through a dirty filter is a great way to catch a cold (or worse).
Kevin, are the rooms and public areas of your B&B air-conditioned? I've rented many many gîtes and apartments in Paris and in France and I've never had AC. I have suffered through a few hot humid nights, for sure, but pretty few.
The fact is that you can't expect American-style AC in France. If you do expect it, you will be disappointed. It's just a reality of life here. And there are so few times you need it that you just put up with the lack once in a while.
AC and clothes dryers, two of the biggest consumers of electricity in any U.S. household, are just not standard equipment in France.
It's a cultural thing. And cultural things are what slow travel is about.
AnneMF, I don't know how many times you have been to France, or what part of California you live in. I lived in the SF Bay Area for 17 years. I never had AC there, and seldom felt the need for it. It was a lot like living in France from that point of view. Good luck to you in your search for effective AC in Paris.
We have very hot summers here in the Boston area and the humidity is bad but I still don't need an AC. The humidity in France is not as bad. I can only remember one summer which was unusually hot in Provence so we left for Normandy.
Posts: 1277 | Location: cambridge,ma.usa | Registered: 27 January 2003
Hi Mimi, I remember a couple of times in Paris -- three or four nights in all -- when I was there during hot and humid weather. The problem is with hotel rooms or apartments that have windows only on one side, so no cross-ventilation. Noisy courtyards can be a problem too. A fan is usually enough for comfort and noise-muffling. The times I was in Provence in summer, June 1993 and September 2001, heat was not a problem.
We of course lived through the summer of 2003, the great Canicule or heat wave, in France. It was miserable. But that happens in France about once every 30 or 40 years.
Somebody I know had AC installed in her apartment in Tours in 2004. At last report, she had never yet used it.
one thing I wondered about. Throughout France whereever we stayed, there were no screens but never got bit by a misquito nor seen one except in some parts of the Camargue. Is it because of the plantings? Only one place had screens(Rich Americans who had them special made)
Posts: 1277 | Location: cambridge,ma.usa | Registered: 27 January 2003
I'm happy to hear lots of you don't think it will be hot enough for a/c in Paris in the summer. I had been reading several other threads bemoaning the climate change in the past few years and the hotness of the summers in Paris recently. Really quite the opposite of what you all are saying. So that had gotten me worried. I guess it depends who you ask!
BTW, I do live in the Bay Area, and it has gotten much warmer here in the last 5-10 years. Most folks who didn't have a/c have now gotten it.
I appreciate all the feedback, but would hope that a question about finding a/c would not be generalized into my lack of interest in experiencing a different culture... :-)
Posts: 20 | Location: california | Registered: 18 October 2005
I appreciate all the feedback, but would hope that a question about finding a/c would not be generalized into my lack of interest in experiencing a different culture... :-)
Anne - see you just never know which way these roads in life are going to turn !
But seriously, Ken brings up a good point that without A/C, you need good ventilation and as far as I am concerned, that means sleeping with the windows open. In a big city, that can be a problem due to noise. When I lived in Paris, my apartment backed onto the courtyard of an elementary school - never a need to set your alarm in that place. Once again, if you don't want to take the risk, be forceful with the owner/agency when you ask the question about the A/C - likewise concerning street noise.
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To Ken,
No we don't have A/C in our Mas - thick stone walls do wonders to keep things relatively cool and as Mimi points out, humidity is the least of our worries during the summer months here. Only time I ever thought it would have come in handy was the famous summer of the canicule when we hadn't yet opened and I was busy in the attic painting in the heat of the day. Don't think I have ever sweated so much in my life.
The walls chez Kevin are so thick that what is called a wall in St Sat is called an apartment in Tokyo.
Ken, California-like? You are saying this while I freeze right now in Paris. Back in SF I remember already suntanning on Stinson on my bday, in mid March. in Paris in mid March I am grateful whenever temp is above 7°C.
AnneMF, at least one good friend of mine in the Bay Area has mentioned thinking about having AC installed in her house. It's funny because she's the one who always says it's too cold there for her tastes! She never uses her swimming pool because it's too chilly outside.
My point is that AC is not standard in France. That's part of the paysage here. There are many more important features to think about when deciding on a vacation rental: size, location, the kitchen, the bathroom, Internet access, peace and quiet, safety.
A lot of the agencies and owners who advertise AC as a feature of their rentals probably know that the units they have installed don't really produce much cold air. Or maybe they don't, because they have no experience of AC. But they know that Americans will look more favorably on, and pay higher prices for, places that have AC than for places that don't.
My friend who had AC installed in her apartment in Tours now wonders why she bothered, and why she incurred the expense. She hasn't used it in five years.
To Kevin, our pavillon doesn't have those thick stone walls, but then we don't live in désertique Provence. We don't really have humidity, either, at least not compared to the U.S. East Coast, for example. Only in 2003 was the heat a problem here. The summer of 2009 was especially nice -- warm, dry, but not too hot, for months and months. I'm hoping for more of the same in 2010. In 2007 and 2008, our summers were downright chilly.
I have a friend who spends summers in his Paris apartment, where he keeps the heat on all the time, the way we used to do in San Francisco. One is more likely to need a blast of heat in summer than AC, in both Paris and SF.
I was in Paris during the 2003 Canicule, and luckily had rented this apartment from VacationinParis. It's a small place, but has an a/c unit in the living room which kept the adjoining bedroom comfortable in the horrific heat. The last summer I rented in Paris (2 years ago) we barely needed a floor fan, so you just never know.
It's true, you never know. But there is a 75-25 chance, I'd say, that you won't need AC at all. There's a 50-50 chance you'll feel the need to turn on the heat in a Paris summertime.
The other big difference here is that buildings and houses, unlike in California and around the U.S., do not have forced-air heating and cooling systems. Most French buildings have boilers and radiators, or electric radiators, for heat. So AC is always an afterthought, an add-on, and not really that effective. French windows are not really designed to accommodate window-unit AC.
yes, french windows are definitely not designed for air conditioning!
San Francisco is where we go on hot days where i live (1 hr. south of SF) when we want to cool off - that or down to Monterey - guaranteed no higher than 70 degrees even when it's 100 here.
Posts: 20 | Location: california | Registered: 18 October 2005
Jumping into this lively and groundbreaking discussion, I agree with ALMOST everything said above.
I'd put the chance of wishing for air conditioning on any summer day in Paris at two in ten. (Two decades ago the chance was zero.)
Ken, I know you know Paris but it has been a while since you lived here, in cooler times. Asphalt and concrete are great accumulators.
I don't believe I've ever run into a message board discussion of the effectiveness of French air conditioning. That's very much to the point, and I'm one hundred percent on board. It's nowhere near as effective. Thank God! No shock walking into commercial space on a blistering day.
In any Paris apartment, would air conditioning lower the temperature to 72 Fahrenheit on a 95-degree day? Very, very unlikely.
As Ken and Kevin have pointed out, there are several other factors important for comfort. I would add exposition of the rooms and presence or absence of shutters or blinds.
Decades ago, I heard a wise man suggest that suffering might not be such a great goal. I do still enjoy a challenge, however, and when you're traveling the climate - natural and artificial - can be part of the adventure.
Lately my problem is cold. Hot wine (abundant in Paris) and a heating pad (rare) help. Are there heat-fighting equivalents?
Oddly enough, I was just about to wade in with my recommendation of the apartment we have rented for this year with Vacation in Paris when I see that Amy has beat me to the punch. Since she has already stayed there and I am just anticipating our stay, her vote rules.
We also live on the West Coast and although there is only a minor need in our neck of the woods for airconditioning, we have had it put in last fall. I'm not sure if it is global warming or growing older, but it is a luxury that although I will not use it a lot, I will enjoy at the end of a hard day.
We were in Paris 2 years ago - really had no need for air conditioning - we just opened the windows and got a bit of a breeze. However, the following week in Rome had us very, very thankful for the air conditioner.
The apartment we rented for Paris this time does have an air conditioner- I wasn't looking for it but I can understand Amy's thoughts of anticipating a potential problem. I tend to wilt in the heat with a migraine, so the idea of having that happen on a highly anticipated trip would be an issue.
Having only been to Paris twice and both times having enjoyed moderate warm weather, I do think however that this is a location that does not actually "need" air conditioning.
If it can ever be said that air conditioning is a need, not a want?
BC Brenda
Posts: 353 | Location: Vancouver Island, BC | Registered: 26 December 2006
Brenda, I think there are vast parts of the U.S. where life without air-conditioning would be very difficult. I say that, but of course only a couple of generations ago air-conditioning didn't exist.
Some people are more sensitive to heat than others, and some come from climates where the humidity is never very high, so they are not used to hot humid weather. There is some of that in Paris but not so much as in the U.S. South and Midwest.
And I agree with everything Dave said. He's right, I haven't lived or spent a lot of time in Paris in a long time. Maybe the climate has changed, or we are in a warm cycle. (You wouldn't know by it this winter's weather though.)
Out here in the country where I live there is less concrete and asphalt, and there is probably more of a breeze. I'm predicting a long hot 2010 summer, so maybe you in Paris had better prepare yourselves!
The exposition to the sun of an urban apartment's windows can make a big difference. Getting to a place with some shade and air movement is the best way to deal with Paris heat. And it would be a shame to pass on an otherwise nice Paris rental just because it doesn't have AC, which you are likely not to need and which probably won't be all that effective if you get it.
As they say in French re: air-conditioning, however: On n'arrête pas le progrès...
This owner has several a/c apartments. I'll stay in one of her apartments this June. The a/c is a mobile unit with a piple for blowing hot air outside and no need to empty water from the tank - it must be a new model.
I rented a unit with central air 2 years ago, but it is no longer available.
Posts: 51 | Location: San francisco area | Registered: 04 August 2005
Seems like we might have been neighbors at one point (we lived in Los Altos before moving to Provence).
I love the climate here, but I remained firmly convinced that the climate in Silicon Valley is the finest anywhere in the world. Summers were the best - hot and dry during the day and then like clockwork, the fog would roll in at night. That's the kind of A/C I can deal with !
Have fond memories of advising French friends and family to take along sweaters when they were heading up to SF on a hot July day. They never listened to their sincerest regrets...
Have fond memories of advising French friends and family to take along sweaters when they were heading up to SF on a hot July day. They never listened to their sincerest regrets...
.....but good excuse to buy a San Francisco sweatshirt!!!
Posts: 832 | Location: San Francisco | Registered: 22 April 2005
We spent May, June, July 2008 in Paris in an apartment without a/c in the 9th arron and used the electric fan a few times. We did have the windows open most of the time.
Posts: 832 | Location: San Francisco | Registered: 22 April 2005
However, we were glad for the a/c in our apartment on rue du Petit Pont (across from the Notre Dame) in July 2006!! It was very hot that summer and the a/c worked overtime!
Posts: 832 | Location: San Francisco | Registered: 22 April 2005
Selling sweatshirts to unsuspecting tourists is big business in San Francisco.
I remember not liking the Silicon Valley weather very much. I lived in Sunnyvale for four years. Winters were colder than in San Francisco, and summer days were warmer. But by 5 or 6 p.m. in summer, it got so chilly and breezy that you had to put on that SF sweatshirt you had bought on a misguided evening trip to The City, or you just had to go indoors. I have to admit it was good sleeping weather. (I lived just off Fremont down toward Wolfe Road.)
One July a few years ago, friends of mine who live in Southern California were spending the summer in their Paris apartment. They said it turned so cold in July that they really had to crank up the heat. It was rainy with high temps. around or below 65F, they told me, for several weeks.
When the summer weather is nice here in Saint-Aignan, it's almost hot in the daytime and the evenings are warm. It's often comfortable to sit outside until midnight. And there's no Mistral.
Well Californians have got to put on their winter jackets if it gets down to 60 - that's winter! I notice the absurdity of this, as an ex- upstate new yorker, where 60 degrees in fall or spring would be cause for t shirts and shorts..
The cooling trend at night is the wonderful thing about the northern california weather pattern. But not so good for sitting outside at night. Though we get more hot nights than we used to....
Posts: 20 | Location: california | Registered: 18 October 2005
Transcendentally off-topic: I don't like SF weather. Whatever you wear in the morning when you get out of your house, it's the wrong thing to wear at noon, and it's the wrong thing to wear later at night.
We've found it well worth the investment. We usually spend 5-7 weeks in the summer in France, usually ending in Paris. We were there in 2003 and other warm summers as well. If summer begins and is already a "hot one" we'll buy a fan at SuperU, Auchon, or the like. The fan is just a "gift" to the last apartment we stay, but makes a lot of difference to us to have some moving air.
Laura
Posts: 915 | Location: Edmonds, WA | Registered: 01 April 2006
I don't know if it will be any help, but when we traveled last summer, my mother wanted an apartment with a/c - and when your mother asks you for something...
Anyway, I put together this list which may be of help, though they're mostly 2-bedroom apartments. One thing I did find, the apartments with a/c were definitely more expensive than without (understandably).
Another note, the one we ended up with had a/c in the main living area but not in the back bedrooms which did get a little warm but we had fans in each so were okay. I hadn't brought earplugs (now I always do) though so we couldn't crack the windows b/c of the city noise but if I had plugs, it would have been nice.
Thank you so much kim, i just read all about your trip research on your blog! excellent work. In your research, did you limit yourself to vrbo.com.? I keep looking at all the separate agency websites too, and that is making it overwhelming... When you're the one doing the planning(as am I) it's all about keeping the others happy..!
Posts: 20 | Location: california | Registered: 18 October 2005
When I rent a place in the countryside, I never go for AC because: 1. AC very often makes me sick, gives me an instant runny nose or other allergic reactions; 2. Most importantly, it is so extremely limiting for the choice of rentals. There are just so few to choose from.
Instead, I rent old houses with thick walls, possible with a pool or near a river. Nothing like a nice swim to cool one down for hours.
In Paris, I would still recommend old apartments with thick walls, high ceiling, not facing west, and I'd take a good overhead fan over AC any day, even in the hottest tropics. It is not my top priority, but I can sort of accept it is others' top priority even for Paris, accent on the sort of.
I was worrying about whether the B&Bs that I reserved in Elne, Narbonne, and Carcassone for this June had air (after worrying whether they had en suite bathroom). They are all in very old buildings so, hopefully, even in southern France the thick walls will keep us comfortable...
Posts: 214 | Location: Burbank, CA | Registered: 14 April 2006
Don't under estimate the loveliness AC can provide on a really hot day. I personally am not an AC fan but I live with someone who really needs it. I am also looking for that same accommodation in Paris for July - I hope you find something with working AC!
It is normal that you don't really find an apartment with a/c in Paris as no parisian apartments have a/c (except perhaps some for tourist renting and with a/c that doesn't work because you never really need it)....I have been Parisian for a long time and I don't know anybody who has A/C in his apartment. Except one summer, two years ago, during 10 days which have been really hot, the weather is not so hot in Paris(in south of france yes of course but in Paris ???). So, you have good chance to find breakdown A/C or little apparels just in case.. Sorry but telling you that, I hope that next summer will not be an exception and is not going to be hot!!!!!
I've been to Paris in June, July and August on three separate trips and never needed A/C. In fact, I always had to shut it off. Barring a couple of very bizarre heat waves, it's usually quite cool at night (and of course, there are several grey and rainy days even in the summer). The climate is almost exactly the same here in the Pacific NorthWest. Unless it's absolutely necessary for you, I wouldn't worry too much about a/c. Just find a place with big windows that you can leave open if necessary (bring earplugs in case the Frenchmen are out singing at 2AM lol) and avoid top-floor apartments (those attic apartments can get hot and stuffy on occasion).
Enjoy your trip!
Posts: 3 | Location: Canada | Registered: 13 February 2010
Anthro has right. It is much more important to be sure that your flat is not in an too noisy place, or street and that you will be able to open your window.
