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Best/Safest Places to live in Ile de France


Sharkster
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[quote user="raindog"]Seine-Saint-Denis is about your best bet.

[/quote]

Sarcelles, Villiers le bel, Aubervilliers, Drancy....NO!  I hope the previous poster was joking, you should avoid the 9-3 like the plague.  I have a friend who lives in Malakoff, it is really nice there, definitely worth a look, it is just to the south of Paris.  Another pleasant suburb is Fontenay-sous-Bois, to the east.

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[quote user="raindog"]Seine-Saint-Denis is about your best bet.

[/quote]

Thought I'd check back for response and was shocked by your response.  This was one of the areas we would definately not live in!  Does anybody know what Melun is like, since it is still on the commuter route into Paris?

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[quote user="Sharkster"][quote user="raindog"]Seine-Saint-Denis is about your best bet.

[/quote]

Thought I'd check back for response and was shocked by your response.  This was one of the areas we would definately not live in!  Does anybody know what Melun is like, since it is still on the commuter route into Paris?

[/quote]

It was a joke.

But safe from what? Rabies? Earthquakes? Parking tickets?

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Only ever go past Melun going towards the francilienne, these days.  If you are looking at the very outside edge of your 45 minute commute, which you would be with Melun, you might as well go somewhere reasonable, like Senlis or even Compiègne, at least it is pleasant when you go out and about.  I don't really like the countryside in that area.

Raindog is right though, what do you want to be safe from?  My mother in law lives near Survilliers, 95, (check the very north of the RER D), it's really safe, nothing ever happens there, people live their suburban lives, garden, walk their dogs, go to the supermarket, walk in the countryside at the weekend and commute to the Gare de nord in about 35 minutes, (admittedly passing through the not so safe 93).  I'm bored to tears after a day, but I can see that it would be a safe place to bring up your kids, send them to football practice, ballet lessons and so on.

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[quote user="Sharkster"]So is Melun not a particulary nice place to live?

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My best friend lived there when she was a student in Paris, I only went the once, briefly and it struck me as distinctly uninspiring.  Now I just drive past it on my way elsewhere which is why I said I thought the countryside wasn't that nice.  It really is quite far from Paris! 

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  • 3 months later...
We used to live in the Essonne near Brétigny sur Orge. You have the RER ligne C which is safer than the ligne D - 35 min to Paris. A few stops further south you are practically in the country. Check out towns like St Michel s/Orge, Plessis-Paté, Marolles en Hurepoix, Arpajon, St Genevieve des Bois .... even as far as Dourdan. Other advantages are proximity to A10, A6, N20, Francilienne..  Avoid Evry, Etampes, Grigny which can be trouble spots. Housing is not cheap but this is to be expected of pleasant safe places near Paris.
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Not Melun - its awful.  We only go there because of Lapeyre and Castorama.  We live near Milly la Foret in 77. Lovely 1427 market hall, chic shops as there lots of Parisien weekenders and very safe.  All pretty stone houses and close to Fontainebleau which is superbe. Only 35 mins to Paris on regional train.  Dont use RER D - too many gangs of youths with knives robbing passengers. Just read the local papers! Senlis and Chantilly to the north of Paris are also nice but you have to drive through less appealing bits to get into Paris. From here its 45 m ins on the A6 autoroute ( not in rush hour though) straight inbto underground car parks next to the best shoe shops in Paris. Parfait. 
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We live in Gif-sur-Yvette in 91, nearly at the end of RER B. 40 minutes to Chatelet. Lots of scientific establishments around, so quite a few foreigners, but not an Ex-Pat type area. 20 minutes away (on a bus route) in Buc (actually 78) there is free Anglophone schooling within the French state system.
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  • 2 years later...
Personally, I wouldn't go in the 93. But that would be totally wrong to say that all the 93 is unsafe and stinky. 93 is a not a small department and sarcelles is in the 95, very nice department.

If finding an apartment was difficult, I wouldn't exclude the 93 cause you might find maybe more easily by the fact that many people think the 93 is to avoid. I don't defend the 93 but we all have clichés. Near me, some people think surrey is place for the drug dealers and the indian terrorists. I have been there, but it is not really the case.

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