finding airbnb accommodation in europe

[Sheryl8]

Hi all, Not sure where to post my question but will start here.. Myself and a friend are travelling thru France,Italy, spain, portugal May/June 2020

 have been looking at places to stay but because we dont know areas in each city its making it difficult to find appropriate stays...We are both fit and healthy late 60's but do prefer to stay close to a train station if possible. for EG:   Paris.  while I have been before and dont wish to go the usual tourist places my friend would like to.. I am an artist so will look into anything arty..we shall be there 5 nights... any suggestions please. Would prefer a place that has 1 bedroom and a sofa bed in lounge type of arrangement.we are on a budget alto I do have a couple of credits to use.

same arrangements to other stops in europe eg: Nice,Madrid, Lisbon, florence,Vienna

We plan to stay somewhere central then do day trips from that place..

Thanks in advance

sheryl from NZ

[Sarah977]

@Sheryl8  It seems like you should be able to do some research as to areas in the various places you want to visit. Hosts will often state in their listing descriptions how far they are from a bus or train station or stop and what attractions are in their immediate area. You can always send a host an Inquiry message to get clarification as well.

[Sheryl8]

Hi Sarah, Yes thanks for that info.. I have spent several nights going thru relevant  areas thinking it may be a good area to stay but still not sure ? so decided to post hoping it could be narrowed down from people who would know their cities...  so still looking 🙂

[Sarah977]

@Sheryl8  Hopefully some European hosts will chime in to give you some info. Might have been better to make the title of the post "Insight from European hosts as to best areas for my stays?"

[Anonymous]

@Sheryl8  Are you sure this is the right forum for your question? There are thousands of forums online devoted to travel planning - for example https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree  - where you can find active discussions about this sort of thing and can easily engage enthusiasts of all your destinations. On the other hand this message board is full of people who mostly aren't located in the places you're visiting.

Whenever someone I know is indecisive about which neighborhood to stay in on a vacation, I usually say: Choose somewhere optimal for the last thing you want to do before bed. Your daytime activities can be anywhere, that doesn't matter so much - you'll have the time and energy to get where you need to go. But after a full day of tourism, you'll be hungry and exhausted and not wanting to navigate a foreign transit system. So if your last thing is dinner, stay in the area with your favorite kind of restaurant. If you prefer to wind down with live music or a lively bar, that is fortunately a very easy choice in all the cities you listed. If you'd rather wind down in a private garden and wake up to birdsong or the ocean, book a place well out of town with good train links into the city.

And if you're arriving by train too late to comfortably navigate a new city and fend off pickpockets, book a decent hotel at the station for the first night and do the Airbnb thing the next day.