Originally Posted by Bevdeforges

I'd be very wary of renting a flat anywhere without having seen it in person first. Particularly, in France, you might do better to line up a temporary accommodation on arrival (like a "suites hotel" place) for a month or so to give you the time to do some proper flat-hunting and to check out any claims of being "close to public transit" or "clean and quiet."

One big argument for this is the French rental lease for residential property, which runs for 3 years. If you rent some place sight unseen, you could be stuck with it for 3 long years if it turns out you've leased a pig in a poke. The terms by which you can break a lease have to be spelled out in the lease agreement (in French), and tend to favor the landlord, not the renter.
Cheers,
Bev