The blind man describing an elephant is probably an apt analogy for the answers to these kinds of questions.
Much depends on your own style and generation and how much a sightseer/ tourist you will be. The 11th, which includes several distinct neighbourhoods, is, by and large, pretty hip and all its neighbourhoods are much favoured by 20- to 40-something Parisians. I’ve heard it being compared to Brooklyn but the “bobo”-ization of the 11th predates the Brooklyn phenomenon by a decade.
For daily living, the location of the Hotel des 2 Girafes is very good. An easy walk to the twice-a-week (Tue + Fri mornings) outdoor and very neighbourhoody/ convivial outdoor food market Marché Popincourt on boulevard Richard Lenoir near métro Oberkampf, to the Oberkampf music and night-life scene, several iconic music venues like Bataclan, loads of good boulangeries like Utopia and gluten-free Chambelland. Lots of restaurants/ bars in a 10-minute walking radius… some better than others and not many good ones serve trad French cuisine other than Brasserie Martin and Aux Bons Crus. For a tourist, maybe inconvenient… just one métro line from Parmentier and it doesn’t go directly to many tourist attractions and will require a change or changes (lots of stairs and long corridors) at another station. I for one hardly ever take the metro (a waste in a city like Paris to be stuck underground like a blind mole) and much prefer biking and the bus, and there is the #96 bus from rue J-P Timbaud near Parmentier métro for getting to the trendy Haut Marais, the touristy lower Marais, Chatelet (for Les Halles and the Louvre), Ile de la Cité (for Notre Dame and Sainte Chapelle), Quartier Latin/ St Germain des Prés, etc.
Another good option is the Haut Marais in the upper 3rd. More trendy than hip, more concentrated than most neighbourhoods in the adjacent 11th, foodie paradise, a cluster of exceptionally good food shops on rue Bretagne, excellent pâtisseries (A++ for Bontemps on rue Bretagne, A+ for Pierre Hermé; A- for Philippe Conticini (on rue Notre Dame de Nazareth), a historic covered market Marché des Enfants Rouges with 7 or 8 mini-restos and eat-there or to-go deli-type food stands, good hangout cafés like Le Charlot and Le Progrès, a half dozen or so trendy cocktail/ speakeasy bars in a 10-minute walking radius, charming micro-quartiers like Temple centered on rue Dupetit-Thouars, very close to the République bus and métro hub for getting to other parts of Paris, a picturesque park for picnics or just hanging out on sunny days: Not sure about your budget or style but have a look at La Chambre du Marais and Hotel du Petit Moulin as hotel possibilities.
Option 3. The Faubourg St Antoine straddling the 11th and 12th. Very trendy in places and yet somehow rather “populaire” (in the French sense). The Aligre market area centered on the rue d’Aligre is a sample of the Paris food culture on steroids with a very popular (in the English sense) morning outdoor food market Tue to Sun, a very superior all-day covered market (Tue to Sun), a vibrant market street (Tue to Sun), and restaurant street (rue de Cotte) with a range of good to excellent restos ranging from a Michelin 1-star to hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese, around 8 (eight ! and maybe more) good to excellent boulangeries/pâtisseries within a 10-min walking radius, a neighbourhood riddled with 18th and 19th century passageways and courtyards left over from the time when this was the furniture making “quartier”. There was a recent thread with more info. Quartier D'Aligre recs bakery, patisserie, market stalls cheese, wineshop, bars
