Tips for taking the kids to Paris?

[clare8allthepies]

Both of my kids are desperate to go to Paris, they’ve never been abroad before and we are planning to take them in the Easter holidays for a few days.
However on the thread on here a couple of days ago about the most disappointing place that you had been Paris came up over and over again. Now I’m worrying that a trip that they have been looking forward to so much will be crap. Any recommendations on what to do that we will all enjoy? (They are 11 and 8) I have spent all afternoon on google but I’m just going round in circles now.

I'd ask them what they'd like to do firstly. You say they're desperate to go; what are they expecting there?

Parc Andre Citroen in the 15th arrondissement has a tethered balloon that goes to the equivalent height of the first floor of the Eiffel Tower. You can get there by using the RER line C to Javel station. The Parc is a ten minute or so walk from the station.

If it's Disney they're after, that's not actually in Paris, it's in Chessey, which is about 35 miles to the east of Paris.

What is it about Paris that they want to see?

Paris is shit. The fun stuff is much, much smaller and shitter than London. Even the Eiffel Tower is nothing special compared to the London Eye / Buckingham Palace. The Museums are ok (one of them even has the Mona Lisa which again is really disappointing) but again nothing compared to what you can see for free in London. They might have more fun spending a day / overnight in central London hitting all the attractions and doing to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower as a day trip.

If you’re doing Disney then stay at the resort over several days and try and get a package with meals etc. Don’t try to do Paris too because you won’t get to do much otherwise

They definitely both want to go to the Eiffel Tower, my youngest wants to go to the Louvre but I think she’ll get bored very quickly there. She has also found some park that is apparently always in miraculous ladybug that we absolutely must go to 🤣

We might do a day at Disney if that’s doable on public transport

My advice would be dont try to do too much. They'll enjoy just little things like walking the streets and riding the metro as well.

I'd take a river cruise in the morning. Have lunch at 58 Tour Eiffel, restaurant on the second floor of the tower. Really good and not expensive. Then go along to Luxembourg Gardens and eat crepes from a van for dinner.

Ignore the haters!! I LOVE PARIS! We go every year with a school trip and I never get bored of it. We do a Disney day, Notre Dame, drive round the Arc de Triumph, walk up to the Sacre Coeur and the market place behind, walk up the Eiffel Tower, river trip down the Seine.

When I briefly lived there, I also spent 2 full days in The Louvre, mainly looking at all of the artefacts-I would agree that the Mona Lisa is a little bit underwhelming though. Versailles is beautiful too. I can't wait to take my own children next year, I am getting excited thinking about it! Enjoy!

Disney is definitely doable by public transport from Paris; you need RER line A from Chatelet-Les Halley to Marne le Vallee.

Paris is not shit! What a ridiculous thing to say about anywhere.

Cite des sciences in Villette is highly recommended www.cite-sciences.fr/fr/au-programme/expos-permanentes/la-cite-des-enfants/

Take a river tour, go up the Eiffel Tower, run about in the Tuileries, google playgrounds because there are many and they are actually working due to public money being spent properly.

Go and look at the Galleries Lafayette and have coffee and a croissant on the Champs Elysees.

Also the Centre Pompidou with the surreallist fountains outside is cool.

Paris is amazing! My kids love it and we have been a few times.
Definitely take them up the Tour Montparnasse as it has amazing views and as DS3 says "it's a much better view of Paris as you get to see the Eiffel Tower in the view"

We went to Paris a couple of years ago with our kids who were a similar age to yours. We only had a couple of days stopover on our way to and from Southern Europe on the train, so it was an afterthought to our holiday really, but it turned out to be the best part.

We stayed in Montmartre and walked around the Sacre-Coeur, went up the Eiffel Tower and walked down (they still talk about that!), did a boat trip and went to the Musee d’Orsay, where we managed an hour until they got bored. We found a nice playground in one of the big gardens, I think it was le jardin des Tuileries and had coffee / ice cream in an outdoor cafe there. We went without any great expectations and had a really fantastic time!

Ours were amazed by the Eiffel Tower and a trip on a boat. We came out of a train station entrance quiet high up and not that close and then turned and saw the tower. It took their breath away. Then we walked down to the park on the other side. It is very important to take silly photos of them holding it up by the top or sitting it on their hand. You know the type of photo?

Then we went for lunch in a cafe down some backstreets and we people watched.

After that we took photos of interesting doorways and graffiti. Funnily enough they loved that.

Everything else was boring apparently.

We always took a sketch pad for each child to art galleries or even to use in the park - it helps you pause and gives the children a more active purpose than looking. I like Paris but it is like any city, a bit mixed. Enjoy

Eiffel Tower, boat trip, land train tour of Monmatre, chocolate museum is good, we walked round the outside of the Louvre (didn’t book in advance and enormous queues), walk along Left Bank. Eat crepes. We tried to book a tour of a boulongerie to see baguettes being made, but there was a general strike on so that didn’t happen.

I went with my two at a similar age and this book was invaluable:
www.amazon.co.uk/Family-Guide-Paris-Eyewitness-Travel/dp/0241306558/ref=asc_df_0241306558/?hvlocphy=1006868&linkCode=df0&hvptwo&psc=1&psc=1&hvnetw=g&hvadid=310891088870&hvpone&hvlocint&th=1&hvpos&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl&hvqmt&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&hvtargid=pla-565584532998&hvrand=14560605238763538810
it's great as it shows little places you can duck off to that are nearby the main attractions so they can have a little play etc.
We did all the sights but this book helped break it up a bit for the kids. It was sightseeing at a slightly slower pace but we all had a brilliant time.

We took ours at 11 and 13. We had a great time. There are plenty of family friendly itinerary's online. We did all the major attractions including the catacombs. And we climbed the effiel tower rather than catching the lift. We spent 5 days there and they still talk about how amazing it was.

Take your kids to Chartier for lunch, arrive at midday or be prepared to queue and don’t get intimidated if you don’t speak French. It’s a real experience. Versailles is a good day trip with kids, the bateaux mouches are touristy yes but a good way to see Paris. The Musee Rodin is nice and small scale and mostly outside so good with kids.

Eat lots of crepes for lunch
Lots of delicious pain au chocolat and hot chocolate
Amazing bakeries
All the obvious sites
Lots of beautiful gardens, some with playgrounds and funfairs
Day trip to Disney
Then all the regular holiday overseas things - mooching around a French supermarket, giggling at the product names and trying new snacks / foods
Going out to eat
Watch the street artists up at Sacre Coeur

Honestly, 'Paris is shit' is a really shit thing to say. It's a major city. I really can't think of many major cities which are 'shit' unless they're an active war zone.

The catacombs are awesome if you don’t think your DC will have nightmares.

We have similar aged children and had a brilliant mini break there.

Tips:

• Eiffel Tower at night (light show on the hour)
• Go up the Eiffel Tower and combine with a boat tour from the pier next door. Wrap up v v warm - it’s freezing on the water.
• People watching in the Parc du Luxembourg - there’s a huge playground, old fashioned carousel, pony rides, boats on the pond.
• Kids tolerated the Louvre very well. We bought a special short kids book and they had to find and tick off the main sights.
• Sunset from the Sacre Coeur steps
• all the crepes they can eat!

We couldn’t do the adult stuff of prolonged hanging around in markets, cafes etc, but that’s okay. City breaks are tiring due to all the walking so we stopped to eat every couple of hours and had cards/books/activities for cafes.

We took our kids at similar ages and they had a great time. We stayed in Versailles as we drove and so was easier not to go too far in. They liked Versailles - the palace was closed but we hired bikes to ride round the gardens and a boat for the lake. We got the train into central Paris and they liked the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame (there were sparrows there you could feed by hand), Montmatre, walking down the Champs Elysees and going on a boat trip. We didn’t try and do any galleries as I thought it would be too much for them.

If you go once your eldest reaches 12 then just beware they will need to be fully vaccinated or else they will have to do a 10 day quarantine on arrival and they won't be able to get their Passé Sanitaire which is required by law for entry to restaurants and many indoor places.

Also in order to be considered fully vaccinated' adults must have had their 2nd dose or booster jab no more than 7 months ago.

@pisspants suggestion of the book is a great one, we used it too when we took the DC to Paris when they were six and nine. Lots of good ideas above, and Disney is really easy on the RER. We went for a day as a surprise and they didn't realize until we were practically at the gates which was fun. Paris is a fantastic city, have a great time.

One thing I loved about Paris when I took dds was the Montparnesse tower. It was winter and the top floor had an ice skating rink. We took a river cruise in a glass roof boat which sailed past the Eiffel Tower. We never went up it as the queue was 3 hours, we did when dh and I went but not with dds.