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.

DD is desperate to get back to Paris and as soon as the Covid restrictions are dropped we hope to go.

Her favourite things are walking around and looking at the designer shops, boat trips on the Seine, lunch at the Eiffel tower ( book the restaurant and you don’t have to queue!), Versaille and the sad story of Marie Antoinette. She was younger than yours but kids like gruesome, so the Musee du Chase was well received, as was a visit to the rat killer shop featured in Ratatouille. Also the carousels and street artists. She also loved being fussed over by waiters.

I wouldn’t base your decision on the experiences of internet ransoms! Many will think it’s cool to knock somewhere popular.

I was one who said Paris was a disappointment to me but it’s all personal taste, and it wasn’t thst bad! I think be prepared for everything to be quite spread out with no real centre, make a plan, and you’ll be fine. Tbh I might well like it if I went now, rather than with school or with my ex husband (twice).

Exh made everything shit by not planning beyond the transport and the accommodation, and by not budgeting for any food

This is a really useful thread as we are taking the kids (12 and 8) in half term. Looking to do boat trip, maybe tour montparnasse as might be less busy/expensive than the Eiffel?

Oh I love Paris, ignore the haters. I used to live there and I miss it terribly.

There’s so much to do there!

Disney actually is a bit overrated, it’s not as uptodate as the US ones, i revisited in 2010 after having gone as a child in the 90s to find nothing really changed.

The catacoombs is quite cool I’d rate it for younger kids
Le marais is great for a mooch around, nice street food (famous falafel) and vintage shops
So many lovely gardens
Natural history museum, zoo, mosquée de Paris, and another park (name of which escapes me) all in the same area.
Montmartre again for a mooch and quirkiness there’s a fondue place everyone used to want to go to refuge de la fondue.
Then there’s the biggies, notre dame, sacré coeur, Eiffel Tower, pont des arts, louvre, musée d’orsay, Versailles, Fontainebleau

Food wise I recommend rue moufftard for cheaper but lovely food!

Deffo the Jardin d'Acclimatation for the kids - then you can go next door to the Fondation Louis Vuitton which the kids will also probably love!
Then the pet shops on the quais - puppies and kittens.

The "Paris is shit" lot need to, in MN parlance, "Give their heads a wobble" until they fall off.

Great suggestions on here. The Jardin du Luxembourg was great for kids.

Hotels would depend on your budget. Citadines, mentioned above, also have other hotels around Paris. They are great with kids, and they are more like apartments, and have kitchen areas so you can prepare lunches or snack yourself.

For accommodation we found some really great deals on vrbo which I think has since changed its name, studio apartments in 1sr arrondisment for a couple of hundred a week, though it was 10 year’s ago! If you don’t mind squeezing in with the kids that may be a good option plus you can pretend to be a local.

I used to live there. For accommodation consider a Citadines apart hotel. There you will have your own space.

Most Parisian restaurants welcome children too.

Time Out have long been excellent at producing Paris guides, take a look here, it’s child specific.

www.timeout.com/paris/en/kids/best-things-to-do-with-kids-in-paris

Finally, if there is a particular place there which you are interested in and would like to know more, drop me a private message.

The Louvre has a bunch of art activities for kids, like trails where they have to look for cats in paintings. Look on their website. The Monet waterlilies at the Orangerie are spectacular and not too overwhelming. Btw the mask mandate for kids is going to be dropped in a couple of weeks.

I wouldn’t describe Paris as shit. There are lots of things your children will love as posters have said above. I think sometimes people can be a bit disappointed because Paris is built up to be super romantic, wonderful etc.

That said, i do think though it can have a slightly rougher feel in more central/touristy areas than London and gare du norde is a vile pit of a station compared to St Pancras. If you have the option I’d pre-pay for tube tickets ahead of time so you’re not stuck at a machine in gare du Norde. I used to pre-pay for a carnet on the Eurostar.

Paris is amazing for kids! Go up the Tour Montparnasse and the Eiffel Tower - not sure of the latter is bookable in advance now - get there v early if not. Do one by day and one by night. Take in the view of the Eiffel Tower from the Trocadero. Go on a Bateaux Mouches trip, visit the Musée d’Orsay and the Orangerie for the Waterlilies, go to the Sacré Coeur and get a caricature done of the kids in Montmartre. Have dinner at Chartiers (for the ambiance and the waiters) and order snails. On a sunny day, visit the Sainte Chapelle and see the beautiful stained glass windows. Oh and go to the Louvre to see the pyramid, but perhaps give inside a miss if it’s too busy. Paris is utterly breathtaking for children and adults. The train to Disneyland from Paris is really easy and convenient too. This is making me want to go back!

We stayed at the Citadine near Pont Neuf with a 12 y o and a 15 y o and it was fabulous - walked everywhere and there was a supermarket less than 10 mins walk away.
The apartment had a kitchen, separate bedroom for us and two couches / beds for the kids in the living area.
Not cheap but loved it.

We did this and had an amazing time in full tourist mode-

Eiffel Tower
Boat trip on the Seine
Sailing toy boats in the Tuileries
Get your portraits or caricatures done in Montmartre
All the amazing food
The Louvre is absolute wonderful and we spent a lot of time there.

You’ll have a blast!

Cocogreen

We stayed at the Citadine near Pont Neuf with a 12 y o and a 15 y o and it was fabulous - walked everywhere and there was a supermarket less than 10 mins walk away.
The apartment had a kitchen, separate bedroom for us and two couches / beds for the kids in the living area.
Not cheap but loved it“

We stayed at Hôtel L'Échiquier Opéra Paris last visit. Fantastic. Large, air conditioned rooms (it was 38 degrees outside), free fridge with drinks and snacks restocked on request (vital, we found), city bus tour stop at end of street, fabulous buffet breakfasts and afternoon teas included in room rate. We booked on Lastminute (months in advance ) and got a brilliant deal with Eurostar included.
Can’t wait to go again.

We've taken our kids (now 14 and 10) to Paris several times and each time they've loved it. Yes, there is a lot of dog shit, so watch you're walking, and there are pickpockets on the Metro, so keep a close eye on your bags, but as long as you're aware, Paris is fabulous!

• Tour Montparnasse is great

-Jardin d'Acclimatation is great

• Cite des Sciences is great
• Eiffel Tower is best viewed from Trocadero and there's a great playground between there and the tower on the right as you walk down past the fountains
• a bateau mouche or the bateaubus are great for sightseeing without walking
• the natural history museum is nice if it's raining and you're looking for something indoors to do
• crepes and ice cream are fab
• Novotels work really well for families. We stayed in the one at Montparnasse and it was really good value. There is a nice little playground called the Jardin Atlantique on top of the main train station (go up the escalator - it's on the roof)
• Another time we stayed in an Airbnb in Montmartre, which is a charming area to stay with lots of nice restaurants and shops. The funicular up to Sacre Coeur was quite fun with DC
• a day out at Disney or Parc Asterix is easy from the centre of Paris
• DK Paris with Kids is a useful guide book with details about all the parks, museums, playgrounds, etc that will appeal to DC

Thank you all so much for the help, we’ve booked Eurostar tickets, have an Airbnb in Le Marais and have booked Disney tickets for one day. I’ve also ordered the guide book recommended above for planning the rest of the trip.

I know it's been over a year I just wondered how the trip was? What do you recommend? Any tips for spending 1 say in Disneyland?

The trip was great, our airBnB apartment was really lovely. Disney was good and we were lucky to have nice weather. It was really busy (unsurprisingly as it was the Easter holidays) so be prepared for lots of queuing, my top tip would be not to go on the tower of terror! 🤣 if I was going to go back I would probably try and stay at least one night at Disney as the fireworks at night are supposed to be amazing and we didn’t get to see them.

Getting about was really easy, we just got daily travel tickets and got the metro about everywhere and the RER to Disney was a doddle.

The only thing that I wish we had planned a bit better was food. There were so many places to eat by us but they all had very limiting opening hours like lunch 12-2 only then closed until dinner time, nowhere had ‘kids menus’ and there was nothing my fussy then 8 year old would have eaten. One night we went to a great Middle Eastern place where we had shawarma, falafel, houmous etc that is something both kids love. The rest of the time we ended up in Burger King or an American themed restaurant which was a bit disappointing for me as I was looking forward to some French cuisine!

Jardine de acclimatin is beautiful little fair ride place, less queues than Disney.

Very pretty and has rides.

Paris is utterly beautiful.

Oh it's an old thread 😂