paris with a baby

[kktpj]

Would love some advice on travel by plane with a 3 mth old.
Also, best way to get from cdg airport to our hotel on the left bank.
Finally great things for the 3 of us to do on our holiday- 3 days at easter.

Are you bf? I would try to get baby latched on for take off and landing as the sucking can help with pressure.

I haven't tried this yet but we plan to take 4-month-old twins and a 3-year-old on a 9 1/2 hour flight to Canada next year. I think everyone else on the flight will hate us but it's the only way to see my brother and I think it'll be easier when they are younger rather than crawling!

Hi,

It depends where exactly you are on the left bank. The RER line B runs direct from CDG through parts of it, if you are not too far that would be OK if there are two adults (with only one it might be a bit much with pushchair, bags etc.) Also it may depend what time you arrive/leave - rush hour can be very busy, late at night sometimes a bit dodgy. Another alternative are the Air France coaches (not only for Air France passengers) which go to Montparnasse station. Or a combination of RER/metro or RER/bus, although again the metro is not great with a young baby and bags. If your hotel is not very accessible by public transport then a taxi would probably be about 60 euro. There are also lots of companies that offer mini bus transfers, shared or alone. Have never used one so not sure of the costs but reviews of them suggest they are a bit hit and miss regarding how reliable they are. If you really want a door to door transfer, providing you are not on a really tight budget I would go for a taxi if public transport is a problem.

Things to do - with such a small baby you can still do lots of adult things, plus something to entertain them a little as well. At that age in Paris (we lived there then) my son was happy enough just being pushed along watching the cars and boats. One thing he really used to like from being very young was going into a cathedral and looking at all the stained glass - the colours seemed to fascinated him (although the bigger churches will probably be rather busy at easter). A boat trip may be a good idea as well, lots of things moving past to see (if you do that and it is a sunny day take a hat and suncream for the baby - the top of the boats are real sun traps). But mostly I remember at that age just walking along the Seine and the wide boulevards, often until he went to sleep and we could have lunch for an hour while he slept, I look back on it as a really happy time just enjoying our new family (apart from my 40th birthday when no matter how far we walked he would NOT go to sleep and my 'special' birthday lunch was a sandwich standing in the street ).

Can't be much help re the flight I'm afraid as we always travelled by car or train.

Hope this is some help anyway

Many thanks, yonker. Still worrying about the train into paris we arrive at cdg at 9 30pm on a sunday evening. Have checked rer website and cant seem to find a train at that time. What do you think?
Love your ideas thats pretty much our idea too. It's dh 40th so lol the special lunch!

Hi,

To be honest at that time of night I would just get a taxi. By the time you get off the plane and to the train it may be as late as 11pm. Personally I wouldn't get the RER at that time of night. The last train is at 11.56 (you can get the times at www.ratp.fr/horaires/fr/ratp/rer) but then you may have to get a taxi from the station to the hotel. So you would end up arriving very late. For me the taxi fare of about 60 euro would be worth it. You would pay 16 euro for two on the train so it would be about 40 euro more. With a young baby at that time of night it is worth it. The only thing is that you may not find one with a car seat (just thought about that), so maybe a prebooked transfer is better.

Thanks again, yonker.
Will let you know!

just back from paris
had a wonderful time
followed your advice, yonker, thank you