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Paris with 8 month old

8 replies

Tangle · 31/08/2007 22:44

Hi,

we're planning a trip to Paris this November with our daughter, who will be just under 8 months old. We were thinking of driving, but the more we ponder the more we think we might be better off going on EuroStar. What we're not too sure of is:

  • is it really possible to pack for 3 (2 adults and a baby) and manage it all on public transport?

  • will we need a car seat when we get there if we don't have a car (she's a big baby and won't fit in her infant seat by then)?

  • how baby friendly (or rather how buggy/push chair friendly) is the metro?

  • should we get an umbrella fold buggy, or will the not-so-collapsible Bugaboo be just fine?

Thanks for any suggestions. It'll be the first time we've been properly away from home as a family, so it's all a bit of an unkown!

OP posts:
louii · 31/08/2007 22:50

Metro is not baby or buggy friendly whatsoever, i found Paris pretty hard going with a baby, not one of the most accessible cities.

cazzybabs · 31/08/2007 22:53

The metro is a nightmare - def. need a umbrella fold buggy.

I wouldn't drive in Paris.

Eurostar is fine with a baby.

Resturants are not really child friendly either.

But we did have a good time - I love Paris!!!

janek · 02/09/2007 12:58

we have twice travelled through paris getting from eurostar to montparnasse for our onward TGV using the metro, once with a 7 week-old, once with a 14 mo (same baby!). we carried all we needed for a week's holiday (including washable nappies) for the 3 of us in two 65 litre rucksacks.

the metro is not very pushchair friendly, but we managed because the rucksacks meant we both had our hands free, so we just carried the pushchair up and down steps. when dd was awake we sometimes removed her from the pushchair and carried her on the escalators (some people think it is safe to put a pushchair with a baby in it on an escalator. i am NOT one of these people. i have no objections to empty pushchairs on escalators though). i have seen lifts at some stations, but not gare du nord. also, they are very slow, probably to discourage the able-bodied from using them.

presumably once you get to wherever you are staying travelling around will be easier cos you won't have so much stuff with you. i imagine the bugaboo will be fine as there are two of you - one can carry the baby, the other push the empty pushchair whilst on the metro.

once we were on the actual train people were very accommodating, smiling at the baby, not minding me nearly falling on top of them cos of the weight of my rucksack etc.

btw slightly irrelevant to you, but i was surprised to notice that a folded maclaren techno xt pushchair fits into the overhead storage on the eurostar - i wouldn't have thought to try it myself, but i saw someone else's up there, so that's where we put ours too. in fact you might have more trouble stowing your unfoldable buggy on the eurostar than on the metro. i don't know though, i am not experienced in the ways of the bugaboo. does seem a bit excessive and a shame to me to have to buy another buggy when you already have (a very expensive) one.

fyi it is cheaper to buy a 'carnet de dix tickets' on the metro than individual ones (or even 8 individual ones like i tried to buy).

also, if you are travelling by train to london to get the eurostar, consider getting a family railcard. you have to buy a ticket for the child, but everyone's tickets are discounted so it normally works out cheaper. also, we once managed to buy ordinary (ie relatively cheap) saver returns with our railcard on an 8am train where it would have cost over £200 without the railcard (seemingly saver returns not available when not travelling with child). you can also buy tickets from x to waterloo ie no need to pay for tube and often at a bargain price, but you need to buy in advance and have to bring your eurostar tickets to buy them - presumably to prove you are genuinely travelling.

last also - there are 'family friendly' carriages on eurostar, but i think you need to ring up to book them, you can't specify online. they are the ones right next to the baby changing rooms. but, you may not want your (possibly sleeping) child disturbed by other children.

sorry for rant, but i am evangelical about rail travel, it is definitely the way forward. what child wants to be belted into a car for hours on end, when they can be wandering (or crawling) up and down a train?!?

Bink · 02/09/2007 13:22

I had to cross Paris once a few years ago by myself with a 13 month old and I was just amazed (I live in London by the way) how though the Metro is every bit as full of stairs as the Tube the people were quite different - eg a bunch of shaven-headed youth came & helped carry the buggy upstairs as if this was perfectly normal and just what you did.

If she's 8 mo, do you have a backpack? That's how I did travel with a baby at that age. Pull-along suitcase, happy person on my back. Much easier to do museums etc. that way (and our backpack could stand up to be a seat when in cafes).

What's your accommodation? Uninamous recommendations I've seen are to stay in an apart-hotel sort of place.

janek · 02/09/2007 13:40

that's like the opposite of my advice bink . can recommend ergo baby carrier for such a trip - you can wear in on front, back or hip, our dd loves being on my back - it's like a piggy back, but without having to hold her on! in fact our ergo was packed in the above-mentioned 2 rucksacks (we obviously couldn't use it to get across paris as our backs were already taken up with heavy stuff.). it's just sewn cloth, so no heavy frame to carry and it packs up reasonably small.

ScottishMummy · 02/09/2007 19:37

recently returned from eurostar trip to paris

Good changing facilities on train

Paris was very easy with baby, most attractions walkable eg Pompidou to Notre DAme

le jardins du luxembourg - stunning agagin v family friendly i recommend this

stroller - i have bugaboo cameleon but did not take as too bulky. imo umbrella stroller easy and go in overhead luggage

metro has many many steep stairs, honestly nearly most Paris is walkable

enjoy

Tangle · 02/09/2007 19:44

Thanks for all the advice . It is really just the journey there and back that we're worried about - wouldn't plan on using the car once we there, so paying parking and driving does seem a bit daft.

I think we've got the British Rail fares sorted (DH has a season ticket to London, and gets some freebies chucked in).

Still dithering on the buggy. We got the Bugaboo (ex-demo ) as we had a list of "definite wants" and that came closest. One of the biggest was for DC to be able to face us in either pram or pushchair modes - which would be impossible in an umbrella fold as far as I can see. That said, if it was going to make life 500 times easier in every other respect we'd probably do it, and get a frame that our infant carrier would click onto for DC2 (bit of forward planning there!).

I've got a Hug-a-Bub at the moment, and that would definitely come. Assuming I tie it carefully I can carry DD around for a couple of hours or more quite comfortably. We tried an Ergo, but I found it really uncomfortable as it rubbed under my arms and we couldn't see a way to adjust it so that it wouldn't. I do want to look into more robust wraps so that I have an option on a back carry before we go. A friend up the road has a Didymos that I think I'll try and borrow for a trial .

For accomodation we're planning on an appartment. Dug around on VBRO and found one in about the right place for a decent price that is very baby friendly. Hadn't thought of a rucksack, but that might work quite well .

Any more suggestions gratefully received

OP posts:
LaCod · 02/09/2007 19:45

we wnet when ds1 was 13 months
metro shite
lots of playgournds everywhere

id do a sling tbh or back pack

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