Paris best place to stay with the kids, best things to see?

[Frizbe]

A few of us girls are off to Paris with the kids in May and we're wondering where's the best place to stay with kids (one night only!) and what are the best things to do with them, they're all age 4, so nothing too major req'd

Le jardin d'Aclimatation, a couple of stops into town from La Defense. Accomodation-wise it probably doesn't matter so much if you're only there for one night. I stayed at an Ibis hotel in La Defense (a bit grotty, but only a long weekend) and an artist's apartment for a week over New Year (very, very Parisian, almost a parody).

definitely eiffel tower, but it has huge queues, so best to get there early and have breakfast afterwards.

my 7 year old just thought it was MEGA, he'd seen pictures of it before, but hadn't realised how ginormous it actually was, and he loved the view from the middle floor (me to much of a wuss to go to the very top!)

Hotel Concorde La Fayette has really good transport links to the metro and you can get anywhere from there. You can also get straight onto the metro from the hotel basement. It's the tallest hotel in Paris and has excellent views, but we got a good deal with Eurostar when we went. It's quite a business oriented hotel and the transport links were excellent.

They do do room rate deals when booking 2 rooms or more.

thanks all, getting quite excited any more ideas out there?

Your DCs are too young but for older children I went with my sister and nephew (8) who talked for days about the catacombs and the walls made of skulls. A bit grisly but entertained him!

oooh I dunno, reckon dd1 would like skulls, the other kids might not though

The Galerie D'evolution is quite fab- with lots of animaux- here in jardin des plantes . could probably spend over half a day there.

parc la villette is good too

the restaurant on the top floor of galerie la fayette is good too- fabulous views (they also have a viewing platform upstairs on the roof) and the food is great, but not too expensive- you can choose lots of fruit for fruit salads, and ice creams etc.

frizbe- DS would LOVE skulls.. but I think DH would not be best pleased if we went there... and I'm pretty sure the others might object to skulking around in the cattacombs... no matter how cool we would find it.

and bump just in case anyone has any advice or an apartment to rent us for one night!

any other advice anyone?

bump

A trip on one of the Bateaux Mouches gives the DCs a trip on a boat, you get a sit down and see some sights and everyone can have a bit of a rest.

My French aupair said the other day that the Natural History Museum was the top attraction. Given that she said it was next to a zoo and Jardin des Plants, I think it must be the same place that EPPM mentioned - the Galerie d'Evolution.

We are heading to the new Centerparcs to the east of Paris this year, and DH is set on two or three days in Paris. Trouble is, our kids hate cities ("all you do is go into shops and never buy anything" - very true!).

Ah- but that is the fun of 'shopping'- all the looking, not the purchasing!
Especially in Paris...

Not according to my kids when they are being dragged around

ooooh this is sounds like we're going to have a good trip, thanks ladies

What wiimii omitted to say was the montmartretrain actually looks like a little train! ie the type at theme parks.

I got road train!

Sorry- its me don't know what a roadtrain is!

Yeah, yeah, its a train on a road....