France in April- Paris, Eurodisney, and…..?

[Isabella777]

Planning a trip to France over the kids spring break April. Will be the first time for all of us! So far we are planning on a few days in Paris, and a couple nights at Disneyland Paris. We’d like to add 2-3 nights elsewhere- will fall over my birthday and I would love a cute town/small city with great scenery, architecture, food and wine. But also somewhere that won’t be totally boring for the kids! Ideally we would stick to the train this time and stay within 3 hr transit from Paris. Considering Dijon, Colmar, Strasbourg, or somewhere in the Loire valley, but open to suggestions., which is why I’m here. ;)

Also thought about Normandy area as my 9yo is into WWII history, I’m just not 100% sure I want to do it on this trip (I could be convinced otherwise though!).

thanks in advance mumsnetters!

Brugges?

The kids will love the chocolate in Brugges, they've got some wacky and weird museums, there's a Chips museum https://frietmuseum.be/en/home-en/
and an interactive history museum https://www.historium.be/nl

Edited to add : Realise it's Belgium rather than France but it is a similar distance to other places you've mentioned!

Strasbourg is great (I used to live there) and just 1¾ hours on the train if you start at the Gare de l'Est in Paris, or you can start at Disneyland (which has its own TGV station), from where it's a little bit longer as the train makes a couple of stops on the way.

The train trip is an adventure in itself as it goes up to 320km/h which is 200 mph — the current speed is shown on screens in the carriages. You can get tickets 60 days in advance called "Prem's" which are heavily discounted.

You can even get the city tram over to Kehl in Germany for a couple of Euros, if only to say that you added another country to your tour.

Note that Strasbourg has a population of 400,000, so it may not meet your definition of "cute", even though the architecture is spectacular. Colmar is more touristy and "concentrated cute", but so is the centre of Strasbourg. Dig out some images on Google and you'll see what I mean.

Honfleur is beautiful.

Reim was my first thought.

or maybe stay at a French Center Paris (a lot cheaper than UK ones).

Honfleur is lovely or Deauville, a family favourite. Easy to combine with a trip to the Beaches and the museum; I always find that so very moving.

The beach at Dunquerke is lovely and full if history fir someone interested in works war 2

We had a few days in Honfleur with the kids after we did Disney, it's a really pretty town, and there are great restaurants around the little harbour. We also did a day trip to Deauville from there, and stopped at one of the landing beaches. Would definitely recommend

The chateau of the Loire are stunning, but you'd really benefit from a car, whilst there are stations near the big chateau the trains seem to be extremely infrequent. That would be by first choice if you are happy to pick up a car in Amboise or Tours. Alternatively in the summer we were attending some Olympic events, and we looped back from Disney to Lille through Normandy visiting Giverny (for Monet's garden) and then onwards to Rouen (Beautiful cathedral painted by Monet and Joan of Arc), that was a nice way to spend a few days travelling by public transport. We didn't do the World War 2 sites as I think it needed more time than the handful of days we had, a trip for another time.

We had a couple of nights in Lyon a few years ago and really liked it. It's two hours from Paris on the TGV, I think.

Thanks all- I will definitely look more into Normandy.

Related to Loire Valley, has anyone cycled around there (particularly with kids), on their own or with an organized tour? They are pretty active and my oldest especially likes to cycle.

I was going to suggest Reims - stunning cathedral, champagne houses to tour, and you’re very near WW1 battlefield sites.

Versaillles? It's a gorgeous town and close to Paris so not too much travelling. Reims ok for a couple of days but I'd say quite dull for the kids.

Annecy is stunning and would tick all your boxes. Train is just over 3 hours though.