This post is part of my Traveling Tuesday Series.
Traveling to Paris with kids can seem like a silly thing to do, but our visit when our eldest daughter, Honeybun, was only 22 months old (and I was 26 weeks pregnant) was a great start to what became our European Adventure after a two year to Ireland for my husband’s job. We spent five days in the City of Lights and enjoyed every second of it!
Here are the basics of traveling to Paris with kids:
Getting Around
Paris has a great public transport system. There are trains that run from the airports to the city and taxis are abundant. The Metro (underground trains) will get you nearly anywhere though many of the stations do not have elevators for strollers/buggies so keep that in mind when planning your travels.
For sightseeing there is also the hop-on-hop-off bus tour which consists of four different bus routes that will take you within easy walking distance of pretty much any sights you want to see in Paris with kids.
Kid Accessibility
Paris is an old city and so is not always friendly for getting around with kids. Some of the streets are cobblestone and many of the buildings, including restaurants and hotels, have steps leading in. It’s best, if possible, to travel with a lightweight buggy/stroller and a carrier or sling to make getting in and out of places easier.
When we were visiting in 2010, there were also very few baby changing tables to be found. My suggestion if you are traveling to Paris with a baby or toddler in diapers is to bring a reusable changing pad and practice doing diaper changes standing up in the corner as restrooms tend to be tiny and there isn’t even always room to lay a child on the floor.
Also, if your child is a milk drinker, be prepared for the cultural differences as French parents give their children warmed milk with sugar and it took us a whole day to figure out how to ask for cold milk (“lait froid“). Even after breaking the language barrier we still had to explain at every restaurant that our daughter wouldn’t drink warmed milk (we tried the first day and it was a big no-go!)
Eating in Paris with kids
There are literally thousands of small sidewalk cafes and restaurants anywhere you go in Paris. Picking a place can be a bit tricky if you don’t speak French and we discovered that picking restaurants with translated menus helped make meal times less frustrating for everyone because not only could we read the menus, there were more likely to be English speaking staff which made just made communicating easier (though we did have one very lovely meal where the waiter didn’t speak English and we don’t speak French but we all stayed cordial and it worked out just fine!)
Finding foods our daughter would eat was never a problem (though she isn’t a picky eater, traveling certainly helped with that!) Most cafes and restaurants will offer basic things most kids will enjoy.
Shopping
We’re not big shoppers and didn’t do a lot of shopping while in Paris but did wander into the Forum de Halles one evening after dinner. Other popular shopping areas in Paris include:
- Boulevard Hausseman
- Avenue des Champs-Elysées
- Rue de Rivoli
- Boulevard Saint Michel
Preparing for a trip to Paris with Kids:
I’m big on planning our trips ahead of time because traveling with kids makes things just a little bit more complicated as they aren’t always very patient when you don’t have a plan so I always did a lot of research and planning before our trips. Check out my tips and advice for:
- Finding the perfect hotel
- Pre-Planning as much as possible and finding the best Sights to See
- Packing for the kids
Whenever possible, I suggest pre-purchasing tickets to the most popular attractions as the walk-up lines can be extremely long and you’ll end up wasting a lot of time waiting which doesn’t generally make for happy kids! Pre-purchasing tickets to attractions online is also usually cheaper or you can look into city specific “passes” which usually include admission to the most popular attractions and allow you to use the pre-purchased entrances.
What to see and do in Paris with Kids:
Our original itinerary was only supposed to be 4 days but the volcanic ash cloud that overtook Europe while we were there caused a flight cancellation and we got to spend an extra day doing things we hadn’t planned on. Luckily I had done tons of research before our trip and so filling in the extra day was no problem!
We filled our five days as follows:
Day 1:
We arrived mid-morning and took the train from Charles de Gaulle airport into the city. We checked into our hotel had lunch.
Paris Opera House
Our first sight was the Paris Opera House. We did the guided tour and being a ballerina myself, I was so excited to be in one of the most important places in ballet history. The tour was lovely and our daughter actually really enjoyed it. Even when the tour dragged on at points, we were able to distract her with all the amazing things to look at, especially the ceilings (which we continued to use as child distraction throughout our European Adventure.)
Luxembourg Gardens
We then purchased our multi-day tickets and hopped on the city bus tour. We had planned to ride around and enjoy the city but decided to hop off near Luxembourg Gardens where we let Honeybun run around for a while before meandering up Blvd de Sabastopol, stopping for dinner, and returning to our hotel.
Day 2:
Eiffel Tower
The next morning we hopped on the tour bus again and headed to the Eiffel Tower. We had not pre-purchased our tickets and so ended up waiting hours to get in to only spend about an hour total up in the tower. We did go to the top level and let Honeybun look out over the city before heading down and she was really well behaved throughout but we could have seen a lot more of Paris if we had planned ahead just a little better!
Notre Dame Cathedral
After lunch on our second day, we hopped back on the tour bus and headed to Notre Dame. We only did the Cathedral ground floor (my pregnant body was not up for all those stairs to climb to the top!) Honeybun and I ended up doing just a quick peek around after another long wait but my husband spent a little more time looking around before we again stopped for dinner on Blvd de Sabastopol on the way back to our hotel.
Day 3:
Versailles
Our third day in Paris, we hopped on the train and headed outside the city to Versailles. We spent all day exploring the palace and grounds and it was my most favorite day of our visit.
I visited Versailles during a trip with my middle school and had always wanted to go back and our visit didn’t disappoint. We started with the palace tour which was interesting, but short, then spent the rest of the day exploring the gardens and other buildings such as Marie Antoinette’s chalet which I didn’t get to see the first time. I had no idea there was so much beyond the main palace and I think all the little buildings were even more fascinating than the palace.
Day 4:
The Louvre
The fourth day of our trip was spent wandering around the Louvre. It took us all day but we walked nearly every hall of the famous art museum and ruins (which was Honeybun’s favorite part). We obviously didn’t stop to admire every work of art but we did see the highlights such as the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo as well as discovered some less popular pieces that really struck our fancy.
Day 5:
What should have been our day to travel home ended up being a day to see more great things in Paris.
Catacombs
The underground burial tombs are not appropriate for all children but we knew that our daughter was young enough to not really understand what she was seeing and also well enough behaved to not freak out in the small underground caverns. It was really fascinating to see how precisely the bones were laid and to imagine the vast number of people represented in the space. The stairs (which I had avoided at Notre Dame) were not very fun but we survived by sharing the responsibility of carrying Honeybun, the stroller and diaper backpack.
Musee de l’Armee
I’ll admit I’m a bit of a trip hog, planning most of our stops, what we’re going to see and where we’re going to spend our time. The Musee de l’Armee (Army Museum) was my husband’s choice to fill our last day and while he enjoyed the artillery, armor, and World Wars sections more than I did, I did enjoy seeing the tomb of Napoleon I.
More ideas for enjoying Paris with kids:
- Riverboat ride: take a boat ride down the Siene.
- Musée d’Orsay: this smaller art museum houses the world’s largest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist works from artists including Monet, Manet, Renoir and Degas (all those pretty ballerinas!)
- Sacré-Cœur: the Basilica of the Sacred Heart sits high above Paris and provides world class views over the city.
Have you done Paris with kids? What tips or sights would you add?
