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How many times have you been to Paris? Never, five times, more? What about experiencing Paris with kids?
No matter how often you travel to Paris, this diverse city shows itself from a different side with every visit.
Whether you find the city of more than 2 million inhabitants on the Seine stressful or romantic is always up to you. I experienced my last Paris tour with my family – with 9, 12 and 15 year old kids.
Our idea was to schedule only one fixed sightseeing appointment per day. Because we wanted to enjoy Paris and not goose-step to explore.
Are you curious how it was? Here’s how we experienced Paris with kids.
If your kids are older, check out: The Ultimate Guide to Exploring Paris with Teenagers
Ideally, you can get from London to Paris in 2.5 hours by Eurostar. The train runs 14 times a day without changing trains to the Gare du Nord in Paris. There are similar connections from Frankfurt, Düsseldorf and Cologne via Brussels with the Thalys and TGV, which take around 4 hours.
Especially for families, this is an extremely relaxed way of getting to Paris.
See also: A Guide to Using the Metro in Paris
Make sure to stay connected during your Paris trip with an eSIM from alsoSIM. It starts at only $6 for the fastest, cheapest local data package to ensure that you stay connected without paying for the cost for roaming.
I can heartily recommend the Hotel Melia Villa Marquis in Rue Jean Goujon. Compared to many surrounding hotels, it is also recommendable from the price-performance ratio.
Since it is located in a small side street, it is pleasantly quiet. The staff is incredibly welcoming, so we felt at home from the first second.
The hotel is only a 2-minute walk from the banks of the Seine. So you are at the Place d’Alma and the Pont d’Alma in a flash, from where you have a fantastic view of the Eiffel Tower.
Every evening on the hour, in addition to the wonderful illumination of the city’s landmark, there is also a light show with thousands of flickering points of light.
When sightseeing in Paris, we highly recommend getting the Paris Pass.
Here are a few top sights to explore in Paris in kids.
See also: Top Things to Do in Paris
Of course, if your kids have never been to Paris before, you should definitely climb the Eiffel Tower.
Here’s an important tip: make sure you get tickets early. We booked a tour through “Get Your Guide” after my teenage kids pointed out to me that buying tickets on the spot is oldschool. 😉
I didn’t believe it, but they were right. The line at the counters was huge and we were very thankful that we had booked a tour in advance.
A week before I only got the tour to the 2nd floor, the tour to the top floor was already fully booked. Also on site there was no chance despite all attempts to do so.
So: Be early with your booking!
And definitely walk up.
Here you can find the right ticket for it.
It’s a much greater experience to climb the stairs, experience the construction of this tower up close and personal and work your way through the visit this way than just getting in the elevator.
Our tour guide was really funny, kept the kids and adults well entertained, and it was an all-around chill Eiffel Tower visit with lots of humor and gorgeous views of the entire city.
Because even from the 2nd floor the view is breathtaking!
Here is the guided tour:
Just below the Eiffel Tower, at the Port de la Bourdonnais, the Bateaux-Parisiens depart, the excursion boats that let you experience the city from the river.
If you book the ticket in advance through “Get Your Guide“, you are free to choose which ride you want between 10am and 9pm.
The start for our boat was pontoon 3. If you’re there at lunchtime, there are also a couple of food and drink stalls down right on the banks of the Seine. It takes 1 hour to cruise down the Seine towards Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral.
A super relaxing moment to unwind, observe and recharge your batteries.
The Seine boat tour is also available in combination with the Louvre.
Paris without once standing in front of the famous Notre-Dame Cathedral is actually unthinkable.
We asked the cab driver to just let us out there on our way to the Sacre Coeur, waited and then continued on our way.
I love the pilgrimage church Sacré Coeur.
Because of its special shape in the confectioner’s style, because you can see from a distance how it towers elegantly over Paris, because right next to it begins the artists’ district of Montmartre.
Perhaps also because of everything.
On the railing in front of the church, as on many bridges in Paris, you can find countless locks. The signs of the everlasting love of couples in love.
I hope that they are all still happy with each other to this day. 😉
Once up here at the Sacré Coeur, a stroll through the artists’ quarter around the famous Place du tertre naturally follows.
So many artists exhibit their diverse paintings here – everything from oil to watercolor or acrylic can be found here. We were particularly fascinated by the silhouettes.
Within a few minutes, very individual souvenirs were created here, which now have their place on my wall in the office.
See also: Paris for Beginners: Where and What to Eat, See or Do
I wasn’t a fan of online vouchers for sightseeing until now. But times are changing and it makes it super easy of course.
Tickets for the Louvre are available at Tiqets from €17.
An insider tip: Instead of ending up in line despite pre-booking tickets, don’t line up at the top of the glass pyramid or the main entrances, because that’s where it clogs up. With the pyramid behind you and walking toward the Jardin des Tuileries, you’ll see an underpass on the left that leads to the Carousel, the underground shopping area. There are also entrances to the Louvre from there and you don’t have to wait a second.
I have been to Paris so many times but have never seen the Mona Lisa. We didn’t wait in the never-ending line, we just kept walking left to the next room and this way you can also get a very close view of the artwork and even take a souvenir photo.
On the famous street Champs Elysées is the famous Arc de Triomphe. You can get a super photo if you use the pedestrian islands as a photo position.
I couldn’t resist playing the song: Aux Champs Elysées by Joe Dassin to my kids.
It’s not one of their favorite songs, but at least they know it exists now. 😉
Of course, the Galeries Lafayette are considered the mecca for shopping. We personally favor small stores and liked our stroll on Rue de Rennes. There are many hip stores here, for teenagers especially Subdued and Brandy Melville. Enchanting tea stores, new brands and really lots to discover.
There are some wonderful stores in the Carousel below the Louvre. Colorful art objects at Pylones and delicious macarons at Ladurée. Certainly the most expensive but also absolutely delicious macarons you can buy here.
We found the Iris Gallery particularly fascinating. You get wonderful artwork of your eyes here. Who would have known how beautifully colorful, individual and expressive each iris is. This is a truly magical souvenir from Paris.
See also: Exploring Paris by Foot: Walking Guide to Paris
A stroll in the Marais is also highly recommended. From the intersection of Le Marais, simply stroll along Rue Vieille-du-Temple until you reach the Halle des Blancs Manteaux and then turn left into Rue du Marché des Blancs Manteaux. The street makes a bend to the right here and you will see the Librairie du temple, a very old bookstore, on your right.
On the left, the road continues into the Rue des Roisiers. Here, after a few meters on the right, you will find the Patisserie Yann Couvreur with delicious pastry specialties and ice cream.
Just follow the street until it doesn’t go straight anymore and turn right into Rue Malher. At the end of the street you will see the Brasserie La Favorite Saint-Paul, decorated with countless pink flowers.
Café de Flore on Boulevard Saint-Germain was on our to-visit list. It looks wonderful but we discovered a restaurant for dinner right nearby that had us all even more excited.
La Socété, right by the Église de Saint-Germain des Prés, just a minute walk from Café de Flore. Super delicious food, you sit beautifully and are surrounded by very stylish and friendly people.
Who doesn’t dream of having dinner with a view of the shining Eiffel Tower. Very close to our hotel Melia Villa Marquis is Chez Francis. The service is not particularly affectionate but you sit in the front of the restaurant with a view of the illuminated Eiffel Tower.
On Avenue New York, a few steps away, are other and slightly more elegant restaurants with views of the Eiffel Tower, such as Monseur Bleu or 6 New York. If you want to eat there, you should book a table very early and consider if it is suitable for your kids or if you rather choose Chez Francis like we did.
See also: Food in Paris: A Culinary Centre in Europe
At the end our trip went like this: We were sitting in the cab to the airport. It was 3 p.m. and the cab driver asked from which terminal we were departing.
To be honest: from none, because the flight was spontaneously cancelled. What to do now? Take a cab home! And so it happened that at 11 p.m. a black cab from Paris drove into our driveway. 😉
If you’re thinking about visiting Paris in winter, check out our experience below:
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Thanksgiving may perhaps be a hoping time to travel inside of the U.S., but it is a great hack for an unique spouse and children excursion: Considering the fact that it is not an worldwide holiday break, you will not obtain the same crowds or large selling prices you have to grapple with above Christmas and New Year’s. Wendy has expended many a Thanksgiving in Europe Brook just lately took her family members to Egypt more than her son’s weeklong college break. Study on for much more suggestions of the place you can make the most of your time off in late November—with the help of the ideal Trusted Travel Specialist, of study course. And here’s what it usually means to get a WOW trip.
Spain: child-helpful tapas, flamenco, history…
Río Guadalquivir, Seville. Image: Gina Melton
“Pablo and his group planned a fantastic 11-working day itinerary for our family’s Thanksgiving excursion to Southern Spain. This was a labor of love immediately after nearly five unique iterations due to Covid, and Pablo and his workforce were being very affected person with us throughout the preparing system and sent a trip we will often remember. We expended a considerable sum of time in Madrid and then headed to Seville and Granada. Without a question, the success of this trip was mainly attributable to the amazing guides who showed us a tiny of their world. Not only have been they incredibly adaptable with our sons, aged 10 and 8, they found techniques to bring the Spanish society to lifestyle for them. In Madrid, that meant attempting the city’s best Tortilla in a person of the city’s vibrant markets, halting for churros, going to rooftops to train the boys about the landmarks in a exciting and appealing way and obtaining tapas places to eat that were genuine and loved ones-helpful. Alfonso, our Madrid guideline, was so form and generous with his time, he truly created us really feel welcomed. In Seville, I was pleasantly surprised to see the boys connecting with the Flamenco demonstrate Pablo organized for us it was an authentic experience that the grown ups loved much too! We cherished our working day journey to Jerez de la Frontera to see the dancing white horses at the Royal Andalusian College of Equestrian Artwork. And, our tour of Alhambra Palace and Generalife was beautifully timed for the family—we were being in a position to see the entire advanced without having hurrying, but also held the kids’ desire. The information ended up seamless all through the whole excursion and I appreciated Pablo’s workplace functioning on a very last-moment change to our itinerary when we made the decision to contact an audible on the closing times of our excursion. Spain is a amazing position for youngsters and this was just one of our incredibly ideal spouse and children vacations to date.” —Gina Melton
Read extra opinions of Spain journeys. To get your individual WOW vacation, start off with our vacation questionnaire, attained by means of the black button underneath.
Belize: seashore and jungle with 3 generations
A treetop villa at Chaa Creek Lodge in Belize. Picture: Chaa Creek
“To approach for our 50th anniversary family members celebration adventure in Belize, Wendy released us to Patricia, a indigenous Belizean with a enthusiasm for introducing her country to the environment. A year of organizing with Patricia and Juliannie culminated in a 10-day journey, five days in the jungle and five times on an island. With us were being four grandchildren, ages 9-12, so a large amount of considered went into earning sure we experienced loads of kid-oriented items to do. We definitely required to listen to lots of “WOWs” from them and we weren’t disappointed.
Visualize 4 little ones flying into Belize Town airport and remaining escorted across the tarmac and recognizing they were about to leap into two helicopters and fly to their jungle vacation resort, or their pleasure of getting whisked from the jungle, by using private aircraft, above to Placencia, then jumping on a boat and arriving on an island? Their reactions when they walked into their magnificent lodging, comprehensive with plunge swimming pools, were priceless.
Chaa Creek Resort in the jungle did not disappoint, upping the “WOWs” to new amounts each individual working day. Our butler, Candi, and her trainee Ryan spoiled us with private dinners for 10, breakfast deliveries early in the morning, new fruit beverages when we returned from a working day of touring, even babysitting so the grownups could dine collectively. At 4:00 a.m. a single early morning Candi was aiding decorate an outside pavilion so our granddaughter could have a enjoyable 9th birthday celebration that evening. The surprises never stopped, the staff members was so generous and variety, the lodging top rated-notch, and the foods delicious. Our granddaughter with celiac even got special gluten-no cost desserts just about every day!
We had a focused driver and guideline, Darryl, in the course of our 5 days of touring the jungle, and when climbing water shut the ATM cave tour, Darryl seamlessly altered plans. Darryl released us to the Mayan planet, aided us take a look at their temples, took us to a area espresso plantation and to a women’s community co-op the place the grandchildren were capable to hand-grind espresso beans, fresh corn for our tortillas, and try out their fingers at historical pottery building. A trip deep into the jungle delivered us to zip-lining at the finish of our cultural immersion day!
Ray Caye Resort beach front days have been put in in total relaxation method so snorkeling, leaping off the two-tale diving system, kayaking, canoeing, sailing the Hobie cat, and even scuba diving retained us engaged. But having fun with gourmand foods, sipping drinks around the pool in the in close proximity to-fantastic weather conditions, and enjoying spouse and children volleyball and puzzle games introduced us collectively right after considerably as well quite a few many years of separation. The island was magical, the team always all set to aid us, anticipating our every single have to have, and on our past night there, they astonished us with a 50th anniversary loved ones meal on the seashore. The vacation resort covered the whole island and at 1 position there were being only 16 vacationers on it. Communicate about a non-public and best post-pandemic place to be! Leaving “paradise” the past morning was tricky, to say the the very least!
Patricia ensured that the full journey worked seamlessly and not at the time did we have a glitch! She also selected the really finest persons to assistance us all over the trip. We couldn’t have asked for a greater spouse and children celebration of our 50th!” —Judith Rodwell
Study more evaluations of Belize excursions. To get your own WOW vacation, start with our journey questionnaire, reached by means of the black button underneath.
Costa Rica: mother nature and h2o athletics with teens
Manuel Antonio beach front, Costa Rica. Photograph: Shutterstock
“Irene assisted our spouse and children system a wonderful journey to Costa Rica in excess of Thanksgiving week. We cherished the Arenas Del Mar resort in Manuel Antonio! It was the only just one on the beach and even experienced its own private beach front. The monkeys and sloths had been thrilling to view. We noticed them all the time! Irene established us up with a zip-line tour that was fun for the whole family, and some of us did a surf lesson much too. We also put in time with a guide in Manuel Antonio Nationwide Park. It was rather busy, but our guidebook knew where by to go for a quieter practical experience. The park is stunning, and there was so significantly to see!
Our other place was the Osa Peninsula. We received there by an thrilling boat experience by means of the river and mangroves and into the ocean till we achieved La Paloma Lodge. It’s a wonderful luxurious eco-vacation resort, and we had a room with a amazing look at and lots of space for our complete family members. We appreciated scuba diving, kayaking, checking out Corcovado Countrywide Park, and we even did a guided night time walk to see some of the night creatures. We observed macaws, toucans, lots of styles of monkeys, sloths, agouti, crocodiles and even a tapir! We did have some rain on our trip— we listened to it experienced been a really rainy year—but we did not thoughts: It tends to make every little thing so lush and environmentally friendly!
Irene was great in seamlessly scheduling our vacation and earning absolutely sure every little thing went very well. It was seriously useful to have somebody so common with the place and professional about all the hotels and routines. Thank you for generating our vacation great!” —Alana Jacobson
Browse much more opinions of Costa Rica journeys. To get your individual WOW excursion, start out with our excursion questionnaire, arrived at by using the black button under.
Morocco with a teenager: hiking, camels, ATVs…
Racing down sand dunes in Morocco. Picture by Tim Baker
“This was an definitely astounding vacation for a 1st time to Morocco. Very first, our guideline, Amine, was exceptionally practical and proficient about all of the spots and internet sites we frequented. 2nd, the web-sites and towns on their own were being absolutely spectacular.
We begun our journey landing in Casablanca, but then identified our guide and driver and quickly drove the 3-4 several hours to Fes. I was a small anxious about whether or not that would be at ease right after a very long, right away flight, but it turns out, sitting down in the auto and seeing this unfamiliar surroundings go by was certainly perfect—especially considering that it authorized Amine to orient us to Moroccan culture, a very little little bit of historical past, and our vacation logistics.
When we obtained to Fes, we were being able to right away check into our lodge (because we had expended the time essential to get the journey), and we then went out and started to see the souks of Fes. We did this all over again the next working day, total with a vacation to see Moroccan ceramics-producing in action, a doing the job tannery, and any variety of mosques and other cultural internet sites.
Our up coming big city was Rabat, which was also awesome. Our information instructed us that Moroccans them selves are inclined to find Rabat boring—lol. We did not, but when we obtained to Marrakesh, we understood what he intended.
Marrakesh was the complete highlight of the excursion. Our lodge was absolutely remarkable. On our last day, we manufactured an absolutely intriguing trip climbing on the High Atlas and then ATV-ing and camel riding in the desert.
It was an unquestionably once-in-a-life span practical experience, and I would recommend it to any individual.” —Sarah Rathke
Go through much more testimonials of Morocco excursions. To get your individual WOW vacation, begin with our vacation questionnaire, reached via the black button beneath.
Peru: Machu Picchu & the Amazon with teens
The ruins at Machu Picchu, Peru. Picture: Aracari
“We traveled from the U.S. to Peru for the 7 days of Thanksgiving, and Mark and everybody in his business did a fantastic occupation creating the journey for us. We traveled with a few youngsters and we frequented an ecolodge in the rainforest in the Amazon Basin, and then went to Cusco to go to the Sacred Valley spot as perfectly as Machu Picchu. Mark built all our travel and lodge preparations and did a excellent work arranging the full vacation. Our guides and drivers were being fabulous and we discovered just how vital obtaining a great travel agent was when Peru started acquiring protests that shut down the towns. Our vacation agent and manual managed to reschedule each and every of our days, filling in the place probable with pursuits that we could do even though no cars had been permitted to shift on the streets and all the of places we had planned to go were shut down. We even now finished up with a good pay a visit to and we seriously got to see so a lot of fantastic components of Peru thanks to all of the assistance from Mark’s team—thank you!” —Laura Virkler
Read extra reviews of Peru outings. To get your possess WOW excursion, commence with our journey questionnaire, achieved by means of the black button below.
Italy and Switzerland with 4 youngsters, ages 5 to 11
Florence, Italy. Image: Shutterstock
“My spouse and children of six—including four daughters, ages 5 by 11—traveled to Italy and Switzerland in November/December 2021. Maria pulled it all together on relatively small observe I think we had only 4 weeks of direct time. She arranged for good lodges, enjoyable excursions, and private guides in Florence and Zurich who were wonderful with the girls. It was genuinely pleasant to have the exact same driver the total time we had been in a city, and each individual driver was outstanding and very accommodating. We experienced a amazing time building pizza in Florence, and a different key highlight was our WOW Second. Thank you so considerably, Wendy, we definitely relished it! We walked throughout the river in Florence to a far more household neighborhood and visited an artist’s studio, where by she welcomed us and aided us make our very own mosaics in her discovered-object design. While they dried, we appreciated sandwiches and cake in the cafe. The artist and Elvira (our manual) have been so welcoming and welcoming it was a actual treat to expend the afternoon with them. All the things went smoothly, and it was awesome not to have to worry about anything. I will unquestionably call Maria once more when we return to Italy or Switzerland!” —Rebecca Bartlett
Study extra assessments of Italy and Switzerland trips. Understand how to get your individual WOW second. Or use our excursion questionnaire (arrived at through the black button down below) to get started a WOW journey.
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