So, we were sitting at the dinner table, doing something resembling eating (which is never as straightforward as you’d think, with kids) as my 6-year-old pulled random slips of paper out of a tiny hand-painted treasure chest, each one with a conversation inspiring question on it. How fancy, non?
He asked, “Where would you go, if you could travel anywhere in the world?” With everyone having just watched the 2024 Olympics and read Magic Treehouse, Night of the New Magicians, the vote was unanimous: Paris. I don’t think that’s the most common choice for three boys, ages 11, 9, and 6, but it makes me feel like we’re inspiring curiosity and and love of learning in our kids, and that makes me BIG proud.
Fast forward several months, we found a random few days when our school was closed in late January, the most unappealing time of the year, and we bought our (pretty reasonable, because #January) flights. What follow are a few tips and reviews of experiences that I hope will be helpful to our fellow adventurers – especially those traveling with kids.
Flights:
We booked a direct overnight flight in order to maximize our time in Paris. We only had 4 full days to spend in France and didn’t want to waste a minute. A few thoughts on how this panned out:
- The kids were in school all day before we departed. 10/10 recommend this, because we were able to pack in absolute peace, scoop them up from school, and head to the airport.
- Our flight departed around 6pm. We had never used melatonin before, but decided this was an all hands on deck situation and gave some to each kid at their normal bedtime. They all knocked out about 30 minutes later, and while it didn’t last a super long time, but was worth it just to get a bit of rest.
- Since our trip was only 4 days/4 nights, we packed everything into rolling carry ons and backpacks and made the kids tote their own luggage. No worries about the airline losing our luggage, no need to wait for anything upon deplaning, and any complaints from littles about carrying things was easily addressed with a look of outrage and the reminder that we were taking them on the adventure of a lifetime.
- We packed neck pillows and eye masks and the kids used them a little bit, but the most clutch item was the extra blanket I frantically shoved in each person’s backpack as we were running out the door. Need a pillow? Balled up blanket. Cold? Blanket. Need to block the light? Blanket.
- Though it was a ~7 hour overnight flight, there wasn’t a ton of time for anyone to say, “are we there yet?” because there was snack, dinner, and breakfast service. And a nap in between. That turned out to be excellent and far superior to our return flight, which was ~9 hours (stupid jetstream) midday, inclusive of one kind of pitiful meal and no ZzZs.
- We let the kids pack some activities and games in their backpacks and they pretty much entertained themselves. I credit much of this to arriving at a magical season where everyone’s mature enough to hang, and also to the fact that we are so stingy with screen time in our real life, that it had MAX impact during travel. Their minds were blown at unlimited screen time. If you can start cutting back on tech a few months before your trip, do it, and thank me later.
Nights:
We stayed at Aparthotel Adagio Tour Eiffel, just a short 15 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower. This was the perfect solution for our family of 5. It was a veritable apartment, providing us with a truly comfortable home base and place to rest in between our many epic excursions. The two-bedroom apartment is actually two levels, with the bedrooms upstairs, so we were able to avoid the treachery of having to go to bed at the same time as the kids, the way you normally might in a hotel.
Many of the rooms feature a view of the Eiffel Tower, and though ours didn’t, we had a gorgeous view of the city from the 31st floor. The hotel has an awesome breakfast each morning, and I definitely recommend adding that to your booking so you can fuel up with delicious croissants before heading out each morning in search of your next adventure. The coffee is really meh though so if you’re particular about your cafe, be prepared to be underwhelmed.
Sights:
La Tour Eiffel
We planned a tour of the Eiffel Tower for the afternoon of our first day in Paris. I knew we’d be nearing our zombie state by that point and I wanted to keep us moving so we could go to bed somewhere close to a normal time and wake up the next day on schedule. I think this is the best way to deal with jet lag – just power through the first day, expect to be the worst version of yourself, and try to do better the next day.
Back to the tour. There are lots of unofficial sites to reserve lift tickets ahead of time (and I’d recommend it if you’re not trying to make this leg day) but this is the real one. We bought tickets up to level two, walked around, took the lift down to level one, explored some more, and then left. I’ll be honest, I didn’t get the most out of this because I’m not a huge fan of heights, but my husband and the kids thought it was the coolest and really enjoyed spotting lots of cool landmarks that we knew we’d be visiting in the days to come. I wish we’d planned ahead and bought tickets to have a meal at Madame Brasserie (inside the Eiffel Tower) but I didn’t think of that until it was too close to our visit.
Ile de la Cite
We awoke on day 2 after a very long sleep, ate a leisurely breakfast in the hotel, and then headed out to Ile de la Cite, a small island in the middle of the River Seine, to meet an old family friend for lunch.
I made a reservation for our group at an adorable restaurant called Les Deux Palais because it checked all the boxes: They accepted reservations, could accommodate a group of 7, were mere steps from Notre Dame, and had some items on the menu that I thought the more discerning (read: picky) of my dudes could accept. This place did not disappoint. The blogs told me that we would not see a lot of kids in restaurants in Paris, and this was absolutely true. They also told me that not every restaurant would be super enthused to host kids – also true, but that’s their problem, not mine 😉 We have worked hard to build social skills and manners and we deserve to eat wherever we want if our kids can be kind and respectful – and they deserve to practice those skills. So, we didn’t let “kid friendliness” limit us on this trip, but I am happy to report that Les Deux Palais was incredibly warm and welcoming to us and our littles. (I also want to note that my 11 and 9-year-olds would be horrified to know that I’m referring to them as “littles” but alas. Not their blog.) For those of you more interested in the food and less in my parenting style, I’ll note that I had the best quiche of my life here and it was my favorite dining experience in all of Paris. Delicious, warm, and “nice” but not pretentious.
After lunch, we walked to Notre Dame and lamented the fact that I wasn’t able to reserve timed entry tickets online, especially since it was a Sunday, and the cathedral had just opened after a 5 year closure following the devastating fire of 2019.
Alors, not to be defeated, we strolled on and queued up to enter Shakespeare and Co. bookstore, where we perused the shop and bought a few classics. Be sure to get your books stamped if you go!
Following the bookstore, emboldened by the fact that all the rain in the forecast was really nothing more than a constant fine mist, we lined up outside Notre Dame just to see how quickly the line moved, and to our delight, we only waited about 10 minutes to get inside, without tickets! On a Sunday! Walking through Notre Dame was remarkable, and though it was packed with people, it didn’t feel claustrophobic to me. It was an amazing experience for all of us and really inspired our young architects.
Le Louvre
In keeping with planning just one or two “big” activities each day and filling the rest based on how we felt, I planned just one activity for day 3: a guided tour and scavenger hunt at the Louvre with Paris Muse tours. I booked this because I wanted the museum experience to be engaging and fun for the kids, but it ended up being awesome for all of us. The museum itself is MASSIVE and we would’ve been totally overwhelmed without our tour guide. There are those little ear pieces available for self-guided tours but if you can swing it, just lock in a tour guide, and do it through this company. Our guide was knowledgeable, flexible, and fun. She captivated the kids with stories of French history as we walked through the museum for two hours, and they have been talking about the things they saw and learned ever since. We saw Venus de Milo, the Code of Hammurabi, the Gallery of Apollo, and the Mona Lisa. We debated the true reason for her smirk. We felt like the fanciest people ever.
And then we went to McDonald’s in the museum cafe. WHY. Why would we do such a thing!?! Because by this point everyone was so tired, so hungry, and so desperately in need of something familiar. In an ironic twist of fate, we waited like 30 minutes for our McDonald’s order to be ready and just 5 for a beautiful classic French stew and nicoise salad, so… the universe laughed in our faces that day.
To restore our credibility as world travelers embracing the local food scene, upon departing the Louvre, we walked down the street to Angelina’s for the world’s best hot chocolate. I’ll describe that experience in the following section but just wanted you all to be reassured that the bougie boys only fell off the wagon once.
That night, before bed, we walked out of our hotel and just 3-5 minutes down the street and waited for the Eiffel Tower to begin to sparkle, which it does every hour on the hour for about 5 minutes. We even did a little countdown and it reminded me of waiting for the ball to drop on New Year’s Eve. It was pure magic.
L’Arc de Triomphe et Les Champs Elysees
On our last full day, knowing that the weather was dicey, we booked a Bustronome Paris tour. If you haven’t heard of this – and I hadn’t before this trip – it’s a double decker bus with dining tables on the top level and a glass roof, and it drives around the city passing over a dozen highlights while you are served a four course meal and wine. We figured this would be a great way to see anything we’d missed, regardless of the weather. And of course, because we picked such a rain friendly activity, the weather was gorgeous that day 😉
The meal was delicious, and they had a slightly modified menu for the kids, which they happily ate. The main course was some fancy veal dish, which the kids said was “the best chicken ever.” The dessert included ice cream and chocolate lava. The experience felt totally indulgent but also not at all stressful because the vibe was not nearly as stuffy as it is in some of the Parisian restaurants – after all, it is a bus. I’d highly recommend this to anyone – singles, couples, families. As long as your kids are able to sit through a meal without getting up and wandering off, you’re good to go. And yes, the bus has a bathroom.
The tour starts and stops at L’Arc de Triomphe, so this provided the perfect opportunity for my husband and the two big boys to climb the arc and view the city from the top. I stayed back with my 6-year-old, mostly because I knew I would hate being that high. Not to worry – the littlest one joined me for some delightful souvenir shopping along les Champs Elysees, by which I mean, we entered the one actual souvenir shop we could find and bought the one thing I buy in every country I visit: Matching soccer jerseys for the kids.
I should note that other favorite kid souvenirs from this trip included these inexpensive little pocket watches (which ended up inspiring the boys to learn to read analog clocks) and little statues of landmarks like Notre Dame and la Tour Eiffel.
Bites:
I already mentioned that Madame Brasserie looked really cool but required a reservation at least a couple days in advance. I can’t say whether it would’ve been a great meal, or worth the expense, but it doesn’t get much fancier than dining inside the Eiffel Tower overlooking the city at night.
I also mentioned that Les Deux Palais was completely precious, so warm and welcoming, and provided us with the perfect leisurely lunch near Notre Dame.
Angelina’s is a bakery and tea room that’s been around for 120 years. We went there because we heard they had the world’s best hot chocolate, and that was not a lie. It was like… a melted bar of chocolate, just poured into our cups and topped with the most incredible whipped cream. It was literally too rich for my 6-year-old and the rest of us enjoyed every drop.
Brasserie Mollard is over 100 years old and we decided to go there one night for a special dinner. The restaurant itself is gorgeous, but I was actually a little disappointed by the food. It was decent, but not mind blowing, and we actually chose to go there because I saw on a blog that they have an unadvertised kid’s menu… which, they did, but it was not great at all. Basically a glorified burger without a bun. I’m not here to slam this iconic institution – just to say, do your homework, and know that just because something is historic and popular, that doesn’t mean it’s great.
Other notes:
Language: You can get by with only English, but knowing a little French helps. I can speak some French and understand more, and my husband is French Canadian and semi-bilingual, which helped us navigate a bit easier. I also think it’s always nice to learn to say hello and thank you in the local language wherever you go, just as a sign of respect. The kids practiced this and everyone appreciated it – especially our uber drivers!
Transport: Ok, I know the French metro system is totally user friendly. Everyone told me to just use it, but we decided that to offset the challenges of traveling with kids, we’d just make life easy and Uber if we weren’t walking. If you order an Uber XL, it’s either going to be this amazing Mercedes van where the two benches of seats in teh back face each other and you feel like you’re in a limo… or it’s going to be some kind of Prius that I’ve never seen in the States and that has NO BUSINESS pretending to be an Uber XL. We squeezed a kid or two into the third row of a few of those Prius’ but it was ridiculous and I wouldn’t advise it.
Another note on Ubers: you can learn some fascinating things about what it’s like to live in Paris (or anywhere, for that matter) if you happen to naturally strike up a conversation with your Uber driver. They’ll give you a better sense for the local pulse than the rest of your experiences, which are largely curated for your comfort and bliss as a tourist.
Weather: We were never under the impression that Paris in January would be super nice, but we were ultra dismayed when we looked at the forecast a few days before departing on our journey and saw that it would rain every day we were there. Fortunately, rain in Paris in January is rarely a downpour and generally more like a fine mist or drizzle. And it wasn’t too cold, so we were able to get by with rain coats, or waterproof winter coats with hoods. Most of our activities were inside cafes, restaurants, museums, etc. and when the clouds broke, we took advantage and walked around as much as possible.
Planning: I only planned one big activity per day, and then I had a list of things we would like to do, which I treated like a menu in all the open windows of time. This worked out great on this trip, and on others that we’ve taken. It’s important to have a scaffolding to each day, to ensure that you aren’t wasting time looking for activities or missing out on things that required advanced planning or tickets. And it’s equally important to leave plenty of space open for your day to naturally evolve in line with your mood, your interests, the weather, your level of hunger, etc. This is EVEN MORE important with kids. It’s important to be optimistic in your creation of your wish list, and pragmatic in your design of each day.
Finally, don’t plan on early morning activities. Even if you adjust decently to the time difference, you’ll still likely wake up later in the morning than you normally would. We didn’t book anything rigid before noon.
Don’t be intimidated to embark on the adventure, and while they will definitely add some logistical hurdles to your planning, bring the kids along if you can. There’s no better way to expand your view than to explore the world.
