France and Spain with 11 Month Old

The train from Lyon to Barcelona takes nearly 5 hours. Will you fly home from there? Or take the (7-hour) train back to Paris? Maybe save Spain for next time and add another stop in France? Or Geneva (a short, scenic train ride from Lyon)?

It's possible the other poster instead meant the travel time from Annecy to Barcelona? In any even, I would probably also suggest that you drop one of your destinations for this trip, due to the variables that could be involved with having an 11-month-old with you (some of which you won't know until closer to then, because babies change all the time; for examples, some babies fall asleep anywhere, and some don't; my second kid was sensitive to loud noises, which was sometimes an issue when visiting big cities with lots of traffic noise).

I'm not so sure about taking a baby of that age to nicer restaurants in the cities you mention, but I don't know how nice you mean by "nicer." I can't say that I've seen babies in the nicer restaurants that I've been to in Lyon, Annecy or Barcelona (I haven't been to Annecy). Investigate bistros in any of the cities; they are more casual and noisy, and I think a baby would be more welcome in those kinds of places. Also, cafes! Even in April, the weather may be nice enough to eat outside. Also, especially in Paris, many restaurants close between lunch and dinner, so unless you go to a more casual place or a cafe, "early" may be 7 pm, when restaurants at the beginning of the regular dinner hour.

Another option that we did when traveling when our kids were babies, that is more of an option in Europe than it used to be, could be getting dishes to go. Or you could buy high-end food or dishes from a local market and eat in your hotel room, or if the day is nice, have a picnic lunch.

In Lyon, go to the local restaurants that are called bouchons, that workers used to go to, but now everyone does. We ate at Les Lyonnais, and it was cozy, lively, noisy, and fun, so perfect with a baby. There are many others, though, and whether or not you have a baby with you, it's a great Lyonnaise experience. Lyon has a number of amazing building murals throughout the city, try to seek those out.

If you go to Barcelona, because of the tapas culture, it would be easier for you to go to tapas bars with the baby at any hour of day, and obviously outside of regular hours, they will be less crowded. A lot of the places to visit in Barcelona would be easier with a baby, Sagrada Familia and other Gaudi buildings.

You may already know this, but we found in our travels in cities in the U.S. (we didn't take our kids to Europe until they were older), your two best friends will be an umbrella stroller (easy to fold up and take into small French restaurants or on public transportation) and a Snugli or the like. We also tried a back carrier, but found it too cumbersome on public transport. Another thing to get and bring is a fabric seat-type thing to put over chairs at restaurants to insert the baby into; not all / most of the restaurants that you go to will have baby seats or highchairs. Obviously, you could keep her on your lap, but sometimes that's tricky. We used to say one of our kids had extendo-arms, because she could reach far more things on the table than we thought she could!

Check out Rick's traveling with kids section.

I would follow Rick's thoughts on traveling with children especially at the age of 11 months. Stop at grandma's house on the way to the airport and leave the child there. First of all you have to realize that in the long run this trip will mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO THE CHILD AND SHE WILL HAVE NO MEMORIES OF THE TRIP. We took our daughter when she was four and she had a good time and overall traveled well but she has absolutely no recollection of the trip.

Will you be taking some sort of a domestic tune-up trip prior to the big trip to see how she handles things like airplanes and strange car seats. There is nothing like spending a few hours next to a child that is screaming its head off, or finding the there is a food problem. The list goes on and on.

I hope it goes well. Not all parents want to leave their baby for 21 nights (I definitely couldn't have).

I wish you well but that is a long, ambitious trip with an infant (although perhaps better then than a toddler …). Rather than what cities, I would ask, where will you stay? If you’re in a hotel room do you want your lights out at 6 because it’s baby’s bedtime? When our son was that age a great vacation was a week’s villa rental in the US Virgin Islands with grandma accompanying. He went to Europe when he was 10 years old.

There's noting in particular to do with a one-year old except keep them safe, fed, happy. She would probably enjoy seeing the Eiffel Tower lit at night. She may be able to track the characters in a marionette show and would enjoy having all the other little children around her. And at 11 months, a baby could be a toddler, moving around and into everything. When we lived in France, how we managed a grown-up meal would be a no-no for today's parents: on vacation we stayed in tiny hotels with restaurants, we'd would put him down to sleep and slip downstairs for our adult meal, checking on him from time to time.

Only once did we ever take him to a good restaurant when he was 2 just before we moved to the US and that was in order to say goodbye to a chef-friend. Staying in a German resort a few months earlier, his uncle declared that he was to stay in our room during mealtimes while we all took turns going downstairs to eat. He was 18 months at the time.

So, casual restaurants that have a high chair is where you'll see children such as Buffalo Grill, or at a brasserie such as La Coupole where I've seen a child or two in a large family group celebration where grandparents and others can lend a hand. So, your best bets are to go to casual restaurants such as a creperie, or find the excellent restaurants that do food to go and stay someplace with a kitchen, such as Citadines Apparthotels or a different brand of apparthotels. Right now, you are in the perfect moment: she sits, smiles, coos, moves very little. We took our first to the US to visit family all across the country at 6 months. Eleven months will be very different and very interesting.

Hi tmarts,
I think your plan sounds good. As I'm sure you're already aware, traveling with an almost toddler requires extra preparation and flexibility. While we didn't travel internationally with our kids at that age, we did travel far distances (more than 6hr non-stop flight) with our kids. I would say, be realistic about your child's tolerance level at his age (it changes so quickly that this is one place where flexibility is so important.) Our kids were super food motivated (this sounds like a dog LOL!) so as long as they had food in front of them (and were well rested), they were super happy.
You had mentioned that you will not bring a car seat but definitely bring a stroller for naps, etc. With our first child (10 months at the time), we took him to a super fancy restaurant for dinner while on vacation (the kind where there are no other kids, no high chairs, etc.) We had informed them in advance just in case there were concerns. We used his stroller as his "high chair." We were prepared to make a quick exit if he became fussy at all. It wound up being great!
I would take a look at Isabelle Bertolami's social media pages. She's an American mom who lives/lived in Paris. She has lots of advice and suggestions for kid friendly things to see/do in Paris as well as the Provence area.
I think traveling with kids--no matter the age--is wonderful! They may not remember everything, but you will. Enjoy your trip and I hope all goes well!

We took our daughter to Paris, Florence, and Rome when she was 15 months. We brought our babysitters(my in-laws) with us but only used them to make tag team visits to the Vatican Museums(we stayed at Hotel Museo across the street). We had a great time and she was fascinated with the statues in Rome. She was probably the only 15 month old in SC to use the word "statue"! Of course she doesn't remember the trip but she likes the photos. We did not eat anywhere fancy.

Big question-has your daughter traveled on a plane before? Be sure to take something for her to suck on(baby bottle?) for ascent and descent so her ears won't hurt.