Mom & 10 Yr. old France Trip

That's a nice fun itinerary, maybe the kid won't enjoy a whole day at the Louvre though. You actually have just nine days on the ground, one of which will be jetlagged after you arrive. And I doubt if Orly will be your arrival airport, transatlantic flights usually come and go from Charles de Gaule (CDG). Check your booking.

Normandy and Mont-St-Michel are quite a distance from Paris and certainly don't make sense as separate day trips. If you want to rent a car you could spend a night or two out there, but I'd suggest sticking to the Paris area, including Versailles and Disneyland, in the time you have.

Paris is full of beautiful parks and gardens, like the Tuileries, Luxembourg Gardens, and Parc Monceau, Place des Vosges. I'd especially recommend the Luxembourg gardens, where you can sail boats on the pond and maybe watch a puppet show.

A guidebook can give you much more detail about all the places you and I have mentioned, and a good one will include ideas for children. Lucky daughter to have this trip to look forward to! If it's actually in July, you'll need to find lodging soon. Booking.com has good filters and reviews by people who have actually stayed in the hotels, but try to book through the hotel website if you can in case of any problem later.

I agree that a 10 year old may not be interested in a prolonged visit to the Louvre; but a couple of hours might be great. My big concern is the travel time getting to MSM (close to 5 hours) and then back to Paris and out to DLP ( 3-4hours) That will really cut into your remaining touring time on those days. And by the time you get to MSM, you will be in the midst of the peak crowds, which will not be fun. Not saying you can't do it; but be aware. And if you want to see the DDay beaches, you will either need to rent a car or book a guided tour well in advance.

I think with a little more research, you'll be able to fill this schedule out well. I see a couple of pluses and a couple of minuses.

Day 4 Your Louvre visit is scheduled for July 4, a Tuesday. The Louvre is closed on Tuesdays. Oops.
Day 1, is a good time to take your daughter to Luxembourg Gardens or the Jardin des Tuleries so she can let off steam and you can both get fresh air after a flight.
Day 2, the Eiffel Tower and boat ride are only a couple of hours, leaving you a lot of time to explore other things.
Day 3, I believe you can rent bikes in the Versaille gardens--someone please confirm
Day 6 and 7 is a bit confusing, two long trips, daytime on MSM in the tourist crush? Long trip back to Disney? Only the activities are accounted for on this itinerary, not the transportation and schlepping time. You might want to think of Chartres as a day trip, instead. A wow cathedral and a cute town.

Will you be changing hotels to go to Disney and then back to Paris? That's a lot of packing, schlepping, checking out, checking in. Pack up and check out of MSM, transfer to Bayeux check in and out, transfer to Disney, transfer back to Paris: Whew! That's a lot of time spent packing, checking out, checking in, How about a day trip to Disney on the RER or even two days in a row? You may decide that one day is enough. Some of the Disney castles are modeled on real castles you can visit: Pierrefonds for example https://www.chateau-pierrefonds.fr/en/

I'll have my 9 year old granddaughter in Paris the week after you. I've taken her to museums in the US and one hour at a time is enough followed by ice cream. This time she's choosing all antiquities: Egypt, Greece, Rome, Babylon. There's enough to fill several days! You'll find childrens' activities and tours on the Louvre website.

Someone talked about a book with a Paris scavenger hunt, which could fill out your visit. That's one resource we'll be using as we visit. Also, one of those books with recommendations for visiting Paris with children will give you a lot of ideas for filling in time.

It makes sense to stay at Disneyland at the very end of your trip, as it is quite easy to get to the airports from there. Especially CDG. But if you fly to/from Orly (which is possible from New York), it is fine too. There are shuttles.
Astérix is fun but it's basically a Six Flags themed after a French comic your daughter probably hasn't heard of. There are more thrill rides than at Disneyland. I do not think it is a must-do for overseas visitors!

What a lucky girl! Our daughter had her first family trip to Paris when she was 9 and she fell in love. That was 20 years ago and she’s been back numerous times with us and now she goes solo.

You have a good number of days to explore the city and fit in a few day trips, so you’re off to a good start. To flesh out your plan with more things you know you want to do I’d recommend taking a look at Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Paris with your daughter. It’s a very kid-friendly presentation with lots of photos, cute maps, and cut-away diagrams, as well as useful info for the adult planner. Your local library may have a recent edition.

Do you or your daughter have any special interests - fashion, sports, dance, art, science? I’ve listed a few of our favorite kid-friendly places.

Fun outdoor spaces - Luxembourg Gardens (the sailboats on the pond!), Palais Royal Garden (just a few blocks from the Louvre) and Place des Vosges.

Shopping - check out Monoprix, France’s answer to Target (multiple stores in Paris), the Little Prince Store (our daughter is a huge fan of the book), The Candy Palace, and any candy store in the Marais selling “guimauve” (flavored marshmallows - not anything like a JetPuffed).

Fashion - Galeries Lafayette is a beautiful store with, fashion shows, a free viewing terrace and a very nice cafeteria with the same terrific view.

Palais Galliera museum of fashion is all about fashion.

Unicorns - Musee de Cluny for The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries.

Art - Musee D’Orsay - our daughter especially loved the sculptures and the view from the clock faces on the top floor.

Views - from the top of Arc de Triomphe and the escalators and rooftop of Pompidou Center.

Carousels - double deckers at Hotel de Ville and Montmartre/Sacre Coeur

As others have suggested, I would skip the very long day trips out to MSM and Normandy and see more of Paris.

One more tip - I speak “highschool” French so I was able to teach our daughter to speak a few simple phrases. We found that many Parisians were charmed by the little American kid saying a simple “merci” at breakfast or “Bon jour, madam” upon entering a store.

Thanks all. This is the mom (my dad posted this thread). I used ChatGPT for an itinerary suggestion based on our must do's. I know it needs to be reorganized but I'm really hoping we can keep these locations to start with.

My daughter has been at a French immersion school for 6 years now (K-5th) and has been learning about all things France for years. The Eiffel Tower and Louvre are at the top of her list. I definitely need to learn some more basic French but she tests at an intermediate level in all language aspects (speaking, reading, writing, listening) so hopefully she will be my translator.

I used ChatGPT for an itinerary suggestion based on our must do's.

Well that explains a lot. AI can spew forth many pretty sentences, but it apparently knows squat about itinerary scheduling and transportation planning. You will have to do some research using a reliable guidebook and official websites to reorganize your sightseeing. The only real difficulty will be trying to manage any days in Normandy.

I took each of my kids to Paris when they were 11, so about the same age. Their time in Paris was part of about a 3 week trip each which included other places in Europe. With the length of your trip, you might consider spending 2 nights in Normandy if that is a big interest. That would give you one full day for the D-day sites. 3 nights in Normandy would give you more time for Mont St. Michel, though it is quite a drive from the D-day sites. Even taking train trips in Europe was fun for my kids.

Some big hits with my kids:

Versailles by bike. We used Fat Tire bike tours. This includes a picnic and riding the bike through the gardens. They also offer a Paris by night bike tour that includes an evening cruise on the Seine that all of the kids loved.

The Rodin museum - particularly the sculptures in the gardens.

My daughter chose a day at Disneyland Paris. One day is plenty for that. The boys chose Legoland - one in Denmark and one in Windsor. In a long trip, we thought these were fun days.

Have a wonderful trip!

After one June visit to Paris with 7 days of rain, on our next trip we followed the weather reports, using the sunny days for outings and saving the museums for rainy day forecasts. After many trips with our two daughters I agree that the Louvre is amazing but a day is alot. She will also enjoy looking at shops and trying some fun food like crepes at a stand and a delicious chocolate. Your Day 1 could be a challenge with getting to and from the airports, flights, time change and finding your hotel. It is nice to walk to the Seine and cross over the bridge to Ile St Louis (or depending where your hotel is) and look at the beautiful city and wave to the people below in the boats. You will have a wonderful time together.