Need Itinerary Help: Paris

I would highly recommend staying in central Paris, as opposed to 40 minutes outside of Paris near Disneyland.

Our last trip (our 3rd), we stayed at the Hotel Residences des Artes in an “apartment” with our two teens. It’s actually two rooms next to each other: one room with queen bed & bathroom; and a separate room with king bed, sofa bed, bathroom & kitchenette. The location is perfect - just across from Notre Dame.

Must sees IN Paris for me: Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Ste. Chapelle, Marais area, d’Orsay, Arc de Triumphe.

We took the 1 hour evening Seine cruise from the pont de Neuf (not a dinner cruise). Definitely recommend an evening/night cruise so you see the Tower twinkling.

I’m an independent traveler, not a tour person. Maybe a one day (or half day). walking tour through the Latin Quarter? One trip we did an evening van tour around Paris that was pretty fun, but that was 20 years ago and traffic is now terribly (as experienced in 2019 during our open air bus tour to see the Christmas lights). Everything else you can easily do on your own using the metro. Watch some videos from A French Frye in Paris on youtube. He’s an American who gives walking tours.

You will need at least 3 nights in Normandy to see the Dday sights plus MSM. They are quite some distance apart.

River cruise companies i recommend:
Bateau Parisien (from Notre Dame stop, not the Eiffel Tower stop)
Vedettes de Pont Neuf

The Luxembourg Gardens are a Must See.

The best visit to Paris focus’ on just walking around and exploring. Especially on both sides of the river from Ile St Louis to the Louvre and back.
Walk around Ile St Louis, the Marais, rue Mouffetard… for a start.

For Normandy/MSM you will need 3 nights for 2 full days. I recommend basing in Bayeux, where tours depart. Take a D-Day tour one day. We will be doing a full day tour with Overlord this Saturday. The company comes highly recommended. There are other companies to choose from if you prefer. For MSM you can take a shuttle from Bayeux. https://www.bayeuxshuttle.com/mont-st-michel.htm

Instead of taking a day away from Paris to go to Giverny you could utilize your travel day and go there on the way to Normandy. Take the train from Gare St-Lazare to Vernon. You would have to find a place to store your luggage while you’re there. I know there was a place across from the train station before. Someone might have an update. There’s a bus that will take you to Giverny from the train station. After Giverny take the train to Bayeux.

You are smart to do the nighttime Seine cruise. I don’t know that it will make too much difference which company you use. In past years when we did it we didn’t have to make advance reservations, but things may be different now.

I’ve never done this, but many people recommend Paris Walks for walking tours. http://www.paris-walks.com/index_m.html I have done Paris Greeter walks over 4 trips. We talked about doing it when we spent a week in Paris in April but didn’t get around to it. The “guides” are volunteers. There is no charge and they don’t accept tips, but you can donate to the program if you wish. https://greeters.paris/en/

Is there any particular reason for you to base yourselves so far away from the city center? Commuting back and forth will eat into your short time in Paris. Additionally it’s nice to be central so you have the ability to pop in to drop something off, take a short break or whatever. With 5 people you might want to have an apartment.

Is there any particular reason for you to base yourselves so far away from the city center? Commuting back and forth will eat into your short time in Paris. Additionally it’s nice to be central so you have the ability to pop in to drop something off, take a short break or whatever. With 5 people you might want to have an apartment.

This is a good question and one we've been struggling with.

We're visiting Disneyland Paris and we're hoping to have one location to stay in the whole time that also "affordably" holds 5 people (which we knew would be a big issue in most European countries).

We're open to other suggestions that make sense b/w Disneyland Paris and central Paris if available.

Thank you!

I'd really commend Blue Fox Travel - https://www.bluefox.travel/paris/ - for their wonderful trip to Giverny. I went on their morning tour and as a small group tour company who had a relationship with Monet's home, we got to get into the gardens for at least 20 minutes before anyone else (and before a big group of Viking River Cruise hordes) to enjoy Monet's gardens in true solitude! They're a family-run company that's also got a fantastic bike tour of Paris that is super family friendly. Check them out! I've made great memories with them.

“Affordability” for a family is a big issue in Paris and often doesn’t correspond to other cities. What is your nightly budget for lodging? In doing my research for our family of 4 for our Nov. 2019 trip, I found it very challenging to find rooms that sleep 4 on real beds (not sofa beds). But there were a few, and we might have some suggestions.

You need to consider the cost of getting from Disneyland to central Paris. This could be 50€/ day, in addition to the normal metro passes.

Here’s another idea for lodging. Disney Paris is on the east side of Paris about 50 minutes from the outer arrondissments of Paris. We’ve never been to Disney Paris but we have stayed at this hotel, Holiday Inn Express Paris Canal De La Villette, which gives you Meteo to RER access to Disney Paris in about 50 minutes and the center of Paris in 20 minutes. It is along an interesting upper part of the Canal St. Martin and they also have summer activities for families along the Bassin. We stayed in adjoining rooms. They have rooms for 2 or 3 people for reasonable prices which include breakfast. We called them to verify the room configurations before we booked and they were exactly as expected. We also asked for rooms with a canal view, worth the slight extra price and won’t matter if it is the side or front view. There are other similar hotels in other locations around Paris.

As far as your trip north to Normandy, I too recommend seeing Giverny as a stop on your way to your base in Bayeux. You will most likely need to buy timed tickets in advance. Be sure to see Monet’s Waterlilies at the L’Orangerie in Paris before you head to Normandy.

“Affordability” for a family is a big issue in Paris and often doesn’t correspond to other cities. What is your nightly budget for lodging? In doing my research for our family of 4 for our Nov. 2019 trip, I found it very challenging to find rooms that sleep 4 on real beds (not sofa beds). But there were a few, and we might have some suggestions.

AirBnB's that we liked were around $215 USD per night outside of DLP.

“I don’t know that it will make too much difference which company you use”…

To me, it does. Some have loud, obnoxious, non-stop narration which is not enjoyable as you glide along. Some don’t have outdoor seating, or not good outdoor seating.

The two i recommended above have calm narration in a pleasant voice and it’s not non-stop, and their seating is good. Also - not having to start at the ET is a bonus imo. The ET area of the Seine river where many tourist boats dock is a hectic zoo of people and hawkers in your face trying to sell you junk. It’s much more enjoyable to start your cruise near Notre Dame instead.

I would second the idea of looking into AirBnB and/or apartment rentals for a family. It can be more affordable and offer people the chance to spread out a bit - even eat in once or twice and catch up on laundry.

Since you’re looking at an hour (walk from hotel to train, head into Paris on train, walk or drive to first destination…) or more by basing yourself so far east would strongly recommend a central apartment, and take the train out to DLP instead. You’ll save a lot of time and see a lot more of Paris. With kids along I’d do a food + history/sights tour and just enjoy wandering and soaking it all in.

I will be more blunt: staying at Disneyland Paris to visit Paris as a family just does not work. It will take 1.5 hours each way from your hotel room to your actual destination in Paris, and the RER is unpleasant in the AM & PM rush hours... Want a break during the day? Won't be possible.
Since you have plenty of time, I urge you to look for accommodation in Paris, or next to Paris at a stretch (but do ask us before you commit to a place next to Paris, as some areas are best avoided).

What areas near Paris should I look for? We'd like an AirBnB that will hold our family of 5?

And, we could always split our stay if needed.

I may have missed this, but when do you plan to go? Why Disney? Friends/family of mine also planned Disney in Paris because their kids wanted that. They also wanted to just eat at American fast food chains and Hard Rock Cafe--in other words, they wanted America in Paris. But, they're kids, that's maybe where you might step in and suggest an itinerary. Any chance of not doing Disney in Paris? How do you, as a parent, feel about it?
As far as Airbnb goes, you might also look at VRBO. I have used both extensively and had one bad experience in 2019 when I had to cancel three VRBOs. Two actually kept my damage deposit and cleaning fee! Since we weren't there, we could not have done damage nor did there need to be cleaning. They would not budge and VRBO refused to do anything. I now always have trip insurance. I still rent from both because there are several bedrooms, bathrooms and a living room not to mention a kitchen which makes things so nice and at a lower price than hotel rooms. Take a look at both websites which have wonderful searches for number of rooms, bathrooms, locales, washing machines (very valuable for a family of five!) AC, types of beds, etc. Make sure that there are many reviews and read them. You can do the same for your other venues.
What a wonderful opportunity you are providing for your family in creating everlasting memories. Kudos to you!

I may have missed this, but when do you plan to go? Why Disney? Friends/family of mine also planned Disney in Paris because their kids wanted that. They also wanted to just eat at American fast food chains and Hard Rock Cafe--in other words, they wanted America in Paris. But, they're kids, that's maybe where you might step in and suggest an itinerary. Any chance of not doing Disney in Paris? How do you, as a parent, feel about it?

We are huge Disney Parks fans and have been to the other 10 parks around the world, so it's a dream to cross the two in Paris off our list. :)

What areas near Paris should I look for? We'd like an AirBnB that will hold our family of 5?

Start with Paris proper. Paris is divided into 20 districts (arrondissements), with postcodes in 750XX, XX being the district number. There are only a few areas to avoid in Paris, in my opinion:

• eastern 18th district (east of Barbès & Ornano boulevards), and western 19th next to it (north and west of Avenue de Flandre + Porte de la Villette area), due to occasional safety issues.
• easternmost 19th (around Danube / pré Saint Gervais) and 20th (around rue de Bagnolet / rue Saint Blaise), because of poor transportation / long transit times
• parts of the southern 13th (Olympiades), because it is a far cry from most people's mental image of Paris.

Anywhere else is okay, the closer to the center the better of course.

If nothing fits your budget in Paris, next to Paris, the following towns are mostly trouble-free and with good transport, going clockwise around Paris:

• Western Montreuil (along metro line 9)
• Vincennes & St Mandé (very convenient on line 1 and RER A, very charming too)
• Charenton (although the ride on metro line 8 gets long...)
• Montrouge
• parts of Malakoff and Issy (check proximity to metro)
• most of Boulogne-Billancourt (except Pont de Sèvres area)
• Neuilly but that's fancier than Paris
• Around La Défense (Puteaux or Courbevoie, as long as you are close to La Défense)
• Levallois-Perret
• Clichy around Mairie de Clichy metro

Start with Paris proper. Paris is divided into 20 districts (arrondissements), with postcodes in 750XX, XX being the district number.

If I'm searching on AirBnB, what towns/areas should I search for since I cannot enter a zipcode (at least not that I'm aware)?

If you type "5th arrondissement, Paris France", e.g., into the VRBO search bar, different flats will show up. I'm not an expert on where to stay in Paris, and there are experts here, but I know many prefer the 4th, 5th and 6th arrondissements (areas) in Paris. I'd follow Balso's advice directly above. We have stayed in the 4th, 5th, 7th and will be staying in the 2nd in December.

How many more Disneys are there in the world? Sounds like a fun family way to have a check-off list!

How many more Disneys are there in the world? Sounds like a fun family way to have a check-off list!

A total of 12:

Orlando: 4
California: 2
Shanghai: 1
Hong Kong: 1
Tokyo: 2
Paris: 2

I don't believe anyone has mentioned in this thread that Paris started cracking down hard on short-term apartment rentals a few years ago. Many of them are longer offered. Some that are still listed are not legal and could be closed down by the authorities at any time, leaving you scrambling at the last minute for a place to stay (probably at a far higher cost). Legal rentals should have a 13-digit number in the listing. There is unfortunately no easy way to determine whether any such number is real or simply made up.

I've seen recommendations on the forum for visitors to consider an aparthotel instead, because those are clearly legal. However, such an option for a family of five would probably be quite expensive.

Whatever sort of apartment-like arrangement you choose, be sure you have enough bathrooms to get everyone out the door in the morning and comfortable beds for all (as previously mentioned).

The point about illegal listings is very important, I forgot to mention it! I would pay very close attention to the presence of recent reviews, and check periodically even after booking.
Towns next to Paris haven't cracked down as much yet, for example Vincennes just voted laws similar to Paris' but people who were renting flats beforehand have 2 years to meet the rules, until 1 Jan 2024. And some other towns might have nothing of the sort still.