Paris With Kids

The logistical challenge is that with 10 you need to be in walking distance or on a metro line. In my experience, a cab for 5 is difficult. Two groups of 5 sounds impossible.

In 2022 we made 2 week-long trips to Paris: one in April with our daughter’s family including a 10-year-old girl and 6-year-old boy and their parents (6 total) and another trip in September with our neighbors (the 4 of us are retired).

The trips were both fun and enjoyable, but different! We did things in April that we didn’t do in September. In April we did not stay or go to museums for a lengthy time, and we went to places I didn’t know existed and to restaurants that had kid friendly meals. All our travel was Metro, Bus, and walking.

In September we went to museums we had not visited on previous Paris trips and to the gotta see ones for our never been to Paris friends, ate at restaurants that were not pizza and hamburger oriented, leisured at sidewalk cafes, and went to excursions outside Paris.

Here are some of the places that were great with the kids:

Jardin de Plantes - Great park with natural history and Evolution museum & nearby Zoo - Galleries, Gardens, Zoo - Jardin des Plantes (jardindesplantesdeparis.fr) and Lunch at the nearby Monster Diner https://mobsterdiner.com/

Choco-Story – chocolate museum and make your own chocolate Choco-Story - Paris - Choco-Story PARIS (museeduchocolat.fr)

Jardin de Luxembourg – Wonderful park for kid and adults love to enjoy people watching and have fun with the sailboats Jardin du Luxembourg - Paris tourist office (parisinfo.com)

Lunch at Pink Flamingo PINK FLAMINGO, Paris - Le Marais - Menu, Prices & Restaurant Reviews - Order Online Food Delivery - Tripadvisor

Private cruise on the Seine – with a group it is fun to arrange your private cruise down the seine going past the Tour Eiffel - Green River Cruises - Pont Marie - Les Maquereaux - Green River Cruises - Your private cruise in Paris (greenriver-paris.fr)

Pere Lachaise Cemetery

Disney Paris. The kids loved this and, with careful planning, both parks and important rides can be done (paying extra for front of the line passes).

And of course, McDonalds and Starbucks!

The one place that probably had the highest approval rating from my 3 (17, 15, and 11 at the time of the trip) were the Catacombs. It was not really something I was interested in, but it was the one thing my kids requested and they all enjoyed it. It is right along the metro line so it should be fairly simple to get to.

I failed to mention that the kids really liked the Eiffel Tower (both going up to the 2nd floor and seeing it Twinkle at night) and going u the Ard de Triomphe.

Similar to Jim, my kids liked the Arc. It is easy to get to from the Marais. Although Charles de Gaulle–Étoile was my least favorite metro station.

The Eiffel was great at night, but it is more of a logistical challenge to get there and back with 10.

Jardin Acclimatation amusement park, https://billetterie-jardindacclimatation.tickeasy.com/en-GB/home-tickets, West of Paris on the boarder of the highway that loops Paris.

Park Asterix amusement park, https://www.parcasterix.fr, North of Charles De Gaulle airport

L'Atelier des Lumières, https://www.atelier-lumieres.com/en, fun for the whole family. Walking distance from Pierre Lachaise Cemetery.

I'm pretty sure Rick has a whole chapter on this ...

I think what you can do with that group is how much walking people are willing to do. Rick's recommended bus #69 gives you a good eye level tour past major sites. Seeing l'Etoile at night and getting a crepe from one of the stands across the river in front of the Trocadero is fun. It's a street party there at night. Plenty of bakeries and patisseries with ready-made sandwiches on French bread to make a picnic lunch, with sodas and snacks from convenience stores. Finding a place for 10 to dine in a group and please all tastes is going to be a challenge. I mostly travel solo, so I don't have to please anyone else.

Phred reminds me about the info in the Paris guidebook. We used it to start our search for traveling with children in Paris.

Brushtim also has a good suggestion for the L'Atelier des Lumières exposition. While we were there they were showing Cezanne. The kids enjoyed it and had been to the similar Val Gogh exposition earlier in Houston, so we visited the Orangerie to see the Monet art.

He is also reminds me that the Lumières exposition is walking distance from Pierre Lachaise Cemetery. The kids found that interesting as did we in seeing it again.

What a wonderful experience for your family!

You have many wonderful suggestions here, I will just add :

Canal Saint-Martin, a charming walk along the lock system. You can watch the boats maneuver through from the tree shaded bridges or from the cafes along the water. A great spot for a rest and an ice cream.

Rue Montorgueill, a fabulous, busy market street with many options for casual dining or take away food. The oldest bakery in Paris is there, Stoher, and the architecture and iron works along the way are beautiful.

Palais Garnier, take a tour of the unbelievably gorgeous, ornate Opera House.

Dining out with such a large group could present challenges. Since you are renting a home, and there are such fantastic opportunities to bring in delicious food, maybe let different groups be in charge of dinner on different nights. Maybe one night, have someone come in to cook for all of you. And one night night do an adults only, really special restaurant.

I think a divide and conquer approach is wise. Everything won't appeal to everyone.

Parks. Markets. Picnics will be your friends. And really such a great fun time for all. Same with gathering takeout or making a dinner together in the house/apt.

I would also strongly suggest you let each family plan and split off as desired and do not try to do all the things together. The best group travel is one with very limited “whole group” items usually 1 preplanned per day, and loads of flexibility and letting people do what works for them.

We went in July 2022 with my 6 year old and 12 & 15 year old nephew & niece. Really depends on the kids interests. You may want to split up some days if interests differ, then meet up later for something everyone wants to do or for dinner.

6 year old couldn't care less about most of the art museums and read her kindle in most of them which did allow us to see what we wanted. Snacks also helped. She liked pieces in the Louvre (the Sphinx, Venus de Milo, and the Crown Jewels), Versailles (especially the gardens), and riding the Metro. I got her a book (Mission Paris) that has info about things to see in Paris and makes a Scavenger hunt out of the visits. Your younger grandchildren might appreciate this particularly. We also got an activity book about Paris (in English) at the Sainte Chapelle gift shop that she spent a lot of time doing later on. We also watched a lot of videos about Versailles and other places before we left that helped her have expectations and be excited about it.

The 12 & 15 year old loved the Musee D'orsay, Louvre, the old weapons at les Invalides, and the Cluny. But they have a high tolerance for art & museums in general. We spent all day at the Louvre and only left because we were exhausted. We talked to some other Americans in the Louvre and their teenagers only wanted to spend 2 hours max.

They all loved eating crepes from the stand near our apartment in the 5th, Amorino gelato, visiting the Catacombs, Sainte Chapelle, and the Jardin du Luxembourg. We did a sunset-ish ride to the top of the Eiffel tower (timed tickets to the top at 8pm), then went across the street to the Trocadero to see it twinkle at 10pm. My 6 year old did not like the waiting for the elevator, of course, but all of the kids loved the ride up, the views, and the twinkling.