Traveling with Children

Hi Michele, what a wonderful opportunity for your kids!

The Luxembourg Gardens are beautiful. The kids would probably enjoy the pond/lake where people sail model boats and also climbing on the playground equipment. There are a lot of parks scattered throughout the city where they can run around while you take a break.

How about Euro Disney? I've never been but I'd love to see it, especially if I had a couple of kids along.

Hope you have a great trip!

The Luxembourg Gardens has a memorable pay playground for kids this age. THe Tuilleries has trampolines. Both have vendors that rent toy sailboats for the fountain pools which is very picturesque and kids love them.

My daughter at this age loved climbing the Notre Dame Tower to see the gargoyles; see the Disney movie first. This involves a long line and so get there half an hour before it opens at least if you want to tackle it.

Give the kids a pictured guidebook like insight guides and ask them to choose an activity each.

The Canal St. Martin cruise is like watching paint dry. I would think almost anyone would be bored by it but especially little kids. It is a godsend for handicapped people who can thus see some of the city while seated, but it is a long slow slog through those locks. I am not even sure I would do the Seine Cruise although most people like it more than we do; seeing Paris from down in the ditch isn't my thing. But the Canal St. Martin is very slow.

The Canal Saint Martin cruise takes a long time, and it might try the patience of your kids.

I might just let them wander along the canal and go up all the bridges and watch the boats go by. That way, you can leave when they get tired of it.

You can also take a walk starting from the Bastille Arsenal to see the boats at the river level, and come out from under the bridge to find yourself at the Seine.

There are antique carousels at Hotel de Ville and at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, and also at the foot of Montmartre - they might like that.

Seine river cruise - yes (Les Vedettes du Pont Neuf are my recommendation). I took the Canal St. Martin boat ride and the only thing that kept me from boredom was lots of conversation with the guide (turned out we had a lot in common).

The Louvre could be more interesting than the Orsay or the Cluny for youngsters. On their website, there's a thematic trails section, self-guided tours, some of which are especially suitable for kids.

Rent bikes and ride through the Bois du Bologne. Instead of the Eiffel Tower, take the elevator up Tour Montparnasse for great views.

There is some renovation/construction currently underway at Musee Cluny.
It probably won't affect most of the exhibits, though.

If you happen to have a sunny afternoon, I'd take the kids to Sainte-Chapelle and let them be bowled over by the stained glass upstairs. I would not necessarily subject them to sitting for the evening concert, which lasts about 70 minutes, including getting settled.

Paris Disney is easy to get to by train. It's basically Disneyland with French signs, but pretty self-explanatory even if you don't know French.
I believe there are still trampolines in the Tuileries for the kids.

My kids liked the Sewer Tour and Catacombs. I also had them climb to the first story of the Eiffel Tower, which uses up some of their energy, plus you don't need reservations for that.

The official Catacombes website warns that the site may be too intense for younger children. The stairs going down are long and winding corkscrews and made of stone, there are often lights out on the stairs.

The wait to get inside the Catacombes stretches around the block - it's possible that you won't get in for an hour or more.

Yes, I'm sure it depends on the individual children and how brave they are. When I was 9, my brother and I were exploring the entire sewer system of our city--with homemade torches.
Last year my daughter and I went to the catacombs midday and the line was more than an hour long. We came back 5 min. before closing time and there was no line. We walked right in.

I spent 2.5 weeks in Paris last summer with my 7 year old daughter. We spent most of our time wandering around the city, going to local parks, and eating as much bread and pastries as possible!

Her favorites were...

Eiffel Tower. Bought advanced tickets to the top at sunset one evening, and then returned 2 other times for picnic dinners outside. She and my husband kicked balls around with another family and she ran around with kids. It was great!

Louvre. We were not planning to take her but she asked to go see Mona Lisa. We went on an evening it was open late and hit all the biggies plus the Egyptian art. She loved the mummy cats.

Luxembourg Gardens. Playground, carousel, wide open spaces to run, and several ice cream stands.

Museum of Natural History. In the 5th. Very cool museum. Mostly French tourists. Close by is the largest Mosque in Paris, which she also loved.

Doll museum. Cool collection of vintage to modern dolls. It was only okay for me, but she enjoyed it.

Disneyland. We took the train and spent 1 night and 2 days at Disneyland. Besides the ET, this was the highlight of her trip and something we planned just for her.

What she did not enjoy....

Seine boat ride. I thought she would like this, but nope. She bored even though we sat on the top deck. She loved walking along the banks though.

Notre Dame. After a few oohs and ahhs and lighting a candle for Joan of Arc, she was bored. But loved the playground outside and all the pigeons.

My advice is to not schedule too much and just enjoy the city with your grandkids!

One other tip: we had several conversations with our daughter about the heightened security in Paris (we were there a few days after the attacks in Nice) but it was still a bit of surprise for her to see police officers armed with machine guns everywhere. Just wandering down the streets on patrol. After a few days she was used to it, and by the end of the trip was saying "merci" to the officers.

Getting either ice cream or gelato on the Ile Saint Louis. Finding a cheese shop and trying a "stinky" or new cheese. (They might not like it, but it is a fun memory!) The foods we ate when we went to France are some of the stronger memories our boys have retained.

We made a ritual of letting the kids choose a fancy pastry at a bakery or pattiserie and we would either take them back to the apartment for after dinner or else have them in a nearby park. There is a bakery on Rue Montorgueil that has little pink mice cakes.

My youngest was 11 when I took her.. so your kids were are a bit younger.. so I will refer to my own personal experiences in Paris when I was a child of 7 and 8.

I liked Luxembourg Gardens, I recall playing with children who didn't speak English.. at 7 you can still do that.. when you get older kids keep to themselves more..

I liked going up the Eiffel Tower
I liked going up the Arc de Triomphe
I loved going up the Towers of Notre Dame.. the windy narrow stair case was so medival feeling to me.
I liked the boat cruise

I don't remember going to museums ( did that when I was a bit older) .. that doesn't mean my family didn't take me.. I just don't remember the event..

Considering how much I love Paris now its funny.. but I didn't love Paris till I got older.. it was a very hectic busy city to me.. and I don't recall being charmed till I was about 13 and allowed to wander on my own ( yes.. back in the 70s people were easier about letting kids wander about..lol)

My daughter ( being closest to your kids age) loved the Orsay.. not all of it of course.. but she liked seeing the "dr Suess " like furniture on the lower level.. and she fell in love with the sculpture " the little dancer", because of course it was a little girl..
She liked the usual.. Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame , as well as perhaps a less usual museum for younger kids.. the Shoah (Halocaust) Memorial ( Museum) .. she had just finishing reading some books about like Sarahs Key and Hiding Edith..

I also took my then 13 yr old son.. he didn't like the Orsay half as much as the Louvre.. he liked seeing the Medieval Lourve.. Napoleons apartmetns.. the mummies in the Egpyt section .

All my kids ( I have a third that visited Paris with his dad) like the Invalids Army museum.. seeing all the medival weapons.. and the horse armour.. and the fact the museum was not a mosh pit of people like the other main ones..

We also have a Paris plan similar to janets.. not pastries.. but ice cream.. we liked Amorinos the best.. but many also like Berthillions.. finding an ice cream every day was part of our usual plans.

My boys loved seeing the Catacombs at 13, .. my daughter refused to visit them until she as 18( too scary for her she said when younger, but she liked it later) .. lol.. so you know your child best.