Help Paris Itinerary this Nov. Before & After RS tour family of 4

I think 10 and 14 year old kids (and maybe their parents) would enjoy Disneyland Paris. There are certainly plenty of hotels both on the park and in the surroundings. All are linked by easy (and if I remember right - free) buses so a car is not needed. If you stay in Paris it is an easy hop on the RER to a stop on the park. Scott and Sheryl of "A Year In Europe" are RS fans who kreated a very good podcast series of their adventure. You can listen at http://www.ayearineurope.com/?cat=5. Just scroll down to episode 37 for a most complete review of the place and, because they frequent Anaheim (bit less now with the twins!) they compare and contrast the two parks well. Enjoy...

First, you'll love the RS week in Paris. Did it a few years ago, and it was fabulous. If your kids have never been to London, would you want to consider a whirlwind Chunnel trip, stay one/two night(s), take a quick guided/bus city tour, then Chunnel back to catch your flight, if you all are a go/go/go bunch? Might not be the most relaxing option, but the kids might enjoy it. If you haven't purchased flights yet, maybe just fly out of London? Normandy and Giverney would be great trips for adults, but not having kids, I can't rate them on a kid-o-meter. Ditto for small villages south of Paris, cooking class, wine tours, etc.

You could go to Normandy for three days and see the World Was II sights. (Bayeaux) I also loved the Chateau region(Amboise). The chateau's are beautiful and Leonardo's retirement home is in Amboise and they have some recreations of his inventions that the kids might find interesting. Disney Paris is a fun day and they also have some other theme parks near by. I am a Disney fan too but Paris Disney is not as nice as ours in the U.S.A. IMO.

Did you go on a tour or rent a car or take a tain on your own to go to Normandy? I wish RS had his 9 day tour at that time. Trying to fingure this out with kids is making my head spin. Thanks for the advice.

I'm not so sure the kids would could a kick out of the Contenin Peninsula and the coastal stuff. The interior of Lower Normandy has some pretty good castles and fortified towns. If you made eastern Brittany (St Malo) the furthest point, it's about four hours from Paris. If you pressed on to Carnac, you'd be about six hours out, but could dash back on the southern route in five hours, leaving time to stop in Chartres. For a sprint (five hours) you could get into the prehistoric area south of Perigueux.

LA,
When I went to France I did it on my own. I started in Paris and ended in Paris. I had 21 days and we leased a car.(cheaper than rental and brand new car). I spent one night in Paris and then headed to the Loire Valley 3 nights, Mont St. Micheal 1 night, Bayeaux 4 nights, Honfluer one night, Ghent Belgium 2 nights, Brussells 2 nights, Bastogne 2 nights, Reims 2 nights and then 3 nights in Paris. I think it depends on what your kids interest are. My kids at that age loved history and would enjoy seeing the World War II sights. I have only done one Rick Steves tours and I loved it. I plan on doing Germany, Austria and Switzerland in 2012.

Thanks for the insight on Disney and our trip. I will check out the blog. As for going to London I sort of feel like that old V8 Commerical. I could have gone to London too. Wish I would have thought of that first. We do have our flights (using miles) so we can not fly into or out of another airport. My husband and I did the 8 day London/Paris tour when RS offered it 4 years ago. I wish he still had it for this time with the kids. Any other suggestions would be great for our trip. Thanks.

I just got back from a long weekend in Normandy with my kids, ages 9, 12 and14. Now granted, we have been studying WWII as home schoolers, so they knew a lot about it's significance, but they loved that trip and the day trip to Mont Sainte Michel. Many of the organized DDay tours will not take kids under 12, so we arranged for a private guide (Stuart Robertson, www.normandybattletours.com) which was outstanding. They particularly loved the Musee Airborne in Sainte Mere Eglise and the WWII Museum in Bayeux, but were pretty lukewarm about the Bayeux Tapestry. They have been begging me to go back to Normandy, even offering to pay with their allowance! In a previous trip, we went to Giverny with the kids, renting bikes across from the train station. It really enhanced their enjoyment of Monet's paintings in the Orangerie and the D'Orsay a few days later.

Thanks for all the help. The bike tours sound great not so much in late Nov when we are going to be there. Thanks for the heads up on the tour with kids under 12 guess we won't go that route. I am thinking now to spend the extra days just in Paris and go to Disney for at least a few days. I am trying to find what Christmas type decorations or events there might be in late Nov. (We are there right before the US Thanksgiving and Staying that week)

If you are big Disney fans, you need to prepare yourselves for the Disneyland Paris experience in that it is NOT at all like WDW in the US. It is a nice park, pretty to look at, but it's hard to find the "magic" for lack of a better description. There's also fewer attractions (but lower admissions prices available - no need to pay full price as it seems you can always find a discount.) When we first found out we were moving an hour away from the park, we were totally excited to buy Annual Passes (we'd had annual passes to WDW despite living 1000 miles away.) Even with the offer of 18 months for the price of 12 we did not renew our passes. 'nuff said. If you don't want to stick around Paris all the extra days, I'd suggest looking at either the Loire Valley or Burgundy areas. Both of those have lots of good stuff for the family. Both are easy drives from Paris and the lodging should be much cheaper than in Paris, which helps balance out the rental car cost.