5 Days in Paris with Kids

I had visited Paris a couple of times in my twenties and thirties, very different times in my life pre-marriage and pre-motherhood.  When planning our trip this time around, with a seven-year old in tow, I was excited to see the city through both my new lens and hers.  My memories of my prior trips were hazy at best, and in looking back now, I am embarrassed to admit how uncultured and unappreciative I was back then of just how amazing this city really is.  I truly fell in love with the city this time around, as did Rich and Sienna!  Here’s how our love-affair with Paris unfolded during our 5-night visit in late June. 

In this blog, I’ll cover:

• Logistics (flight, hotel, getting around)

• City sidecar tour

• Madame Brasserie lunch at Eiffel Tower

• Seine Evening River Cruise

• Private Kid-Centric Louvre Tour

• Macaroon Baking Class

Logistics

We flew Air France direct from LA in their economy comfort cabin – it was an overnight flight that left LA at 6:30pm, which worked out perfectly for being able to get 5-6 hours of sleep in.  The seats were quite roomy and had footrests, as well as a decent recline – we put a bag at Sienna’s feet, which allowed her to stretch out and lay down almost flat.  Even I, the worst sleeper in history, was able to get a few hours of rest with a sleep mask and a sleeping pill.  We skipped the onboard meal and opted to eat at the airport before our flight instead, which set us up nicely for watching a movie and then dozing off.  We landed in Paris around 2pm with just enough sleep to be able to enjoy our first evening in the city but tired enough to pass out before midnight and sleeping a solid 9 hours that night – virtually no jet lag for any of us! 

We stayed at the L’Empire Hotel in the 1^st arrondissment, just a few blocks from the Louvre.  It’s a great boutique hotel that had 1-bedroom suites with a pull-out couch, which was important for us.  Breakfast was included, which was a very nice spread of smoked salmon, cheeses and meats, along with eggs and a variety of pastries/bread.  The location couldn’t be beat – we were just a couple of blocks from the Seine and were able to walk home from the Eiffel Tower, Le Marais, and St. Germaine. 

We did take some Ubers and taxis, but the traffic is terrible, and we found that we could have walked everywhere quicker than driving.  We had a few hiccups trying to use the Metro - user error in not selecting the right prompts at the automated ticket booths.  TIP: Make sure you select “I do not have a pass” if you’re buying a ticket for the first time, otherwise it allows you to purchase a ticket but gives you a voucher that is unusable at the turn-styles and has to be turned in for a pass at a ticket counter with an agent.  It took us a couple of days to find a physical agent, who explained our error to us and we finally were able to take our first ride the day before we left – the subway is very clean and definitely the fastest way to get through the city if you don’t want to walk!  Though there really isn’t anything like seeing the city on foot.  We walked 15-20K steps each day and loved seeing the beautiful architecture and all of the cafes and shops hidden down side streets that make this city so special!  When Paris turned up the heat on us the last couple of days that made walking outside unfeasible with Sienna, we strategically spent the afternoons indoors and still logged our steps in the evenings, especially since the sun doesn’t set in late June until 10pm!

Activities

Eating was #1 on our list (as it is with any trip), but my food review of Paris can be found separately here.  Here’s what else we got into on our stay:

Day 1 – I purposely left the morning open of our first full day, anticipating some jetlag and wanting to let us ease into the city.  We slept in and headed out for some neighborhood exploration, finding ourselves at the Galeries Lafayette.  I’m admittedly not a shopper, but this is a high-end shopper’s dream – and the most beautiful department store I’ve ever seen.  The five floors surround an open atrium with a dramatic domed ceiling – all adorned with incredible sculpting and art. 

We headed rooftop at Galeries Lafayette to take in some views of the city before heading to our Sidecar City Tour.  This was a fun way to see the city without walking – two guides on motorcycles with side cars attached met us and zipped us around for an hour.  Sienna and I were in sidecars and Rich rode on the back of one of the bikes – while this was fun, it wasn’t super informative.  My guide was more talkative and gave me some highlights along the way, but the other guide, while nice, didn’t offer as much conversation.  Sienna loved it, though, definitely kid-approved!

We stopped into Jardin de Luxembourg after our tour - the heat made it unfeasible to walk the length of the park, so we had some icecream in the cafe located inside the gardens and checked out the cute pond. Bummed we didn't get to spend more time there - I'd plan this for either an early morning or evening visit during peak heat seasons!

Day 2 – This was our Eiffel/Seine day.  I had booked the 1pm seating at Madame Brasserie on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower - you can read my lengthy review of this on Paris restaurant review, but long story short, I’d save my money and just get the lift ticket next time.

We climbed the stairs to the second level after lunch, which I’d recommend.  It’s a more challenging climb than we had anticipated, but Sienna was able to do it with some breaks (it was HOT out), and the views from the second level are incredible!   

After our climb and due to the heat, we took an Uber back to the hotel to relax a little before walking back for our Seine River Cruise.  We opted out of the dinner cruise and just did the standard cruise at 6pm – despite getting rained on briefly (actually felt very refreshing!), we really enjoyed seeing the sights of this beautiful city via water.  Another great way to take in the sights without dragging your kids on foot!  We bought tickets in advance, but really didn’t need to, we could easily have walked up and purchased tickets at the counter, which would have provided for more flexibility in our day. 

We ended our day with a walk back to our hotel, grabbing dinner and icecream along the way.  Unfortunately, we did not see the Eiffel Tower lit up even once on our trip – mostly because the sun didn’t set until after 10pm while we were there (so not dark until almost 11pm), and we were generally back in our hotel by 10:30pm each night.  

Day 3 – I over-scheduled us a bit on this last full day in the city, but we made it work!  I booked a private Louvre tour targeted towards kids for 9:30am – our guide met us at the museum and took us to major highlights over the next 2 hours, covering ancient Greek and Roman sculptures and Renaissance art, including, of course, the Mona Lisa.  She created a scavenger hunt for Sienna, and while she provided interesting insights and commentary on what we were seeing to all of us, she focused primarily on Sienna and made the tour fun for her.  With a tour you get to skip the ticket line, which was crazy long by the time we left, so I’d definitely recommend either getting there first thing or booking a tour.   You could spend days in the Louvre, and we barely scratched the surface, but with kids, the 2 hours was plenty and we felt like we saw a lot.

We then headed to Pink Mamma, an influencer favorite, for lunch and then mad-dashed it to our 2pm Macaron baking class.  This was super fun – our chef walked us through the whole process and we got to make both milk and white chocolate filled versions of this tasty treat.  So much work goes into these little cookies – we definitely walked away with a new appreciation for them.  We all got to be very hands-on, including Sienna, and took a box of our delicious creations home with us!

Day 4 – we sadly bid Adieu to Paris and headed to Orly for the next leg in our adventure.  Note that Orly is actually a lot closer to the city than CDG and is the airport most intra-EU flights come in and out from.  Like many places in Paris, they really don’t believe in A/C at Orly, and it was a HOT few hours waiting for our flight.  You also can’t check in for your flight until about 2 hours prior, so keep that in mind when planning for time to allot at the airport.  We waved to the city as we took off and cant’ wait to come back – I will forever has a soft spot in my heart for the café culture and architecture of this amazing city!

A few take-away tips if you’re traveling with kids under 10:

• Paris can get very hot, and the heat here just feels hotter than it does in the US, usually peaking in the afternoon.  Allow yourselves time for afternoon breaks back at the hotel or indoor activities, though keep in mind that many museums and indoor places either don’t have A/C or use it very conservatively.  The Louvre was warm even during our morning tour.

• Sunsets are late here in Summer, and many restaurants don’t open for dinner service until 7pm.  Plan your morning activities, allow for flexible afternoons, and then plan some evening activities – we loved walking the city between 6-10pm.

• Lots of locals hang out along the lower portion of the Seine walkways in the evenings; if you stay on the upper sidewalks along the street, you’ll miss out on a ton of activity happening on the lower level, where no cars are allowed.  The bars and restaurants along that lower level seem more geared toward drinking and aren’t as family friendly, but we really enjoyed walking along the Seine and catching the fun vibes!

  

• The subway is the best way to get around if you want a break from walking – traffic and one-way streets make taxis and Ubers very inefficient, especially if you're in a hurry.  We also hear that the water taxi is great – though we didn’t get a chance to try it ourselves.

J’adore Paris!