WHEN TO COME TO PARIS?
French (and foreign) tourists come to Paris all year round.
Easter and All Saints’ Day record the highest attendance for French families. These are two times of the year that allow you to mix outdoor and indoor visits.
Christmas is the favorite time of year for children. Paris is beautiful, all lit up with Christmas lights and decorations.
In summer, we enjoy visits and walks outside. The evenings are mild, longer and there are many shows or open-air cinemas. On the other hand, it is a truce for temporary exhibitions and plays.
FIND ACCOMMODATION
The majority of French tourists who come with their families are staying with relatives or friends. Those who do not have a place to stay choose hotels, apart-hotels, room or apartment rentals on sites such as Airbnb.
The hotel represents a significant budget in the cost of the stay. Booking.com offers discounts on overnight stays all year round. For the hotel, it is better to plan well in advance or the prices will soar.
Renting an apartment is also an ideal and practical solution for families who come with children: autonomy, more reasonable budget than a hotel, possibility of making food… The Airbnb site offers a wide choice of accommodation, from studios to apartments for large families in all the arrondissements of Paris and also in the suburbs, often more reasonable in terms of price.
Only one campsite in Paris (in the Bois d Boulogne) offers accommodation in a caravan and activities with children (playgrounds, board games, etc.).
ORGANIZE YOUR DAYS
Even if it is very pleasant to stroll around Paris with your nose in the air and get lost, so as not to leave frustrated by having missed a museum or a tourist site, it is better to organize your days in advance and make a visit schedule, especially with children.
Be inspired by the tourist routes or circuits that we have imagined and designed for and with children and teenagers. You don’t visit Paris in the same way with a 4-year-old child and a 16-year-old teenager.
- 2 days (or a weekend) with 0/6 year olds
- 2 days (or a weekend) aveweek-endc for 7/12 year olds
- 2 days (or a weekend) with pre-teens and teens
- 3 or 4 days with 0/6 year olds
- 3 or 4 days with 7/12 year olds
- 3 or 4 days with pre-teens and teens
- 5+ days with 0/6 year olds
- 5+ days with 7/12 year olds
- 5+ days with pre-teens and teens
GETTING AROUND PARIS
To get around Paris, you can take the metro, bus, RER and tram.
The metro is the most convenient and fastest way to get from one place to another (Paris metro map ).
The bus is undoubtedly the most pleasant means of transport to discover Paris, but also the slowest.
Bus 42 allows you to discover the beautiful districts of the right bank : from the Champ-de-Mars to the Opera via the Pont de l’Alma, Avenue Montaigne, the Champs Elysées, the Concorde, the Madeleine and the Opera.
Our favorite line, bus 69 between Bastille and Champ-de-Mars: this line crosses Paris from east to west and allows you to see the Bastille, the Marais, the Châtelet, the Louvre, the Quays, the Musée d’Orsay, the Invalides, the Champ-de-Mars and the Eiffel Tower.
Bus 58 invites us to a nice walk between Saint-Germain-des-Prés and the Châtelet.
Bus 24 also offers beautiful views along the Seine : you can see the Ile Saint-Louis, Notre-Dame, the Saint-Michel district, the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, the Concorde and the Madeleine.
The RER (A, B, C or D) allows you to get out of Paris quickly. It serves, for example, the airports around Paris, Disneyland Paris (RER A, direction Mane-la-Vallée) or the Palace of Versailles (RER C, Versailles Château Rive Gauche station, then about 10 minutes on foot). You have to take specific tickets for each destination (metro tickets do not work on the RER outside Paris)
The tramway bypasses Paris (on the outskirts). Convenient to go from one gateway to Paris.
HOW MUCH DOES A METRO TICKET COST?
- 1 ticket = €1.90 full price
- 1 book of 10 tickets = €16.90 at full price
- 1 book of 10 tickets = €7.90 reduced price
The metro ticket is valid for the metro, the RER (in Paris only), the bus (except Orlybus and Roissybus), the tramway and the Montmartre funicular
If you are coming for 1 week and you are going to travel mainly by public transport, it is in your best interest to take a Navigo Week Pass.
MUST-SEES IN PARIS NOT TO BE MISSED
- the Eiffel Tower
- the Louvre Museum
- a cruise on the Seine
- (Notre-Dame)
- Montmartre and the Sacré-Coeur
- the Musée d’Orsay
- the Champs-Elysées
MUST-SEES NOT TO BE MISSED OUTSIDE PARIS
ANTICIPATE AND BOOK SOME ACTIVITIES IN ADVANCE
- We advise you to book some tickets in advance, otherwise you will run out of seats or queue on the day.
- Most of the tickets purchased are now skip-the-line E-tickets (you don’t need to print them, they are readable on your mobile).
- What is best booked in advance : the Eiffel Tower (especially in summer), the large temporary exhibitions, some unusual, thematic or fun guided tours, which are very popular with families and which go very quickly
- Highly recommended, as they are very popular with families with young children: the Cité des Sciences and the Grande Galerie de L’Evolution (it can be very crowded during the school holidays).
GOOD DEALS TO ENJOY PARIS AT A LOW PRICE OR AT A REDUCED RATE
- Reduced rates on certain tourist or family activities : on activities such as cruises on the Seine, the Paris Aquarium, a tour of Paris on a panoramic bus, rides in Paris on a Hoverboard or Scooter with an animator…
- Paris for less than 10€ (activity in Paris where the adult ticket is less than 10€)
- Paris for less than €15 (activity in Paris where the adult ticket is less than €15)
- Paris for less than 20€ (activity in Paris where the adult ticket is less than 20€)
- Free betting : all the free one-off events and all the free deals in the capital
