Paris tips for families: what you need to know before you go for a stay you’ll love
Paris tips for families with kids. A practical travel guide by a mama with all you need to know before you go to Paris with kids, including overall feel, best areas to stay, tips for using a stroller in Paris and what to expect eating out in Paris with kids.
I love Paris and find it a fantastic, exciting city to visit with kids.
So much to see, so many parks and kids’ attractions, so much variety in this big, bustling, lively city!
Despite this love for Paris however, I knew visiting with kids would be very different from experiencing the city as a couple or with a friend and indeed: it was!
On this page, based on my own family travels, I share all my best Paris tips to plan a great stay in Paris with kids.
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Paris with kids – overall atmosphere and feel
Paris is one of the big capitals of the world and is an exciting, varied, busy place to be.
The city is stunning just like the photos of it suggest, yet it is also very different in feel from what may expect.
Paris is not a mellow place with berret-wearing locals (and drizzling rain is annoying here as anywhere else!).
It is a big bustling city with tons of people, cars, noises, corners of sheer beauty and luxury, others of desperate poverty and homelessness and anything in between, to an extent many do not expect.
Because of this you sometimes heat people saying they Paris is not kid friendly, or it is dirty, or too busy but I urge you not to discount Paris on these accounts and put them in context instead.
Paris is a massive city with the all the elements of the big center, including some grittiness and intensity but is also a fabulous, unique, marvellous, beautiful and very real places with tons to enjoy and learn.
And it not a child-unfriendly place, far from it!
It is a place you need to discover with a bit of time and ease, so that its more overwhelming aspects are balanced out by the more family friendly and local ones.
Due to the type of attractions and family facilities , we found Paris to be best enjoyed with kids of primary school age and teens.
Visiting Paris with a baby is also easy, if you have ac carrier, while the toddler years are a little harder here but let’s be honest: the toddler years area always the hardest when it comes to travel!
So, my main Paris tips for families are: expect a big center and take time to go beyond the most obvious landmarks, so you can enjoy the city at a child friendly pace.
How many days to see Paris with kids
There are so many things to do in Paris with kids, you can easily fill weeks. Yet, since I know most of us do not have this amount of time, I think you can see the highlights of Paris in about three days.
In three days, you can see the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Musee d’Orsay, some neighborhoods and take a kid friendly class. If you want to also see Disney Paris and Versailles then you’ll need and extra day each.
If you only have a short amount of time, you can read here >>> our itinerary for a weekend in Paris with kids
The best time to go to Paris with kids
The best times to visit Paris with kids are late spring (May – June) and end of summer/ early autumn (September – mid October).
While it is possible to enjoy Paris at other times as well, winter and summer can get, respectively, very cold and very hot, limiting the amount of time you can spend outside in parks and playgrounds – a shame, since Paris has some lovely green areas!
In spring and autumn there is no guarantee of good weather but usually there are no extremes in temperatures, making the city ok for all ages.
The best area to stay in Paris with kids
There are many family friendly areas in Paris but there are some that we like more than others for feel and proximity to attractions and activities for kids.
Those we love the most are:
🏡 Eiffel Tower – staying near the Eiffel Tower, if budget allows, is an easy win for kids as the area is convenient, close to the attraction they are most likely wanting to see, green and upscale. Around the Eiffel Tower there is a lovely green park with playground too, so you can have them playing while you enjoy the view!
🏡 Montparnasse – in the South of Paris and still central, Montparnasse is very Parisian, beautiful, safe, and well connected to pretty much anywhere in the city. This is also an area often more reasonably priced than others, without having to compromise on safety and feel.
🏡 Latin Quarter / Jardin du Luxembourg – again on the left side of the river, this is a beautiful area with lots of Parisian charm, easy access to the beautiful Luxembourg gardens and playground, it is very well served and well connected to the rest of the city which you can, in parts, also reach on foot from here.
🏡 Le Marais – located on the right side of the river, Le Marais is an elegant, beautiful, upscale area with great local charm, this is an ideal location if you want easy access to the Louvre, Centre Pompidou and the elegant area of Rue de Rivoli and Place Vandome.
Need to know: Occupancy rules are very strict. You always need to declare all people staying in a room / accommodation even if you use only existing beds. So for instance if you have a baby and want to co-sleep, you still need to to declare them as one of the room occupants at the time of booking.
Getting around Paris
We found that the best way to get around Paris with children in tow is a mix of walking and using the city excellent metro system/ RER network (trains).
The metro / RER in Paris bring you pretty much anywhere you need to go and it is pretty straightforward to use: each station has maps with all the different lines and stops and machines to get ticket on the spot. You can buy tickets using your card, no need for cash.
The metro is fast and efficient but like all inner city public transport has some downsides.
First and foremost, the metro in Paris is not stroller friendly, so you need to be ready to fold the stroller in most stations (steps, turnstiles, etc).
Also, the metro is busy so you may not get seats and may have to stand in crowded carriages.
If you find yourself in shoulder to shoulder situations, for instance at rush hour, be careful with your belongings and the metro in Paris is know for pickpocketing: do not worry excessively about this (big city awareness is all you really need) but if you have teens with phone in pockets for instance, tell them to pay attention.
Using taxis and Uber in Paris with children
Taxis and Uber work well in Paris. However, like elsewhere, they do not carry nor require car seats, so you’ll ride them with your child on your lap or getting them to use the seatbelts provided.
Eating out in Paris with kids
Eating out is maybe the one aspect visiting Paris with kids we found a little more challenging than we would have hoped.
Paris has amazing food and, if you are open to foods from different parts of the world, you’ll be spoilt for choice.
However, eating out in Paris with toddlers for instance required a bit of patience as places tend to be small, with a limited amount go high chairs (if any) and you don’t always have kids menu with food kids know.
That said, we never let this discourage us and it is indeed possible to have a nice meal out in Paris even with littles!
Brasseries and bistros are everywhere and are informal, no fuss meal options and they tend to have steak frites (beef and fries) and Croque Monsieur (cheese and ham toast) that kids tend to like. Italian resrtaurants abound, should you need a simple pasta dish, and of course food such as crepes, macaroon and barbapapa (cotton candy) are easy treats you find everywhere!
For dinner, the following tips may come in handy.
In terms of opening hours, standard restaurants tend to only open for lunch and dinner but bistros and cafes with food are open pretty much non stops so you’ll always find somewhere to eat during the day.
Restaurants in Paris are only open at certain times and often not before 7pm.
One of the most common reasons for restaurants in Paris not to be child-friendly is space.
They are often crammed and while this can be wonderfully atmospheric, if you show up with a buggy you may literally not be able to get in!
In summer, a terrace, usually more accommodating for buggies and strollers.
International restaurants and chains tend to be the most child-friendly spaces. They usually are accommodating to children and some have a kids menu and even crayons to colour while waiting.
Some family-friendly addresses to eat in Paris with kids are Maison Burger, Casa Luca, Bistrot Benoit (in the Louvre).
Using a stroller in Paris
A stroller in Paris is a must have as you’ll walk extensively during your stay. However, not everywhere in Paris is stroller friendly.
Walking round the city is ok for the most part, but you need to be ready to fold the stroller in several occasions, such as:
- to use public transport (see above)
- in restaurants (see above) as they don’t normally have much space
In Montmartre – Montmartre is a fabulous area of Paris, with cobbles, cute views and alleyways yet it is also a very steep hill with hundreds of steps! Getting up here with a stroller is possible if you can get a taxi or use the funiculaire, yet it is safe to assume you’ll have to fold and carry the stroller are least some of the time.
Because of this, the best stroller for Paris is a lightweight one like the Yoyo (a favorite among locals).
The best family tours of Paris
I like to visit Paris without guides for the most part, but with one big exception: the Louvre Museum.
My kids are great museum goers, they have being visiting traditional museums since they were tiny, but the Louvre really is a bit hard for them.
If you’ve been to Italy, it is a little like the Vatican Museums or the Uffizi Gallery: a place with so much to see and so many people, you get easily overwhelmed. Because of this, this is the one place I recommend guide for and teh guides I recommend are:
LivTours Louvre tour for kids – a 2h fun and interactive tour of the Louvre for kids, across highlight of the Egyptian, Roman, Italian Renaissance wings of the museum. Pick up from hotel possible.
MariaClaudia Tours Louvre tour for kids – a fun, game based tour for kids age 6 to 11.
Mona Lisa First Viewing by LivTours This tour is not for kids but it is short and allows to get to the Mona Lisa before the crowds, so it works great for families with older kids or, the opposite, families with babies, who don’t need a children tour but need to be in and out quickly (1h30 mins)
In terms of structured activities, we found this baking class which our local friend recommended as specifically kid-friendly.
Baby food, diapers and baby changing facilities in Paris
Baby food and diapers area easy to buy in all supermarkets in Paris. Popular ones you will find in several locations in Paris are Carrefour, Monoprix, Auchan, Lidl only to name the most commonly found we came across just by strolling.
Among the many brands abatable, you can find Pampers, Aptamil and all the brands of the Danone family.
Changing stations are not commonly found in Paris so a bit of creativity goes a long way! The best changing stations are in museums and departments stores, so it it always a good idea to make good use of those.
When there are none, the stroller can work as a great base: bring with you plenty of wipes and many diaper disposing bags.
Paris tips for families with kids – pin this!
