Methods to Plan a Household Journey to Paris

“I like the place you have been born, Papa,” my four-year-old daughter, Evie, stated to my husband, Vince, as we stood on high of the Eiffel Tower. Evie’s eight-year-old brother, Rémy, nodded in settlement as he took within the spectacular view. 

In planning our summer time journey to Paris, the place Vince was born and raised, we wished our youngsters to really feel a real appreciation for his or her French heritage, past the croissants and Astérix comedian books they’ve grown up with in Connecticut. We additionally wished to keep away from merely dragging them from one cultural establishment to the subsequent. 

As an alternative, we picked a mixture of offbeat points of interest and out of doors actions that remember French tradition, historical past, and day by day life. Right here’s what we favored greatest.

Spend the morning on the water.

Little skippers can take the wheel on a 90-minute water-taxi cruise on the Seine with River Limousine. Alongside the way in which, they’ll move the soon-to-reopen Notre Dame and study historic tidbits — like the truth that the Eiffel Tower was initially painted a Venetian pink and that the town started as a small fishing village within the third century B.C. There’s juice for the youngsters and, naturally, champagne for the mother and father.

Take a baking class.

Be part of native households to grasp making macarons on the beloved patisserie Candy Bazar. You’ll learn to whip egg whites, coax batter into ribbon-like folds, and pipe circles like a professional. Everybody will depart with six treats — get pleasure from them exterior on the newly reopened Stravinsky Fountain, which options 16 enchanting sculptures by Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely (it’s proper by the Centre Pompidou). 

Do the Louvre — with out the crowds.

You merely can’t skip the Louvre. However what may flip into a day meltdown turns into an exhilarating (and manageable) discipline journey on a two-hour, cut-the-line personal tour with Household Twist. Scavenger-hunt booklet in hand, youngsters will discover clues in a dozen displays, such because the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa, in the end main them to a memento hidden within the museum.

Calm down with a backyard break.

Partake in a traditional Parisian pastime by crusing vintage mannequin boats on the Grand Bassin duck pond within the Jardin du Luxembourg. The park additionally has a crêperie and a sustainably constructed playground.

Go to a fortress.

At La Conciergerie, the 14th-century palace the place Marie Antoinette was imprisoned, youngsters will love the HistoPad, a pill that makes use of augmented actuality to carry rooms to life. They’ll uncover the queen’s jail cell and Europe’s largest Gothic civil corridor. Across the nook is the ethereal Ste.-Chapelle, which has greater than 1,000 luminous stained-glass home windows. 

Think about amusement parks and strange museums.

On the Pavillons de Bercy-Musée des Arts Forains — a museum that has some 3,000 objects utilized in Nineteenth-century festivals — guests of all ages will enjoyment of waltzing in a ballroom, watching an opera with life-size mechanical dolls, or pedaling an 1897 bike carousel.

There’s additionally the Jardin d’Acclimatation, an amusement park within the Bois de Boulogne that opened in 1860 and acquired a glow-up in 2018 from French luxury-goods conglomerate LVMH.

Ebook the most effective kid-friendly lodge.

With a breakfast buffet that features chocolate croissants, madeleines, and Nutella, and a foyer closet crammed with costumes and video games, the 40-room Hôtel Léopold is right for households. There’s additionally a comfortable lounge and well-stocked library — excellent for taking a pause with a slice of apple cake between adventures.

A model of this story first appeared within the November 2024 difficulty of Journey + Leisure beneath the headline “Paris en Famille.”