paris first time with 3 kids

[chua]

I am so GLAD to have found this useful site!

My family are going to Bordeaux for a wedding in June 09! We are excited as this will be our first trip to France. As we have 3 children (8, 5 and 2yo), we need to plan our itinerary around them. This is what I am thinking of doing ...please give me your comments :

1. Arrival at CDG airport and direct transfer to Disneyland Paris. Planning to stay at Marriott's village d'lle-de-france for 3 nights. Going to the parks on day 2 and day 3.

2. Depart Marriott for an apartment at Rue Servan Paris (11th district)..Sensational Servan through Feels Like Home in Paris, for 3 nights as well.
In Paris, we are thinking of picnic at one of the parks (please recommend), seine river cruise (please recommend) and also Playmobil FunPark (please comment and recommend how to get there) as my eldest son is a BIG fan of playmobil.

Thanks!!!

[Happygoin]

Hi Chua, and welcome to OPF

There are many parks in Paris. Your children would enjoy any of them. Of course, the first one that comes to mind is Luxembourg Garden. It's huge and there are play areas for the kids. A picnic would go over very well there, I should think. Another is the Tuileries, next to the Louvre. There is a pond where the older kids can rent boats to sail. Others will chime in with their faves...

My personal favorite Seine cruise is the Vedettes du Pont Neuf. It leaves from the Square du Vert Galant on the very western tip of Ile de la Cité. Look at the website for a seasonal calendar of departure times as well as a discount coupon you can print and take with you. Btw, you only need to print one coupon for the whole family to get the discount. The website is vedettesdupontneuf.com. Remember to wear warm clothes for the river cruise if you go at night. Even in June, unless its really warm, the river can get cold.

I'm not familiar with the Playmobil Funpark, but someone will come along who will. Happy travels!

[GitteK]

Luxembourg - definitely, for the kiddies. There is also a puppet "Punch and Judy" theatre there, in the southwest of the park. Worldwide Puppet Theatre website (scroll down to the bottom of the page).
JARDIN DU LUXEMBOURG, Paris, phone: [phone], (métro: Vavin) has a weatherproof space; performances are held on most Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday afternoons.

Also in Jardin du Lux you are close to everything, if you should get a sudden rainshower or if the little ones start fighting or get wet socks in the pond or whatever

Playmobil Fun Park
Location: North of Orly Airport at the junction of the A6/A86 (about 12km due south of central Paris). Address: 22/24 rue des Jachères, Parc Silic Fresnes, 94260 FRESNES.
Tel no: (0)1 49 84 94 44. Opening times: Tuesday - Saturday, 10AM - 7PM and every day during the French school holidays. Prices - €1.50 for over 3’s and €1.00 for handicapped.
Playmobil Fun Park website in English
How to get there from Paris

Agree that Playmobil make lovely toys !

Vedettes du Pont Neuf is also very central, only you should know that there is quite a long flight of steep stairs down from the bridge to the embarkment place at the Seine (and up again afterwards, which could be a problem for the little legs. The steps are high.)

How about the Museum for Magic ? I would think your children have the right age for that. Open: Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday from 14:00 to 19:00 all year long.

Finally: this is an old thread from competing travelsite with a number of useful links to the topic:
Kids in Paris

[GitteK]

There is even a magazine exclusively about bringing children to Paris !!

www.parismomes.fr/mag/mag_pariswidthkids.php

[Shoesy]

Hi there new member! I suggest you read the following trip report, which was written by a poster who traveled with kids.

www.ourparisforum.com/index.cgi?board=reports&action=display&thread=2380

[chua]

Thank you very much for all the info!

By the way, the apartment I am looking at has no air-conditioning (it seems that not all apartments have one...am I right?)...should I be concerned about that? As we are living in a tropical country and the kids are so used to air-conditioning.

Thanks!

[Shoesy]

The weather in Paris is VERY unpredictable. In June it can be very hot or even cool. I was there in June, 2006, at which time there was a TERRIBLE heatwave for several days. Frankly speaking, I would have been extremely miserable if I had been staying in a hotel without A/C.

[GitteK]

I think I'll have to modify Shoesy's "TERRIBLE heatwave" a bit.

Yes, it can get warm and humid at times, but mostly in July/August and then somewhere around max. 30-33 C around noon and in the afternoon.

It is not an accurate picture that it is impossible to stay in a hotel/apartment without airconditioning. I come from a "not-very-warm" country and I manage perfectly well in Paris without A/C. Paris is in fact located in Northen Europe, not smack in the middle of the Amazonas jungle, after all.

[phread]

FOr three nights, you'll be fine without A/C. Most Parisians survived the worst heat wave with just fans.

I don't think you need Disneyland and PlaymobilePark. This city is chock a block full of great playgrounds for little kids. The one at Luxembourg gardens, with pony rides and a marionette show is remarkable. At the Tuileries you can rent sail boats that the kids push around a fountain. The stuff within the city will be much more relaxing for the entire family.

There is a merry go round at the Eiffel Tower and the City Hall.

For a picnic... the Champs de Mars, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower is an easy one. But there are parks in every neighborhood and most of them are great for picnics.

[Shoesy]

Gitte - I agree that the heatwave that I experienced was probably a very extreme case, especially for June, but the truth of the matter is that it did happen, and it was unbearable. Furthermore, I'd like to stress the fact that my tolerance for the heat is higher than most people that I know. However, I found those days in Paris to be very hot and humid, and it was delightful returning to a cool room in the evening. Once again, I don't know how common such a heatwave in the month of June is, but a person who is used to having A/C at home, would suffer greatly without it in such conditions.

[geordy]

I'm with Shoesy here...was in Paris in June several times and it was often HOT...more so then then the actual temperature would indicate..and I come from the Hot, Hazy, Humid Baked Apple!!!

Knew a Swedish fellow who was renting an apartment on Rue de Ponthieu which did not have A/C. He commented that he could lie in bed and sweat to death or be up all night because of the noise from traffic, clubs, if he opened the windows. He opted for sweating as opening the windows did not help that much as to the heat problem!!
And this was June, July, August, and September at times.

Then again I was there in mid July once and needed to buy a sweatshirt....of course it made a great souvenir!

But kids who are used to A/C could be cranky if you do hit a heatwave.

[denise]

:)I have just returned home and intended doing a bit of research for this member ( for my own interest as well) and can I say how impressed I am with the information you have all come up with in the meantime.

You all deserve an exalt!

As I have never taken young children to Paris, I would not know what to do with them there. There are lots of parks as everyone says but beyond that I would be clueless.

I remember last year when we went to parc floral we saw that during the summer weekdays they had all sorts of events and activities for children, small entrance fee. I have just googled it but next years programme is not available so maybe it is something you could look at nearer the time. It is easy to get to parc floral, just get metro line one direction chateau de vincennes and go to the end of the line, about twenty minutes.

My stepson and DIL took thier 7 and 3 year olds for the day last year and they played in the Tuilleries and the square de Vert Galant and place Dauphine, where they had "very expensive ice creams Grandma" on the ile de cite.. This was the highlight of thier trip.

On the A/C question. I live in Europe too and I m not used to A/C and have never felt the need of it in Paris, even in heatwaves. I think 2003 was an exceptional year with record temperatures when lots of old people died in Paris in August.

Last July it was warm about 75 degrees but would not have used A/C if I had it. On the Vendettes de Pont Neuf evening cruise, I had to wear my scarf and cardigan

The only time I have experienced A/C is in Florida in July when you had to put your cardigan ON when you went INSIDE.

So I think if it is something you are used to it will be a necessity unless like us Brits you are acclimatised to sleeping in hot weather!

Denise
Love from england

[Penny]

Welcome to OPF chua

there are two different Seine cruises/boat (maybe more but these are the two I know of). One is a hop on/hop on, this one leaves from Eiffel Tower area. However at the stops you have to climb very old stone steps to street level. You may want to take into consideration that you will have a 2 year old with you.
I'm sure others can give a better opinion as I have not traveled there with children.

The other is the cruise with commentary and no stops.
website.

www.vedettesdupontneuf.com/

Hope you can open, my PC is having one of it's cranky days.

I took one of the night ones however in June sunset is late so another consideration regarding choice.

[sunshine817]

If your youngun is into Playmobil, then it's probably a good side trip. There's also Parc Asterix, which is a little more "French" than Disney.

Gitte, I lived in central Florida for 25 years and have only rarely been as thoroughly, completely miserable as I was in Paris a few years ago. It was 35C on the beach in Normandy, and Paris was a fetid sweatbath. We jumped at the chance to go to Normandy with our friends -- where it was still scorching hot, but at least we had a breeze and the ocean!

When it's really miserable, there isn't a breath of air -- and your choice really is either drowning in a puddle of your own sweat or staying up all night listening to the noise from everyone elsewho can't sleep when you open the windows.

It all comes down to if your apartment is in a quiet quarter...if it is, you'll have no issues. If you're in a busy neighborhood, it is definitely something to think about.

We've traveled to Paris with our son since he was 2. Another great place is the fountains next to the Georges Pompidou center. They're silly and abstract, and kids love the bright colours and cartoon-like fixtures.

Take your time...sometimes the greatest things you experience is the stuff THEY discover -- fuzzy chestnuts, a caterpillar...or just the friendly hound at the boulangerie.

[geordy]

I did not want to presume, since I don't have kids, but will enforce what Sunshine said....from my experience with my nieces....sometimes you knock your self out planning "kid friendly" activities and then they find enjoyment in the "inbetweens" and where you'd least expect it!

Take a kid to the Bronx Zoo and you are pointing out the Lions as they are happily chasing the squirrels!! And pigeons!! Duh..could do that in your Grandma's back yard or my block!

[Shoesy]

In all fairness, I'd like to make just one more comment concerning the A/C issue. If you do a Google search on typical temps. for Paris in June, you will see that they do NOT in any way resemble the ones we experienced in 2006. In fact, when we were there in 2004, it was absolutely gorgeous during the day and even rather cool at night. Therefore, one can probably conclude that the heatwave of 2006 was a freakish occurance, but the reason I can't forget it is because it was worse than anything I've ever experienced here in Israel.

[GitteK]

I suggest we stop the A/C conditioning discussion, as this was not the original topic for the thread.
A/C is not common in Europe, as really health threatening heatwaves only rarely occur. In France they recommend on the television during warm periods, that you go into supermarkets or public libraries to cool off twice per day.

[Anne]

The hop on/hop off cruise that Penny mentions and which has a stop at Tour Eiffel (plus seven other places) is with the Batobus company .
But there is another company called Bateaux Parisiens which also leaves from the Tour Eiffel for a one hour non-stop commented tour . We took it a few years ago and it was good . A nice cruise is great, provided that the kids don't fall asleep . The illuminated musée d'Orsay or mairie de Paris (city hall) are beautiful .

[GitteK]

Your kids are 8, 5 and 2 - and you are going in June (when it is bright in the evening). Are you sure that an evening cruise would be a big attraction for the little ones ? I am thinking of the sleep-issue, because I fear you won't get much joy from the illuminations till after 21:00 at that time of the year.

[chua]

THANKS VERY MUCH FOR YOUR REPLIES!!! I AM REALLY IMPRSSED WITH OPF!

Have noted down all your suggestions and should be able to come up with an itinerary soon!