From Provence to Paris

As some of you reading this blog, you might have just moved from Paris to the beautiful South of France. For every other parent, like me, that is new in France or just haven’t travelled yet to Paris with kids, this might be an interesting article for you. Paris with kids, now that is a cool experience!

Travelling

When traveling from Aix-en-Provence to Paris with kids, it is just perfect to take the TGV. The parking is easy, the train takes you only 3 hours and it is a cool experience for kids. Though surprisingly my children considered the metro the very best traveling experience. When we talk about Paris, they are still excited about that, especially about taking the tickets in and out of the gates. Our best metro deal for the weekend (Friday to Sunday) was to buy weekend tickets for the kids, and day tickets for us. The zones 1 and 2 give you plenty of travel options. Sightseeing Paris means taking lots of metros but lots of strolls too. The best tip I can give you is bringing the kids their scooters. Wow, lots of streets appeared to be quite scooter friendly.

Where to stay?

Finding a hotel within an immense load of choices, now here I can help you a bit. I don’t rely on the big hotelmachines, but love to spend evenings checking other blogs. Usually I can find some very nice city hotels through the website www.timetomomo.com that sorts the pearls for me (thanks and if one day you are looking for someone to cover the Provence….). We were so lucky to have ended up twice in Paris with kids as well as on my own, so have I got three hotel tips to share.

French Theory, 5ème arrondissement

In the heart of the Latin Quarter we had a très pleasant stay at French Theory. This hotel is so refreshing, it even has its own concept store and music lab. Downstairs you find the café and even a little terrace to enjoy your breakfast. We chose the Quadruple Room, which offered us a clean and trendy room with two bunkbeds. Yep, hub and I shared a bunkbed too. The kids loved the hotel room, mainly because of the beamer and ultra large screen. Perfect for relaxing time in between our 30.000 steps of the day. I loved the location of the hotel, very close to the Pantheon and even better when traveling with kids: just a few steps away from Jardin de Luxembourg. Here you find a beautiful park with mini sailing boats and a great (paid) playground. 

The Remix Hotel, 19ème arrondissement

In the upcoming quarter Villette you find this very trendy hotel that was decorated by interior designer Zafrir Saar. Almost every corner of this hotel has a surprising element. My kids loved the game room downstairs, where they could play ping pong and a retro video game. Hub and I especially liked the luxury the family room offered, it had connecting rooms and could easily house 6 persons. We were impressed with the friendly staff and felt indulged with the breakfast buffet (kids even for free!). 

The hotel is ideally situated if you are orientated to visit the museum Cité des Sciences and its kid-friendly exhibitions, or one of the many other places that Parc La Villette has to offer. Including playgrounds! The metro (50m away) takes you to town, if you don’t mind a 20 minutes ride than it’s a very good deal. Little note for dreamy tourists among you… Coming out of our Aixois bubble, we experienced that Villette is a raw part of Paris and is dealing with poverty and confused homeless people. But hey, that’s real-life…

Hôtel Pigalle, 9ème arrondissement

In the neighborhood of les Grands Boulevards, Faubourg, you can book the lovely boutique hotel named Hôtel Panache. It’s such a pleasure to be here, not only for the perfect location, but as well thanks to the gorgeous interior design. Though I have slept myself there with a friend, I know that the hotel welcomes kids on the hotel room with a very cool tipi tent. The breakfast was just great, not to many excessive things in an overload, but some very good items on a buffet and eggs on demand.

Fun activities with kids

Because Paris is just too immense to have the full experience in two weekends (with kids!), I can share you a couple of highlights that I tried to pack for you.

Eiffel Tower

This eye-catcher cannot be missed of course. It is so enchanting to walk somewhere and suddenly see a glimpse of it. We climbed the Eiffel Tower together with the kids (7 and 5). Our little machines climbed the stairs until the 2nd floor, from there we took the lift to the top. Mind you, it took us about 2 hours (in a weekend of March) to get from the first line till exit. So unlike us, be wise to pack some snacks and water. Our dearest son got hangry on top, so he is not smiling on our upstairs pictures LOL. Looking for a nice place to have a snack? Walk towards La Seine and sit down on the terrace of the simple but oh so welcome snack corner of La Vedette. We were so happy with fries, hotdogs and a large beer whilst sitting on a sunny terrace and our kids racing around on their scooters. If you have any energy left, you can hop on the boat tour of (again) La Vedette. We loved seeing the city from a different view and it was quite relaxing to be forced to sit down. 

Are you in for more than a snack? I can warmly advise you to stroll another 10 minutes and take a seat at Malabar, on 88 Rue Saint Dominique. It’s a very cosy French restaurant with an easy going menu, including options for kids.

Sacre Coeur

This beautiful church is an icon that is wonderful to visit with children. Sacre Coeur is situated on a hill, the green hill itself is already a great place for a picknick. If you want to have a fun experience, you can use your public transport ticket to take the ‘funiculaire’ on the left side. It is a very cute tram that saves you from nagging kiddos. Upstairs you have an impressive view over Paris, it is definitely worth the climb or in our case, ride! Going down is so easy and we ended up wondering a bit through the beautiful Montmartre. Around Rue d’Orsel and Rue Dancourt you will find nice restaurants. We had a great fusion meal (and two ‘assiettes de frites’) at Le Bimbo, which has a brilliantly located terrace. Save space for a dessert at THE BEST ice cream shop of Paris, Glace Bashir on Rue Tardieu. This Lebanese ice cream shop has a speciality that you have to taste. Their Atcha ice cream is amazing and worth to stand in line for. 

Jardin de Luxembourg

This park feels like heaven when you are traveling Paris with kids. A perfect green get-away from metros and traffic and crowds. A place where your kid can run around and play, just doing that what your kid likes most. There is a (paid) playground and a cute place to rent miniature sailing boats to guide along a little pond.

Just outside the entrance of Jardin de Luxembourg, coming from the Quartier Latin area, you find a huge typically French bistro. It is named Le Choupinet and has made a real effort with their posts on social media, letting stuffed bears sit at the bistrot tables. Le Choupinet has a very attentive kids menu, with actually quite some choice.

Centre de Pompidou

This museum is already interesting from the outside, it’s a spectacular building dedicated to modern art in the 4th arrondissement. Inside there is some very interesting modern art, though my kids where not very interested and stood waaaay to close to precious paintings. They did like the small kids department on the ground flour, but most of all they liked taking the escalators. Honestly, I liked that as well. They provided us a great view over Paris. After visiting the museum we headed to the lovely quartier Le Marais. Great shopping at le Rue du Temple where we got ourselves some delicious ice cream at La Glacerie.

Galerie Paléontologie

If you have a dinosaur admirer in the family, this museum is a must-see. It houses all kinds of skeletons, including several dino species. Kids enter the museum for free and you will have an interesting moment in a beautiful building. Afterwards the kids can run or scooter around in the large Jardin des Plantes, which houses several musea and even a zoo. The Galerie Paléontologie is located very close to Gare de Lyon from where the TGV leaves, so very convenient to book this activity on your arrival or departure day. Nearby Gare de Lyon we had a very good lunch at the outside table of the pizza restaurant L’Impasto on Rue Traversière. We noticed some other fine looking restaurants nearby. A very nice area to walk around and be away of the touristy restaurants.