Aix-en-Provence centre

Well, I am no star in just randomly visiting a city. Lucky you! While living in Aix-en-Provence, I am able to share with you some nice activities with kids in Aix-en-Provence. Finding some kid-friendly spots in town can make your visit even more pleasant. It is good to know that Aix has quite a compact city centre, which makes it do-able to explore the city by foot (and stroller).

Wandering through town

On the website of the Tourism Office you find a sweet brochure for kids from 4, 5 years old that guides you on a petit treasure hunt through town. With the nickname ‘city of fountains’, you can expect to see a lot of beautiful examples. Which kid isn’t appealed by the streaming water, so make it a tour. When you and kid are into it, you could make a little circuit through town. Off to see the most famous fountains starting at the Tourism Office.

From the most impressive fountain of all, at ‘la Rotonde’, your kids attention is probably brought to THE kids highlight of town. Invest in the day and make a stop at ‘le Carrousel Paul Cézanne‘. This carousel is simply too beautiful to not take a ride and make a pic of your kid on it, couldn’t be more kid-friendly!

Don’t expect the world of the playgrounds in town, but one of the better ones is in Parc du Jourdan. It is gated, has quite new and fun objects and a few benches for tired mums and dads :-). The parc itself has good scooter and bike roads, woohoo for your kid!

Local sweets

If you want to treat yourself on a local sweet, you have entered heaven in Aix-en-Provence centre. One of my favorite activities with kids in Aix-en-Provence is enjoying its sweets. Have a taste of the Aix speciality ‘calissons’, a famous mixture of candied melon, almonds and sugar. There are several producers with their own shop in town, I could honestly not say which one has the best. On Rue Gaston de Saporta, near the Hôtel de Ville, you will find some boutiques. When you are there anyway, try some madeleines from Christophe Madeleine. They are worth standing in line for and often just out of the oven! If you are more the chocolate type, you would be happy to visit the Chocolaterie de Puyricard at Cours Mirabeau. Produced just outside of Aix, expensive and oh-so-tasteful.

French market

Who can resist a French market? Although the chances are low that your kid wants to spend much strolling along market stalls, he or she can easily be seduced to eating fresh strawberries, apricots or croissants. The Provence has so much delicious food, you have to see it all stalled out. The best places to go are the Place Richelme (every day morning market) and Place des Prêcheurs (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning). You will find all kinds of delicacies, like the carefully made Macarons de Nolwenn. Nolwenn is a lovely French lady who speaks perfect English, besides serving you her delicious macarons (with less sugar), she also organises Macaron making workshops for kids, families or friends. Check out her Instagram page for more info.

Hmm, manger

I am always glad to have prepared some adresses where I can comfortably have a lunch or gouter (snack time) with my kids. BEFORE THEY GET HANGRY! In my former homecountry I was used to have a great choice of restaurants with high seats, kids menus, at least coloring pages or even a play area. When you just don’t expect those elements in French restaurants, you will be happy with any little element that is a bit kid-friendly.

Maison Nosh

Maison Nosh is a coffee bar/brunch/lunch cafe that is very suitable to take your mini to. With a lot of students chatting about student things (I AM OLD!), nobody cares whether your kid makes more noise then usual. They have a very creative menu with a lot of healthy products and bio drinks. That makes the offer way better than the standard ‘menu d’enfant’ with French fries and a ‘steak hachee’. They have a wonderful terrace on a car-free square two steps away from la Rotonde. And, very important to mention as they are rare in town: they have a baby changing table.

Crêpes à gogo

What an interesting destination to find underground. No impressive interior styles, but just the best crêpes in town. And for a fair price too! Just take away, but with the benches of the Rotonde and Parc Jourdan nearby you find the perfect place to eat the crêpe of your choice. Read more about Crêpes à gogo in my other blog.

Breakfast Club

In the area of Musée Granet you find this wonderful place to eat breakfast all day. Or I should rather say: brunch all day as the Breakfast Club only opens from 10 o’clock :-). My kids went crazy for the waffle and pancakes, for adults there is an indulging brunch menu that I can definitely recommend.

Ice cream at Amorino

Just like my kids and most probably yours too, I am a true lover of good ice cream. As a student I worked in a very good ice cream shop, therefore I dare to state that I know good ice cream. If you are looking for a very Instaproof ice cream, you can try out one of the two Amorino shops in Aix. They have good ice cream here as well, plus they create the ice cream in a flower shape. Not cheap at all, but for a small cone you can choose 3 flavors.

Pizza on a lovely terrace

For both lunch and dinner I could recommend you two great pizza places in town. The kids can enjoy a good and heart shaped pizza at both La Pizza at Rue Aude and Le Four sous le Platane on the beautiful terrace of Place des Tanneurs.

D’Amour

On the end of the Cours Mirabeau, the heart of Aix-en-Provence, you find a beautiful French styled terrace. Both in Winter days and Summertime, Restaurant D’Amour is open to serve you a tasty lunch or dinner. Think bistrot chairs and tables, now imagine a kids bistrot chair too! How pretty and convenient! They also serve a kids menu where kids can choose from the usual nuggets/ steak with french fries, but this time in a pretty setting. If you have the chance, do try the Pavlova dessert, it’s finger licking good.

Inside restaurants

When it’s cold outside or too hot even and you are looking for a good indoor spot in town, here are some tips.

• Le fils à maman is a big restaurant with simple furniture falling apart a bit, but with fun and playful decorations. The kids are welcome here and the kids menus are only 7 euro’s!
• Italian Trattoria on the Cours Mirabeau is a good go-to when your kid can’t wait until the French restaurants open at 19:00. This one is open all day and serves Italian food, namely pizzas. They are certainly not te best in town, but cheap and the trendy decoration makes you feel like you are in Italy. They have kids chairs and free water taps.
• Ma première cantine, I have heard good stories about this one. We still need to check it out, but I wanted it here because when you are in need of a tip you need it right now! There are kids menus and high chairs, plus even… coloring pages.
• La Rotonde is a huge restaurant with a terrace on the main spot of Aix-en-Provence, just in front of the famous Rotonde fountain. It’s a good place to land when with kids, especially as they have a baby changing table inside.

Other activities with kids

Though you truly can’t find a playground on every corner, these activities might be fun for you to do with your family.

• Hotel de Caumont: a beautiful mansion nearby the Cours Mirabeau, where you can admire the magnificent old interior and the kids can have a look at the ‘chambre de Pauline’. The building itself is already impressive, besides that it has changing expositions of which the museum always makes a little kids book (in French though!). The changing exhibitions may contain some paintings that might attract kids. Otherwise you can always bribe them with visiting the astonishing Café Caumont to eat a piece of patisserie.
• Musée du Vieil Aix: this is a little museum, which also houses in a beautiful building (very close to the most famous Madeleines de Christophe by the way!).
• Comedie d’Aix: if your kid understands French, I can advise you to check out the program of this cute theatre. Especially during holidays they offer a fun show for the little ones.
• Indian Forest Aix-en-Provence: well, this is a bit of cheating because this cool climbing forest is actually just outside the city centre. But still, so cool to do when you are visiting Aix and your kid needs to move. Read more about it on my blog about this spot.
• Keep an eye on my events page, because I try to keep up with kid-friendly events that are organized in town.