In the city of Paris
Baths
Taking a river boat is an ideal way to see the sights of Paris without wearing out little legs and if it’s your (or their) first trip it will allow you to get a real sense of the layout of the city and its main monuments.
The Batobus boats offer a flexible formula – the whole circuit of the Seine takes about two hours but with hop-on hop-off tickets you can break up the journey with stops at the Eiffel Tower, Musée d’Orsay and Jardin des Plantes–the lovely botanical garden that is also home to attractions including the natural history museum and a small zoo. You can find ticketing information for the Batobus HERE.
A Batobus disembarks from the dock in Paris (Photo by JACQUES DEMARTHON / AFP)
Jardin du Luxembourg
If it’s sunny you could easily spend a full day in the Jardin du Luxembourgthe chic Left Bank park that also houses the Senate building. Sailing the little wooden boats (that you can hire from a cabin just nearby) across the pond is just as much fun for the grown-ups as the kids.
For a small fee, you can access the Ludo Jardin, a safely enclosed playground with lots of fun equipment including a huge slide/climbing frame, zip wire and (all-too-rare-in-Paris) swings. There’s also an old-fashioned merry-go-round and a puppet theatre and plenty of food options within the park plus summer concerts which take place in the little bandstand.
Just make sure you obey the prohibited lawn (no walking on the grass) signs and don’t move the garden chairs a centimetre in the wrong direction (the actual rules remain a mystery) in such a way as to annoy the Senate guards that patrol the park – they won’t hesitate to call out your misdemeanour with an officious whistle.
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Buttes Chaumont Park
This charmingly hilly park in the north east of Paris is a remodelled former quarry, complete with caves, a lake and a folly perched high above the capital, with truly panoramic views. In the summer, as in many of the capital’s bigger parks, children can go for a pony ride, have a go on the merry-go-round or fish for rubber ducks and win some plastic tat at the fairground-style stalls.
The Sibylle Temple on the Belvedere Island in the Buttes-Chaumont Park in Paris (Photo by JACQUES DEMARTHON / AFP)
If you want to make a day of it, the park is also home to cafés and restaurants–the laid back Rosa Happiness and the slightly more formal Lake Pavilion.
The Big Museums
In a city as famous for its museums as Paris it can be hard to know where to start even as an adult. If you have children to entertain, the prospect of a long queue and a crowded visit may not appeal but many of the city’s most famous museums make huge efforts to win over younger visitors. Paris highlights including the Louvrethe Musée d’Orsay and the Quai Branly Museum organise guided visits, workshops, story sessions and more aimed at children (look out for “young audience” on their websites) that should make sure the little ones become museum-addicts for life.
The Orangerie Museum combines accessible art – Monet’s water lilies as well as small collection of treasures by the likes of Rousseau, Picasso and Matisse – with close proximity to a large running around space (the Tuileries gardens).
Lights Workshop
The Lights Workshop is the ultimate child-friendly cultural attraction, not to mention an ideal rainy day destination.
Images are projected onto the walls and floor of this huge space in the 11th arrondissement – visitors can wander around or just find a spot to sit and watch the immersive exhibition slide by.
Themes range from the expressly kid-friendly (Tintin, Thomas Pesquet’s space mission) to the more artistic, including Klimt, Cézanne and currently Chagall – but children will enjoy a taste of the art world in a truly relaxed setting no matter what. The nearby Square Maurice Gardette has a good playground and lovely shady spaces to let off some steam afterwards.
A man looks at a projected painting by French painter Louis Valtat during a digital exhibition at the Atelier des Lumieres in Paris (Photo by Philippe LOPEZ / AFP)
Get Reading
From the classic Madeline series by Ludwig Bemelmans to the more recent A Lion In Paris, there’s no shortage of children’s literature about Paris. Why not get creative and plot out a literary route. The lovely A Walk in Paris by Salvatore Rubbino follows a little girl and her grandpa as they tour the city in one long sights-and-pâtisserie-filled day.
Like them, you could visit a market, spend some time in the Tuileries gardens (not least because there are trampolines) and end up by the Eiffel Tower after dark to watch the lights sparkle.
La Villette
There really is something for everyone at La Villettethe vast park and cultural centre in eastern Paris – the Science and Industry museum is a vast temple of scientific knowledge and interactive exhibitions and there’s a concert hall, the Philharmonie des Enfants (a fabulous interactive music exhibition), the Cité des enfants, a child-centred space for exploring science through hands-on games, an aquarium, adventure playgrounds and huge expanses of canal-side grass that you’re actually allowed to run around on.
Oh, and a real submarine to explore. From April until November 2024, if you have children aged between 6 and 11 years to entertain you should check out the Métamorphoses exhibition, which is billed as dialogue between science and imagination.
Budding Museum
The Budding Museum bills itself as the only museum aimed at 3 to 103 year olds, where visitors are encourage to touch and interact with the exhibits and get a fun treasure hunt sheet to guide them through the rooms. Themes range from street art to Manga and beyond. Its latest exhibit, En Avant La Musique!, runs until May 2023.
Aquaboulevard
If you’ve exhausted all the cultural Parisian options and your kids just want to do something unashamedly fun and splashy, you could do worse than Aquaboulevarda vast indoor and outdoor water park in the 15th arrondissement, with water slides (including one that involves climbing up inside a giant fibreglass whale – more fun than it sounds), a sandy outdoor beach and garden and a wave machines. It’s tacky and fun but frighteningly expensive (children’s tickets are around €22) – look out for special offers and opportunities to buy tickets in advance.
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Paris Beaches
In the month of August, the banks of the Seine in central Paris and the Bassin de la Villette in the 19th arrondissement are transformed into “Paris Beach” – Paris Beacheswith swimming and other sports, merry-go-rounds, deckchairs, sandpits, boules and other outdoor games, beach bars and more. It’s a fun way to spend a few sunny hours and many of the attractions are free.
A view of the Bassin de la Villette on the opening day of the 19th edition of the “Paris-Plages” (Paris Beaches) summer event in 2020 in Paris. (Photo by GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT / AFP)
Just outside the city
Paris Zoological Park, Vincennes
From some high vantage points in the city you can see the 65m tall artificial rock that towers above the Paris Zoological Park out to the east, in Vincennes. It’s well worth the trip to explore the five “biozones” represented in the huge and recently refurbished site – Madagascar, Africa, the Amazon/Guiana, Patagonia and Europe – where the priority is providing an environment close to the animals’ natural habitat.
If touring the site, home to around 180 species and more than 2,000 animals, isn’t enough, the huge expanse of the bois de Vincennes is nearby for a run around too.
Jardin d’Acclimatation/Louis Vuitton Foundation
Head west for a day out that will please adults and children alike: first stop, the Fondation Louis Vuitton, which houses an impressive permanent collection as well as carefully curated exhibitions. I thought my 7-year-old had enjoyed the recent must-see pairing of Claude Monet and Joan Mitchell but she later confessed that the escalators were her favourite part.
To be fair, the Fondation is housed in a remarkable building designed by the architect Frank Gehry – the views from the top are breathtaking. And the good news for children just tolerating the art is that just outside the doors, is the Garden of Acclimatizationlikely to be much more up their street.
This huge park is a kids’ paradise of rollercoasters, climbing frames, fountains to splash in and animals to visit. Check out the options on the website to pay in advance for the rides – paying for them on the spot adds up quickly. If your children still need to burn some energy after all this, the Bois de Boulogne is close by.
Further Afield
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Versailles
Even the most culture-weary youngster will be able to get on board with the extraordinarily over-the-top aesthetics of the famous Castle of Versailleshome of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. The good news is that entry is free for under-18s (with some date restrictions for the gardens – best to check on the website) – let them visit castles!
Fontainebleau
A slightly longer train ride from Paris will take you to Fontainebleauwhere there’s a huge forest and an equally huge castle just waiting to be explored. You’ll be far from the enormous crowds that flock to Versailles and the little town itself is a nice peaceful place for a wander and a lunch-stop.
Province
The medieval ramparts of Provincearound 1.5 hours away from Paris by train, are ideal for wannabe knights. Even better, the town organises spectacular shows that include birds of prey displays. The show took the adults’ breath away but is probably best for children aged five and above. My then-two-year-old’s verdict after half an hour or so of dramatically swooping eagles: “What are those pigeons doing?”
Medieval city walls of Provins, Seine et Marne, France, date back to 12th-13th centuries.#archaeohistories pic.twitter.com/wI84gE2NXX
— Archaeo – Histories (@archeohistories) November 14, 2021
Giverny
Why not follow up on your Paris museum visits with a complementary trip to Monet’s house (which you can visit) and stunning garden? Seeing the actual bridge and lake the great artist painted still there and the garden in full bloom, today, makes a fun way for art to come alive, and only around 1.5 hours from Paris by car.
Gally Farm
Head out of the city for a taste of country life at one of the Gally Farmsall close to the city (although you’ll probably need a car) for farm visits, Easter Egg hunts, pumpkin patches during the autumn, pick-your-own and more.
EuroDisney
You don’t have to take your kids to Disney … but they’ll love it if you do. Check out the EuroDisney website for more details and to book in advance. You can stay on site or it’s an easy train ride from central Paris, to Marne-la-Vallée/Chessy station which is only a few minutes’ walk from the theme park entrance. Make sure you book in advance.
Asterix Park
Thirty four hectares of theme park dedicated to everyone’s favourite Gaul – and only 40 minutes from Paris.
Rides at the Asterix amusement park in Plailly, outside of Paris (Photo by STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP)
The second-biggest theme park in France will be a fun day out for everyone but bear in mind smaller children will not be allowed on all of the rides. You can find ticketing information in English here.