A Trip to Paris with Kids – From a Kid’s Perspective

It’s been four years since my family’s big summer trip to France, when my children were ages nine and 11. Recently, I sat down with the kids to reminisce about visiting Paris and was fascinated to hear their lasting impressions of the trip. Talking about our experiences, I realized we learned some valuable lessons about traveling to Paris and traveling in general that have stayed with us ever since.

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Musée D’Orsay

Musée D’Orsay, a museum housing impressionist art in a former railway station, was a place I thought my kids would like because the artwork there is so easy to appreciate. You don’t have to know a lot about art to enjoy the idyllic landscapes of Monet and Cézanne and the delicate ballerinas of Degas. But when we went to Musée D’Orsay, it was our first day in France and the kids were jet-lagged and less than enthusiastic about our visit.

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What the Kids Remember

When I asked my younger son about his memories of the Musée D’Orsay, he said, “It was pretty cool, but I didn’t like it because I was grumpy. I remember the big courtyard with the statues and the big leather couch we laid on.”

My older son told me, “It was neat because it was in a train station, but I was grumpy and tired. I would tell people that on your first day you should just walk around the city and go to some gardens. Don’t go to museums and places like that if you can help it.”

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The Lessons We Learned

We learned two lessons from our Musée D’Orsay experience with kids. First, don’t push yourselves on the first day of your European vacation thinking if you stay up and go to bed early, you’ll be better off the next day. We recommend going straight to bed for a nap when you arrive, if your lodging allows.

Second, don’t plan much for your first day, if possible. We had limited time in Paris because we were going to Provence later in the week, and Musée D’Orsay is closed on Mondays, one of the few days we were in Paris. But even if we’d had to miss the museum entirely, I have no doubt that everyone would have been happier with a more laid-back itinerary.

Moral of the story: When one kid’s strongest memory of the Musée D’Orsay is about laying on a couch, you know the poor child should have been sleeping instead.

Seine River Sightseeing Cruise

Our trip to Paris with kids was not my first trip to Paris. My husband and I had visited 15 years before on our honeymoon. As honeymooners, we loved taking a Seine River sightseeing cruise. We snuggled together holding hands as the boat glided under bridges covered in gold-leafed statues and had a romantic riverside view of iconic spots like the Louvre, Notre-Dame Cathedral and the Eiffel Tower.

Even though we’d already done a Seine River cruise, I thought the kids would have fun being on a boat. I also thought it would be a good way to see the sights without wearing out our feet. As it turns out, at least one of the kids wasn’t into it. From his perspective, the boat was slow and he was looking at old buildings. The only thing he really got excited about was seeing the Eiffel Tower from the river.

What the Kids Remember

My younger child said, “The river cruise was okay. Except for seeing the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower was cool.”

According to my older child, “I liked the cruise. I took selfies, and the view was nice because the boat went by the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. It was also relaxing. We were walking a lot in Paris, and the time we spent on the boat was time we weren’t walking.”

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The Lesson We Learned

The lesson we learned was that on vacation, you win some and you lose some. As hard as you try to find something you think will appeal to all your children, sometimes you’ll be wrong. At least one kid was picking up what I was throwing down.

Eiffel Tower

For months before our trip to France, my youngest son talked about seeing the Eiffel Tower. It was the one thing he knew about Paris. So, it was like a record needle scratching to a halt when I discovered a few weeks before the trip that the Eiffel Tower sold tickets online and that the online tickets were sold out for our entire stay.

When I found out, I was heartsick I wouldn’t be able to fulfill my son’s one sightseeing request. Thankfully, I learned we could still tour the Eiffel Tower by buying walk-up tickets at the ticket window. Even though it was the busy summer season, we were able to arrive early and get our spots after waiting in line for about an hour and a half.

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While it worked out for us in the end, it would have been better without the wait, especially with the kids in tow. Today, the Eiffel Tower website is even more sophisticated and includes not only advanced ticket sales, but also expected wait times for walk-up tickets in real time.

What the Kids Remember

My younger son was glad we made it to the Eiffel Tower, though he said he was a little nervous about riding the elevator and he actually preferred seeing it from the ground. He recalled, “Seeing the Eiffel Tower from the outside was more memorable to me than going to the top. When you’re outside of the tower, it’s about the tower. But once you’re in the tower, it’s about the view.”

My older son, who’s usually the one who doesn’t like heights, remembers going out on the high platform, enjoying the experience and appreciating the view.

The Lessons We Learned

A couple of lessons came out of our Eiffel Tower experience. First, we learned to always do our research well before a trip. You can see the fruits of that lesson again and again in my blog posts (See Haleakala Sunrise Parking Reservation, Muir Woods Parking Reservation, USS Arizona Tour Tickets, and Alcatraz Tour Tickets).

Second, based on my younger son’s experience, we learned that even if you can’t get tickets to your wish-list destination, you might be just as happy with the alternative.

The Louvre

Seeing the Louvre and the Mona Lisa was at the top of my older son’s Paris to-do list. The day we went to the Louvre, we took the Metro to the Palais Royale-Musee du Louvre stop, which brought us to a bottom entrance of the museum, past the shops of Le Carrousel.

Before getting off the Metro, we had no idea this entrance even existed. The line there was short, with only about a 10- to 20-minute wait to get into the museum, even though it was the middle of June. We were lucky to stumble across it because lines at the Louvre’s main entrance, Le Pyramide, can be up to three hours long. As of summer 2019, you can still access the Louvre at Le Carrousel, and there are several other Louvre entrances that can also save you time.

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What the Kids Remember

My younger son recalled, “There were so many people at the Louvre. It was so crowded in the room with the Mona Lisa. But the building was huge. It had so much stuff in it. I can’t even remember all the art we saw.”

My older son said, “I liked going to the Louvre because I had a chance to see famous art I’d always heard about, and I saw some styles of art I’d never seen. The Louvre is such a famous place that I’m glad I can say I’ve been there.”

The Lesson We Learned

The lesson we learned was that travel always has its share of surprises, and some of those surprises are good ones. Whether you luck into a time-saving travel hack, discover an amazing sight off-the-beaten path, or run into an old friend on a street halfway around the world, your trip isn’t a trip until the unexpected happens.

Arc de Triomphe

The Arc de Triomphe was conveniently located just four hundred yards and a five-minute walk from our hotel, the Renaissance Paris Arc de Triomphe. The monument had essentially no wait, and we climbed the stairs to the terrace at our own pace and took in the view of the Eiffel Tower and Sacré-Cœur Basilica in the distance.

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What the Kids Remember

My older son said, “The Arc de Triomphe looked so cool from below, when we were under the arch, and it was so close to our hotel!”

And from my younger son: “The Arc de Triomphe had a lot of stairs, but wasn’t it right next to our hotel?”

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The Lesson We Learned

You can never underestimate the importance of convenience when you’re in Paris, or anywhere, with kids.

The Latin Quarter

If someone tells you can’t get a bad meal in Paris, they’re either a liar or they’ve never spent any time in the touristy areas of the city. In my experience, mediocre food abounds at the restaurants near Notre-Dame Cathedral and along the alleyways of Paris’s Latin Quarter.

But if you’re in Paris with kids, the quality of your meal may not really matter. Going to the Latin Quarter and picking out Eiffel Tower trinkets from the vendor’s stalls, then ending the evening with a relatively inexpensive four-course meal at one of those restaurants was a particular highlight for both my children.

In fact, when my younger son read the paragraph above with my unflattering assessment of the meal, he gasped, “But what about the escargot?” The Latin Quarter restaurant was such a happy memory for him that he was surprised to find out I hadn’t enjoyed the food quite as much as he had. Both kids loved getting to choose their courses, and the fact that dessert was already included was like heaven to them.

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What the Kids Remember

My younger son told me, “I remember the escargot. I recommend that people try the escargot even though it seems gross.”

My older son noted, “I liked eating all the courses. It was a unique experience, and there were real French people speaking French in that restaurant.”

The Lesson We Learned

The lesson we learned is that you should sometimes hit the tourist traps, especially when you’re in Paris with kids, because it just might be the most memorable part of your child’s whole trip.

The Takeaway: What the Kids Thought of Paris

Ultimately, my older son thought going to Paris was a “pretty good trip.” The positives were the “cool architecture,” the “nice weather,” and a “lot of famous places I was glad I got to see.” The negatives were “a lot of walking” and “too many people smoking.”

My younger son’s opinion was that the trip left him “worn out,” but he’s glad to have been to so many of the Paris sights that he’s since learned about in school.