Paris with children?

[User]

 

[dellzeqq]

yes. And it wasn't great.

Paris is, Eiffel Tower aside, not that amusing. I'd suggest

- Barcelona. Buildings that make you think of Disney cartoons (Uncle Walt was a Gaudi fan), Parc Guell, and a beach. And children are popular there.
- Pisa was a great success (leaning tower, child-friendly) but,
- for top DAD POINTS, there is only Venice. Sorry. But take a kid to Venice and you've got a friend for life. Go by train (The Man In Seat 61 is your friend) and you get DOUBLE DAD POINTS

 

[frank9755]

Amsterdam. Beautiful old buildings and canals, and bikes everywhere.

Go by the overnight ferry - comfortable cabins, decent food and no queues. Connects seamlessly with the rail system (at both ends). The easiest way to leave the country.

If you've been there already, the smaller Dutch cities like Leiden, Haarlem, Gouda and Delft are also very pretty. As of course are the Flemish cities (Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp), but those are easier to reach by Eurostar!

Don't go to Brussels or Rotterdam!

 

[thomas]

we had a school trip there...which was a bit rubbish. There was dog poo everywhere - my main memory

 

[meenaghman]

What age kids..my teens went with wife to graveyard..Oscar wilde fans..there are lots of other famous people buried there..and the onto galleries and market area with lots of stalls..name eludes me now.I brought 4yr old to eifel tower..boat trip on seine. Notre dame.. although he was more interested in the double Decker trains on the RER. I think the girls really enjoyed Rome when they were about 7 and 9..pizza.pasta gellati. With plenty of history thrown in. We were there for a wedding so could split out the kids with various groups interested in forum..colloseum zoo..etc.

 

[TVC]

When were you thinking of going? If it's before Easter it's as grey and cold as Birmingham. After Easter you queue for three hours to get in anywhere.

Having been to both places I would also suggest that Barcelona is a better bet, and I would say slightly more affordable with the added bonus of a sandy beach.

 

[Noodley]

[QUOTE 1275450"]
They're 5 and 8

[/quote]

So, Disneyland Paris.

Rather than attempting to find early hidden 5 and 8 year old cultural leanings...plenty of time for that sort of stuff!

The bloke with the ears is your friend and theirs.

Stay at one of the many small towns/villages on the rail newtork route from Paris...

 

[Globalti]

Friends of ours lost their small son at the Eiffel Tower. Then the staff admitted that the area was notorious for child-snatching. They were extremely distressed for over 30 minutes until they spotted their son sitting on a traffic island 100 yards away.

We took Gti junior to Disneyworld Paris, it was OK, just.

 

[meenaghman]

Look west. Dublin. Plenty of interactive museums for kids..chance of .a game at either coke park or viva..waxworks..zoo..all in same language..well nearly as some of the museums eg Dublinia chart the language from Irish to norse to French to English..failing all that there's normally something on at theatres or cinema. Hotel beds are abundant now so good deals to be had even during busy weekends..although 17 march ..paddys day will still be dear.

 

[dellzeqq]

Mr. Paul. There is one European city that has great walks, river trips, great (free) museums, and galleries, cheap opera, the best ride in the world, fantastic architecture, great parks, a marvellous daily state ceremony, friendly policemen, good cheap food, and zillions of cyclists. Better yet the locals speak English, albeit a rather odd kind of English. Need I say more?

 

[Bromptonaut]

We were over there just before Xmas for the daughter's 18th. Did the usual stuff; Louvre, Invalides, Champs Elysee, Arc de Triomphe, Fauborg St honore/Haussman etc. The other pleasures are the little things found walking and looking; a bit of the Gare D'Est in substantially the same style as the Wellington concourse at Leeds City, bits of the RER and metro, shops on the Boulevard Haussman. Chancing on organ practive at Notre Dame and in the church at Invalides (& the De Gaulle exhibition in the same place).

On a previous visit SWMBO & I became aware of a voice from our childhood, a Cousteau exhibition running somewhere off the Champs Elysee.

Other than Eurodisney and perhaps the Eifel Tower however I think pre-teens will struggle.

 

[Telemark]

How about heading north?
Edinburgh & surroundings has lots of places to go and things to do, including much for children of all ages!

http://www.kidsedinburgh.com/ has lots of suggestions for all seasons.

T

 

[marzjennings]

+1 for Barcelona. It may cost a bit more to get there, but I found hotels and restaurants to be cheaper than Paris.

I was going to say Rome, and while there's some great stuff to see, getting around that town with young kids could be tough.

I wouldn't recommended Amsterdam for young kids, Anne Frank and Van Gogh is a bit much for little uns. Maybe better for early teens.

 

[Arch]

Mr. Paul. There is one European city that has great walks, river trips, great (free) museums, and galleries, cheap opera, the best ride in the world, fantastic architecture, great parks, a marvellous daily state ceremony, friendly policemen, good cheap food, and zillions of cyclists. Better yet the locals speak English, albeit a rather odd kind of English. Need I say more?

Copenhagen! Oh, except the cheap food. Good, but not always cheap...

I've not been to many European cities, and never with children, but I loved Copenhagen. Very relaxed* sort of place, all the spirit of a capital, but not so huge as to be intimidating. Clean, healthy looking inhabitants, more cyclists that you can count, Tivoli Gardens if you're after a fun fair in the middle of town, a tall tower with a helter skelter style ramp you can walk up for great city views, boat trips on the canals, the Little Mermaid (if she hasn't had her head taken off again), a seafront with shipping and a changing of the guard just like London (even down to the soldiers' uniforms). Roskilde is a short train ride away, and has a Viking ship museum (with reconstructed ships, and excavated wrecks).

* we were there for 5 days, and in all that time I heard about 2 car horns, and we saw one incident of drunkeness on the street. Two Police turned up, and the drunk ambled off. Also, anyone remotely overweight generally turned out to be British or American, all the natives were tall and beatiful, with happy children. All ferried about in Christiania trikes, of course.

 

[yello]

Cripes Arch, you make me want to go there! You don't work for the tourist board do you!