Paris with young children? Where to stay?

morlandbanks

Can anyone help. Little 'un (aged 5, bless him) came home from school last week positively bursting to tell me about his friends trip to Paris.

Little 'un: 'Mum, they saw the highfall tower!! Can we go and see that tomorrow?!'
Me: Ummmm, we'll see. Probably not TOMORROW. Maybe after Christmas.

The thing is, I've never been to Paris either. I'd quite like to, but I just don't know where to start. I could do with a really good website that says 'Stay at this hotel because it's close to everything. Visit this place and that place with the children. Travel this way, eat here...You get the picture! I know it sound really boring, just taking someone elses advice, but I haven't the energy for the whole 'research' bit. The trip will be exhausting enough! Also, I don't speak any french and I've just started learning Spanish, so I don't want to get confused!! Will I manage on Paris with a phrasebook? Will the French hate me for not bothering to learn??!! Actually, I don't really care if they do, as long as the trip isn't affected!!
If YOU'VE been there with children (ours are 3 and 5) what's your best bit of advice?

I think we'll go on the Eurostar, but that's as far as I've thought. Obviously, I'll be watching the pennies too...Don't want to have to live off dry bread for the rest of the year to fund a weekend away!!

Thanks for reading and any advice will be greatly appreciated.

morlandbanks

Has no one been to Paris??!!

Dumyat

our children were older when we took them so we went for an apartment hotel booked on lastminute.com.
I think there have been a number of threads on this subject in this forum. have you tried the search button?

jaymac_2

We got a great deal with holiday inn a couple of years ago - two rooms two nights £60 total. Register on their web site and they'll send you details of special offers. We were out at Bussy but the rooms were great compared to the usual closet size of paris rooms...the children had two double beds in theirs. And the carte orange was valid for travel in and out of paris,to the airport and to disney. Get a cheap guide book to Paris and look at the threads on Trip advisor.com

teedy23

jaymac wrote:

We got a great deal with holiday inn a couple of years ago - two rooms two nights £60 total. Register on their web site and they'll send you details of special offers. We were out at Bussy but the rooms were great compared to the usual closet size of paris rooms...the children had two double beds in theirs. And the carte orange was valid for travel in and out of paris,to the airport and to disney. Get a cheap guide book to Paris and look at the threads on Trip advisor.com

thanks for this. Currently looking for a holiday for a friend who wants to take his 2 boys to Dysneyland Paris, but he doesnt want to stay there. Not going till April, should i wait till nearer the time? Dont think he wants to stay too far away from center of Paris either as he wants the boys to soak up some culture :rotfl:

jonesMUFCforever

Amsterdam!!

VixxAnn

We went with our kids when our kids were 3, 9 & 11
Stayed in an apartment hotel purely as most rooms don't accomodate family of five but it worked out really well as we had kitchen and saved a bit on not having to eat EVERY meal out. Baguettes, cheese ham etc for a cheap lunch! It was a Citadines apartment - they have a few in Paris but we stayed near Louvre - VERY central.

Its easy to get around Paris by bus/underground or foot (a lot of central parts very close together and lovely parks to let kids run round in) We got tickets for the open air tour bus (can't remember which one - sorry) but it had several different routes and you could hop on /off and get ticket for more than one day - worked out really good price we thought.

Eiffel tower very expensive but we HAD to do it. Walking up is cheaper than lift but with two little uns I don't think you'll be doing the stairs! Our 3yr old loved it! Went right to top and looked out through fence whilst I leaned against wall!
hope this helps a little - let me know if you've any other particular questions

morlandbanks

Thanks Vixxann. Sounds like you had a nice time. Your accommodation sounds exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for. Can I ask how you travelled to Paris? We'll probably go by Eurostar, but don't know anyone that's used it. Can't do boats because I'll be ill! Rather not fly because it seems like you spend a whole day just waiting to board, but Stansted is right on our doorstep, so haven't ruled it out yet.

VixxAnn

morlandbanks wrote:

Your accommodation sounds exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for. Can I ask how you travelled to Paris?

this is the one we stayed at - we had a one bed apartment with twin room and sofa bed and single in living room. had small balcony at front overlooking square. not cheap by any means but we thoroughly enjoyed it and did probably save some money by having own kitchen. Plus you can put kids to bed at night and not have to confine yourself to bed at same time! (or reading in the bathroom which I've done many times before in travel lodges etc!)
http://www.citadines.com/en/france/paris/louvre.html

We live "up north" so Eurostar wasn't really an option we thought of. We got EasyJet flights from Liverpool for pretty good price and its a nice short flight. Direct buses and trains from airport into paris - pretty easy to do. And if you just make a basic attempt at french they generally answer you in english ! nearly everyone speaks english but I think they appreciate you having a go at french.:p

PeteMc

I live here so sorry can't give you much help on accomodation.

Eurostar is great, it's a shame it arrives at a horrible station but then again most mainline railway stations are. Once you get into the tourist arrondisements you'll have no problem getting around on the superb transport system.

As for the language, you'll be OK in tourist attractions. Elsewhere a phrasebook will be very useful. IMO, the level of English speaking is comparable to the level of French speaking in London (maybe a bit better). I don't agree that nearly everyone speaks English but then again I speak reasonable French, so maybe my view isn't 100% accurate in touristic type areas (which I frequent less often).

LondonDiva

Have a look at the Etap hotel or the Formule 1 at Porte d'Orleans. It's a sort of travelodge & v reasonable. It's on line 13 & you can get bus 96 which goes along Paris horizontally or bus 14 which goes along the middle to Chatelet.

Would also suggest that you take postcards with you to post in the Eiffel tower post office as there's a special Eiffel Tower postmark.

From the Eiffel Tower, you can also take a walk towards one of the scale models of the statue of liberty & go to the Parc Andre Citroen for the kids to walk on grass and expole a fab park.