Paris with a Pre-schooler

My sister, her husband and their 18 month old son just got back from Paris. (Fair enough he’s not quite a pre-schooler yet!) I haven’t been to Paris in a few years. So, I took the opportunity to sit down with her and extract as much information about their trip as I could!

What did you find helpful when travelling with a very small child in Paris? When we arrived in Orly, we started to queue for a taxi, it looked like we could be there quite a while but within moments we were ushered to a priority queue for people with strollers and wheelchair users. When we were departing Orly there was a “Salon Du Bebe”, which had a small play area, cots, bottle warmer, sinks, bins, changing table and high chair. This was so helpful while we were waiting to board our flight. While we were in Paris there were loads of playgrounds and open green spaces for our toddler to run around. As well as that French people love children! We felt really welcome and lots of people stopped to chat to our baby! It was fun.

How did you find getting around? We mostly got the train / underground system which was pretty straightforward to use, we even took the train back to the airport at the end of our trip.

What were some of your favourite thing do to in Paris with a toddler? We took the funicular to Sacre Couer, when we got to the top of the hill there was a fun atelier style art studio, crepes and hot wine. Then we got the Little Train of Montmartre down. Little people love little trains! We also went to the Jardin du Plants where there was a menagerie with goats, deer and flamingos, a reptile zoo with blue frogs, snakes and tarantulas as well as some dinosaur exhibits, a merry go round and hot chocolate, lots of fun for everyone!

What did you visit in Paris that you hadn’t thought of before? One of the days it was raining we ran into the shopping centre in the Louvre basement, we had never intended on going in there but it was fantastic! There were loads of shops we had never visited before. My husband loved the Shakespeare and Co bookshop and a restaurant called Le Relais De L’Entrecote. It was a real Parisian bistro. I liked seeing the restaurant from “Emily in Paris” and I loved the Marie Curie museum which was completely free of charge and you were able to see laboratory and garden.

What would you say to someone planning their first visit to Paris with a young child? There are loads of flights from Dublin and a few from Cork, try to get good times. It’s only a short flight so it’s the perfect tester trip if you’re not sure how the flight is going to go. Overall it was a great trip and we all enjoyed it. Definitely worth a visit.

Get in touch today, if you would like me to start planning your next trip to Paris.