Paris Family Holidays & Breaks

Best Paris Sights with Kids

• Get an overview of the city from the Eiffel Tower. You can walk up to the first and second levels by stairs (all lung-busting 1,710 of them), or there’s a lift to the second floor then a second lift to the viewing platform 276m up.

• Tour the Louvre, vast and awe-inspiring, from iconic artworks such as the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo to the modern glass pyramid in the courtyard outside. From the Louvre, you walk straight into the Jardin des Tuileries with its sculptures, carousel and donkey rides.

•  From 2030, discover the revamped Centre Pompidou, the ‘inside-out’ architecture of which makes it as much a tourist attraction as the national collection of modern art inside. 

• Delight in the Musée National d'Histoire Naturelle with its Grande Galerie de l'Évolution with thousands of stuffed animal specimens, the spooky Galeries de Paléontologie et d'Anatomie Comparée, full of skeletons, preserved organs, shells and fossils, and the gigantic crystals in the Galerie de Minéralogie et de Géologie. They’re all in the Jardin des Plantes botanical garden, where you’ll also find the charming Ménage du Dodo, a quirky carousel with extinct or endangered species to ride, plus a maze.  

• In northern Paris, enjoy the 35-acre Parc de la Villette, the city’s largest green expanse, where La Villette abattoirs have been transformed into a remarkable leisure and cultural space with contemporary circus, cabaret, street art, cinema, puppetry and more, plus a dozen themed gardens along a promenade bordered by sound installations and play areas. On-site you’ll also find the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie (a museum of science and tech) and the Cité de la Musique concert space and museum of musical instruments.

• Take a boat trip down the Seine – a classic way to see many of the sights, with lunch and dinner cruises available.

Paris Green Spaces

• Head for the Jardin du Luxembourg on the Left Bank, with 19th-century statues around its boating pond, fountains, locals playing alfresco boules, chess and bridge, an aviary and a puppet theatre.

• Make for the wide open spaces of the Bois de Boulogne in the east. Its Jardin d’Acclimatation is a fantastic amusement park reached by a little motorised train from Porte Maillot, including a ‘magic river’ with a water chute, trampolines, a hall of mirrors and a paddling pool, a puppet theatre, a farm, and the Musée en Herbe or ‘Growing Museum’, with changing, hands-on art and science exhibitions and workshops.

• Discover a good walk (and picnic spot) in the form of the Promenade Plantée, a disused railway line now planted with flowers, running from behind the Bastille Opéra 4.5km to the Bois de Vincennes.

Paris Theme Parks

• Journey out to the eastern suburbs, 32km from the centre, or take the Eurostar from London to Lille  then change for Marne-la-Vallée - Chessy, to spend a day or two at iconic Disneyland Paris. It’s actually two parks – Disneyland Park, with Sleeping Beauty's Castle and most of the well-known rides, and Walt Disney Studios Park, based around cinema-studio 'lots', with movie-themed shows and attractions as well as a handful of rides. Ask us about booking you a Disneyland Paris break at one of its own hotels (see Best Places to Stay tab).

• Venture slightly outside Paris to Parc Astérix 30km to the north, not far from Charles de Gaulle airport. Based on the classic Uderzo and Goscinny comic books about a tribe of ancient Gauls resisting Roman occupation, it includes Europe’s largest wooden rollercoaster, plus some interesting rides modelled on ancient Greek and Roman themes. As with Disneyland, you can choose to stay on-site in one of the theme park’s own hotels.

• South of the city, in Fresnes, take younger kids to the giant indoor Playmobil Funpark, close Orly airport.