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Paris for FamiliesA Day In and Around the Louvre Spending the day with your children in and around the Louvre can be a stress-free highlight of your trip if you approach it with a plan! Start your day hunting for hidden treasure at the Louvre. Our “Paris Muse Clues” makes the world's greatest museum fun and accessible for kids, and relaxing for parents. Discover magical Mesopotamian heroes, the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa. Parents and children learn from the same works of art, but the younger set gets additional motivation through our educational and interactive treasure hunt. If you opt to visit the Louvre on your own, we recommend carefully planning time you spend at the museum. From home, explore the Louvre website's interface for children. Join the animated character Vivant-Denon and choose a few pieces you want to see with your family. When you arrive at the Louvre, pick up a free map at the Information desk and make an adventure of finding your pre-selected artworks. Avoid wandering for hours trying to “see it all” at all costs. After your museum adventure, take a break in the Tuileries gardens, which begin just in front of the Louvre's pyramid. For lunch, you can buy sandwiches and picnic in this huge park that stretches from the Louvre to the Place de la Concorde. If the weather isn’t great, try the Café Réale (found at the northwestern end of the Tuileries gardens) for Italian food. They offer an inexpensive kids menu with entertaining desserts. The Café du Saut du Loup is a more upscale option where you can eat outside in the gardens during the summer months (In the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, at the top of the Tuileries, just behind the Arc du Carrousel).  After lunch, kids can let off steam in the trampoline park (at the northwestern end of the park, just behind the Café Réale). In the summer months, there is also a mini-carnival in the Tuileries gardens with all kinds of rides and games, including a small ferris wheel that offers terrific views of Paris. Other activities include: pony rides, toy sailboat rentals (to play with in the fountains), a jungle gym and slide in the kids' playground. If anyone gets hungry, try out a French snack. Crêpes and waffles with whipped cream are available in the park's cafés and snack trucks. If you’re looking for a more gourmet treat, try Angelina’s famous hot chocolate. It’s so thick your spoon will stand up in it all by itself! (Angelina’s is just north of the Tuileries park, on the north side, in the street that runs parallel. 226, rue de Rivoli. It’s a popular place, so be prepared for a bit of a wait.) When you’ve had enough of the park, walk back through Tuileries, through the Louvre’s main courtyard, past the main glass pyramid, through the beautiful Cour Carré and out into the rue l’Amiral de Coligny. (It’s the first street you’ll run into as you come out of the back of the Louvre). Before you cross the street and leave the Louvre, take a second and look at the back end of the palace. King Louis the XIV wanted this massive facade to be the main entrance 300 years ago. Look for his face in the top of the huge, triangular tympanum. Next, cross the river via the Pont Neuf bridge. In the middle of the bridge on the west side, you’ll see an equestrian statue of King Henry the fourth. Take the staircase behind Henry down to the lovely Square du Vert Galant park, found at the very trip of the Ile de la Cité island. From there, hop on a river cruise with Les Vedettes du Pont Neuf. The one hour cruises take you up and down the Seine river past all the beloved monuments of Paris (the Eiffel tower, Notre Dame, the Musée d’Orsay, the Louvre, the Pont Alexandre III bridge). It is a great way to get off your feet and take it easy for a bit while continuing to sightsee. Although a bit touristy, these cruises really are a wonderful way to see Paris that kids enjoy too. For dinner: Directly across the street from the sculpture of King Henry on his horse, is the lovely Place Dauphine Square. A little oasis in the middle of busy Paris, it is a lovely place to have a quiet dinner. Try the outdoor terrace at Le Caveau du Palais, one of many little restaurants on the square. Practical Info: Musée du Louvre River cruises with Les Vedettes du Pont Neuf last one hour and cost 12 euros for adults and 6 euros for kids 4-12. Reduced price tickets available if you reserve online. Cruises depart every hour, on the hour from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. between March 15 and October 31. Hours vary in the low season. We recommend taking the cruises at dusk when the natural light is beautiful, or in the evening when the monuments are beautifully lit with spotlights. Visit their website for details. For more about this area of Paris, consider reserving our "Historic Heart of Paris" walking tour.
The Trocadéro neighborhood—with ubiquitous Eiffel tower views and several family-friendly attractions—is one of the best places in town to spend the day with kids. It is located in the western part of Paris just across the river from the Eiffel Tower. When you arrive at the place du Trocadéro (if traveling by metro, take line 6 or 9 to the Trocadéro stop) take a minute to marvel at the fantastic view of the Eiffel tower. The plaza between the two big Art Deco buildings is always buzzing with activity; people selling souvenirs, roller blading and skateboarding. It’s a great place for a family photo, too. When you’re ready to head indoors, these 3 family-friendly sites are within easy walking distance:  The Cité de l’Architecture is a treasure trove of France’s architectural wonders from the middle ages to present day. The permanent collection consists of 850 copies of abbeys, cathedrals, private mansions, railway stations, skyscrapers and modern apartment buildings (many of them life size!). It’s a visual feast for the whole family. Kids are intrigued by the grand scale and minute detail of the copies. And the museum itself is a pleasant place to be–-light-filled and airy with floor to ceiling windows. You’ll find “Activity stations” around the museum where kids can draw and manipulate architectural models. There is an audio/video guide for Mom and Dad in English, too. The Musée de la Marine is one of the oldest maritime museums in the world. Highlights of the collection include the “Ocean” a 19th-century sailing vessel equipped with 120 canons; a gilded barge built for Napoleon and dozens of model boats dating from the 18th century. Kids can also observe the in-house restoration team at work. The Ciné Aqua Aquarium is a recently renovated aquarium featuring 500 species of fish, invertebrates, sharks and coral. For little ones, there is a touch pool where kids can feed and touch cod. The cinema features movies about acquatic life as well as kid favorites like Spiderman (in French). For Lunch: The Cité de l’Architecture’s Café Carlu is a good casual option for lunch. In addition to great views of the Eiffel tower, virtual tours of the museum's collections are available on the café's touch screens. 15-20 euro per person. Café de l’Homme in the Palais de Chaillot (the same building as the Musée de la Marine) is a more upscale lunch option featuring modern French classics with a twist like Thai style asparagus soup with crab and seared organic salmon. While sitting on their outside terrace, you feel like you could almost touch the Eiffel tower. 40-50 euro per person. Carette’s (4 Place du Trocadéro) A Paris institution, famous for its pastries and hot chocolate. A wonderful place for an afternoon snack. Serves lunch and dinner as well. Open until 11 p.m. 10-40 euros per person. After lunch: Try one of the museums you didn’t visit in the morning or walk down the hill towards the Eiffel tower. On the way, play in the Jardins du Trocadéro park and ride on an old fashioned carrousel. If you’d like to climb the Eiffel Tower for your afternoon activity, don’t forget to plan ahead and book your tickets online. Practical Info: La Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine Le Musée de la Marine CinéAqua A Day with the Dinosaurs Creepy crawlies! Giggling monkeys! Old dinosaur bones! Discover these and more at the Jardins des Plantes park, a kid-friendly place where parents can still feel like they are in Paris. The Jardins des Plantes was founded in the 17th century by King Louis XIII for scientists to cultivate medicinal plants. Naturalists once brought their specimens, collected from around the world, back here for study. It’s been dedicated to scientific research for over 300 years; there are laboratories on site still in use. There are several attractions here—all part of the National Museum of Natural History—but we recommend beginning your day at the world’s oldest zoo, the Ménagerie. Founded in the 18th century (when many an exotic animal was made homeless after their owners were guillotined during the French Revolution), the zoo is now home to kangaroos, camels, llamas, panthers, flamingos, orangutans, monkeys, anacondas, geckos, crocodiles and giant tortoises. For lunch: Either bring picnic supplies or purchase food from little kiosks around the beautifully-landscaped park. There are several picnic tables inside the zoo, some with “animal views.” If you’re finished at the zoo, or need a a break from the outdoors, the nearby rue Mouffetard is a charming, if slightly touristy, market street with cafés, bakeries, specialty cheese shops, and fresh produce stands (great eye candy for kids!) At the bottom of rue Mouffetard (no. 138) try the Pain Quotidien restaurant with outdoor dining, featuring reasonably priced organic food and snacks. Teens might enjoy shopping for souvenirs, trinkets and inexpensive clothing. After lunch: Return to the Jardin des Plantes to experience the wonderful world of plants and flowers. Stroll through free exhibits in several large Greenhouses (Les Grandes Serres) organized by theme (tropical forests, deserts, for example) recently renovated to reopen in June 2010. There are also playgrounds with jungle gyms, for kids to be kids. Another afternoon option is the Grand Gallery of Evolution (Grande Galerie de l’Evolution). The Gallery demonstrates the basic principles of evolution and celebrates the planet’s incredible biodiversity, with an engaging visual spectacle. Interactive activities (tapping on buttons to hear different animal noises, for example) don’t require knowledge of French. A new childrens’ gallery opens in June 2010. For more old-fashioned fun, try the Gallery of Anatomy and Paleontology (Galerie d’Anatomie comparée et de Paleontologie) at the other end of the park. This 19th-century building is a dusty, old treasure trove of the weird and wonderful. The ground floor features spooky skeletons of turtles, crocodiles, giraffes, pythons. There’s even an Indian rhinoceros, brought here from Versailles in 1770. Families with squeamish little ones should skip the creepy jars of deformed organs, embryos and other medical anomalies in display cases along the sides of the galleries (but they might just startle your underwhelmed-by-everything teen!) Upstairs, there are fossils, bones and dinosaurs models that cover over 600 million years of life on earth. If you leave the park via the Quai Saint Bernard (Seine river side of the park) walk up the riverbanks a bit, to end your day with a Batobus boat ride back to the center of town.
To get to the Jardin des Plantes, take métro line #7 to the Jussieu or Censier Daubenton stops. Or take the Batobus boat up the river to the “Jardins des Plantes” stop. For the closest stop to your hotel, visit the Batobus website The Jardin des Plantes Zoo (Ménagerie) Grand Gallery of Evolution (Grande Galerie de l’Evolution) Gallery of Comparative Anatomy and Paleontology (Galeries de Paléontologie et d’Anatomie comparée) A pass (Pass 2 jours) 20 euros, good for all the attractions at the Jardins des Plantes is available for purchase at each attraction from Wednesday to Sunday Lunch: To get to the rue Mouffetard from the Jardin des Plantes, take the rue Cuvier exit out of the Ménagerie, cross rue Linné, then take rue Lacépède to the place Contrescarpe. Turn left into the rue Mouffetard. A 5-minute walk from the Ménagerie. Subscribe to the free "Quoi de Neuf?" e-mail newsletter to receive the latest Paris art news. |
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