Paris & London with really young kids

[lauren170]

Looking for feedback on this itinerary. H and I have already been, so I really tried to plan this through my kid's eyes and not hit all of the must see attractions. They will be 1.5 and 6 when we go in April.

What am I missing that would be fun for this age group? Any issues with my order? Like things that are obviously close together so should be paired on the same day? What other activities should I have in my back pocket for rain? What things must I absolutely reserve ahead of time, and what can I be flexible on so we can go by the weather?

Day 1

• 7:00 AM land from overnight flight, check into Airbnb (near Eiffel Tower)

• Sleep/rest
• Trocadero + carousel
• Eiffel Tower carousel
• Puppet Show 3:15 or 4:15pm - Les Theater des Marionettes

Day 2

• Go to top of the Eiffel Tower (buy skip the line ticket)
• Lunch picnic on Champ de Mars
• Nap/rest
• Atelier des Lumieres

Day 3

• Early morning family photos with photographer
• Sacre Coeur
• Sparkling Eiffel Tower at night

Day 4

• Enchanted Paris Tour www.withlocals.com/experience/enchanted-paris-princesses-private-tour-31d79c97/
• Nap/rest
• Luxembourg Gardens

** Indoors/rain Museum of Sciences and Industry

Day 5

• Early morning private Transfer to Disney
• Disney

Day 6

• Disney
• 4pm train to London
• Check into Airbnb

Day 7

• Swans at Hyde Park / Princess Diana playground (staying right near here)
• Changing of the Guard/Buckingham Palace - usually 11am
• Nap
• Swan Lake, Royal Opera House 7:30pm with 6 year old

Day 8

• Crown jewels at Tower of London
• View swords and armor
• London Bridge
• Nap
• Hamleys the Greatest Toy Store in the World

Day 9

• London Eye
• Boat Tour on river Thames 
• Nap

Day 10

• KidZania? not sold on this, but they have luggage storage in the mall and we have 11am checkout
• Leave for airport 1pm, flight home from LHR at 5:20

[mrspez07]

I think you might have too much planned for day 1, keep all of those as optional or other items close to the hotel. We were all zombies our first day. A quick nap, and Just walking around and playing in parks and getting food until the sun went down was all my boys were up for our first night in Europe this summer, and they were 9 and 6.

[frlcb]

I would skip the puppet show on day one, and I know when my kids were 6 they would not have been able to last at Swan Lake at 7:30 at night. I wouldn't plan anything the first day other than getting outside.

I would also add Borough Market into London for lunch, as well as the Science Museum, which has a fabulous hands on area for little kids.

[gigem]

I think your Paris plan looks great. We live here and my kids are 6, 5, and 17 mo- your days don’t seem too booked up. I’m not familiar with the playgrounds in the area you are staying (I go running there often but not with the kids) but seems like you aren’t venturing too far on any given day. there are a lot of playgrounds in random little squares and parks all over the city which are easy places to drop in and hang out. Hopefully the weather will be nice April and be cold/hot rain or shine. Imo Parisian restaurants aren't especially kid friendly, we favor picnics or eating at home.

[RockNVoll]

I'll only comment on the London bits.

It's Tower Bridge you want, not London Bridge (just so you don't get confused if you're looking for it on a map or asking directions).

I would consider going to Maltby St. Market over Borough Market if you want to check out a street food market; it's less overwhelming and likely easier to navigate with small kids while still having excellent food options. It's also closer to Tower Bridge than Borough is.

The kids might get a kick out of watching the pelicans get fed at St. James Park.

On Day 9, I'd consider replacing everything there with a day trip to Hampton Court Palace instead.  You can get there on the tube and it's always one of my top London recommendations.  They have rotating programs and activities as well as self-guided tours you can do every day.  They offer lots of kid-friendly activities and on a nice day, you just can't beat wandering the grounds and enjoying it all.  I've been there probably half a dozen times and have done something different every time.  If you do both this and the Tower of London, do the math and see if a Historic Royal Palace membership is cheaper than paying the individual entrance fees.

[dcrunnergirl52]

We did almost this same trip last summer, but we did an overnight layover in Iceland, London, and then Paris and Disneyland Paris. Our kids were 8, 8, 6, and 19 months at the time. I have a 3-part trip report in our family blog here: pipeandfletch.blogspot.com/2019/08/. Here is a short version of what we were able to get done each day:

Day 1
7am plane landed in Iceland and hang out in Reykjavik

Day 2
Flew to London, landed around 11:45am
Gatwick Express to Hotel
Checked into hotel near Trafalgar Square
Covent Garden
Trafalgar Square--probably my kids' favorite thing...they loved climbing on the statues

Day 3
British Museum
Official Harry Potter Store (House of Spells)
Leicester Square (kids loved the Lego Store and M&M Store here and just watching all the people, but they were insanely crowded)

Day 4
Tower of London (Get tickets in advance. We didn't see the Crown Jewels because the line was really long even with tickets.)
Ate lunch along Thames
Tube to St. James Park (this was also a kid favorite--playing at the playground, looking at the pelicans and other birds, eating ice cream)
Walked by Buckminster Palace
Walk back to hotel with stop again at Trafalgar Square

Day 5
Checked out of hotel and stored luggage
Westminster Abbey (DH and I enjoyed it...kids were creeped out by dead people and bored pretty fast)
Walked by Big Ben and Parliament
Train to Paris, arrived around 8pm
Driver took us to hotel
Got groceries next door and ate dinner and watched Eiffel Tower light show

Day 6
Eiffel Tower (we also had tickets to skip the line and go to the top, however when we got into the tower, the second elevator line was over an hour long even with tickets and they said it was an additional hour wait to come down, so we only went to the second level)
Walked around and explored and ended up at a playground near our hotel

Day 7
Louvre (10am tickets, where we were miraculously escorted in directly to see Mona Lisa...just a random thing but security guards kept letting our traveling circus in without waiting in line b/c we had a stroller and we got brought right in...more in my blog about how that kept happening to us)
Jardin Tuileries (playground, trampolines, sailboat toys, etc.)
Walked back to hotel along Seine, ate ice cream multiple times to get kids to keep walking

Day 8
Early morning transfer via driver to Disney
Checked into Newport Bay Club and had our luggage stored
We were at Disney Studios Park by 10:30am
Explored Disney Studios Park

Day 9
Disneyland Park all day
Swimming at hotel in evening

Day 10
Disneyland Park until about 2pm
Driver took us to airport
5:30pm flight from CDG

As far as what you're doing, I'm concerned you don't have enough time or will be very rushed. If you're staying at the Disneyland Hotel, then you'll be fine b/c it's right at the entrance. Otherwise, the other hotels are a bit more of a trip and we spent a lot of time going back and forth, as well as trying to figure out where to eat. We're WDW vets and did almost the equivalent of 2 full days there and still felt like we didn't see everything, especially because the Fast Pass system is such a PITA compared to WDW.

The only thing that I wish we had done was had time to go to Hampton Court Palace. I went there years ago and loved it, and had heard it was so fun with kids, but we just couldn't fit it in. Next time....

No matter what, you'll have the best time. We had an amazing vacation. Everywhere we went was incredibly family friendly. Basically, once they saw our kids/stroller, we were able to go in special security, customs, and other lines or just had terrific service. I can't wait to go back.

ETA: The Eiffel Tower at night was my DS2's (6 years old) most favorite thing of the whole trip. He was just amazed that something so beautiful could exist in this world. Probably the most special moments of our trip was sitting in our hotel room and watching the light show each night out the window and hearing my kids oooh and aaah over it.

[jamaicam]

Another vote for the Science Museum in London. I took my kid when he was 3 and he loved it and there is so much for kids. I also took my kids to the British Museum when they were 3 and 5 and we had a fun time there doing the Egyptian stuff.

[tres3]

Jan 13, 2020 10:46:04 GMT -5 jamaicam said:

Another vote for the Science Museum in London. I took my kid when he was 3 and he loved it and there is so much for kids. I also took my kids to the British Museum when they were 3 and 5 and we had a fun time there doing the Egyptian stuff.

the science museum is awesome in London. London has so many good museum.

My kids also like going to the ice cream shop at Harrod's. 

[Deleted]

Jan 11, 2020 10:22:08 GMT -5 lauren170 said:

Looking for feedback on this itinerary. H and I have already been, so I really tried to plan this through my kid's eyes and not hit all of the must see attractions. They will be 1.5 and 6 when we go in April.

What am I missing that would be fun for this age group? Any issues with my order? Like things that are obviously close together so should be paired on the same day? What other activities should I have in my back pocket for rain? What things must I absolutely reserve ahead of time, and what can I be flexible on so we can go by the weather?

Day 1

• 7:00 AM land from overnight flight, check into Airbnb (near Eiffel Tower)

• Sleep/rest
• Trocadero + carousel
• Eiffel Tower carousel
• Puppet Show 3:15 or 4:15pm - Les Theater des Marionettes

Day 2

• Go to top of the Eiffel Tower (buy skip the line ticket)
• Lunch picnic on Champ de Mars
• Nap/rest
• Atelier des Lumieres

Day 3

• Early morning family photos with photographer
• Sacre Coeur
• Sparkling Eiffel Tower at night

Day 4

• Enchanted Paris Tour www.withlocals.com/experience/enchanted-paris-princesses-private-tour-31d79c97/
• Nap/rest
• Luxembourg Gardens

** Indoors/rain Museum of Sciences and Industry

Day 5

• Early morning private Transfer to Disney
• Disney

Day 6

• Disney
• 4pm train to London
• Check into Airbnb

Day 7

• Swans at Hyde Park / Princess Diana playground (staying right near here)
• Changing of the Guard/Buckingham Palace - usually 11am
• Nap
• Swan Lake, Royal Opera House 7:30pm with 6 year old

Day 8

• Crown jewels at Tower of London
• View swords and armor
• London Bridge
• Nap
• Hamleys the Greatest Toy Store in the World

Day 9

• London Eye
• Boat Tour on river Thames 
• Nap

Day 10

• KidZania? not sold on this, but they have luggage storage in the mall and we have 11am checkout
• Leave for airport 1pm, flight home from LHR at 5:20

Would you mind sharing the photographer's info? We're going over this summer and this was one of the things I was contemplating. 

[lauren170]

Jan 19, 2020 12:02:43 GMT -5 @princessbubbleyum said:

Jan 11, 2020 10:22:08 GMT -5 lauren170 said:

Would you mind sharing the photographer's info? We're going over this summer and this was one of the things I was contemplating. 

www.theparisphotographer.com/paris-photographers-for-hire/

I haven't actually booked it yet, but am pretty sure I will - because our other option for a family photo is to ask a stranger - and chances of my kids smiling in 1 picture = 0

[Deleted]

Jan 19, 2020 19:00:03 GMT -5 lauren170 said:

Jan 19, 2020 12:02:43 GMT -5 @princessbubbleyum said:

Would you mind sharing the photographer's info? We're going over this summer and this was one of the things I was contemplating. 

www.theparisphotographer.com/paris-photographers-for-hire/

I haven't actually booked it yet, but am pretty sure I will - because our other option for a family photo is to ask a stranger - and chances of my kids smiling in 1 picture = 0

Ha yep! We had never done "real" family pictures on vacation before we had them done in Kauai in 2018 and I loved it. 

[lovebeingmama]

You are already doing Disney, so this likely wouldn't interest you, but for others that might be reading this - we recently did a weekend in Paris, and there is a cute little amusement park in the city called Jardin D'acclimatation. It's great for younger kids. My 9 year old had fun, but he was really reaching the limits for enjoying some of the rides. So I'd say for 8 and under, its definitely worth checking out. You pay a small admission fee and then buy individual ride tickets, or you can buy an unlimited rides pass for just 30 euros (we discovered this too late and first wasted money on a bunch of individual tickets). 

[lolo]

On day 9, add Greenwich to your boat tour.

[dutchgirl678]

Jan 21, 2020 11:44:53 GMT -5 lolo said:

On day 9, add Greenwich to your boat tour.

Agreed! We did that boat tour and there is a huge park in Greenwich with many playgrounds. Our kids had a blast.

We didn't go to the science museum in London, but we did the Natural History museum instead and that was a great hit as well with our kids.

[georgeglass]

We took our kids when they were 7. The brass rubbing at St. Martin-in-the-Fields was an easy, fun (cheap) souvenir. My son still has his hanging in his room eight years later.

www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/visit/things-to-see-and-do/