Paris and/or Amsterdam with kids in November

[keweenawlove]

Looking for guidance if Paris or Amsterdam would be fun for an almost 6 year old in November. I know it's the tail end of shoulder season but from what I've seen so far, it seems like there's a lot of kid friendly museums that could be fun in crappy weather and maybe the start of Christmas markets. Maybe? 

We're waiting on an adoption match so our lives have kind of been in a holding pattern but we're ready to get back into international travel this fall. Hopefully it will be Bogota for an adoption trip but if it doesn't happen, we had been considering doing Mexico or Costa Rica. Flights are looking insane there though (~$2000 from our airport). Flights to Europe are looking more feasible so we're considering that. Paris alone or an open jaw to Paris/Amsterdam seem to make the most sense. DD will be almost 6 and has been asking to go to Paris because she wants to see the Eiffel tower. We've done Chicago a few times and she's liked being in a big city and loves trains. She's just gotten to the point we're considering a longer flight with her so this might be our last "easy" chance to do Europe for a few years with kid #2 hopefully happening in the semi-near future. 

Of course if we go ahead and book, we'll probably get an adoption referral and have to cancel! We're only considering Delta/partners because if we have to cancel, we should be able to use the travel credit to go to Colombia instead. 

[dreamcrisp1]

Amsterdam! It’s so child friendly here. I’ll be back with specific recommendations. Just a bit busy right now!

Ok back. I’m not a Paris lover at all. I’ve been many times and it’s not for me.

But Amsterdam!

Fun things to do:

- canal tour of course. If you come in November, the light show will be on!
- Efteling
- lots of super fun museums: nemo, scheepvaartmuseum, troppenmuseum.
- definitely wondr - it’s super instagrammable and fun.
- Zuiderzee museum in Enkhuizen - has an indoor and outdoor option.
- take a ferry to noord and go to the swing in ndsm
- Westerpark - it has a lovely petting zoo (kinderboederij)
- Amsterdamse bos
- flevopark and jeugdland

[erbear]

I’ve taken my kids relatively extensively on international travel. When they were young, we stuck to beaches (Bahamas, Costa Rica and Puerto Rico were hits). We did Iceland when they were 7 and 9, which was a good age. City stuff was better as they get older — we’re going to Paris and London this week and they are 11 and 13 and will do great with the walking and site seeing. When they were younger, we did cities (Edinburgh, Vienna, Budapest, Munich) but really had to balance sights and downtime.

[mrsGreeko]

Personally I think you can make anywhere in the world fun for kids. We have taken our three kids to various European destinations starting when my youngest was 4 (the other w were 7 and 9). They’ve always enjoyed themselves. You do different things when you have a kid or kids with you. More ice cream stops, less long leisurely dinners things like that, one museum focusing on a few key areas instead of a long museum day reading every placard, etc.

If your kiddo wants to see the Eiffel Tower I’d say capitalize on that and hit up Paris. If you want to combine it with Amsterdam because you want to go to Amsterdam then do that. If you just want to go to one or the other do that. No matter what you choose you can make it fun.

[ellipses84]

My kids would be way more excited about Paris (they really want to see the Eiffel Tower too). They’ve seen videos of Amsterdam and think it’s really cool, and I’m sure we’d have a great time there but there’s so much I want to do with them in Paris I don’t think I’d want to split up a short trip. Will you have 3-4 days in Paris and 2-3 in Amsterdam if you split it? If anything, I’d consider a short trip somewhere outside Paris. A few months ago traveling Europe in a covid world was more logistically challenging, aka stressful (ie testing for going country to country and more risk of plans getting screwed up last minute and losing $$). Disney is an option outside Paris. I probably wouldn’t do that but I am a little curious about it.

We are planning a trip, hopefully next year, to the UK and France, with Paris, Normandy and Mont St. Michel, but it will be 2-3 weeks and that’s honestly more destinations than I like to do in one trip, but DH and the kids have never been and want to see it all.

[keweenawlove]

Jun 20, 2022 9:00:10 GMT -5 dreamcrisp1 said:

Amsterdam! It’s so child friendly here. I’ll be back with specific recommendations. Just a bit busy right now!

Ok back. I’m not a Paris lover at all. I’ve been many times and it’s not for me.

But Amsterdam!

Fun things to do:

- canal tour of course. If you come in November, the light show will be on!
- Efteling
- lots of super fun museums: nemo, scheepvaartmuseum, troppenmuseum.
- definitely wondr - it’s super instagrammable and fun.
- Zuiderzee museum in Enkhuizen - has an indoor and outdoor option.
- take a ferry to noord and go to the swing in ndsm
- Westerpark - it has a lovely petting zoo (kinderboederij)
- Amsterdamse bos
- flevopark and jeugdland

Thank you! The idea behind combining Paris and Amsterdam was I've been to Paris, H has been to Amsterdam so we'd each get to see somewhere new that DD is hopefully into.

Any specific areas we should consider staying there?

[keweenawlove]

Jun 20, 2022 11:02:30 GMT -5 erbear said:

I’ve taken my kids relatively extensively on international travel. When they were young, we stuck to beaches (Bahamas, Costa Rica and Puerto Rico were hits). We did Iceland when they were 7 and 9, which was a good age. City stuff was better as they get older — we’re going to Paris and London this week and they are 11 and 13 and will do great with the walking and site seeing. When they were younger, we did cities (Edinburgh, Vienna, Budapest, Munich) but really had to balance sights and downtime.

We did Puerto Rico in March and it was great which is why we were thinking beach again. The flight prices are just too much for me to stomach! Like $2000 to Mexico vs $700 to Europe.

[keweenawlove]

Jun 20, 2022 11:35:48 GMT -5 mrsGreeko said:

Personally I think you can make anywhere in the world fun for kids. We have taken our three kids to various European destinations starting when my youngest was 4 (the other w were 7 and 9). They’ve always enjoyed themselves.

That's the mentality we tend to have. Glad to hear your kids enjoyed it!

[keweenawlove]

Jun 20, 2022 11:46:43 GMT -5 ellipses84 said:

My kids would be way more excited about Paris (they really want to see the Eiffel Tower too). They’ve seen videos of Amsterdam and think it’s really cool, and I’m sure we’d have a great time there but there’s so much I want to do with them in Paris I don’t think I’d want to split up a short trip. Will you have 3-4 days in Paris and 2-3 in Amsterdam if you split it? If anything, I’d consider a short trip somewhere outside Paris. A few months ago traveling Europe in a covid world was more logistically challenging, aka stressful (ie testing for going country to country and more risk of plans getting screwed up last minute and losing $$). Disney is an option outside Paris. I probably wouldn’t do that but I am a little curious about it.

I got nervous about prices continuing to go up so we just booked. Eek. We did into Paris and out of Amsterdam because it was the cheapest option with direct flights. We'll have 7 nights total and the train between looks pretty easy. Need to figure out the split now. I keep seeing Disney too but we're not overly interested in prioritizing it so hopefully we'll find enough the keep her happy!

[pittpurple]

Both cities are great - I've visited both without kids but wouldn't hesitate to take them to either (we live in Edinburgh, Scotland so it's easier for us)
It's such a fun age to travel as well - old enough to walk themselves around, not too old to find anything boring :-)
I'd do 4 nights in Paris and 3 in Amsterdam personally though agree there's plenty to keep you busy a full week in either.

[ECB]

Jun 20, 2022 11:35:48 GMT -5 mrsGreeko said:

Personally I think you can make anywhere in the world fun for kids. We have taken our three kids to various European destinations starting when my youngest was 4 (the other w were 7 and 9). They’ve always enjoyed themselves. You do different things when you have a kid or kids with you. More ice cream stops, less long leisurely dinners things like that, one museum focusing on a few key areas instead of a long museum day reading every placard, etc.

to add to this - we’ve traveled a lot with DS, both domestically and internationally. He’s 13 and been to 6 other countries. DH and i both wanted to make him a “traveler” and it worked. He loves to go to new places and explore.

One thing we’ve started doing with him is to have him do some research too and find a couple things in our destination that he wants to do. Then we absolutely try to incorporate as much of it as we can. It absolutely makes him more invested and excited for the trip.

We went to the harbor baths in Copenhagen and Ziplining in Asheville because of him! He brings a kid perspective and it usually adds an element to the trip we weren’t expecting. It’s fun!

[pittpurple]

Oh - meant to say - my daughter and I had a weekend in Venice at that age and I got a kid-specific travel guide to the city. Left her to look through it for a few days and mark anything she wanted to do and she picked one thing per day (so 3 things). The rest I planned from there. She was super excited to have some say in it and loved everything we did. And it was no judgement - one day she said she just wanted to 'find a playground and play' and we did just that.

[sillygoosegirl]

For sure both! They are only a little over 3 hours apart by train! Actually, Amsterdam was like our least favorite part of the Netherlands. We really liked Madurodam, and we stayed in an Airbnb in Delft that included access to a canoe. (I couldn't find a canoe rental anywhere, but it was super fun exploring the canals that way.) Bicycling in the Netherlands was also pretty fantastic, especially away from the hubbub of Amsterdam.