Paris, France

The City of Love

Paris, je t’aime

Paris was one of my first international destination when I was seven years old, and we’ve taken our kids to Paris several times — our daughters 5th birthday and 6 years later for Paris Fashion Week. Yes, all 3 kids were runway models at Paris City Fashion Week in 2022! I’ve also traveled to Paris with friends and solo over the years. There are thousands of things to do in Paris – we could live there for years and we would barely make a dent. So take this list with a grain of salt. These are simply our favorite things to do based on our experiences. Do all of them or none of them! Make Paris your own.

Grab a map, like an actual map, and plot out locations. Then go to google maps
and see the distance between locations and start grouping them together. See my suggested itinerary below to create your own! I recommend one major attraction per day with time to explore the surrounding area. If your time is limited, get a bus pass and hope on and off all day seeing what you must see! It won’t give you a Parisian feel or experience but you’ll see your bucket list. It’s up to you how you explore a foreign country — I emphasize immersion into the culture and local way of life, local eateries and exploring what you can’t find in a guide book. There’s no wrong way to travel but this is OUR way and we love it! Happy travels!

Top Things to Do

Eiffel Tower ~ carousel ride; ascend to top; buy tickets way in advance

Disneyland Paris

Catacombs

Louvre Museum ~ skip the line buy a museum pass/tour

Montmarte (my favorite!) ~buy a lock, sign it and lock it to the metal fence near the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur

Paris Seine River Cruise

Arc de Triomphe

Walk along Champs-Elysees

Notre Dame

Pont Neuf ~Lock Bridge

Versailles ~ Bike Tour & Light Show

Paris Sewer Museum

Get a little lost on Paris! Highly recommmed this…even with kids!

Where we stayed

Paris Marriott Opera Ambassador Hotel

16 Boulevard Haussmann

Walkable to main Parisian tourist spots, great dining, shopping & just exploring Paris not in the guidebooks. The ambassador lounge is always helpful with kids and I highly recommend it. Spacious rooms for Paris and friendly staff!

Montmartre the 18th arrondissment

If there’s one arrondissement I could return to again, and again, it’s this time- warp in central Paris. The sights, the smells, and of course, all of the cobbled lanes come together to form a little piece of France that’s best explored on foot.

Basilique du Sacré-Coeur is Perched at the very top of the hill of Montmartre (the highest point in Paris), 130 meters above the ground, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart is a beautiful Roman Catholic church watching over Paris

Quirky architecture, rich history, and the fact that Montmartre has been a muse for artists, poets and writers alike for centuries make it the perfect spot to get lost in, perhaps even for a few hours.

There are plenty of small streets, cute shops and yummy eateries I could never list them all! I suggest starting at Sacré- Coeur and heading down through the 9th arrondissement and experience the Paris that isn’t in the guide books!

Montmartre Must See Family Favorites

The Wall of Love (Le Mur des ‘Je t’aims’) Covered in 612 lava tiles, the wall features the words “I love you” in 311 languages, including all 192 languages of the United Nations

Café des Deux Moulins — it started raining so we took cover here and enjoyed pizza and a glass of wine. If you watch ‘Le Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain’ its main location is the Montmartre district and the waitress Amelie works at this restaurant!

‘Maison Rose’ is one of the most beautiful houses in Montmartre — Located on the corner of Rue de l’Abreuvoir and Rue des Saules

Place du Tertre — ‘the Artist Square’ Famous for its painters, portrait artists and restaurant terraces

Basilique du Sacré-Coeur — Buy a lock, sign it and lock it to the metal fence!

Moulin Rouge Paris

Van Gogh’s House

59 rivoli

Regardless of how many reviews you read, nothing will quite prepare you for the artistic world that awaits behind the doors and up the winding staircase of 59 Rivoli.

Before you even enter, you’ll notice the building at 59 Rue de Rivoli isn’t like the others on this famous Paris shopping street. Often decorated with posters, banners, and some sort of multimedia artwork dangling from the balconies, this place is home to an enormous artistic space that serves as a squat, workshop, and gallery.

30 different artists call this place home, so there’s a bit of everything. Politically-charged collages cover walls, plants break through cement blocks, and bright paintings adorn easels.

A trip here is the sort of sensory overload you need to break out of the routine. There’s something completely unexpected and raw about this place, and the fact that it’s on one of the most famous streets in Paris, just a few blocks from the Louvre, only heightens this sensation.

DISTRICT — Chatelet

NEIGHBORHOOD — Chatelet

MÉTRO — Chatelet Pont Neuf

ADDRESS — 59 Rue De Rivoli

Disneyland Paris

Where the Magic Gets Real

Disneyland with kids…it’s always interesting…three kids and they all want to go in different directions…at the same time…so how do you keep them happy?

Well for starters you need to come to the realization that they will not all be happy all the time. And that’s OK! But it’s important that you address each of their wants and plan your day accordingly! We did a few things I would not have chosen myself but hey it was their pick and we enjoyed each and every one of them!

Disneyland tips & tricks

Visit BOTH Parc Walt Disney Studio & Disneyland Paris

Take Advantage Of The Extra Magic Hours — meaning sleep in a Disney hotel!

Download the Park App! A lifesaver!

Make Reservations at restaurants 2 months in advance!

Disney Premier Access — a must do — I don’t have the patience to sit in line for 2 hours for a 2 minute ride

Bring Your Own Snacks & Treats! When the kids were younger I’d stock up on small Disney toys and save them for meltdowns at the park

The LEGO® Store Disneyland Paris — Minifigure Factory lets you customize and personalise your own minifigure!

Where we stayed at Disneyland

Newport Bay Beach Date

Visited: September 2022

Recommended Days: 2-3 days

Disneyland Do’s & Don’ts

DO: Make the most of FASTPASS.

DO: Have a game plan.
DO: Ride solo.
DON’T: Eat in.

DO: Get savvy with the ‘Wait Times Disneyland Paris’ app.
DON’T: Underestimate the Parisian weather.

DO: Get to the parade early.

DON’T: Skip the shows.
DO: Bring a water bottle
DO: Dress Up (well at least the kids!)

Paris Tips

McDonalds in Paris is actually super clean and nice! Inexpensive (4 euros for a happy meal!) They serve you and have free Wi-Fi so it’s a win-win with tired and hungry kids who just need to sit down, use the restroom and have a cheap snack! Plus the McDonald’s bakery is A+

Paris is the absolute best place to have picnics. There are boulangeries and markets everywhere!

Do a Treasure Hunt at a Major Museum. An added benefit: when you book a private tour, you get to skip the lines.

Visit Paris’s Passages — Paris’s covered passages are famous, but you could easily spend a month in the city and never see them. So search them out! We’ve been to a few (we love Passage des Panoramas and Passage Jouffroy) but definitely not all. The passages are particularly perfect when it’s cold or rainy outside

A fun way to see the city is to take the metro to a random stop, explore the area, and then slowly walk back to the hotel. It’s the single best way we found to avoid the trap of simply taking the metro from famous site to famous site and missing the details, and the transitions between arrondissements, that make Paris so fun.

Wake Up Early (and Stay Up Late) – this is the best way to see the city without loads of tourist in every photo you take!

Walk, Walk, Walk!

TAXI vs UBER

Uber is cheap and you know what your going to pay BUT it’s difficult in busy areas with long wait times and cancellations without reason. I do recommend for the taxi ride back to the Airport! And if you are heading somewhere from the hotel and don’t mind waiting. A taxi is inexpensive and if you can grab one grab it! They don’t like 4 people so that was a challenge, we had many drive right past us waving sorry but wouldn’t take 4 people. They prefer cash and some only accept cash! Make sure you ask beforehand.