Hi!

We are in the final 10 day countdown before we head to Paris. We plan to buy Museum passes, orange cards and enjoy using the subway from place to place.

What are your best suggestions for eating on the cheap with kiddos, 7, 7, 10 and 13? We will be staying in the Latin Quarter. The hotel breakfast is 6 Euro. Can we do better elsewhere or do you suggest we start there in the hotel?

All suggestions are appreciated!!

you can eat a pancake for €3& drink water from the fountains...seriously i dont think you can do better than the hotels price unless you are willing to walk far away from the hotel.having breakfast in the hotel is very convenient too. esp with kids.

we bought 2 books with great kid suggestions. "paris for kids" and a small funny one by fodor's. both have a number of suggestions. your kids are old enough that i would take them to borders and let them choose a couple of paris books and involve them in the eating and sightseeing decisions. and considering that most kids, and adults for that matter, would be perfectly happy starting the day with a chocolate croissant i'd skip the hotel breakfast and head out for a nice bakery.
have fun.

Hi kd,

If you are planning on more than a croissant and a cuppa, (about 2.5E) 6E is OK for bkfst for adults.

Are they charging the same amount for the kids?

Will you have a minifridge in your rooms?

that was my serious reply.now for the reply more suited to original posters self description:
-steal the bread from the birds of notre dame
-give your kids , i am hungry child cardboard signs and make them parade the metro each morning with a cup
-pay for 1 breakfast at the hotel, fill your pockets with bread and jams and go back to your room where your family will be waiting
-buy only 1 or 2 musuem cards and spend the rest of the money on food, take turns visiting the museums & outdoor free sites & churches
-fatten yourselves before you go & skip breakfast altogether

I don't think we'll have a mini-fridge, but if we do I can see a trip to the grocery store as an easy solution. We will be staying at the Excelsior hotel, a 2 star, a couple blocks from the Luxembourg garden. Something tells me that a fridge isn't part of the deal

We will likely mix it up. We can do one day at the hotel and the other days at the local bakeries. We are already salivating just thinking about the stories of the breads in Paris. *grin*

The book Paris for Kids I checked out from the library and is already a much thumbed resource. My twins, boy and girl, are determined to see the Eifel Tower and the Doll Museum.

Thanks for all of the help so far

got1tiel

That second and third reply sound like excellent ideas

apart from the first, they are all tested ideas.i have done the 3 & 4th myself. i have seen the 2nd successfully used there.

You got some really wierd answers there. For an actual serious answer:

There is a chain of coffee shops called Brioche Doree. There are several in central Paris, one on Boul St Mich in the Latin Quarter. They have a morning "special" of cofee, juice and two pastries for €3. So yes, you can do way better than €6 for the hotel breakfast. Most hotel breakfasts in Paris are not bacon and eggs type meals anyway, they are the same thing you'd get at Brioch Doree for twice the cost.

Even if you don't have a fridge in the room, you can get food to take back and eat in the room, at least for lunch. There are cafes, small shops all over that sell panini (sandwiches) for €2-4. They are usually quite large so each kid may not need a whole one. Get several, plus some dessert pastries and some juice/fruit and have a picnic lunch in the room. Since you are going in late November it will probably be too cold to enjoyably eat outdoors, but a picnic in the room is fine, plus the kids can unwind and rest up for the afternoon.

The area just off Place St Mich in the Latin Quarter if full of fairly inexpensive restaurants, some are more "fast food" type - mostly Greek (but the food is great) and some are more traditional sit-down type places. They usually have their menus on boards outside the doorway and often they have a cheaper menu early (say up until about 7pm). So eat a little on the early side and you can save about €5 per person, which with your family could add up. Last March the prices for the price fixed menu (starter, main course, sometimes dessert) were in the €8-12 range.

You can definitly eat for less in Paris, and still eat great.

Isabel,

Thanks for all of the great ideas! Brioche Doree sounds like exactly what I was hoping would be available, and at half the cost for the hotel breakfast. That makes it the likely choice more often than not. My husband and I usually travel with a portable espresso maker and we can surely pick up fruit from a market or store. That should set us

If we grab sandwiches for lunch and then budget about 60-80 Euro for the evening meal than I think we will be set. Just think, feeding six people on about 110-130 Euro a day, a bargain after feeding us in London last Christmas.

We are getting really psyched about this trip! My only concern is that none of us will remember the few French phrases and will instead lapse into Italian...lol

Thanks for all of the great tips
Mary in Naples

I'd maybe do the hotel breakfast the first day then keep your eyes open for other nearby options.

Even without a frig, you can stock snacks in the hotel room - more for convenience but might save a little money (juice box, cookies, crackers, dry fruit, nuts and the like).

Crepes from the street vendors, ready-made sandwiches from the bakeries are delicious and reasonable.

We ate several times at a family-friendly Italian restaurant in the Latin Quarter, Mezza Luna (I think it is a chain?).

When we traveled to Paris with our four, we absolutely depended on supermarkets, bakeries, and fruit stands. Once we bought cereal and milk for breakfast, and served it in paper cups with spoons. We also got yogurt cups and fruit. At lunch, several times we picked up a couple or three baguettes, a pack of salami or ham, cheese, pickles and olives, and ate sandwiches in a park. For snacks, we bought six packs of drinks and candy bars, juice boxes, fruit, and would even run into the basement at Monoprix for a box of ice creams.

We did eat out a few times - there are family restaurants around. We also ate at McDonald's, a Chinese restaurant, and a couple of Lebanese take-out places. Sandwiches places will make a croque-monsieur for kids, and they don't cost a whole lot.

Needless to say, we don't remember Paris for the food itself - we didn't exactly sample any haute cuisine. Still, the boys enjoyed shopping for food, the picnics, and the time at McDonald's when the manager through out a man who refused to stop smoking...

Another way we saved money was by taking our own water bottles with straps and filling them up at the hotel. Our two star hotel did have a mini-fridge -and another time we stayed in an apartment, but in the States I've put ice in a zip lock bag to keep sandwich meat cold.

actually i thought a bit about your self decription and think its wrong. taking their 4 kids to paris is not behaviour descriptive of cheap people but generous ppl. i think my parents would have considered taking me there a waste of money.tip to save a sackful of money:if you share the carte musee note they only stamped my card when visiting napoleons tomb and a paricular room in versailles.so you can see louvre /versailles /arc de trip/ orsay/ND towers/ invalides museum/ concierge/ st chapell/ etc as much as you want. you have to write down a bearer name on each card so careful what name you choose.for example half of the family can visit the towers of ND while the other half tour the cathedral itself (free). alternatively to cartee musee you can check out http://www.parisinsites.com/museumtips.html to see which museums have free kids policy. have a nice trip.

Hi kdk,

>We will be staying at the Excelsior hotel, a 2 star, a couple blocks from the Luxembourg garden. Something tells me that a fridge isn't part of the deal<

Not necessarily. Many 2* hotels have minifridges.

I'm sure that you don't need to be told this, but If you do eat in your room, remember to clean up.

I went to the store every morning in Paris and got croissants, other baked goods, juice, yogurt, and whatever else I felt like getting. My son was very happy with this. I think you can get a more complete breakfast for 3 or 4 Euros per person than you would from the hotel. This won't get you coffee, if that's important to you, but maybe you can pick that up somewhere else.

Take the kids for a really fun experience at the Dragons Elysees - 11, rue de Berri, in the 8th. It is a Chinese/Thai restaurant that the kids will love (especially the 7 year olds). The floor is entirely made of glass and you sit over a gigantic koi pond. It really is great fun.
The food - if kept to one dish each can be done pretty reasonably $$ wise.
Plan on going on a day you'll be near the Arc De Triomphe or the Champs Elysees (closest metro is George V and it is open every day) - it is just a very short (2 blocks maybe) walk down rue de Berri.
We went this past summer and my kids insisted we go again and again (we stopped at 2x).

I wouldn't say that many 2* hotels have minibars. Most don't, and the ones that do are more expensive than the Excelsior which is a pretty basic hotel and doesn't have that.

I probably wouldn't spend 6 euro per person for a continental breakfast in that hotel. That's a lot of money for your family. As others said, there are many cheap takeout shops just a block or so away on bd St Michel (Brioche Doree is very near). I would not eat in your room unless you have to, at least not full meals. I'm sure the rooms will be very small, and it might be better to get out for a lot of reasons. You are lucky in that you are practically across the street from Luxembourg Gardens, you can easily eat there with the takeout you buy nearby--unless the weather stinks, of course (and I don't know how pleasant that may be in November), and then I'd say maybe not. Some of those takeout shops do have a few tables, also. There is a Flute de Pain around there, also, a little to the south on bd St Michel.

I'd find out what that 6 euro really covers. If it is all-you-can-eat and is actually good and fresh, it might be good for the kids as it will probably be very simple stuff like bread and butter. I agree you won't find a full breakfast in a cafe for that price.

There is a McDonalds almost right at that corner (of bd St Michel and rue Soufflot), but I'm not sure what they have for breakfast. I don't think of them as breakfast places, but it might not be of any worse quality than the hotel's breakfast. YOu might also check out what is available and the cost at Crepes a Go Go which is a nice tea salon just to the NW of the Pantheon on rue Soufflot. I've seen families in there with kids in strollers, etc, it's a nice place.

I've not stayed in a 2 star hotel but the three stars we've stayed in all had little refrigerators and I do mean Little . Since we were there in Novemeber I ended up placing my bottled water, milk and OJ on the outside of the windowsill. Worked great. We also brought food back to the room at night. Take some paper plates and utensils with you. We got one of the rotisserie chickens and had that for dinner one night and had sandwichs out of it the next day. Word of Caution, some hotels say no eating in the rooms so be disceet about it. I always carry a tote bag in my purse so I can walk by the front desk without them knowing what I have with me.

There are many fast food places in Paris they even have Pizza Hut and Kentucky fried chicken.

I think 6 dollars sounds reasonable for breakfast. Our last hotel charged$15.00.
Although kids would probably rather have cereal so bring some with you and buy milk and fruit and they can eat in the room some days.

There is a huge food court in the area of the louvre which overlooks the area where you purchase your tickets.

This is my favorite for reasonable priced lunches, a place on Rue De Rivoli called Angelina's. They are known for their hot chocolate but they also serve good omelettes salades and club sandwiches.

Have Fun and enjoy, Oh, don't forget the crepe stands they are realy quite good too.

If your kids (or you) get peckish in the middle of the day, right by the Place St. Michel is La Rose de Tunis, which makes great, inxpensive frites, twice cooked the proper way--they can get an order to go or eat them there (try to ignore the lurid, BRIGHT lighting).

Although I highly recommend Hotel Excelsior on rue Cujas, there are no minifridges in the rooms. Their breakfast is a VERY bare bones continental: coffee, orange juice, hard roll, croissant, prepackaged square of cheese. The only good part is that it is all you care to eat, so if numerous refills of coffee are important to you like they are to me, then it is worth it.

You will be about 2 steps around the corner from McD's. Brioche Doree is very good and there is one very near the hotel on blvd St Michel.

Your hotel is in a very good location. Although a basic hotel, it is nice and clean and the lady at reception is wonderful. So is her cat if he chooses to take a liking to you!