Hello, we are travelling to France next week. Active family with 2 boys, ages 12 and 10. Would love some feedback on the below itinerary. We are skipping museums this trip. We like to see the sights, visit picturesque villages/towns. We are the kind who like to do as much as possible (for better or for worse

PARIS - 2 days only. Staying near the Eiffel Tower.

Day 1 - Arrive at 8:00 am from the US in the morning at CDG.
11:00 - Take the batobus and enjoy the sights from the river first
1:00 - Climb the Eiffel Tower (stairs to second level only. Not going to the top)
3:00 - Metro to Montmatre/Sacre Coeur for the rest of the afernoon

Day 2
10:00 - Catacombs (already have tickets)
1:00 - Metro to Notre Dame
3:00 - Walk over to Marais
4:00 - Walk/boat back along the Seine, seeing Louvre/Jardin Tuilieres, Champs Elysee, Arc de Triomphe


COTE D'ZAUR - 3 DAYS - Staying at Antibes. Will have a car.
Day 1 - Eze/Monaco
Day 2 - Pitchoun Forest or Village de Fous (which do you recommend for the kids). in the afternoon, visit St Paul de vence
Day 3 - St Tropez

Please provide your thoughts or any other suggestions.

Many thanks!!
HA

>>> 11:00 - Take the batobus and enjoy the sights from the river first
This would be a soporific activity after flying trans Atlantic from the U.S.

>>> 1:00 - Climb the Eiffel Tower (stairs to second level only. Not going to the top)
I presume you know it is more than 300 steps to the first level, then another more than 300 steps to the second level for a total of more than 650 steps to accomplish what you stated.

Greg - thanks for your feedback - it seems a lot of people take do the steps and manage it fairly easily so I think we can attempt it we shall see!

I'd do a walk the first day. If you get on a sightseeing bus right off the plane, you could easily doze off!

Here's my walking tour of the "heart of Paris." It keeps you awake and on your feet. Feel free to download!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2qpckw2krs...Paris.pdf?dl=0

Monaco? I was a bit underwhelmed by it. Large city, really high-end shopping, and not much for kids. If you do go, don't depend on your GPS to get you places, as the major roads are underground in tunnels, and your GPS will not help as there's no signal up there.

Eze is a very cute village in the hills. Nice art shops! Great views.

You can get on and off the batobus at any of the stops to stretch your legs, but I agree on a sunny day it can lull you off to sleep. I'm still a fan of it as opposed to an actual bus tour.

What are you doing after St. Tropez? It's farther west and in my opinion not worth a day trip, particularly if you are doubling back to fly out of Nice. If you are flying or taking the train out of Marseilles, it makes sense. Otherwise, Cannes has a sandy beach and a few things for kids in the little park area between the beach and the exhibit hall. The harbor and Vieux Cannes is to the west.

There's also Antibes but I have read the beach is often dirty.

Understand you want to cover a lot of ground but do you want to spend a long time in the car?

Thanks travelhorizons - the walking tour is great! And really helpful tip on Monaco & GPS! Good to know.

"We are the kind who like to do as much as possible (for better or for worse "

Well, you seem to confuse (as many do) the word 'much' with the word 'many'. They are not synonymous.

An hour by hour itinerary planned beforehand is my idea of a nightmare. It's your time and your dime but I never understand people who spend their 'normal' life living to a schedule who then want to do the same thing with their leisure time. A vacation is supposed to be about getting away from your 'normal' life and that doesn't just mean geographically. Does the word 'spontaneous' mean anything to you?

On what day/s are you planning to move from Paris to Antibes? Are you renting a car in Paris and driving to Antibes? Or flying/train from Paris to Nice and then rent a car? If you are spending 2 nights in Paris, where are you spending the next night is the question.

How many nights are you spending in Antibes? Where are you going next from Antibes? Are you flying home to the USA from Nice after spending 4 nights in Antibes?

Is it:
Day 1 arrive Paris, night in Paris.
Day 2 in Paris,night in Paris.
Day 3 to Antibes (car/train/plane), night in Antibes.
Day 4 Eze/Monaco, night in Antibes.
Day 5 Pitchoun forest etc., night in Antibes.
Day 6 St Tropez day trip night in Antibes.
Day 7 Depart for USA from Nice.

And finally, where are you spending any time IN Antibes itself, seeing/doing things there?

Cathinjoetown - thanks for your feedback. we were planning to get on and off the batobus, to keep us awake a bit!. I am in two minds about ST. Tropez too...not sure?

'There's also Antibes but I have read the beach is often dirty'
Now where did you hear that?

You'd be lucky to get beach weather, anyway.

What is nice to do is the walk around Cap d'Antibes - start at Plage de la Garoupe, and do a circle. Takes about an hour - hour and a half maybe. It's a stone path, right along the sea. Then have lunch at Plage Keller when you get back to Garoupe.

Be aware the St Tropez can take a long time by car. 3 hours is not unheard of. You could take the boat from Juan les Pins or Cannes - takes a long time too, though.

We loved the Batobus. It's a great way to see the sights of Paris, and get out to walk wherever you want. Especially nice views after dark. I think we got a family pass for our visit.

Be aware that the Batobus will stop running around 9 or 10 pm.

We stayed in Nice for three nights, which was a great base. We took the train to Antibes for a day, and it's very cute, but not much to do there.

I personally hate the batobus. It's overpriced and you have to wait on those silly "landing" spots for it when you could be walking just as fast to your destination. And fresh off an overnight flight? Recipe for disaster.

Monaco bores the crap out of me. Eze and Antibes are fine, but there's not much to do in Antibes. And no, the beach isn't dirty; where did you hear that?

The whole thing sounds pretty rigid to me. I get that you want to get the most out of the limited time you have (poor Americans with so little down time), but still, it comes across as too "scheduled."

The catacombs, BTW, are a huge bore IMO. Maybe the kids will enjoy them, though.

Thanks everyone for your feedback. One of the reasons I put down an hour-by-hour itinerary is to see if all the listed activities were feasible in a day.

Would the Changing of the Guards in Monaco be interesting enough for the children to go there? 2 people have responded that it isn't that great.

The banks of the Seine parkways are open for fun and games. Yesterday, I saw lots of kids about the ages of yours having a wonderful below the Hotel de Ville.

I stand corrected on Antibes' beaches. Chalk it up to a brain cramp.

Hi,

We were in France with our girls last year (ages 9 and 11). The HIGHLIGHT of the Paris bit was walking up to the second level of the Eiffel tower. Totally do-able and really fun (and no waiting in the long lines for the elevator). Would still recommend buying the tickets in advance. The second highlight was the park in the Jardin de Luxembourg. I think the park in the Jardin des Tuileries was nice too but not as good as Luxembourg. There is an amazing play structure and place to rent the little sailboats.

We were staying in the Marais and spent the first day walking off jet lag with a nice walk to Ile Saint Louis (stop at Berthillon for ice cream) and Notre Dame.

We didn't hit Monaco but heard good things about the aquarium. I really enjoyed St Paul de Vence but you need to arrive early to avoid the tour buses. We signed up at the visitor's office to learn how to play petanque which we could then play on public courses on other trips (to be enjoyed with a pastis naturellement for the parents!). Our base was in Nice and we found enough to keep us busy for 3 days (including one day trip to the various hill towns - we just used public transport). The beach in Nice was not great (pebbles). Don't know if Antibes has a sandy beach but that will be nice for your boys.

Bon voyage!

StCirq, I recommend the Batobus for Paris newbies. It's a good way to see the sites from the river.

For us, it was an especially good choice one rainy day. We were able to sit under the glass dome and watch Paris glide by in the rain.

We took it another time, after sunset, to see the beautiful lights of Paris. It was enchanting.

For a family pass, it was very well-priced.

It's a handy way to take a break from walking.

Thanks everyone for all your feedback and suggestions!

Jacolis - I was particularly encouraged to read that your girls found walking up the Eiffel tower steps so do-able! And thanks also for your suggestions for the parks and ice cream

I wonder how much your boys would really enjoy St-Paul-de-Vence. It's basically an inclined village with a lot of boutiques, heavy on the art.