I could not pass up bargain air fares to Paris for February for me and the kids. But now I am panicking that the weather will be too cold and there will be no flowers or fountains or sailboats, etc. My children have never been to Paris, but know I am in love with it and I want them to love it too. What can I do with them there (besides the museums) if it is really cold or rainy? Is Giverny out of the question? Versailles? I have always been there in the summer. Thanks for the advice!

Giverny will be closed. Sure, you can visit Versailles, but the grounds will not be terribly appealing unless the weather is warm (which it actually can be in Paris in February...sometimes). The parks will be open, but there won't be flowers or sailboats or guignols. I don't know about fountains. I guess if it's really cold, the fountains won't be working, either.
Take them to the Paristoric show at 11,bis rue Scribe to get an overview of the city and its history. Take them to the Conciergerie to see where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned. Take them to the catacombs or on the tour of the sewers. You can take them ice skating. You can take them to the Parc La Villette to the Cité de Science and the Musée de la Musique. You can take them to Angelina for hot chocolate. Are they old enough to enjoy shopping?

Thank you for your suggestions! My children are ages 14, 12, and 10, the oldest a girl and the next two are boys. Is it going to be possible, or comfortable, to go on the Bateaux Mouche?

We have taken our children there in late February/early March and it was fine. We did a day trip over to the Normandy area and they were very interested in that. We wished we had more time to allot for that, but on that trip we only had the one day.

It will be possible to take a boat ride on the Seine in the Bâteaux Mouches or another company. Whether or not it will be comfortable clearly will depend on the weather. If you want to get the most out of the experience, you'll want to be on an outside deck, and if the weather's bad, well, it won't be comfortable.

mms, did you sign up with a tour to go to Normandy? I was interested in doing that (my grandfather landed on one of the beaches as part of the Canadian army). StCirq, thanks again for your speedy response. One more question if you don't mind: I was thinking of staying in the Marais since we eat kosher food and that way we would be near Rue de Rosiers. I usually stay near the Eiffel Tower. Do you think the Marais is suitable for the kids?

I think the Marais would be a great area to stay with the kids. The area outside the Pompidou center has street performers, jugglers, contortionists, even in February. The streets in the Marais are fun to walk around and there are numerous bakeries and shops of all kinds.

Hi Eclair,

I'm going to be there in Feb with my husband and toddler son too! I've been asking advice and you can search under my screen name: bhpopek for all of the postings.

I think overall it will be cold but it sounds as if it doesn't stop kids from playing at the playgrounds.

I think I just put a question regarding what to really expect at the parks in Feb. You can read what people wrote. I think I posted that question about 2 days ago. I'm sorry I don't remember the title of the thread...

I think Huitres has traveled every year to Europe with her daughter and she has some good advice for traveling with kids. I know there's a lot of info regarding where to go with kids your age on this website and in books. I have two books that are good maybe you should consider borrowing or buying them. They are: Paris with Kids and Take the Kids to Paris Disneyland Resort Paris.

I know that Fodors also has a kids edition. I think there will be tons of things for your kids to do beyond museums. Consider looking through the books and they have ideas such as indoor swimming, bowling, rollerblading, as well as just walking around in the various markets might be interesting to your kids. I know that so many people said that their kids loved the Eiffel Tower. I think they're at a great age and you won't have any problems findig things to do, indoors and out. The only problem is not enough time!

I think your kids are old enough to handle the cold weather. I came very close to booking $400 p/p flights and an apartment in Paris for the first week in February for the whole family. I had to cancel, not because of the weather, but because I couldn't get the time off from work.
I had planned to take the kids on daytrips to Chartres, Versailles and Reims.

Thanks for all your advice, everybody! Yes, I do have a stack (evergrowing) of guide books on Paris and my kids are big already and can deal with the cold (helped along with lots of hot chocolate). It's just that whenever we have taken a trip like this to London or Rome, we always toured in the morning and relaxed in parks in the afternoon. And at night, because it was always summertime, we could stay out quite late, walking or eating at a cafe...

Where are you staying? I strongly suggest an apartment, so that the kids will have a place to play games etc. Also eating is easier. I don't have a specific one to recommend because there are only two of us, but there are many good webistes: franceforrent, bienvenueaparis, chezvous (more expensive). If you search here, you will find more. It is often cheaper than a hotel also - and a kitchen will make keeping kosher easier. The Marais is a wonderful area to stay in. Our favorite apartment is there. You might want to do a search for synagogues in paris, then email to ask for kosher restaurants and grocery stores.
Have fun.

We have only stayed in the Montparnasse area, so I'm sorry I can't help with ideas about the Marais.

As far as Normandy goes, we were supposed to go on a tour, but the tour company gave us the wrong train information so we missed the train and therefore the tour. We went back to our hotel and the lady at the desk called the tour company for us and explained what happened so we would not be charged. Then we asked her what our options were for a tour. She told us to go enjoy the day and she would take care of it.

When we came back to the hotel that afternoon, she had arranged for a taxi driver to take us on a private tour. This driver liked going to the area every few weeks, and she knew he would be a good guide. She was spot on! He picked us up at the hotel around 7am, we stopped for lunch at Port en Bessin, and then we went to the museum in Caen, the American Cemetary/Omaha Beach, and then to the tapestry in Bayoux(sp?) before heading back to Paris. The guide was so good, it was great to talk with him about daily life in France and he had children so he spoke to ours about the schools and such. Just a really worthwhile day.

Our hotel was only a 3 star, so nothing fancy, but we were very pleased that they arranged this for us. My husband was a Naval Officer at the time and had just returned from a 6 month deployment the week before, so Normandy was a must for us.

Like others said, don't worry about the cold. We also went to Scotland on this trip and our kids had a blast making snow angels at the various castles

We were in Paris at the end of November of last year with our 10 year old daughter. The cold weather (it really was not that cold) was not an issue at all. She loved the museums (especially the Louvre) and just walking around different neighborhoods. I think Paris is magical at any time of the year - the only problem we had there was not enough time in one week to see it all!

Well, your kids are not young-young (not toddlers!) so I would think you could do things similar with them like you do in the U.S. What might be considered "boring" could be made into a game. I love taking my (now) 4 year old to museums to look at the paintings, sculptures. We were in Paris 9 months ago. In Paris, the Musee D'Orsay is a wonderful museum and has a terrific sculpture section. I know you mentioned something other than museums, but I have an idea. Your kids could pick out their favorites in each area, then as a special treat, you could buy them something with that image/painting in the gift shop. For example, at the Louvre, we kept our eyes out for the 'Mona Lisa' as well as the famous Napoleon painting of him on raised horse. We found both of those as magnets in the gift shop later. They are now both on the refrigerator as reminders of our visit and my little girl immediately remembers the details of the trip and how we got them.

The parks will be open, however, they tend to be geared towards smaller children. Luxembourg has small horses that kids can ride, but the oldest looking child I saw was about 8 or 9 years old. Versailles would be a nice option, it is open all year round. You all could take the RER out there, walk the short distance to the palace. After touring the inside of the palace, you all can walk outside and see the expansive gardens. While it will be chilly, dress them warmly in coats, hat, and mittens, they should be fine.

I would suggest taking a Metro up to Montmartre. The touristy shops lining the hills as you walk up towards the site will keep them busy. Then you all can take the escalator up to the church itself, get out, walk around, take pictures of the amazing Paris skyline, etc.

Back in the center of things, right there in the 1st Arr, the Conciergerie and adjoining Sainte-Chappelle church are interesting. The Conciergerie has areas to walk around in and also show mini films in some of the rooms. Sainte-Chappelle's stained glass windows are awesome to behold.

After reading all your responses I am feeling really positive and excited about going! mms - do you happen to have the name or number of your taxi driver to Normandy? I read that the tours are very long and return very late, so the driver sounds like a good idea. Was it very expensive? I live in New York and as I was driving through Central Park today and the bare branches were standing out against the sky, I realized that of course Paris will be fabulous in Feburary just like New York City is gorgeous year round. Nikki, its funny you mentioned the activity around the Pompidou Center because that was another thing I was thinking might not be same in the winter. That was going to be my next question! Platzman, I am sorry you cannot go now (my husband also cannot go because of work), but I am sure you'll make it another time and thanks for the day trip ideas. Huitres, you sound like a very wise and experienced parent! I am definitely going to use your ideas in the museums. The truth is if it is cold, then the museums will seem like attractive warm havens to the kids. Conversely, when were in Rome two summers ago, during the terrible heat wave, my kids rushed into the museums because they were cool (and to their surprise found out they were fun). Thanks to everyone!

Eclair...

You can do lots of things for kids ...

a) go visit THE REX MOVIE THING (it's in the neighbourhood of a rex discotheque and the moulin rouge boulevard) but it is a : STH HOW THEY MAKE MOVIES the url is www.legrandrex.com (it's for kids)

b) la cité des mille et une decouvertes (it's northeast of paris city) and is euh a museum where kids can do science expirements and stuff, also there's a cinemacomplex in a giant silver bowl construction = url www.cite-sciences.fr

c) ....

c.... go with metro to the highest building of Europe it's inside and outside on the top also... about 200metres 80floors,great view on the city of paris http://www.tourmontparnasse56.com/fr/index.html

d.... you could also go to eurodisney in marne-la-vallée ?

ttt

The first time my little girls saw Paris was mid-January. They thought they were going to NYC for Martin Luther King weekend and were floored when we checked into the International line in Paris.

The weather was horrible. The wind blew their hats off, and there's nothing like experiencing sleet along the Seine.

They had a blast!

In our three and one-half days we did the following:
Climbed everything--the Notre Dame Towers, Sacre Couer (in the middle of a lightning storm at dusk--fab!)
Played the metro game--I would show them where we were going on the map; it was their job to navigate where we would go by metro
Hit the Musee d'Orsay and the Louvre--like Huitres, prizes for finding certain paintings, especially because they had studied so many of them in school
Visited Versailles--didn't do the grounds; inside was just fine, thank you
Ascended Eiffel Tower at night
Walked the Champs Elysee from the Arc de Triomphe to the Louvre at night (trees were lit)
Rode the Big Wheel that was up then at the Place de la Concorde
Visited la Conciergerie and the Bird Market on Ile de la Cite

There may even have been more things. Anyone who ordered something in French got spending money for trinkets.

In other words, weather be damned. The next year the kids asked that we spend the Millennium in Paris. And we did!

eclair--The hotel was the Best Western Bretagne Montparnasse. The drivers name was Roger (sp?). I would just call or email the hotel and ask about him. He was so good that we asked him to take us on our last day back to the airport, which he did. BTW, the hotel was nothing fancy, but we liked it. Fairly basic, but the staff were so helpful and we liked the location. The metro stop was about 2 blocks, so very close. BTW they do have quad rooms if you are looking for that.