I know this topic has been done before but apparently not recently. We will be in Paris in the middle of August for 7 nights with our 3 boys, ages 15, 12 and 7. One day will be in Normandy (a long day trip for a private tour of the D-Day sites) and one in Disneyland. That leaves 4 days. Our kids are doers, not lookers. What do you suggest? Also, any thoughts on a day or half day outing to Versailles with them?

Paris is great for its gardens and public spaces. Have a picnic (to-go sandwiches from a bakery are wonderful) at Luxembourg Gardens or in the Tuileries. Kicking around a district like the Latin Quarter with street performers, and lots of action might suit. I'm not a museum person myself so appreciate the need to get out and look around. It's such a vibrant city, I'm no kid expert but trying to find open air concerts, watching the roller blading, side walk artists, performance artists & mines (I never thought I'd say that but have seen some amazing things). All good!

They might enjoy the Parc de la Villette. You could visit the Cité des Sciences which is a great science museum and watch a movie in the round in the Geode. There is also the Cité de la Musique which is a music museum where you wear headphones that are laser activated as you walk up to each exhibit. If any of your kids plays an instrument, they would enjoy it. Might enjoy it even if they just like to listen to music.

You could rent a little sailboat although that might be more appealing to the 7 year old. Perhaps older brothers could "help" him sail the little boat. They have these in the Tuileries and Luxembourg Gardens.

Climb the Eiffel Tower! Take a boat ride on the Seine. Visit the outdoor sculpture garden on the Seine. Eat lunch in the medieval garden outside the Cluny museum (Musée de Moyen Age).

If you're there on Sunday, enjoy the roller blading. Perhaps you could even join in.

Paris is a terrific city for kids of all ages. BTW, you might try Parc Asterix in addition to Disneyland if you want a "French" theme park experience. Their web site is http://www.parcasterix.com so you can get an idea of what it is.

Have a great time!

I have on disk a long note on things that Fodor s parents say their children liked in Paris, and shall e-mail it to you with pleasure if you ask me to.

[email protected]

I just went on a bike tour around Paris. It was great and their were kids on the ride with us. Perhaps 7 is too young, though. Just a thought.

Hi,

You might find bike and Segway tours interesting:

http://www.fattirebiketoursparis.com/

good suggestion from SalB. The Geode is the largest IMAX dome theatre in the world, and the introductory sequence is worth the price of admission. Another thing to do is to tour L'Argonaut, an actual submarine they have on display there.

Check out what's going on in Paris in early August on www.whatsonwhen.com. I'm going to be there for three days starting August 9 with my two kids (a bit older than yours), and we got some great ideas for outdoor concerts, etc. from that site.

There are street performers and lots of activity in the large plaza outside the Pompidou Museum.

Here's a thread on swimming pools in Paris: (that's all I can think of that I'd want to do in August! wheww..)
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34508374

And a few more ideas...

http://www.paris-tourism.com/kids/index.html

The Musée de la Magie (Magic Museum)
http://www.museedelamagie.com/
11 rue St Paul 75004 M: Saint Paul
5 - 7 € exhibits of old-time 'magic' tricks, a 15-min magician show
(the 15 yr-old may be blasé, but then aren't they always?..)

the Catacombs in the 14th - M: Denfert Rochereau
http://triggur.org/cata/ for photo tour
Tours are available Tuesday through Friday 2PM-4PM and Saturdays and Sundays 9AM-11AM and 2PM-4PM.
The 15 and 12-yr old will probably think this is cool. It's all very neat and tidy, but I can't say what the 7 yr old might think.

Zoo de Vincennes
Menagerie du Jardin des Plantes
Museum National d'Histoire naturelle
Jardin des Plantes
57, rue Cuvier 75005
Metro : Jussieu, Gare d'Austerlitz
Tel : 33 (0)1 40 79 37 94

Went to Paris with my sons ages 16 & 18 in April and some of their best times were sitting in the parks people watching-Luxembourg was great-remember to have a crepe! Decide on a place to go-museum, park, etc. and then let your older ones figure out the best way to get there-walk, subway, bus-keeps them involved, gives them choices. We got to Versailles at 9am when they opened and left about 3pm-had lunch at one of the cafes near the canal-saw almost everything,walking not taking the trams. It was a sunny day in the 70's, had been cool days before so many people had picnic lunches they brought in and sitting around the canal having lunch. You can rent rowboats to use on the canal, I think it was about 8E for either 30 min. or an hour that they might enjoy doing. There were no English speaking tours available on the day we were there as it was a holiday but the audiotapes are helpful to keep their interest in what they are seeing. If you decide to go to the Louvre, find the interactive computer area-it allows them to "manipulate" the art, turning it 360 degrees, etc. and then made the exhibits much more interesting to go out into the exhibit area and find the actual art object since kids are so use to seeing things through the eyes of a computer. Also climb the towers of Notre Dame and see the gargoyles! Have a great time!

My boys loved the sewer tour - Les Egouts. It's easy to find near the Pont d'Alma RER stop. If they've seen (or read!) Les Miserables, so much the better.

Also, we opted for Parc Asterix instead of Disney. It was a lot of fun, and easy to get to on the RER.

Since you're paying for the excursion, force them to go to the Louvre. We took the Rick Steve's Mona Winks Louvre tour, and I was very pleasantly surprised at how much my guys enjoyed their stay.

We just returned from Paris--short stay--with our 3 kids, 16, 13 and 10 years. I highly rec ommend that you plan WITH them before hand, with a guidebook and take their lists of what they want to do. Then pick and choose from their stuff. We did the Louvre and Musee d'Orsay with our kids by letting them tell us how long they wanted to spend there-- a short visit is better than none, and we tried to find the parts they'd like or had studied. Look into the Museum of Natural history, which we didn't get to. Our two youngest loved sailing boats at Luxembourg Gardens. We did Versailles, taking a bus tour; it was unbearably crowded and stuffy inside the palace rooms. If you go, do get there early, do the inside, then the gardens. We ate at museum cafes a lot, for a bite or lunch. Everyone loved the Eiffel Tower.

The 15 yr old son will enjoy looking at all the girls-- I promise you. My own two teenage daughters loved it. Things like the Pompidou Centre and Eiffel are fun. They might enjoy the artists at Montmarte if the like art-- Mine loved museums, but that's not for everyone.

Just to remind you that August 15 is a public holiday in France; shops, banks are closed.

TULIPS, thanks for pointing that out. We arrive in Paris on August 16th, so we clear the holiday. EEYANN, were your kids interested in Versailles? Also, are they boys/girls/mix? SMIROGLOTTA, my 12 year old will also like the girls -- however, it is my 8 year old who the ladies love, whether they are 8 or 18! My 15 year old and his friends say that my 8 year old is a "player!" Everyone, thanks for the suggestions. Keep them coming.

Let us know what your kids like in Paris. I'm going with my 10/12 year old daughters in November.

We took our kids (13, 11 and 8) to Paris in March and if you search under my screen name you should find my reports.

Basically, they loved anything that coudl be climbed up and looked out of: Arch de Triomphe, Notre Dame tower, Sacre Coeur tower, Eifel tower, the Beauburg, etc. They loved eating crepes and ice cream and chwarmas from the street. They loved the public parks (Luxemborg and Tuilleries Gardens)...they even have trampolines at Tuilleries! The playground equipment is less "safe" than in the US, so even my 13 year old had a great time on the playgrounds. (Intersting: the mueseums are free for the kids, but many of the public playgrounds charge admission.)

The 13 yr old loves ancient Egypt, so we spent most of our Louvre time in the ancient Egyptian scetion.

If you're okay with it from a religious point of view, have the 15 year old - and maybe even the 12 yr old - read The Davinci Code.

We skipped Versailles. At the Carnvalet and the Louvre we saw a few decorated rooms and every one of my kids thought they were a huge yawn, so we wisely avoided Versailles.

We enjoyed the Picasso Museum and the Pompidou Centre. The very modern art is a lot of fun to look at and talk about.

We loved Disneyland, although Space Mountain was truly painful. Big Thunder Montain Railroad is terrific!

Missypie, I will look up your reports (I have probably already read some of them). How many days did you spend in Paris (not including Disneyland or other excursions)?