We are a family of 4. DH, DS4, DS2 and myself. We are from India currently living in Chicago. We will be making our once in 2 years India trip in October. We are planning on a stopover in Paris for 4-5 days enroute to India.
Our DS4 now knows Eiffel Tower, Arc de triomphe etc (Thanks to Little Einsteins & all the books he reads ) so it will be a good time to make some memories for him. We as a couple have been to Paris twice now and know the place very well..Both those times we have stayed at the Champs de Mars hotels next to Rue Cler.Now my question is would it be even suitable for kids ?? Maybe a triple room ?? We also want to do a daytrip somewhere outside of Paris..We have been to the Versailles last time so is there any other place that is good for kids (other than Disney of course !). All we plan to do in Paris is visit Eiffel Tower, Arc de triomphe, Sacre cour, Berthillon icecream ofcourse !! and the parks where the kids can run around !!!

TIA for all the advice I can get !
Ash

This from Sunday, 2/19 NYT Travel:


http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/02/1...el/19kids.html

That was an excellent article..I have printed it out !! ANy suggestions on places to stay..anyone ?!?!
Ash

An NYT article that mentions the rue Cler—what a coincidence! Not sure where she extracted her list of stuff for kids, but it looks a bit lame.

Anyway, kids will like the Cité des Sciences at La Villette, especially the Cité des Enfants, with a vast number of hands-on exhibits that really work, and a limited number of kids allowed in at any one time, guaranteeing that everyone can play with everything.

The Palais de la Découverte is also very interesting, albeit a bit older.

The Jardin d'Acclimatation on the west side is fun and inexpensive for kids; it's a tiny but pleasant amusement park. It has a nice train that goes all over the park and also through the Bois de Boulogne.

France Miniature, west of Paris, is a gigantic map of France with all the major landmarks of the country in 1/30 scale. It also has a fabulous collection of cross-country outdoor model trains in 1/30 scale that run continuously through the map, and it has an indoor exhibit of exquisite miniature scenes.

Parc Asterix is a Disney-style theme park north of Paris with great rides, shows, and fun, and a big selection of wild roller-coasters as well.

The Luxembourg Gardens have a huge playground for kids with lots of cool stuff to play on, as well as donkey rides, miniature cars, etc.

The Parc des Buttes Chaumont on the northeast side has extremely hilly terrain that varies in elevation by 20 stories and includes a 20-story waterfall that ends up in a cool cave. It also has tunnels on a high mountain in the middle of a lagoon in the park.

The Catacombs can be interesting to many kids. They are just spooky enough to be fun, but not scary.

Notre-Dame attracts a lot of kids, especially those who have seen the film or hear the story.

Disneyland Resort Paris, of course, is in a class by itself.

There are IMAX theaters at La Défense and La Villette, and a huge playground and other attractions at La Villette as well (including a submarine that they can visit). There's a motion theater there, too, and a museum of music.

Kids enjoy the Eiffel Tower a lot, although you say they've already seen it. They like boat rides on the Seine, too. Many parks have nice playgrounds that can keep kids busy for hours.

As far as places to stay go: Citadines or other apartment-hotels are nice if you have kids, since you can save on meals for finicky eaters by cooking in the apartment, and you have more flexibility for accommodating kids.

Ok our plans are slowly getting shaped !! I priced the airtickets on Airfrance from Chi to Bombay with a stopover and they come to 5500$ for all 4 of us(4 adults and 2 kids ages 4 &2). W/o the stopover it is 5250$..So its like we get to go to Paris for 240$ for the 4 of us !!! I have sent an email to Hotel Champ de mars to see if they will have a room for all 4 of us and am waiting to hear from them..We
will be in Paris for 5 days. We are planning to drop Versailles from our iternary and instead take a TGV trip somewhere an hour away. My 4 year DS wants to go on the TGV since he has seen photos of us in a TGV and he is totally into trains !

Ash

Oh I forgot to ask this ..What are our options for taking the TGV for a couple of hours and then spending a couple hours at that place and maybe coming back by a non-TGV train(for cost purposes !!). Other than that we are planning on Eiffel tower, Arc de trimpohe, Sacrecour,boat trip on siene, trip to Berthillon for icecream and in general park visits. Want to take it really slow with the kids. We may also take the 2 day pass for the open bus tour since the boys dig double-decker buses !!

Thanks in advance
ash

anyone ??? One of the options we were thinking was Dijon.

Ash

Dijon would be one possibility. YOu could also go to Tours in the Loire valley, there are both TGV and regular trains from it. I haven't been to Dijon so don't know how far you need to walk to do sightseeing -- in Tours, the main area of interest is a bit of a walk from the train station -- probably at least half a mile.

Euro Disney should be a fun trip. Also, note that many French restaurants (not jsut the high end ones) and even small, chic stores are not kid-friendly. When I traveled in Paris, I did not notice see kids in restaurants at all.

I think there are some articles in the internet showing the kid-friendly restaurants.

Thanks !!

Christina - I will look up Tours.

Barkinpark - We will be going to Disney, Orlando next February so we want to wait and see the real thing !!!

Does anyone know where the open bus 2 day pass can be bought ??

Ash