Paris with kids
January 2020. With great enthusiasm we started planning our trip to Disneyland for that summer. Our daughter would turn 8 in September. Perfect timing…or maybe not.
Like many others, we had to put our lives in pause. It wasn´t until September 2022 that we finally travelled to Paris. As we had the trip on mind for two years, we had plenty of time to gather all the information we needed to make of this trip the perfect one, given the circumstances.
I'm not going to talk about how breathtaking the view from the Montparnasse Tower is. Or how it is to get lost in Montmartre. Notre Dame and its majestic grandeur. Or how the Louvre hypnotizes you and makes you lose track of time, moving from room to room, embracing the culture that it offers you at every corner. Nor am I going to talk about the history of the Eiffel Tower and how many steps there are to the top floor (a lot, by the way).
Diving on the internet looking for information can be exhausting. Information is power, but just in the right amount. In my opinion, too much can be both confusing and time consuming.
That is why I want to share with you my experience and knowledge about this trip, including some useful links.
I am writing this post to give you tips for travelling to Paris and Disneyland with children. For a trip where everything (or almost everything) is ready and organized.
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| Already at Madrid-Barajas airport, ready to start the trip, 28th August 2022 |
We travelled from Madrid to Paris by plane. I have been in Paris quite a few times before, and I find the train a good option if you have plenty of time and energy. Not our case this time.
After staying in Paris for three nights, we went to Disneyland, to spend another three nights before returning to Madrid.
AIRPORTS
In Paris there are three airports:
Charles de Gaulle (GDC)
París ORLY (ORY)
BEAUVAIS (the smallest and farthest one), used mainly by Ryanair.
We went from Madrid-Barajas to Charles de Gaulle, as the hotel was close to the Eiffel Tower.
The return trip was from Paris Orly to Madrid Barajas.
TIP: Travelling to Beauvais airport is much cheaper. But we ruled that option out. Not only because from that airport it takes a lot of time to reach your destination, but also because you can get there just by bus. And I must admit both my daughter and I get carsick, so I am not a bus-friendly person.
Getting to/around Paris
Ways of moving
Paris is a very developed and cosmopolitan city, with a lot of options to move around: bus, train (RER), metro, transilien, batobus, electric bicycles, electric scooters.
RATP: La Régie Autonome des Transport Parisiens (RATP) is the public transport company for the urban areas of Paris (France). Its website includes all kind of information: maps, timetables, itineraries., and prices.
As I had some health issues, walking too much wasn´t part of my options. So besides the metro tickets, we also bought passes for the batobus, to hop on and off as many times as we liked for 2 days.
Ticket and prices
We bought all the tickets we thought we would need through the official Paris tourism website:
-the RER from the airport to the hotel
-the RER from the hotel to Disney
-a block of 10 metro tickets for adults, and another block for children.
There are reduced fares for children on all of them. We bought them online well in advance. They arrived at home by ordinary mail, along with several maps and guides of Paris, very useful. All this, for 3 people, was less than 100 euros.
That was all we needed, because we were staying there just 3 nights - 4 days. But in that very same web you will find a wide range of Pass transport that could fit your needs:1, 2, 3, or 5 days, zone 1 to 3, or zone 1 to 5.
TIP: if you want to save time, you can do as we did. We bought all the tickets we needed beforehand, online from home, through the official website of tourism of Paris, and the batobus pass.
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| Me and my already then 10 year old daughter, Sandra, on the batobus in Paris, August 2022 |
How to reach our destinations
Charles de Gaulle to Novotel Paris Torre Eiffel
At Charles de Gaulle we took the RER B to St-Michel Notre-Dame station, and there we changed to the RERC and got off at Camps de Mars Tour Eiffel station. Then it's a 7-minute walk.
Novotel Paris Torre Eiffel to Disneyland.
Again, we took the RER.
There are other options, including travelling by bus. But after weighing everything up (the suitcases, the child, transfers, me not being in good shape…), we thought the RER was the best ch
oice.
This time we took the RER A. Make sure that the train you take is the A4, which goes to Disney Park, and not the A2.
Disneyland to Orly airport
We took a bus from Disneyland to Orly airport. This was the only ticket we didn´t buy in advance. We bought them there, at our hotel in the Disney Park.
The Magical Shuttle buses offer regular daily connections between Paris-Orly airport and the different Disneyland hotels. It is quite convenient, because these buses stop at all the hotels in the complex, and they run very frequently. You can buy your ticket on their official website, or at the hotel itself.
Places to pay a visit
As I said before, I am not going to talk about all the wonderful, beautiful, artistic, countless monuments and places to visit in Paris, because I would never finish.
But I want to give you an IMPORTANT TIP so you can save both time and money: buy your tickets from the official sites online, if possible. The very same day, or beforehand. You will save a lot of queues, and also money. While I was gathering information, I saw other websites -such as Civitatis- that offer many things but at very high prices, such as going up the Eiffel Tower, or entering the Louvre not queueing. We bought some tickets online well in advance, others the very same day, but always online and through the official websites, and everything was perfect.
Louvre:
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| Sandra trying to take the Louvre pyramid home |
The Eiffel tower
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| Sandra waiting for the Eiffel Tower light show |
A lot of things to say about the Eiffel Tower, so I don´t know where to start. I will just say that it was astonishing, even though I have been up 6 times. This time it was crowed, more than ever. And hotter, more than ever. And I was older, more than ever. So I used the lift for both getting up and down. But my husband and my kid went down the stairs. If I am right, just some levels, not the whole Tower, as some sections of the stairs where closed.
We bought the tickets well in advance, just in case, online. It was the first time for my daughter, and we didn´t want her to miss it.
Sainte Chapelle
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| The dazzling stained glass windows of Sainte-Chapelle |
Hotels
Paris
We stayed at the Novotel Paris Eiffel Tower. A very well located four-star hotel, very close to the tube and the Eiffel Tower. The room is not very spacious, but it has a large window with a great view. Ours overlooked the Seine, and awe inspiring view indeed. Comfortable beds, lovely staff, well located, surrounded by restaurants, minimarkets and shops. Everything is at hand. We loved it, I truly recommend it, an excellent quality/price relationship.
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| The amazing views from our hotel room in Paris, next to the Eiffel Tower |
Disneyland
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| Sandra on our first day at Disneyland, 1st September 2022. Guaranteed fun! |
We stayed in the Santa Fe hotel. Eurodisney deserves an entire post. Many things to take into account. Above all, you have to download the official app, and make restaurant reservations through it. And well i n advance, I would say two months at least. Or it can happen to you like it did to us, we were able to book the dinners, but not the lunches, and we ate wherever we found a place. Even so, it was all very fun and exciting. But as I say, that's another post. We booked the hotel through Atrápalo, but you won´t find any special offer or so. It is a “closed” market, the same price wherever you see, even from the travel agencies.
Links
You can find below the most relevant links for me. Please notice that all of them are included in the information above, as links.
• Official website of tourism of Paris: https://en.parisinfo.com/ (For me the most useful/interesting one)
• Batobus https://www.batobus.com/en/
• RATP (the public transport company) https://www.ratp.fr/en
• Shuttle Bus: https://magicalshuttle.es/autobus/autobuses-orly/
• Louvre: https://www.ticketlouvre.fr/louvre/b2c/index.cfm/calendar/eventCode/MusWeb
• Eiffel Tower: https://www.toureiffel.paris/en
• The Novotel Paris Eiffel Tower https://all.accor.com/hotel/3546/index.en.shtml
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