{"id":12243,"date":"2017-01-17T08:34:48","date_gmt":"2017-01-17T13:34:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/?p=12243"},"modified":"2017-05-22T07:54:58","modified_gmt":"2017-05-22T11:54:58","slug":"traveling-to-paris-with-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/2017\/01\/17\/traveling-to-paris-with-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"Traveling to Paris with Kids: Everything you Need to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"
This post is part of my Traveling Tuesday Series<\/a>.<\/em><\/h5>\n

Traveling to Paris with kids can seem like a silly thing to do, but our visit when our eldest daughter, Honeybun, \u00a0was only 22 months old (and I was 26 weeks pregnant) was a great start to what became our European Adventure<\/a> after a two year to Ireland for my husband’s job. We spent five days in the City of Lights and enjoyed every second of it!
\n<\/a>\"Traveling<\/a><\/p>\n

Here are the basics of traveling to Paris with kids:<\/h2>\n

Getting Around<\/h3>\n

Paris has a great public transport system. There are trains that run from the airports to the city and taxis are abundant. The Metro (underground trains) will get you nearly anywhere though many of the stations do not have elevators for strollers\/buggies so keep that in mind when planning your travels.<\/p>\n

For sightseeing there is also the hop-on-hop-off bus tour which consists of four different bus routes that will take you within easy walking distance of pretty much any sights you want to see in Paris with kids.\"Paris<\/a><\/p>\n

Kid Accessibility<\/h3>\n

Paris is an old city and so is not always friendly for getting around with kids. Some of the streets are cobblestone and many of the buildings, including restaurants and hotels, have steps leading in. It’s best, if possible, to travel with a lightweight buggy\/stroller and a carrier or sling to make getting in and out of places easier.<\/p>\n

When we were visiting in 2010, there were also very few baby changing tables to be found. My suggestion if you are traveling to Paris with a baby or toddler in diapers is to bring a reusable changing pad and practice doing diaper changes standing up in the corner as restrooms tend to be tiny and there isn’t even always room to lay a child on the floor.<\/p>\n

Also, if your child is a milk drinker, be prepared for the cultural differences as French parents give their children warmed milk with sugar and it took us a whole day to figure out how to ask for cold milk (“lait froid<\/em>“). Even after breaking the language barrier we still had to explain at every restaurant that our daughter wouldn’t drink warmed milk (we tried the first day and it was a big no-go!)<\/p>\n

Eating in Paris with kids<\/h3>\n

There are literally thousands of small sidewalk cafes and restaurants anywhere you go in Paris. Picking a place can be a bit tricky if you don’t speak French and we discovered that picking restaurants with translated menus helped make meal times less frustrating for everyone because not only could we read the menus, there were more likely to be English speaking staff which made just made communicating easier (though we did have one very lovely meal where the waiter didn’t speak English and we don’t speak French but we all stayed cordial and it worked out just fine!)<\/p>\n

Finding foods our daughter would eat was never a problem (though she isn’t a picky eater, traveling certainly helped with that!) Most cafes and restaurants will offer basic things most kids will enjoy.<\/p>\n

Shopping<\/h3>\n

We’re not big shoppers and didn’t do a lot of shopping while in Paris but did wander into the Forum de Halles one evening after dinner. Other popular shopping areas in Paris include:<\/p>\n