How to Help Kids REALLY Experience Paris (other than the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre)

You came to Paris and beelined for the Eiffel Tower. Then you took an obligatory family picture in front of it, you watched it sparkle after dark, the kids were ecstatic, then you bought a miniature version of it in a souvenir shop, and then… What? 

What else is there for the kids to see here? Are your kids too young to really appreciate Paris?

Your kid will probably remember the weird-looking cheese in the market more than the quiet street that was once the center of a revolution, but that’s okay. You can still visit all the famous sights, but they don’t need to take over the trip. 

Read on, and you’ll see how to make Paris interesting for kids (and for you!).

Explore One Neighborhood at a Time

If you’re in Paris, you want to make the most of it and see as much as possible. 

That’s a totally understandable mindset, but it’s also a shortcut to severe exhaustion. And if you have kids, then you can assume most of your plans will fall apart by lunchtime. They couldn’t care less that the next building is only 15 minutes away if their feet hurt and you’ve already spent 3 hours telling them to look up.

It’s better to pick one neighborhood and just stay there for a little while. Marais is a good one. You can walk through Place des Vosges, look inside the courtyards, stop at a bakery (the kids will sure love this part!), wander around, and just enjoy what you see. The buildings there look more like small palaces than homes, and they’ll be interesting to everyone.

There’s no need to explain dates and architectural styles, though. Just ask your kids who they think lived behind those huge wooden doors once upon a time, or let them find the weirdest face carved into a building. 

This gives them a reason to pay attention, but it doesn’t make them feel like they’re at school.

Montmartre is also a good choice, but it’s different from Marais. Montmartre will give you staircases, sloping streets, artists, and rooftop views that will make you feel like you’re barely even in Paris anymore.

And a pro tip here – take the funicular when the kids get tired instead of forcing them up yet another staircase.

How to Show Kids More of Paris

It’s a known fact that family travel’s a great way for kids to learn (in an informal way, of course), but they won’t learn a thing if they can’t pay attention to what’s around them because they’re bored out of their minds.

Here’s how to make it more interesting for them.

Visit a Market in One of the Neighborhoods

The Paris market will get the kids’ attention pretty quickly. Even the not-so-dramatic stalls are interesting to look at. There are cheeses in all kinds of shapes, neatly stacked fruit, fish on ice, and so on.

Give your kids a few euros and let them help decide what you’ll buy for lunch. Just don’t let them touch stuff, and have them move aside if the stall gets busy. Once you’ve bought what you wanted, go to a park and have a family taste test.

Try French Food, But With Context

The fact that something is French may be enough to make you want to try it, but your kids? Not so much. There are still ways to get them to be curious, but you have to be a bit more creative.

For example, if they can watch the bread as it comes out of the oven, they’ll probably want to try it. Or, if they find a pastry with a funny name, they’ll want to try that, too. 

You don’t have to turn the entire concept of lunch into a lesson; just give them some context.

Look at Paris Through Arts and Photos

You can plan this yourself, or you can explore Fernwayer’s Paris cultural experiences. The point is to not push anything on anyone and give every member of your family something to talk about. Ask kids who in the paintings looks annoyed or what they think happened right before what they see in the painting.

When you get out, hand them the camera and give them a theme (e.g., reflections, red doors, strange details, etc.) and let them choose what they photograph. 

And at the end of the day, have everyone pick their favorite photo.

Conclusion

There’s no ‘right way’ to do Paris, although you’ll find plenty of guides on it. And your kids probably won’t come back home and talk about the architecture or the history, and that’s totally understandable. Just make sure they have something to talk about, even if it’s just cheese and a weird-looking pebble.

You can get the picture in front of the Eiffel Tower, and you can enjoy the Louvre. 

But you have to leave enough room for what everyone else wants to do, even if that’s just wandering around and taking pictures of parks.