7-Day Paris Itinerary for families
If you are planning a trip to Paris with your family, this day by day guide will help you plan your trip. My exhusband and I visited Paris in July 2024 with our three children (ages 9, 13 and 16), arriving just days before the Olympics began. While we did not attend any Olympic events, the games did impact our schedule some because of some Paris sites being closed or having limited availability. I will note this in the post below.
I connected with Zoe from The Petit Guide to give me some guidance on planning our trip. She helped me with what places were close together, how long things would take to visit, etc. An American living in Paris, she is a gem and I highly recommend reaching out if you need help with planning.
Day 1: Fly to Paris
We flew to Paris on Monday. We were able to get really affordable tickets to Paris by leveraging Going + credit card points. Tickets Nashville to Paris are often $1200, but we got tickets for $450 each.
Paris for Families: Day 2
We arrived at 8:30 am and it took us about 90 minutes to get off the plane, get through customs, buy our train ticket for our son who didn’t have a phone and determine where to go to get to our AirBNB. Paris has an easy and impressive train system, which we used exclusively during our visit to the city. We did not have extensive experience with public transportation and did very well throughout the week. A few things to note:
- Download the RTR app: This is the app that allows you to buy your train ticket, see train times and maps of where to go. We downloaded this on all our phones ahead of the trip, set up our accounts and each bought a one-week train ticket. We were not able to buy a weekly ticket for our youngest on the app, since it was one per app, so we bought him a weekly ticket that was on a card that he scanned during the week.
- Don’t forget to build in time for transportation. It will often take longer than you think!
We got to our AirBNB around noon, ate some food from a local bakery, changed and rested a tiny bit before heading to visit the Musee d’Orsay, which is one of Paris’s beautiful museums and home to paintings by Monet, Renoir and Van Goh. It was so incredible and not too big, so a perfect first museum to visit in the city. We bought tickets directly on the museum’s website in advance of the trip.
NOTE: If the Olympics were not going on, I would have put our Siene river boat cruise here. Because of the Olympics, we could not do the boat cruise until Saturday.
Paris has many wonderful restaurants and we had dinner at one near our AirBNB that night and then went to bed.
Paris for Families: Day 3
We started our day with a guided tour of the Louvre. We got to the area early and walked around the pretty streets.
I HIGHLY recommend doing a guided tour versus getting tickets and doing it yourself. We learned a lot and our guide’s expertise made the experience so much more enjoyable for our whole family.
After the Louvre, we wanted to visit the Tulleries Gardens, but they were closed because of the Olympics. This meant we didn’t get to experience the charming puppet shows and little pond sailboats that are so iconic to Paris, which was a bummer.
We were still feeling very jetlagged, so we headed home after the museum, took naps and freshened up for dinner.
We had dinner at Francette, which was our favorite dining experience in Paris because it is located on the Sienne, directly in front of the Eiffel Tower.
We had a leaisurely dinner, then remained at the restaurant until the Eiffel Tower twinkled.
NOTE: If I were to do it over, we would have left about 40 minutes earlier and done family photos at the Eiffel Tower before dinner. We had plans to go back on Saturday (keep reading), but it would have been easy to do here AND it rained Saturday, so I was a bit bummed about our photos.
Paris for Families: Day 4
We visited Versailles on Thursday and it was one of my favorite experiences of Paris. Do not skip it. It is opulent and magical.
Tip: Book your tickets first thing in the morning (9 am) and don’t do a tour. Simply walk through on your own.
You will get through the palace pretty quickly and be able to rent a coveted golf cart to tour the gardens. (You aren’t allowed into the gardens until after you have toured the palace.)
The gardens are enormous and renting a golf cart allows you to explore them in a timely manner. We were able to rent one cart for the five of us. It cost $50 for the first hour and then $17 per quarter hour after that (and worth every penny).
I do think that doing Versailles after a guided tour at the Louvre was great. We had a lot of appreciation for the palace because of what we learned in the Louvre tour.
When we got home, we took a nap and then Adeline & I did some shopping and had dinner. The boys had dinner separately, since we were having girl time.
Paris for Families: Day 5
This was one of our family’s favorite days in Paris. We spent most of the day in Montmarte, a charming area with wonderful food, artists and beautiful views of Paris. We followed The Petit Guide’s family Montmarte guide and I highly recommend getting it if you are planning a trip. It was very helpful and the perfect day.
A few highlights included:
Seeing the outside of The Moulin Rouge
Treats from Aux Merveilleux de Fred: This was my favorite dessert in France. They make these desserts called Merveilleux, which are meringues glued together with whipped cream and rolled in various toppings. They were somehow both light and rich. Absolutely divine
Seeing the I Love You Wall
Checking out the view of Paris from Sacre Coeur, then finding Olivia Rodrigo’s lock on the fence nearby. We did not go into the church because of long lines and timing, but it is supposed to be stunning.
The Place du Tertre Artist Square: This was my kids’ favorite part of Montmarte because the square has dozens of artists that draw charcoal portraits. Each of the kids’ had one done and it was so special to experience. These are keepsakes we will enjoy for years to come.
We wanted to go to one of the opening ceremony viewing areas in Paris and decided to go to the one in our area. However, once we got there, we found it to not be a great environment (long lines, little seating) and we didn’t feel super safe. We decided to go back to our neighborhood
Paris for Families: Day 6
We started the day by going to Shakespeare & Company books and to see the outside of Notre Dame.
The two are across the street from each other and it was a perfect little morning visit. If my planning had been better, we would have then done Saint Chappel, as it is also nearby. I unfortunately though couldn’t get morning tickets.
Because of overbooking of Eiffel Tower tickets, our tour we had planned to do earlier in the week got booked for Saturday at noon. This seemed like it was going to be fine until we woke up to a day of pouring rain in Paris. The rain lasted all day and into the night. Our tour was delayed because of the rain and then because of issues with the elevators at the Eiffel tour. We still loved going to the top and looking out over Paris… it just was not the day I had imagined, you know?
Here are some things I learned about Eiffel Tower bookings – it is best if you book with the Eiffel Tower directly. Sometimes tour companies will oversell, as they did in our case. This can result in your tour being rebooked or cancelled. In our case, I was unable to book directly because of the Olympics. Tickets sold out SO fast.
That said, you should ALSO book with a tour company. Then, if and when you get tickets directly from Eiffel Tower, you can cancel the tour company. But if you don’t get the tickets direct, the tour company will ensure you still get the experience. I was thankful I had booked with Viator because of this. If I would have waited to try to get Eiffel tickets and then found them sold out, I likely couldn’t have gotten them anywhere.
Also, never book on the first day of your trip because if you experience flight delays, you may miss the Eiffel Tower, which is typically a trip highlight for people visiting Paris.
After visiting the Eiffel Tower we were supposed to go to Saint Chappel, but we were so wet and tired from the Eiffel Tower that we skipped it and went home to rest and freshen up.
That evening, we ended our visit in Paris with a Siene River Boat cruise. Now these boats are RIGHT by the Eiffel Tower.
Our original plan was to do the boat cruise, then visit the Eiffel Tower, but the cruises that day didn’t start until 2 (because of the Olympic Opening Ceremony the night before). We should have done this immediately after the Eiffel Tower, but because of the rain and general family tiredness, we didn’t.
It made for a longer night (our AirBNB was not convenient to the tower + train lines were extra busy because of the Olympics).
Paris for Families Day 7
For our last day, we went to Disneyland Paris. A lot of people wonder if they should go to Disneyland Paris when visiting Paris, and I was so glad we did it. It was amazing. Less crowded than Disney in the states, great rides, clean and just so lovely.
I loved doing it at the end of the trip as a bit of reward for the kids after so many art museums – ha! This was my boys’ favorite day of the vacation. We all had a blast. Here’s a post answering some FAQs about Disneyland Paris.
Paris Vacation Itinerary for Families
I’ve created a modified itinerary based on our experience and the Olympics not happening. 🙂 If you are planning a family trip to Paris, here is how I would schedule it:
DAY 1: Tulleries Gardens + Orsay Museum
DAY 2: Louvre Museum + L’Orangerie + Francette for dinner
DAY 3: Versailles + Siene Boat Cruise
DAY 4: Montmarte
DAY 5: Eiffel Tower + Saint Chappel, Notre Dame and Shakespeare and Co.
DAY 6: Disneyland Paris
For another itinerary, check out this week-long itinerary by my friend Janssen from Everyday Reading.
Where to stay in paris
We stayed at an AirBNB in the 12th and it was fine, but wouldn’t be my first pick because the location was a bit far from the sites we visited (usually 20-30 minutes on the train + walking). Because we bought our tickets just three months before our trip AND the Olympics were going on, much of the city was booked. We also needed a bit of extra space as a divorced family of five (three bedrooms), which again, because of the Olympic limitations was a bit harder to come by.
My friend Preethi has a great post about where to stay in Paris here.
One thing to note, much of Paris is not air conditioned. I don’t think a single restaurant we ate at was air conditioned, and our AirBNB was also not air conditioned. (We were told most hotels have AC). Thankfully, the weather was in the 70s, so it wasn’t unbearable, but it was not comfortable. I probably wouldn’t ever visit Paris again in the summer because of this (or at least, I would be VERY sure that the place I was staying at had AC).
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