All about our trip to France as a family:
WHY did we choose to travel to France with two young children (6yrs and 1.5yrs)?
Sometimes you hear people say, “Wait until they’re older to travel, they’ll be able to remember it.”.
To this, I say…they clearly have never witnessed just how much a young child can enjoy and benefit from travel. My 1.5yr old was able to point out the Eiffel Tower, and STILL gets so excited if ever we see an image of it somewhere. He allowed us to enjoy our travels with a completely different lens. I won’t even get into this side of things, but I do promise you that traveling while they’re young is incredible beneficial to them.
"We knew we wanted to immerse our children in the French language, rather than focus on tourist attractions and sight-seeing."
Tips to Traveling to France as a Family:
1. Anytime there is a lineup for something, be sure to book tickets ahead of time. We did this for “L’Arc de Triomphe” as well as the Eiffel Tower. This led to a speedy entry!
2. Plan your walking tours / anything that requires more energy for the morning. Save the kid-oriented / more relaxing activities for the afternoon.
3. Bring a good travel-friendly stroller / carrier:
We used the Baby Jogger City Tour 2 and it worked perfectly everywhere in Lyon. In Paris, my husband did have to pick it up as it was just a tad too big to fit through some of the metro gates etc., but it is very light-weight and folds up to be really small. I noticed that MANY parents in Paris had a YoYo Babyzen stroller because they are the smallest travel stroller around…but they are quite pricey! If you have a toddler or preschooler, there are these very cool carriers “PiggyBack Rider” which allows them to go on your back but in a standing position, allowing them to see all the views!
4. Avoid ‘la canicule’ heat wave. Yes, this is when we went (mid to late August) and next time, we’ll be doing our best to avoid this time because there is what they call a “Canicule” (a crazy heat wave – I’m talking 35-39 degree weather). Also, it’s during their holidays, so many activities and stores etc. are closed! Go pretty much any other time of year. Google “la canicule” and avoid it if you can.
5. Use HomeExchange as your accommodations! Seriously…it makes traveling as a family SO affordable and convenient. We paid only $175 (their annual fee) for our entire 12 day visit to France. CLICK HERE to learn all about our experience.
6. Include lots of simple activities. For example: enjoying a croissant while your children play at a park. Though it’s great to experience the big monuments and tourist sights, there’s something really special about allowing your child the opportunity to play at a park, immersed in the French language, running around with the neighbourhood children.
7. Use a bilingual babysitting service! MaryPop made our trip extra special because our children got an incredible cultural experience with two local French babysitters, and my husband and I got to enjoy some adult travel time as well! Having booked a zoom meeting with our babysitter prior to our travel, we were completely at ease, having already met her. You can watch that virtual meeting here and see our babysitting experience here. Use the code: AMY2023 for a special discount. Read the captions of those videos to learn just how unique MaryPop bilingual babysitting services are!
8. Don’t get offended if, when speaking French, somebody switches to English. This is NOTHING to do with your abilities or lack thereof. It has everything to do with the person recognizing you have a different accent (P.S. We ALL have accents!) and trying their best to offer you good service OR it could also be that they wish to practice their English!
What should you do if you want to speak French? Continue speaking French. They’ll either switch back to French, or if they continue in English, you can politely say you prefer to speak French. Don’t let it affect your confidence: Watch this video and be sure to read the caption to boost your confidence on this subject.
9. Find unique local businesses to visit. I really enjoyed meeting the locals and getting immersed by French culture through visiting placed that aren’t tourist hot spots. I will share some of these locations in our itinerary below.
10. Make a Kid-Friendly Itinerary. I made my son a “Check-list style” visual itinerary with 1 activity image per day. This really helped him feel in control and aware of what we would be doing each day, added some fun, and made traveling less overwhelming for him!).
Our Family's France Trip Itinerary:
I had SO many requests for our travel itinerary from our Instagram community, and so I’m sharing our exact itinerary for our 12 day trip to France! P.S. We’ll be going again next year 😉 so I’ll update the blog then too.
This Family Trip to France included 7 days in Lyon and 6 days in Paris!
Our Family Trip to Lyon Itinerary:
DAY 1: Arrival in Lyon after overnight flight
Knowing full well that we’d be exhausted from an overnight flight, we made no concrete plans for this day.
We bought groceries (highly recommend doing this ASAP to have access to snacks etc. for happy little ones!), got settled into our Lyon HomeExchange, and explored our neighbourhood.
Day 2: Exploring Like a Local
Local Café: Rather than heading straight to the tourist attractions, we had arranged to meet with a local business “Chez Daddy” to learn about its unique offerings to their community. I made a video about our experience here.
French Cinema: Later, I took my eldest son to a nearby French cinema. It was incredible for him to experience a theatre where all movies were in French!
Berges de Rhône: We walked over to the Rhône river (there are 2 major rivers, both incredibly beautiful to walk along), and the children played in the shallow pools along the water.
Day 3: Park & Aqua Park Day
Parc de la Tête D’Or: This is a beautiful massive park with a free zoo and many incredible activities for families. Unfortunately for us, the canicule heat was too much to handle and we opted out much earlier than expected and switched our day activity to…
Piscine du Rhône (Centre Nautique Tony Bertrand): Large family friendly pools (including a great toddler pool & sprinkler area!), right alongside the Rhône river with an incredible backdrop of the Fourvière Basilica. We had a wonderful time here! Funny Tip: Ensure adult males have “French bathing suits” or you will have to purchase one prior to entering.
Dinner at L’Epicerie de Ginette: I am including this detail because: A) They specialize in “tartines” (a French classic!), and B) they were SO good with kids! After my son’s meal, they gave him a bag full of candy (haha!) which, as you can imagine, made his entire day.
Day 4: Fourvière & Vieux Lyon
Fourvière Cathedral: An incredibly large Cathedral that you can see from anywhere in Lyon and has a gorgeous view of the city. We recommend taking the Funicular up (a cool train that goes in a tunnel up a hill)!
Vieux Lyon: Beautiful cobblestone streets with small restaurants, stores, and cafes.
We highly recommend “Café Ô Passage” as their brunch was delicious and there’s a little play nook for kids!
Musée de l’illusion Lyon: We had a blast at this museum of optical illusions. It was right up my 6yr old’s alley and had great air conditioning 🤣.
Day 5: Musée Cinéma & Miniature
Museum of Cinema & Miniature Art : This excursion was fun for the whole family. We got to see so many incredible relics & the floors with the miniature creations left us in awe. Watch a video of our experience here.
FNAC: This is a big department store in France, but we are BIG fans because of their book & toy collections (all French obviously!). I could have stayed there for hours.
The Best Crêpes: I am a very big fan of crêpes…my favourite? Lemon & sugar. At Crêperie Marie La Morgane… we had the BEST I’ve ever tasted (and I’ve had a LOT).
Babysitter with Mary Pop: Read above to learn more! We enjoyed a long walk to my old studying grounds (Université Lumière Lyon 2), and took advantage of the child-free time to do a lot more walking!
Day 6: Lugdunum Museum & Roman Theatre
Lugdunum Museum: This is one of the most impressive museums I have ever seen in my life for several reasons:
1. The Children’s Section is AMAZING & there are interactive activities all through for kids.
2. The incredible views to the Roman Theatre (windows show the theatre from within the museum, and you can walk out to explore the theatre yourself).
3. The museum’s architecture and layout is so fun to walk (and run!) around.
4. The ancient artifacts are unbelievable.
Last Walk around Lyon: We fell in love with this city and finished our visit with a big long tour of all our favourite places. Why did we love this city so much? It feels very safe, very clean, and not overly packed with tourists. We were able to get a little piece of what it might feel like to live in France. It is also a very walkable city, and our HomeExchange location was so ideally placed in the centre, that it made travel throughout the city very easy.
Lyonnais People: I lived in Lyon for a short period of time during my studies, and one thing I remembered was the kindness of the Lyonnais people. We had the same experience this time as well. Though we speak French, we don’t have a “France accent” and so the majority of people we encountered seemed curious to get to know us. We had so many lovely encounters (at a local coffee shop, a local game store, servers…etc.), that this city left us feeling “at home”. À la prochaine Lyon, we will most certainly be back.
Our Family Trip to Paris Itinerary:
Day 7: High Speed Train to Paris
The BEST way to travel from Lyon to Paris: The high speed train!
It took us 1 hour and 55 minutes (which would otherwise take 4.5hrs+ driving). The perfect amount of time for my toddler to nap!
We arrived in Paris at 3pm and headed for our HomeExchange in the 16th arrondissement.
Much like Day 1, we took our time to settle in, get groceries, and walk around our neighbourhood.
16e Arrondissement: This neighbourhood is absolutely gorgeous. The architecture of the buildings is striking (the price to live here would be INSANE)…but unbelievably luckily for us, our HomeExchange was free. This neighbourhood is also quite close to L’Arc de Triomphe and La Tour Eiffel, and yet feels like a safe family neighbourhood away from all the tourists.
"I will admit that I didn't have the best picture of Paris in my mind prior to our trip."
I have visited Paris 3 times before, and admittedly, none of them left me wanting to go back! Seeing as it is an easy flight from Canada, Paris tends to always be a stop in my European adventures.
HOWEVER, Paris won me over this trip and I’ll tell you why:
Though we did do many of the tourist attractions, having our HomeExchange in a neighbourhood outside of the busy tourist areas allowed us to escape the hustle and bustle and provided me with some down time rather than constantly feeling “on guard” as a mother looking out for two young kiddos.
We also planned for a lot of simple activities, like park visits while eating croissants, simple walks around neighbourhoods etc. This allowed us time to get a feel for Paris life as a family, and less like a tourist in a crazy busy city.
That said, let me share…
My Family’s Paris Trip Itinerary:
Day 8: Arc de Triomphe
Arc de Triomphe: This is arguably one of the best views of Paris and to avoid the long line completely, purchase tickets ahead of time! We skipped right past the wait, they locked our stroller for us, and we chose to walk up rather than take the elevator (which we took down).
Outside the Louvre: While on a stroll, we stopped nearby the Louvre (with the pyramids), but rather than take pictures right by them, we found the PERFECT spot for some scenic play and great family photos Swipe the photos to see our private photo-taking spot. 🙂 We avoided the huge crowds and left with wonderful memories by the Louvre.
Montmartre & Sacré-Coeur: Though the Basilica is beautiful, it was so incredibly busy that it was a little stressful while keeping an eye on 2 young kiddos. The Montmartre area itself is really pretty to explore however.
Day 9: Anniversary
Café Joyeux: Close to the Arc de Triomphe area, we stumbled upon the most inspiring café where most employees are specially abled and, like the name, seem to be the happiest of people! This was a wonderful experience for the whole family.
Boat Cruise: If you plan on a cruise, get there early to get a good seat! We arrived 10 minutes early and ended up standing. It was still a good experience to see so much of the city from the river, but tomorrow’s boat cruise was what we remembered most!
Le George: It was our 5th Anniversary and so we decided to go big and try out a 1 star Michelin restaurant and oui, the price is a lot, but the experience was like no other. (P.S. Thanks again MaryPop for the fantastic babysitter!)
Day 10: Miraculous Cruise
Miraculous Boat Cruise: We have 2 Miraculous Ladybug (French TV Show) fans and so we absolutely had to take them on this cruise. It’s a theatrical show (en français) + historical boat cruise all at once and it was incredible. We highly recommend this experience!
Neighbourhood Park Play: We specifically put this in the itinerary to ensure we allotted time for relaxation and getting a feel for family life in Paris. Watch a quick video about why.
Canal Saint Martin Area: This is one of the younger, one may say “hipster”, areas of Paris. We enjoyed eating crepes and ice cream while people watching. If you’re a fan of the film “Amélie”, you’ll recognize the Canal Saint Martin lock bridge.
Day 11: La Tour Eiffel
Oui! We saved our trip up the Eiffel Tower for our last day, and it was actually really nice because it allowed us to see all the different areas we had visited from up above.
Tip: Purchase your tickets ahead of time to allow you to skip the majority of the lineups. I also recommend the elevator rather than walking up with small children. It’s also a fun experience for them to watch as the elevator zooms up the tower. Here’s a quick video of our experience and some fun facts about the Eiffel Tower.
Day 12: Au revoir la France!
It was time to go back home to Ottawa, Canada.
The Paris Airport has a lovely little play area as well as video games for older children. It was nice for them to have some entertainment!
That said…our flight was delayed (while we were already stuck on the plane) for over 2 hours!
Traveling With Kids? Every single one of these items got put to great use (and I even started sharing them with other children on the plane to help out fellow parents).
Here are some quick snippets from our trip.
"Au revoir" actually means "Until we see one another again"
…and that’s exactly what I mean when I say “Au revoir la France”. We are already busy researching our next trip and thanks to HomeExchange for making it so economically possible, we will be going back summer 2024 (but to NEW French cities this time!). We’ll be sure to share our experiences with you.
Questions or need recommendations while traveling as a family to France?
Pop on over and say “Bonjour” to me via Instagram: @123petitspas. I would love to chat!
Madame Amy
Founder of 123 Petits Pas, where she teaches French to families with children ages 0-9yrs.