Trip motivation
Although Ben and I have been to Europe numerous times, our kids haven’t been and we were excited to take them to a new part of the world. Traveling internationally with kids can be daunting but with a little preparation and research and tips from other travelers, we had a successful trip!
This post covers our itinerary, planning process, and international logistics such as using the metro, getting a phone card, and finding budget restaurants.
Read all of our Paris posts at the following links:
- Flight details (free using points!) Jetlag with kids, packing tips, and more.
- Hotel stays: Versailles, Hyatt Paris (free using points!) & Disney
- Itinerary and Logistics (phone, metro, language) (This post)
- Versailles Palace and Gardens & an awesome Chartres light show
- Paris Day 1: Eiffel Tower, Arch De Triomph, Boat Tour
- Paris Day 2: Sainte Chapelle, Musee D’ Orsay, Montmartre
- Paris Day 3: Louvre, Luxembourg Gardens, Macaron Class
- Disneyland Paris: Best rides, shows and activities
Planning our Itinerary
I love planning trips, especially through well-traveled places where there’s a ton of information to read through and make plans for. Rick Steve’s book was a great resource. We borrowed it from the library and brought it along on our trip. We also asked advice from friends who had made a similar trip and used websites such as facebook groups and Rick Steve’s forums for recommendations. We spent 2 nights in Versailles, 3 nights in Paris and 2 nights near Disneyland Paris. We took trains between each destination and one uber ride to the airport at the conclusion of our trip. We packed inflatable car seats specifically for that option.
Overview
When taking trips with kids, a key to enjoying the trip is really spending time on the planning process. That’s not to say that every minute is planned but we don’t want to waste time looking up times or directions and not having a plan. Several months before, I sketched out our plan in excel with a balance of activities, rest time, food, rest, and fun. We made sure to research how far areas were and tried to schedule several anchor points with a few optional activities so we didn’t overstuff our schedule.
Day 1: Arrival, train to Versailles, Versailles gardens and fountains, sleep early at an apartment in Versailles.
Day 2: Versailles palace, nap, train to Chartres to visit Church, wander, play at a playground, and see the light show
Day 3: Train to Paris, check-in to hotel, picnic lunch, see the Eiffel tower, climb the Arch De Triomph, brief visit to the Orangerie museum and Tuilerres Garden, rest, and late night boat tour
Day 4: Sainte Chapelle tour, walk by Notre Dame, walk and snack in Latin Quarter, Musee D’ Orsay, rest, train to Montmarte for sightseeing and playing at the park.
Day 5: Louvre, lunch, luxembourg gardens, Macaron class and shopping.
Day 6: Check-out of hotel. Train to Disney area, all day Disney, brief hotel check-in and rest and then back to park
Day 7: Easy day, covid tests, play at the pool, eat pastries and pack, shopping, downtown disney area.
Day 8: Fly home!
For more details on each day, see these posts: Versailles, Paris Day 1, Paris Day 2, Paris Day 3, Disneyland
All About the Museum Pass
The Paris Museum Pass comes with free admission to over 50 museums, monuments, palaces, castles, and other sites. For our visit, visits to the Louvre Museum, Arc de Triomphe, Musée d’Orsay, Sainte-Chapelle, Musée National de l’Orangerie, and the Palace of Versailles were included. In addition to the sites we visited, there are a lot of other options we could have visited as well including Musée Rodin, Pantheon, Centre Pompidou, Musée de Cluny, Paris Sewers Museum, Army Museum, Science Museum, Fountainbleu and more.
In addition to free admission, there are often shorter lines for people with museum passes or pre-booked tickets. If you get to a museum and are not sure if you are in the correct line for pass holders, ask a security guard or museum personnel.
The museum passes are activated after your first usage and must be used on consecutive days. For 4 days, the pass was only 66 Euros per adult. All the attractions on the Museum Pass are free for all children 17 and under. For sites that require timed reservations, there was always an option online to book a free ticket for museum pass holders and for kids.
Using the Metro
There are many options for using the various trains around Paris, including all day, all week, and reloadable cards. To get to our destinations, we did a few things:
For train rides outside of Paris proper, we used the machine to buy station to station tickets. For reference, during our trip in May 2022, these were the costs for the 4 of us (2 adults, 2 kids 4-7)
- Airport to Versailles: 50 Euros one-way
- Versailles to Chartres: 90 round-trip
- Versailles to Paris: 30 one-way
- Paris to Disney: 15 one-way
In the main part of Paris, we relied on the metro and used T+ tickets that were good in zone 1. Usually these tickets cost about 2 each and there’s no discount for kids. However, we were able to buy a 10 pack for a discounted price of 16 for adults and 8 for kids. Over our 4 days in the main part of the city we each used 10 tickets. If we needed a few more trips, it would have made sense for us to get another adult 10 pack and split it 4 ways.
To figure out which train to take to our destinations, we used the CityMapper app. It was fantastic at providing details on which train to take, which platform, what exit to leave the station, etc. In the stations and on the trains, we reminded kids that they need to stay close. As much as possible, Ellie’s hands and often Carter’s are super-glued to an adult from the time the train pulls in to doors close.
Be patient with the trains and yourself and hold onto your little one’s hands tight. Many stations are not accessible and there are lots of stairs. If you have little ones, it’s a good idea to use a carrier. If you do use a stroller, many have elevators but be prepared to fold it and carry up stairs.
Eating in Paris
Our hotel came with free breakfast, and we enjoyed starting the day filling up with croissants, meats and cheeses and crepes. We tried to balance quick meals with sit-down meals. We didn’t do any true gourmet fancy meals but did have some excellent food. Many restaurants had kids menus which came with an entree of items such as hamburger steak, ham and cheese crepes, or chicken nuggets. Ben and I had a variety of meals including charcuterie plates, mussels, pasta, steak, lamb, and even poke bowls. My favorite dessert was creme brulee and we ate it more times than I can count.
When walking around Paris between stops, we often briefly stopped for a sandwich and pastries with some sodas to drink. There was also a grocery store near our hotel where we picked up some bribery snacks, our main way of making kids walk long distances 🙂 Another favorite motivational thing to do in Europe and on vacations in general: stop for ice cream!
Other International Logistics
Passport: Before you fly internationally, check those expiration dates on your passports! Note that some countries require your passport to valid for 3-6 months after your flight
Phone/Internet Have you heard of an e-sim card? On the Orange website, it has more details on this cool option. After paying $20, we were able to set up Ben’s phone so that it switched to the international sim without needing to stop by a store to physically put a sim in. He then tethered to my phone all week. This was great as the kids could be connected on long train rides, we could always get reliable directions, and it came with a France phone number that we needed when we briefly misplaced our passports (whoops). Next time, I think we’ll just pay for both of us to have it so we can be apart.
Language: We worked with the kids to know basic greetings and that’s about it. We did our best to be polite and worked with the kids to say, “Hello good morning, Excuse me. Do you speak English?” instead of just rudely speaking English to people. Most of the people we interacted with at the airport, hotel and restaurants spoke very good English. What we have found is very helpful from our other international travels is the Google translate app. You can type in English and show the French translation or speak it.
Currency Exchange We stopped at a bank and used our bank debit card to pull out the equivalent of $100 for some Euros. We really didn’t need many Euros throughout the week and used it only for some carousel rides, a locker for luggage storage in Disney, and a crepe vendor.
More Paris Posts
Read all of our Paris posts at the following links:
- Flight details (free using points!) Jetlag with kids, packing tips, and more.
- Hotel stays: Versailles, Hyatt Paris (free using points!) & Disney
- Itinerary and Logistics (phone, metro, language) (This post)
- Versailles Palace and Gardens & an awesome Chartres light show
- Paris Day 1: Eiffel Tower, Arch De Triomph, Boat Tour
- Paris Day 2: Sainte Chapelle, Musee D’ Orsay, Montmartre
- Paris Day 3: Louvre, Luxembourg Gardens, Macaron Class
- Disneyland Paris: Best rides, shows and activities
