My husband and I have always dreamed of going to England, so we planned a trip there this summer and planned to spend about 9 days exploring. But then we realized that Paris was just a short train ride (under the channel) away and decided we had to take the opportunity to see Paris too.

Once our kids caught wind of our plans to spend a night or two in Paris, they got super excited (especially our 16-year-old who is in French class at school) and insisted that we spend as much time as possible in Paris, so we upped our number of days there. We ended up spending 3 nights and about 3.5 days in Paris with kids ages 16, 14, 11, and 8 and now I’ve got some tips to share with you of fun things to do in Paris with kids (and a few things not to do).

Fun Things to Do in Paris with Kids:

I have to admit, hearing my boys talk about the things they saw and experienced this summer, the Louvre and Mona Lisa, the Eiffel Tower being bigger than the expected, eating lunch on Champs Elysees, makes my heart so happy. These are things I’d never done until this summer and it’s wonderful to share it with my kids.

That being said, Paris was hard with kids! For some reason, it felt much harder for us than London. I’m not sure whether it was because France was having a MAJOR heat wave while we were there and we were literally melting (and really came to appreciate the US and air conditioning) or because it was the tail end of our trip and we were a little drained or maybe because the language is different than our own. Whatever it was, it was hard, but there were also amazing things!

Tips and Tricks for Traveling in Paris with Kids:

• Maybe don’t go in the summer…did I mention the heat? I don’t know how normal this was for Paris, but it was 100 degrees and humid the last day we were there and we thought we were going to melt. It was so hot! And the place we stayed had no air conditioning so our nights were very hot too. Maybe you’re planning to go in the summer, and that will be fine, but if you have some flexibility, July might not be your best bet.
• Be prepared with lots of water-there are no public drinking fountains. You can buy water bottles from street vendors but we chose to load a backpack with water and tote it around with us.
• There are also not public bathrooms very frequently, so plan accordingly. If you go into a restaurant, make sure to hit the bathroom while you are there. There are some free public toilets in a few locations, but we had a hard time finding them.
• Plan ahead. I waited to book our Paris lodgings until a couple of months ahead and had a hard time finding anything. This might have been because of the Tour de France which was finishing in Paris later that week, I’m not sure, but it was a little tricky finding somewhere good to stay. Some of the arrondissements are considered cleaner and safer than others and of course location matters for getting around during the day. If you want to know more about the various arrondissements, check out a post like this one. The zip code for the place you stay will tell you what arrondissement it is in the last 2 digits. We stayed in the 3rd and it was fairly close to things like the Louvre and Notre Dame but a ways from the Eiffel Tower and Champs Elysees.
• I’m embarrassed to say that we ate at McDonald’s 3 times in Paris. Food was hard because when the kids were hungry we didn’t want to have to wait a long time to eat (and the French seem to like to take things slowly) so it was just easy to grab McDonald’s. And you can order on a computer in your own language which was too nice to pass up. I heard after we left that the ice cream there is amazing and we should have tried it.
• Someone told us to make sure to greet everyone with “Bonjour Monsieur” (or Mademoiselle) before ordering or talking to them. This is considered polite and you are likely to be treated more politely if you follow this custom. We did this and found that nearly everyone was quite friendly there (contrary to what we’d been told to expect).
• Let’s talk pastries and desserts. I had high expectations for this in Paris. I tried a number of things and some were better than others. The macarons I had there were not great! That was a big disappointment. The chocolate croissants, however, (or pain au chocolat) were AMAZING and so were the eclairs. We had some Nutella filled beignets that my boys loved and a nice little chocolate mousse cake. So all in all, we had some great treats but we had to work harder to find them than I expected. I thought we’d see them on every corner but we didn’t. They were worth the hunt though.

Paris Trip Highlights:

Bus Tour of Paris: In Paris, we did the same thing that we did in London…we booked a bus tour that took us all over the city and it was the perfect way to see the things we wanted to see without walking all over. We hopped on the bus near Notre Dame (which we got to see the outside of but couldn’t go in because of the fire) and then saw all of the major attractions from there…Champs Elysees, the Arche de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, the Seine river, and all of the smaller sites along the way. We loved it. You get to wear little earbuds (which they give you) as you go and listen to commentary all about the sites you are seeing. The one thing to know is that it’s slow-moving and takes a few hours to do just the main route, so plan accordingly. You should probably expect about a half-day just to do the main bus route. We did the smaller route the next day and it took a few hours too.

River Cruise: Along with our bus tour tickets came river cruise tickets and this was a huge highlight. It’s another nice chance to just sit and see the sites and the Seine river is SO pretty! We couldn’t believe how pretty the architecture was in France and this gave us a great view of it. The river cruise takes you past the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Notre Dame cathedral, and many more sites that are super worth seeing. It also takes you under many bridges along the Seine which are really fun to see.

Eat Crepes! This is probably obvious, but eating crepes was definitely a high point for us in Paris. The very first morning that we were there we stopped at a little cafe for breakfast and got our first taste of Parisian crepes! Mine were great! Chocolate and coconut-you can’t go wrong! The next day we got street crepes with Nutella because you HAVE to do that in Paris, right? And I’m going to tell you right now that I don’t usually love Nutella but in these crepes it was AMAZING! We all definitely recommend getting the street crepes especially.

Sacre Coeur: Up on the Northside of Paris is a huge cathedral on a hill called Sacre Coeur. We’d heard that it was neat to see but I hadn’t anticipated how much I would enjoy it! With kids, you will want to be careful about this one because you do have to go up 287 stairs (but who’s counting?) to get to the cathedral, so make sure your kids are old enough to do this, but once you get there you get an AMAZING view of Paris. I had no idea how huge the city was until I saw it from up there. It was neat to see! You can buy ice cream and drinks near the cathedral, so we sat in the shade and ate a treat and then you can walk through the actual cathedral (free of charge). I loved seeing how gorgeous it was inside! This was a nice free activity.

Eiffel Tower: Seeing the Eiffel tower was a given since it’s iconic and can be seen from just about anywhere. We walked all around there (be careful though, we’d been told this was pickpocketing central so we were very careful) and took pictures in front of it and then ate lunch nearby. We chose not to go up in the tower because I am afraid of heights and we could get a free view of the city from Sacre Coeur (see above) but just seeing it was neat. (And easy and free.)

But the best thing related to the Eiffel Tower for us was one night when we put the kids to bed (obviously you can only do this if your kids are older, otherwise maybe do it with the kids) and we headed down to the Seine (on scooters-see below) and watched the Eiffel Tower light up and the sunset. Now, we were there in July and at 10:00 pm the sun was still not down! But the lights came on and for the first five minutes of every hour the tower sparkles. It was magical to watch this and really showed us just how gorgeous Paris could be when looking down the Seine and seeing the tower. This picture doesn’t do it justice but it gives you a taste.

Rent Scooters: I think this might be the number one highlight for my kids…we found electric scooters on the street to rent and took them for a ride! A big motivation for this was that we were hot and tired and had a long way to walk to get to our apartment and this seemed like a nice way to get there. My boys had a blast doing this! I will say, it was hard for the 8-year-old (we had him riding with dad) and they ended up having to stop and walk after a while, so this is maybe better for older kids. We started out right by the river which was fun…but bumpy because it’s all cobblestone down there. Once we moved up to the sidewalk it was much smoother. It was definitely crowded on the street and we had to do a lot of weaving in and out of people, but it was a lot of fun and made my boys very happy.

If you want to do this you simply download an app to your phone and it charges you by the minute. It added up to close to $50 for our ride, but that was for 5 scooters and it was totally worth it.

Thoughts on the Louvre: We visited the Louvre because it seemed like something you had to do while in Paris. I was a little bit worried about whether we would like it or not. We had to wait in line for about 30 minutes to get in and it was very hot. Once we were in…it was still very hot. There’s not really air conditioning in there and it was warm. My husband loved visiting the Louvre, the rest of us…not so much. While I can’t say that I’d really recommend this for families unless you are really into art (and naked statues), we can at least say we’ve seen the Mona Lisa and a few famous sculptures. Definitely not a high point for most of us though.

Have FUN visiting Paris with kids!

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Ask me the question “if you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?” and it’s always been London. I don’t quite know what it is about that place-maybe it’s the literature that comes from that country (Jane Austen!), maybe it’s that nearly all of my ancestors came from there, maybe it’s that it’s an easy first attempt at international travel for me, I’m not totally sure, but I’ve always wanted to go.

Luckily for me, my husband’s opinion was the same as mine. He dreamed of visiting London too.

A few years ago, our kids started mentioning how much they’d like to go to London (I think it was around when London hosted the Olympics that they got interested), so, with time ticking before our kids start to leave home, we decided it was time to plan a big trip…to London!

We’ve pounded the pavement of London with kids aging 16, 14, 11 and 8, so I’m ready to give you some tips about things to do in London with kids so that if you’re planning a similar trip you can make the most of it!

The thing is, I’ve now been to London and back and I think if I was asked that question again, my answer still may be the same! I feel like I just got a taste of London and the United Kingdom and rather than satiating my appetite for travel in that country, it only made it stronger. I’d like to go back and spend more time in London and then explore the countryside and the rest of UK! I fell in love!

But for now, here’s the lowdown on our trip and fun things to do with kids in London (and beyond) so that you can plan a great trip for yourself.

Things to Do in London with Kids:

I’ll tell you about the things we did in London with our kids and give you a little information about how each of them received it so you can hopefully determine if it would be a fun activity to do with your kids.

Tips for London with Kids: 

A couple of quick tips before we get started-things we learned that might help you out.

• Plan in some downtime if you can! We had our schedule packed pretty full and it got hard! The kids were drained, we were drained, it would have been nice to have a little bit more time and to slow it down a tiny bit.
• Pack melatonin. This worked like a dream to combat jetlag. We also timed our flight to get in later in the day (it was a red-eye) so we took a few hours to do a couple of things, then went to sleep and had the kids take some melatonin gummies and 3/4 slept for over 12 hours. This helped a lot!
• There are no free public bathrooms in London (or anywhere in Europe), so be prepared to pay or go while you are at a restaurant. Same goes for water-it’s hard to find so plan ahead.
• Don’t expect to eat great food-eat what you can get quickly and easily (which for us was a lot of pizza) because the kids just needed to eat when they needed to eat. That being said, there are a lot of shops (ie. Pret a Mange) on corners where you can grab things like sandwiches, chips, and fruit easily. Also, pack snacks.
• The underground was very helpful to get around and not too hard to use.
• This isn’t necessarily a tip, but we couldn’t believe how friendly the people in London were and we LOVED it!

London Trip Highlights: 

Double Decker Bus Tour: The first thing we did in London was a bus tour of the city. We hopped on a big red double-decker bus a few blocks from where we stayed, popped in some free (provided for you) earbuds with an ongoing tour guide giving all kinds of interesting information about the city, and enjoyed the views from the open top of that bus on a 75-degree day. It was wonderful!

My 14-year-old, in particular, loved this, but we all really enjoyed it. It was a great way to see all the major sites in the city without having to walk. It was easy to get on and off (there are stops all over) and we saw everything! I mean everything-St. Paul’s, Hyde Park, Westminster Abbey, Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, and so much more.

I will warn that the traffic is heavy in London so it’s a little bit slow going. It ended up taking us the better part of the day just to do the main route and we’d hoped to do all of the routes they offer but didn’t get a chance! Plan on each route taking you several hours. Because of this, my 8-year-old got a bit restless around lunchtime, but he perked up once he was fed.

There are a number of companies that you can book through. We used The Original Tour in London and loved it but we also saw a lot of buses from the Big Bus Tour and we used this company in France and it was great too, so either should be fine. 5.5/6 of us recommend this!

Thames River Cruise: This is technically part of the bus tour, but it feels like a separate event and it’s one I HIGHLY recommend. Included with our bus tour were tickets to float on the Thames river and see the sites from there. The line was a bit long to get on the boat but it moved fast and we really enjoyed this! It’s neat to see London from that perspective. My kids had a blast on this! The tour guide was fabulous and the ride itself was only about 30 minutes, so no one got bored and with it being on the river, no one got hot. 6/6 of us recommend this.

The London Eye: We hadn’t planned to ride the London Eye (the big Ferris Wheel on the Thames) because we’d heard it was pricey and had long lines and might not be worth it. But as we took the river cruise and saw the Ferris Wheel, each of my kids expressed interest in riding it and we figured, why not?

Except…I am super afraid of heights so I chose not to do this!

The line was long but less than an hour and it was pricey (I think it’s about $30 a person) so only do it if you really think it sounds fun, but my boys loved it! You get great views of London and the ride itself takes about 30 minutes, so you get time to see it all. (I rode another bus tour route while they did this because I didn’t want to do it.) 5/5 who rode this recommend it.

Harry Potter Studios Tour: If you’re Harry Potter lovers (who isn’t?!), you might be considering a visit to the Harry Potter Warner Brothers Studio Tour to see where the movies were filmed. My family was really excited about this day. We took a bus from, wait for it…King’s Cross Station to the studios. How cool is that?!

The trip involves wandering through the Great Hall, seeing sets like the Gryffindor Common Room, props like clothes and wands that characters wore and even seeing masks and wigs and how they did the makeup and effects. And Hogwarts! It’s tiny but it’s what they used for all the scenes of the outside of the castle. It was all pretty neat to see.

That being said, this wasn’t a major highlight for everyone in our family. My husband loved it and would have spent 8 hours there easily. My 8-year-old, who hasn’t even read any of the books or seen any of the movies yet says it was his favorite part of the trip. The rest of us were a little bit lukewarm about it. The tour bus drops you off about an hour before your tour so you have a lot of time to kill before going in, and then doesn’t pick you up again for like 6-7 hours, so it’s a long day. Which is good if you want to see everything! It was a little bit exhausting for us. The price was as much as a day at Disneyland, so it’s a steep price.

This is a fun day if you are HUGE Harry Potter lovers and think it sounds amazing! 3/6 rating from us.

Day in the Countryside: This was the day that I was most excited about from the beginning…and it did not disappoint! We paid for a tour that would take us to 4 areas outside of London and take the full day. It was pricey and we took a chance hoping the kids would like it and it would be worth it. And it was! Even the kids loved it.

We started out about 7:45 am at a bus station in London and hopped on a double-decker bus that headed out for 4 stops. It was a rainy, drizzly day which sort of added to the magic and felt very appropriate for a day in the English Countryside.

First stop, Windsor Castle. First of all, let me say that we had an AMAZING tour guide who talked to us while the bus drove past interesting things, while we waited in line at the places, and just overall gave us so much information and was wonderful. So while we waited to get into Windsor we learned a lot about British royal history. Then we had about 1 hour in Windsor to see a few things. This was VERY fast-paced. You could spend a half-day here easily, so we were moving fast, but honestly, with kids (and my short attention span), that was just fine! The views from Windsor were incredible, the rooms were intricate and amazing to see and we got to end with the changing of the guard which was also fun!

Next, it was on to Bath. First of all, the drive was unbelievable and the highlight of the day for me. It was gorgeous with rolling green hills and breathtaking views. (The rest of my family slept while I was glued to the window and the views.) Again, lots of commentary from the tour guide while we approached Bath which was very interesting. I was unprepared for just how much I would love Bath! It was a beautiful city and as a Jane Austen lover (hello Persuasion), I was enthralled.

We grabbed a quick ice cream cone (yum!), saw Bath Abbey, then high tailed it to the Royal Crescent building because when in Bath, you’ve got to see that don’t you?!

We also had time to grab Brioche buns (something Bath is famous for) and see the river quickly and then it was back on the bus (this was all again in just about an hour).

Next up was the part of the trip I was the very most excited for. I dreamed of visiting the Cotswolds and honestly would have loved to stay overnight there, but I didn’t think my boys would be as interested as I was, so this was a nice compromise. We hit Lacock for a pub lunch and then a wander through this quaint English village. This village is used in movies (Pride and Prejudice and Harry Potter for example) because it’s such a traditional English village. I couldn’t wait to see it!

First off, we had the pub lunch (fish and chips, cottage pie) and it was as gross as expected. I knew my kids weren’t likely to love the food…and they didn’t! My husband did and my 8-year-old did, which was expected, but the others didn’t. No worries though because it was a fun chance to try British food at a fun pub that’s been there for hundreds of years!

Then we got to walk around the little village for a few minutes (it was small enough that that’s all it took). It was just what you’d expect from a small English village and I loved it! (Saw some Harry Potter houses too!)

Last we headed to Stonehenge. I wasn’t sure this part would be that exciting, but it was rather fascinating. We were lucky enough to get a headset that told us about Stonehenge while we walked around and it was interesting and neat to see. My boys loved it! My husband, again, would have stayed forever (do you see a theme here-not enough time for him anywhere we went).

Honestly, what a fun day. A long day to be sure (about 13 hours total), but very memorable. 6/6 on this one!

Tower of London: The last thing we did in London was a visit to the Tower of London. Mostly we did this because people had said we should. It was more historical than a lot of the things we did and it was a good experience for us. We were tired that morning and our moods were struggling, but overall, I’m glad we did this. We got to see the crown jewels, we saw how they used to torture people, we got to take part in a reenactment of what it was like to be in the tower as a prisoner, we saw all kinds of armor and weapons, overall a very interesting experience. If we had had more time and better moods I think we would have enjoyed this even more. Overall I’d say it was about a 4/6 for us.

Other tidbits:

• Our flat was about .2 miles from Buckingham Palace and it was really fun to walk around there and see it. We didn’t tour it, just went and saw the outside, but it was neat! You can also see the changing of the guard but be warned-it’s PACKED for that! We tried and couldn’t see much.
• We’d hoped to bike in Hyde park but ran out of time. If you have time for this, you can rent bikes there and go for a ride, which would be really fun!
• The LEGO Store was a major highlight for my 14-year-old. Of course, we could visit plenty of those in America, but he thought it was fun to see a London one, plus it’s in Leicester Square which was fun to see and worth the trip!
• My son and I ran by Crumbs and Doilies, a little bakery near Picadilly Circus because we follow Jemma, the owner, on YouTube and it was yummy!
• The Eurostar train (under the channel to France) is super great if you are wanting to hit Paris too. Very convenient, very cool, very peaceful and a great chance to see both the French and British Countryside.

Hopefully, all of these tips for visiting London with kids are helpful to you!

Have a FUN trip to London!

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