Christmas eve/day in Paris

[Anonymous]

Popping in and out the Louvre to say hi to Mona Lisa alone will take an hour. I think your itinerary is much too ambitious.

Like the previous poster said, Sacre Coeur is very out of your way. I would skip montmartre for your short itinerary, unless you schedule Christmas mass there. (Did you by chance mean the conciergerie or sainte-chapelle instead of sacre-coeur?) If I had to, it would be tulleries, then bus to NotreDame, then subway to montmartre. The walk from tulleries to ND is totally doable by adults on a nice fall day, but difficult with other conditions added on like children or cold weather.

If your kids are 4 and 7, there is a little tower called tour saint-jacques just north of the river from notre dame with a little playground. If it isn't too chilly, I guarantee your children will remember this little detour and enjoy it more than another museum. Saunter down to the hotel de ville then there are plenty of buses/subway down rue de Rivoli back to the Louvre area, down south to the Latin quarter, or up north to the Marais.

I love that you are including musee des arts forains. Maybe consider ice skating at grand palais? The Gallerie Lafayette decorations are beautiful too. Whatever you end up doing, you will have a magical time! Enjoy!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In all gentleness, if you think a 7 and 4 year old (or even the adults) are walking from Tulleries to Sacre Couer, you need to put a ruler on your map and confirm the distance.

ah sorry, no definitely not walking from there lol. I meant sainte-chapelle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Popping in and out the Louvre to say hi to Mona Lisa alone will take an hour. I think your itinerary is much too ambitious.

Like the previous poster said, Sacre Coeur is very out of your way. I would skip montmartre for your short itinerary, unless you schedule Christmas mass there. (Did you by chance mean the conciergerie or sainte-chapelle instead of sacre-coeur?) If I had to, it would be tulleries, then bus to NotreDame, then subway to montmartre. The walk from tulleries to ND is totally doable by adults on a nice fall day, but difficult with other conditions added on like children or cold weather.

If your kids are 4 and 7, there is a little tower called tour saint-jacques just north of the river from notre dame with a little playground. If it isn't too chilly, I guarantee your children will remember this little detour and enjoy it more than another museum. Saunter down to the hotel de ville then there are plenty of buses/subway down rue de Rivoli back to the Louvre area, down south to the Latin quarter, or up north to the Marais.

I love that you are including musee des arts forains. Maybe consider ice skating at grand palais? The Gallerie Lafayette decorations are beautiful too. Whatever you end up doing, you will have a magical time! Enjoy!

Thank you! I definitely meant sainte-chapelle. I think we will skip montmartre; there's just not a good time to add it in. We might end up just take the bus from the tuileries to Notre-dame if the weather is not great. It looks like about 12 minute walk from the Louvre to Sainte-Chapelle but add in the tuileries and you are up to 20 min. My kids are good walkers, especially my 7 year old (4 year old often rides on my husband's shoulders but he's super petite so it's not bad). Last time I went to the Louvre, we waited in line about 15-20 min before opening and then (I had to nurse my older son who was 12 months old) so I quickly did that and then we walked to the mona lisa and wandered around for a while. I think we were there no more than about 1.5-2 hours but it's been over 6 years now so perhaps things have changed.

Thank you for pointing out the playground!! They will love the playground!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Popping in and out the Louvre to say hi to Mona Lisa alone will take an hour. I think your itinerary is much too ambitious.

Like the previous poster said, Sacre Coeur is very out of your way. I would skip montmartre for your short itinerary, unless you schedule Christmas mass there. (Did you by chance mean the conciergerie or sainte-chapelle instead of sacre-coeur?) If I had to, it would be tulleries, then bus to NotreDame, then subway to montmartre. The walk from tulleries to ND is totally doable by adults on a nice fall day, but difficult with other conditions added on like children or cold weather.

If your kids are 4 and 7, there is a little tower called tour saint-jacques just north of the river from notre dame with a little playground. If it isn't too chilly, I guarantee your children will remember this little detour and enjoy it more than another museum. Saunter down to the hotel de ville then there are plenty of buses/subway down rue de Rivoli back to the Louvre area, down south to the Latin quarter, or up north to the Marais.

I love that you are including musee des arts forains. Maybe consider ice skating at grand palais? The Gallerie Lafayette decorations are beautiful too. Whatever you end up doing, you will have a magical time! Enjoy!

Oh and thanks for the ice skating idea!! I will add that to the possibilities for our last evening...I'll let the kids take the lead on where they are up to visiting that night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Popping in and out the Louvre to say hi to Mona Lisa alone will take an hour. I think your itinerary is much too ambitious.

Like the previous poster said, Sacre Coeur is very out of your way. I would skip montmartre for your short itinerary, unless you schedule Christmas mass there. (Did you by chance mean the conciergerie or sainte-chapelle instead of sacre-coeur?) If I had to, it would be tulleries, then bus to NotreDame, then subway to montmartre. The walk from tulleries to ND is totally doable by adults on a nice fall day, but difficult with other conditions added on like children or cold weather.

If your kids are 4 and 7, there is a little tower called tour saint-jacques just north of the river from notre dame with a little playground. If it isn't too chilly, I guarantee your children will remember this little detour and enjoy it more than another museum. Saunter down to the hotel de ville then there are plenty of buses/subway down rue de Rivoli back to the Louvre area, down south to the Latin quarter, or up north to the Marais.

I love that you are including musee des arts forains. Maybe consider ice skating at grand palais? The Gallerie Lafayette decorations are beautiful too. Whatever you end up doing, you will have a magical time! Enjoy!

Oh and thanks for the ice skating idea!! I will add that to the possibilities for our last evening...I'll let the kids take the lead on where they are up to visiting that night.

Oh and you've inspired me to look up playgrounds near the apartment....there's one 2 min away

[Anonymous]

OP- look on Airbnb experiences. You can book a local guide to take your family on a walking day of Paris. They're specifically designed for families with young kids and strategically break up the day with playground stops, hot chocolate, etc.

[Anonymous]

Do you have a Maclaran or similar stroller? When DC was around the age of your youngest we used it mostly to carry bags, lunch, water, etc., but when the kid gets tired it’s there to save the day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you have a Maclaran or similar stroller? When DC was around the age of your youngest we used it mostly to carry bags, lunch, water, etc., but when the kid gets tired it’s there to save the day.

We don't. We always baby/toddler carried when they were little and basically never used a stroller but my 4 yr old got used to daddy carrying him on his shoulders and we just have a backpack with necessities that we carry. My 4 year old will not sit in a stroller now. I wish he would! Fortunately, he is only 32 lbs so it's not too bad. It's worked for us for multiple trips so hopefully, it will work this time too.

[Anonymous]

Most restaurants and stores will be closed on Christmas (but it’s also a Sunday). most places will close early on Christmas Eve.

And remember most museums are closed on Tuesdays.

My favorite restaurant there is Aux Pres but it’s gotten harder to get into since it was in the movie Mon Roi.

[Anonymous]

Are you the same person who was posting a lot last winter about a trip to montreal? The very detailed but often changing itineraries with young kids is so similar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you the same person who was posting a lot last winter about a trip to montreal? The very detailed but often changing itineraries with young kids is so similar

What a weird post. Even assuming you are right (which seems a stretch) no wants to be stalked on this board for asking questions about two different vacations a year apart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you the same person who was posting a lot last winter about a trip to montreal? The very detailed but often changing itineraries with young kids is so similar

OP here- no, it wasn’t me. I haven’t been to Montreal in many years. That is a bit of an odd comment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you the same person who was posting a lot last winter about a trip to montreal? The very detailed but often changing itineraries with young kids is so similar

What a weird post. Even assuming you are right (which seems a stretch) no wants to be stalked on this board for asking questions about two different vacations a year apart.

Stalked lmao. You don’t notice patterns of editing among posters who frequent these forums? Maybe because I am a writer I notice this. There are definitely people who have a distinctive enough writing style or write about certain topics enough you start to “recognize” them. I was wrong but OP wrote about planning a trip with kids at Christmas a lot like this other person did about going to montreal at Christmas.

[Anonymous]

I would not shop on Xmas eve, that sounds miserable.

Definitely go to Berthillon ice cream. It is amazing. Picasso museum is my favorite but maybe not with kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve tweaked it again!

Christmas Eve:

9 am le louvre (1 hour), snack/maybe check out Christmas market/Ferris wheel at the Tuileries and walk to the scare-coeur and tour, Notre-dame, and then return back for a rest. Head back out a few hours later for a childrens river cruise at pont neuf (should be at sunset), and then head back to hotel de ville or maybe the Christmas market at the Tuileries.

Christmas Day:

Celebrate at apt til noon
Eiffel Tower+go up at 1, wander around gardens some, head to dinner (maybe that place someone above mentioned. Only issue is that it’s about an hour away from the Eiffel Tower so that’s hard….

12/26:

Angelinas breakfast at 9 (If we can get reservations)
Musee des arts Forains (big Christmas festival there with lots of cool things and only open twice a year)
Return to apartment and decide together for evening.

So not possible to fit in galeries Lafayette nor champs-elysees or montmartre…unless the kids feel motivated to go out our last night to one of those areas.

I think I’ve got it! Still debating on that restaurant due to how far it is from where we’ll be but it looks nice for a family night out.

Oh my god. What happens if it rains, or one of your kids gets an ear infection or the train workers go on strike, like they love to do. My husband gets frustrated if I try to schedule him at all, let alone this minute to minute plan. Chill out a bit.