Anonymous wrote:I am French

I'm sure you will enjoy your stay in my country.

6 days in Paris sounds too much because you're only staying for 13 days. I would visit Paris in 3 to 4 full days and keep the other days to visit the rest of France. Your own "tour de France"

A nice road trip that would include the must sees :

- Mont Saint Michel
- Brittany and its celtic roots
- Auvergne's volcanos
- Annecy Lake (very close to Switzerland in case you want to make a quick stop there and add a country to your list)
- the Riviera (St Tropez etc), Provence : lots of people in the summer but definitely beautiful sceneries.

Don't hesitate to ask if you have questions (and I'm sure you will)

NP here. I stayed in Switzerland almost 2 years ago and took a day trip to Annecy on a friend's recommendation. I walked around old town, bought some gifts, lots of old ladies talked to me in the marketplace (I have that kind of face, I guess, and I speak French so it was fine), I had an amazing lunch looking at that house in the water that you see when you google Annecy, and took a lovely boat ride around the lake. I had never heard of it before, but it's so lovely. I hope I get to return.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for the replies. We are still working on itineraries, but you all have me thinking a shorter stay in Paris might be better.

One friend recommended Puy de Fou, which she did with her kids. It's a theme park in the Loire valley that has no rides, but has all kinds of reenactments of French history. She really raved about it. Has anyone been?

http://www.puydufou.com/

RE: D-Day beaches. I have been to France, but I've never been to them. I'm wondering if the kids will be a little young to take that in. (Though the dune-rolling activity does sound like it would work.) Thoughts?

Every single French kid I know LOVES Puy du Fou. I think it's nice but then again there are several similarly big attractions for kids across France.. go if you're in the area but don't make a special detour IMO. If you do go, look into the shows beforehand as some of them may be hard to follow if you don't speak French. But yes, overall it's fun.

The D-Day beaches are interesting and the nice thing is you can combine historic visits with an actual beach vacation, which makes it better for the kids (lots of nice rentals on the coast and French beaches are fun).. However, I think I'd recommend Provence over Normandy. Rent a car and explore, it's just so incredibly gorgeous and the atmosphere is unlike any other. The drive from Paris is quite long though, at least 7 hours. The TGV to Avignon is around 2.5 hours but I'm not sure if it makes sense financially to take it and rent a car when you get there? But really both places are fun, I don't think you can go wrong either way!

OP here. Thanks for the replies. We are still working on itineraries, but you all have me thinking a shorter stay in Paris might be better.

One friend recommended Puy de Fou, which she did with her kids. It's a theme park in the Loire valley that has no rides, but has all kinds of reenactments of French history. She really raved about it. Has anyone been?

http://www.puydufou.com/

RE: D-Day beaches. I have been to France, but I've never been to them. I'm wondering if the kids will be a little young to take that in. (Though the dune-rolling activity does sound like it would work.) Thoughts?

Anonymous wrote:Just chiming in to say I'm jealous!

My 6 and 9 year olds are high maintenance and I can't imagine them handling the jet lag for several more years. I envy laid back kids.

The first several days can be staged to work with jet lag. A 2 week vacation is a good chunk of time. Teens are far more high maintenance.

Oops. Climb Notre Dame.

4 days Paris, close my Notre Dame watch hunchback of Notre Dame first. 2 days Normandy, visit the DDay beaches and also came the dunes and let them roll down. Drive on to mont st Michel, then to the Loire Valley and visit the castles as well as the house where DiVinci stayed and its wonderful park with ride on inventions. Drive back to Paris and complete the circle. Eat Berthillon ice cream.

Just chiming in to say I'm jealous!

My 6 and 9 year olds are high maintenance and I can't imagine them handling the jet lag for several more years. I envy laid back kids.

I am French

I'm sure you will enjoy your stay in my country.

6 days in Paris sounds too much because you're only staying for 13 days. I would visit Paris in 3 to 4 full days and keep the other days to visit the rest of France. Your own "tour de France"

A nice road trip that would include the must sees :

- Mont Saint Michel
- Brittany and its celtic roots
- Auvergne's volcanos
- Annecy Lake (very close to Switzerland in case you want to make a quick stop there and add a country to your list)
- the Riviera (St Tropez etc), Provence : lots of people in the summer but definitely beautiful sceneries.

Don't hesitate to ask if you have questions (and I'm sure you will)

My kids are really into the French street artist INVADER who is based in Paris so we spent days hiking around all parts of the city trying to find different Invader works. Even with that, some Euro 2016 football games, and a few friends I think six days would be a bit too much in Paris especially when there is so much more to see.

I would scale back Paris as well. In our family the kids are big into museums and don't like the sound and noise of traffic - so we plan a few days in a city to see the sights but then move on to someplace that is smaller. France has excellent trains - you could take the train to Loire Valley and get the rental car there. We rents a room in a castle and drove around the different castles and the countryside for 5 days. We have also rented a house in a small village near Toulouse - lots of hiking, day trip to the beach etc. Or you can go up to Annecy - lovely lake, mountains, smallish city, Lyon is also a lovely area to explore. Define what it is you want to get out of the vacation - everyone gets a highlight and work the trip around that. My husband love museums, I like to hike and the kids like the beach, transportation (hence train trips/boats on lakes or rivers).

I would scale back Paris and spend more time exploring. Check out The Good Life France on Facebook to discover off the beaten path locales.

Avignon

Mont Saint Michel is fabulous and fun for kids your age. Can do it as a day trip from Paris (albeit a long day). Better to combine it with an overnight to St. Malo, which has great beaches and a walled old town with ramparts to walk around.

Provence. Always Provence. Loire Valley is wonderful though too.

We'll be in France for 13 days this summer. The kids have never been. We're thinking of spending 6 days or so in Paris, and then renting a car and exploring some of the countryside. Considering the Loire Valley, but I thought I'd throw is out here to see if anyone had any suggestions/recommendations for where to go.