Paris with a Toddler: Long Lines and Transportation Woes with Unforgettable Sights 🇫🇷
Dec 11, 2024
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For out next new country this year we headed to France.
Full disclosure, the main reason we went to France is for Disneyland. Paris has never really intersted us, it always seemed over hyped, over crowded and im sure there are better places to see in France. For the most part all of our assumptions were true however we still did enjoy our time, saw a lot of the sights and ate some good food.
Note: This post was initially intended to cover our entire France trip, but I ended up venting a lot. Enjoy.
48 hours in Paris
We pretty much just did our usual in Paris of walking around seeing all that we can see, stopping at every playground and snacking along the way.
We stayed in the Latin Quarter near Luxembourg gardens. It was a great place to stay being in proximity to the sights, restaurants but you done feel like you are surrounded by craziness.
Even though the end of September marked the beginning of their "off" season, I don't believe a city like Paris truly has an off season. I can't imagine how it is during the peak of summer.
As you stroll through the city and take in all the sights, another notable aspect is the absurdly long lines. They're everywhere. For everything. While some lines were understandable, others left us puzzled as to why people were queuing for two blocks in the rain. It reminded me of that episode of Gilmore Girls where people line up simply because everyone else is doing it. (Thank Liz for me knowing that reference.)
One disadvantage of our timing was that it was only a few weeks after the Olympics. As a result, stadiums and scaffolding were present everywhere, particularly in the parks near the Eiffel Tower, so we didn't have a very good view of it.
An admittedly somewhat unexpected positive aspect was that people were actually quite friendly and helpful. You often hear about how the French, particularly in Paris, can be rude or dismissive, but that was not our experience. And more english speakers in Paris than there is in Madrid, thats for sure.
The Food
I understand that this is typically a highlight that people often praise, and French cuisine is famous worldwide. I must say we enjoyed good food there, and it's a place we need to revisit to fully experience better cuisine, as it's not exactly easy to dine with a rambunctious toddler. While we did have good food and, of course, the pastries were fantastic, nothing particularly stood out.
The restaurants are not accommodating for strollers. Most of the places you pass by have small round tables with chairs placed so close together that you're practically sitting shoulder to shoulder with people at other tables. I've only observed this in Paris, as if the street is a theater stage and everyone at the restaurant is there to watch the traffic.
Just another reason we couldn't fully enjoy the food, but I'm not dismissing it entirely yet (unlike Spain and Italy).
Transportation
This was my first time choosing a private airport pickup, and it has convinced me to use it more often for future trips. Navigating public transportation and transferring between trains with a stroller and two roller bags on European cobblestones is not enjoyable.
Paris also complicates this by adding additional barriers to entry.
First of all, there is no app that i could find where you can look up and book train tickets within the city. The longer distance ones out to Strasborg i did on Trainline I believe. But within the city i could not find one.
Alright, so buying a ticket should be straightforward, right? Not exactly. We only went through this process once, and there's a reason for that. There was a lengthy queue just to use one ticket machine to buy a single ticket. You can get multi-day passes, but you still need to see a person to add more value. It's absurd and very outdated.
Hey Paris, you're basically connected to London, which has THE BEST public transport system we have seen anywhere. Even Germany has an app you can just go in and book real quick.
Lastly, many of the stations lack elevators, which means we would have to either (possibly illegally) use escalators for strollers or carry them down the stairs. Therefore, we largely chose not to use Paris public transportation. I'm sure the buses would have been fine, but we didn't need them since we walked everywhere.
Playgrounds
Paris indeed offers a good number of playgrounds spread out across the city, along with its numerous green spaces. Additionally, the carousels are a significant attraction everywhere and are particularly popular with toddlers.
One note, and call it a con if you want, but this was the first place we ever found a playground you had to pay to go into. And it wasn't even that special. We walked less than 5 minutes to another one that was similar and free. It was weird.
Key Points
Plan your transportation ahead of time. Either book a private car from the airport or watch some videos on how to do the public transport because its a mess.
Bring rain gear. Paris gets a lot of rain so have your jacekts and stroller covers always on hand.
BO&MIE for awesome grab and go pastries and food.