5 Days in Paris with a Baby
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Budget
€2,400–€4,600 for a family of 4
Mid-Range
Group estimate
Luxury
Varies by resort
Best Months
May, Jun, Sep
Ready to plan
Book the trip pieces
This is the practical next step: check family-room availability, reserve age-friendly activities, and pack the gear this itinerary assumes you have.
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Make it fit your family
Adjust this Paris, France itinerary
Slower pace
Treat each morning as the anchor and make the afternoon block optional.
Age-group lens
This plan is tuned for baby travelers, so keep the highest-energy activity early and preserve a low-stakes fallback.
Highlights
Day-by-Day Plan
Day 1: Arrival and Settle In
Morning
Land, and resist the urge to do anything. If you arrive into Charles de Gaulle, a pre-booked van transfer with a car seat is worth the premium over the RER B with a baby, luggage and stairs. Get to the apartment and let everyone lie down.
Afternoon
One short, low-stakes outing: walk to the nearest boulangerie, buy more bread than you need, and find the closest square with a bench. The goal for day one is daylight and a gentle reset of the body clock, not sightseeing.
Evening
Eat in. A rotisserie chicken from a market street, bread, and something from a fromagerie is a genuinely excellent Paris dinner and costs a fraction of a restaurant. Start bedtime at the normal hour even if nobody is tired — the first night sets the week.
Tip: Children under 4 travel free on all Île-de-France networks with no ticket, per Île-de-France Mobilités. If your baby is in a stroller, ask at the ticket counter for the side gates at the barriers to be opened rather than trying to fold at the turnstile.
Day 2: First Full Day
Morning
Jardin du Luxembourg, arriving by 10am. The gravel paths take a stroller comfortably, which is not true of the surrounding streets, and the green metal chairs around the pond are free to drag anywhere you like. Feed and change in the shade; the gardens have facilities near the main gates.
Afternoon
Back for a real nap in the apartment. This is the single most important line in this itinerary — Paris rewards families who go home in the afternoon and come back out at 5pm, and punishes the ones who push through.
Evening
A short walk around the neighbourhood at golden hour, then an early dinner at a brasserie rather than a neighbourhood bistro. Brasseries serve continuously through the afternoon, so they're the reliable option when you want to eat before 7:30pm.
Tip: Most Paris restaurants have no changing table. Department stores, the larger museums and Monoprix supermarkets are the dependable options — plan a changing stop the way you'd plan a coffee stop.
Day 3: Signature Activity Day
Morning
The Marais in a carrier, not a stroller. Start at Place des Vosges, where the arcaded walkways stay dry in rain and shaded in sun, and the central square is enclosed. The Musée Carnavalet on the city's history is free to enter and rarely crowded, which makes it a low-risk first museum with a baby.
Afternoon
Home to nap. If the weather turns, the covered passages of the 2nd arrondissement — Galerie Vivienne and the Passage des Panoramas — give you a dry, flat, genuinely beautiful walk with a pram.
Evening
Crêperie dinner. Crêpes arrive fast, which matters when the clock is against you, and a galette complète is a real meal rather than a snack.
Tip: This is the day the stroller question settles itself. If yours has small hard plastic wheels, the Marais cobbles will wake a sleeping baby every few metres — use the carrier here and save the stroller for the parks and the wide boulevards.
Day 4: Flexible Family Day
Morning
Seine boat. It's the best-value hour of the week with a baby: step-free boarding, constant gentle motion that reliably sends infants to sleep, and the entire monumental centre of Paris going past while you sit down. Board at the Eiffel Tower or Notre-Dame pier depending on where you're staying.
Afternoon
The Tuileries after the boat — wide gravel avenues, a pond with the same rentable chairs, and space to walk a pram in a straight line without a single kerb. The Musée de l'Orangerie sits at the western end if you want twenty minutes with the Water Lilies.
Evening
Picnic on the Champ de Mars if it's warm. The tower lights sparkle for five minutes on the hour after dark, which is worth staying up for once even with a baby who won't remember it.
Tip: Under-18s of any nationality enter the Louvre and the French national museums free, per louvre.fr — but the Louvre still asks you to book a timed slot online and select the 'free admission' option. Free does not mean walk-up.
Day 5: Final Morning and Departure
Morning
Something small and close: Parc Monceau, the Jardin des Plantes, or simply the market street nearest your apartment on its busiest morning. Buy things to eat on the plane — French supermarket baby food and a bag of madeleines beat anything at the airport.
Afternoon
Travel. Give yourself an hour more than you think you need at Charles de Gaulle; the security and passport queues with an infant and a folded stroller are slower than any calculator suggests.
Evening
Fly home, or one more early dinner if you're on a morning departure.
Tip: Gate-check the stroller rather than checking it at the desk — you'll want it right up to boarding, and it comes back at the aircraft door on arrival.
Packing List
- ✓ Soft ergonomic carrier — the single most important item for cobbled districts
- ✓ Stroller with larger air-filled or rubber wheels if you bring one at all
- ✓ Portable blackout blind — Paris stays light past 9pm in June
- ✓ Changing mat that works on a bathroom counter; many restaurants have no table
- ✓ Rain cover for the carrier and the stroller
- ✓ Baby food pouches for the 2pm–7:30pm gap when kitchens are closed
- ✓ Lightweight blanket for gravel and grass in the gardens
- ✓ Sun hat and infant-safe sunscreen for May through September
- ✓ Travel first-aid kit including infant paracetamol
- ✓ Copies of passports and the EU travel authorisation status for your nationality
Recommended Gear for This Trip
The travel-with-kids essentials we'd pack for a trip like this — with current prices and ratings.
Flypal Inflatable Foot Rest for Kids (Airplane Travel Bed)
Turns three economy seats into a flat toddler bed — the single biggest long-haul hack.
Melissa & Doug On the Go Water Wow! Reusable Water-Reveal Activity Pad - Animals
Best SellerMess-free, reusable activity pad that buys quiet time on planes and at restaurants.
ALASOU 3PC Suction Cup Spinner Travel Toy
Best SellerSticks to the tray table for fifteen minutes of in-flight quiet, then wipes clean.
Welly Human Repair First Aid Kit (70 Count)
Fever reducer, bandages, and a thermometer pre-packed — far from a pharmacy you'll want it.
Hatch Go Portable Sound Machine
Amazon's ChoiceMasks unfamiliar hotel noise and signals sleep in a new room, so naps actually happen.
Munchkin Snack Catcher Toddler Snack Cups, 2 Pack
Best SellerSpill-proof snacks for transit, lines, and the inevitable hangry meltdown.
Prices and ratings are approximate and may vary — check the latest on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.
Safety Notes
Paris pavements are narrow and often broken, and cars park across them — walk with the stroller on the building side rather than the kerb side where you can. Most Métro stations have no lift, so plan stroller journeys on buses and the RER instead; buses are low-floor and far easier. Pickpocketing is the realistic risk rather than violent crime, and it concentrates on the Métro, around the Eiffel Tower and at Sacré-Cœur — wear a bag across the body and never leave one hanging on the back of a stroller. Pharmacies with the green cross are excellent and pharmacists can advise on infant medicine without an appointment; the European emergency number is 112.
Full Destination Guide
Paris rewards families who plan around three specific frictions rather than fighting them: cobblestones that punish small stroller wheels, a Métro built without lifts, and kitchens that close between lunch and 7:30pm. Get those right and the city is unusually generous to children — every French national museum, the Louvre included, is free for under-18s of any nationality.
Read the Paris, France family guide →