5 Days in Paris with Tweens
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Budget
€3,000–€5,800 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 tween 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
Arrive, drop bags, and hand over the map. Give your tween the job of getting the family from the apartment to lunch using buses or the Métro — with supervision, but let them make the calls and the mistakes.
Afternoon
Montmartre. Take the funicular up rather than the steps, walk out onto the terrace in front of Sacré-Cœur for the view across the whole city, then wander the Place du Tertre where the portrait artists work.
Evening
Dinner in the streets below Montmartre, away from the square — the restaurants directly on Place du Tertre are the most touristed food in Paris. Ten minutes' walk downhill improves both price and quality.
Tip: From age 10 children pay full adult transit fare, so a Navigo Easy card loaded with a carnet is usually better value than singles. Sacré-Cœur's steps and terrace are a known pickpocket spot — bags across the body.
Day 2: First Full Day
Morning
The Louvre, booked for opening. At this age you can hand over the map at the entrance and let your tween route the family to three chosen works — it converts a museum from an endurance test into a task with a finish line. Free entry for under-18s means nobody is calculating whether they got their money's worth.
Afternoon
The Musée d'Orsay across the river, or the Tuileries if the Louvre used everyone up. Orsay is in a converted railway station with the original station clock you can stand behind, and it's smaller and more manageable than the Louvre.
Evening
Let them choose dinner within a budget you set. A crêperie, a Vietnamese place, a bistro — the choosing is the point.
Tip: Book both museums online with the 'free admission' option selected for the under-18s. The Louvre recommends a timed slot even for free entry.
Day 3: Signature Activity Day
Morning
Disneyland Paris, out on the RER A to Marne-la-Vallée–Chessy, which puts you at the gates in around forty minutes. Leave early — arriving mid-morning wastes the expensive part of the day.
Afternoon
Stay in the park. This is the day that has no second plan and needs none.
Evening
Come back on the RER after the evening show if everyone can face it, or leave an hour before to travel with seats and no crowd. Eat something small on the way back rather than queuing for park food at closing.
Tip: Buy park tickets in advance and check whether your date is a peak or off-peak fare — the difference is significant. The RER A is covered by a separate fare zone from central Paris, so check your ticket covers Marne-la-Vallée.
Day 4: Flexible Family Day
Morning
Something deliberately different after the park: the Grande Galerie de l'Évolution at the Jardin des Plantes, or the Musée des Arts et Métiers for a tween who likes machines — Foucault's pendulum and early flying machines, and rarely busy.
Afternoon
The Marais on foot. Vintage and streetwear shops around rue des Francs-Bourgeois, falafel on rue des Rosiers, and the Place des Vosges to sit down in. Give them the afternoon's spending money and let it run out.
Evening
Ice cream on the Île Saint-Louis and a walk along the river as the light goes. Notre-Dame from the outside, and the booksellers' green boxes along the quays.
Tip: This is the best afternoon of the week for a supervised taste of independence: let your tween walk one block ahead, or go into a shop alone while you wait outside with a clear meeting time.
Day 5: Final Morning and Departure
Morning
The Eiffel Tower, booked ahead, or the Panthéon with its own Foucault pendulum and the crypt below. If the weather is poor, the covered passages of the 2nd arrondissement make a good final wander.
Afternoon
Lunch, then travel. Let your tween navigate the route to the airport as the last handover of the trip.
Evening
Fly home.
Tip: If you climb the tower, the stairs to the second floor are cheaper and usually faster than the lift queue, and most tweens prefer them. The summit is lift-only.
Packing List
- ✓ Navigo Easy card or a loaded carnet — full adult fare applies from age 10
- ✓ A paper Métro map for the child doing the navigating
- ✓ Their own small backpack, water bottle and a set amount of spending money
- ✓ Comfortable walking shoes already broken in
- ✓ Light waterproof jacket regardless of month
- ✓ Phone or camera, with a rule about back pockets on the Métro
- ✓ A few French phrases practised before the trip for ordering
- ✓ Snacks for the gap between lunch and 7:30pm dinner service
- ✓ Portable battery pack for a day at Disneyland
- ✓ Travel first-aid kit with blister plasters
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
This is the age to teach the actual mechanics of pickpocketing rather than just warning about it: the clipboard petition, the friendship bracelet on the steps of Sacré-Cœur, the crowded Métro door at closing. Phones live in front pockets or zipped bags. If you allow short stretches of independence, agree a fixed meeting point and time rather than relying on a phone, and make sure they can name the nearest Métro station to the apartment. Traffic turns across crossings on green, so crossing on sight rather than signal applies to tweens walking ahead too. Pharmacies with a green cross handle minor issues without an appointment; 112 is the emergency number and works from any phone.
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 →