Anyone looking for advice on travelling to Paris with a toddler may well come up against one particular piece of wisdom: don’t.
You can see where it is coming from. You go to Paris for romance, for elegance, for fashion and fabulous restaurants.
Parisiens are notoriously unforgiving, aloof and intolerant of noisy sticky fingered English brats — and of course, as Pamela Druckerman’s excellent parenting study has it, French Children Don’t Throw Food.
And yet, that’s only part of the story. In fact, the frustrations of Paris with small children can be different but are no worse than those of London.
Parisiens are actually surprisingly kind to babies and small children — provided they behave well — the shopping offer is second to none and the parks and playgrounds are varied and charming.
Ultimately though, if you want to go to Paris and you have a toddler you cannot offload for a few nights, well, you’re going to have to take them with you. Here’s how to have the best possible time while you’re doing it.
Getting around
The good news: central Paris is extremely walkable. The bad news: walking is about the only buggy-friendly option, or you can take the bus if you are up for finding your way around the network.
Otherwise the metro is pretty hopeless — so many stairs, almost no lifts — so take a carrier if that’s still an option and don’t go it alone with a stroller unless you really need to.
Unlike in the UK, you also cannot legally take babies in taxis unless they have a car seat. As one driver I attempted to hail on the street helpfully advised me: “It’s a baby, not a game, Madame”.
Allegedly it is possible to order cabs with baby seats via the G7 app but we kept getting drivers showing up without the seat so this does not seem to be a failsafe option.
Childcare
Treat yourself to a proper night out and hire a babysitter — easier to do in a strange city than you might expect once you know where to go.
Aside from the nieces of French acquaintances (a surprisingly abundant resource) there is Baby Prestige, the agency five-star hotels call in when guests request a sitter.
They charge from €45 per hour, so it is a premium service, but it is also reliable, professional, trustworthy and sitters are fully vetted and speak perfect English.
Our sitter, Luna, a law student by day, arrived bang on time in a chic black trouser suit but was game enough to start the chaotic toddler mealtime experience on her lap until a high chair was delivered to our room — a heroic endeavour — and texted a photo partway through the evening to assure us he was asleep.
I was also recommended the website Youjoo, which is cheaper and I’m told works well but places the onus for vetting more heavily on parents so feels less comfortable when not at home.
What to do
If the weather’s good, rejoice! Much like going to the supermarket, a trip to the playground abroad adds novelty value to the mundane. And Paris is full of thoughtfully designed playgrounds for children of all ages.
We enjoyed the Parc des Arènes for its particularly pretty setting, the Square du Temple as a convenient spot to release some energy before lunch in the hipster north Marais, and Buttes Chaumont’s multiple offerings within its large green space.
One thing to note is that Parisian playground etiquette seems to be quite different from London. There are fewer parental exhortations to “share” and be kind and gentle, and more acceptance of the murderous infant impulse to guard at all costs prized scooters and footballs from the thieving English.
Paris is, of course, blessed with world-class art galleries and museums but I found that a disgruntled toddler wasn’t given quite the leeway he expects in London.
Less fraught with shushing were child-centric offerings, including at the Pompidou Centre, which offers a programme of youth exhibitions by different artists. The current show is the free entry Voûtes et Volutes by Marion Pinaffo and Raphaël Pluvinage on display at the Grand Palais as the Pompidou’s five-year renovation gets underway.
La Maison des Histoires at the back of the Chantelivre children’s bookshop on rue de Sèvres was also a fun, book-themed soft-play-plus with live storytelling and a café. Tickets cost from €21 for one child and one adult and they offer dedicated baby sessions.
Where to eat
Parisien restaurants are tightly packed and run with an often ruthless efficiency so it is not all that common for them to provide high chairs.
In fact it is so haphazard and unusual that one Parisien mother I know has created a map of all the halfway decent cafes with high chairs in the areas she likes to frequent.
Luckily, terrasse culture means that in almost all seasons you could find a spot to squeeze a buggy next to an outside table.
French baby food is, unsurprisingly, excellent, with sophisticated, organic, healthy purees, compotes and packaged meals on offer in most supermarkets, featuring ingredients such as quince, cod and quinoa.
Shopping
French pharmacies are already beloved of Francophiles and their baby and child departments rarely disappoint. Local brands including La Rosée, Klorane and Minois are worth seeking out.
Hit up Monoprix supermarkets for basics with added je ne sais quoi, from cute cotton bodysuits to cool jeans and existentialist baby polo necks.
Most of the premium high street brands such as Petit Bateau are widely available in the UK too but independent boutiques worth a browse include Petit Pan for brightly patterned artist-made clothes and homewares with branches in the Marais and Montmartre; L’Arbre Enchanté toyshop and Poudre Organic clothing and gifts both on rue du Château d’Eau; and the little enclave containing Moulin Roty, Le Petit Souk and Bonton on Boulevard des Filled du Calvaire.
There are also several specialist children’s bookshops in Paris, including the aforementioned Chantelivre and Librairie l’Atelier on rue du Jourdain near Pyrénées metro.
Where to stay
You could go full family-friendly and look for somewhere with a pool, leisure centre, kids’ club — and you might find that more relaxing — but I wanted to feel like we were in ‘Paris Paris’, not Disneyland Paris and lean into the special treat weekend feeling.
Hotel Balzac on a side street off the Champs Elysee near the Arc de Triomphe was just the ticket.
I was initially a little unsure about the 8th arrondissement location fearing it would feel too touristy but what I hadn’t realised was how spruced up the area has become, with some decent shops and quiet surrounding streets.
Crucially the location, in one of author Honoré de Balzac’s former homes, was super convenient for Charles de Gaulle Etoile metro station, and central enough to walk anywhere in west-central Paris.
The hotel, which is a member of Relais & Châteaux, was opened last year with interiors by Paris firm Festen Architects balancing Japanese restraint and fin-de-siecle sumptuousness — lots of wood pannelling, marble bathrooms and the gorgeous Ikoi spa with sauna and Japanese-inspired treatments for relaxing breaks from toddler wrangling.
The decor certainly doesn’t scream family-friendly, which is just the ticket if you’re hoping for a little bit of chic while in Paris, but in fact our top floor corner suite with its wraparound balcony, Eiffel Tower views and pleasingly echoey marble bathroom provided plenty for our toddler to explore safely while his parents collapsed into the vast comfortable bed.
Cots are provided free of charge and they do have a high chair – singular as we discovered when we arrived for breakfast on our second morning and watched the waiters grow increasingly frantic until we realised they were hunting for said high chair, which was in our room from the night before.
I loved that ours was the only vibe sniper in the hotel, but again, it may not be for you if you find safety in numbers, or indeed if you have two small people who need to sit at the same time.
All that said, the welcome was the height of warmth and kindness, with a little Hotel Balzac teddy bear presented at check-in, extra croissants slipped his way at breakfast, and constant cheery greetings by name whenever he tottered through the lobby.
Room rates start from €550 room only, and suites from €950 room only. Book it here
