pbiflyer

Oh we were there during the last rugby cup. Yeah very crowded, we had a hard time finding rooms at a decent price. England will draw a ton of fans.
If France is playing, they will have a huge viewing in the park near the Eiffel Tower. It was fun.

kerouac2

Completely forget your day 2 plans. Your trip is too short to consider leaving Paris.

With kids, the metro and RER are highly recommended because kids absolutely love the metro. Not just an adventure but also an occasion for them to deploy their impressive navigational skills. Tell them that they are in charge of finding the correct itinerary from place to place and they will admire you forever.

1409rj

planning to buy the paris museum pass and book times for attractions. Do kids need it or kids get free entry?
We have 3 kids at age 7, 2 kids at age 10 and kid at age 13 (considered adult ??)

tom tulpe

Most public museums are free for anyone under 26:
https://parisjetaime.com/eng/article...-in-paris-a961

danib62

While most museums are free for kids you still need to get timed reservations for them for the Louvre.

pbiflyer

We did this with my daughter in London. She wanted to see the cafe from Sherlock. Best parenting move I ever made. Her self confidence soared.

pbiflyer

You need to plan some fun in for the kids. Sailing the sail boats, riding the bikes at Luxembourg Gardens, merry go round, ice cream, something not museum or they will rebel after a bit.

AndyPatterson

For the Louvre, in addition to the fact that it is closed on Tuesdays, you also have to consider that some of the galleries are closed on 1 other day of each week.

https://www.louvre.fr/en/visit/list-...able-galleries
https://api-www.louvre.fr/sites/defa...0juillet_0.pdf

For example, if you want to see the antiquities, some galleries are closed on Mondays and others on Fridays. French painting galleries closed on Mondays (some) and Wednesdays (others). Some of the Dutch/German painting galleries closed on Thursdays, etc.

More importantly, figure out a maximum of 5-6 galleries to visit in the Louvre, including the Mona Lisa and the Winged Victory. Otherwise, everyone will get Stendhal syndrome -- overwhelmed by dozens of museum galleries! Ask the children and the parents what categories they would like to see at the Louvre and focus on that. Same thing for the Musee d'Orsay -- don't try to see it all.

Bon voyage!

sdfamily

I've traveled quite a bit with my kids....now young adults. I highly recommend getting an AirBnB. That being said, you are traveling with a PARTY OF 12. I'll leave it to you to determine if you want to stay with your friends in an apartment. The Citidines hotel chain does have kitchenettes, but their 1-bedroom is 1 double bed and a sofa bed (hardly ideal for a family of 4).

Here's what we did on our last trip, but my family can walk miles at a very fast pace. Highly unlikely with three 7 year olds.

Arrival day: lunch and walk through Tuileries (there was a carnival there), dinner with son's college friend
Day 1: market closest to our AirBnB for pastries, carnival museum (took a taxi), picked up museum pass, walked around the Marais, Centre Pompidou
Day 2: Eiffel tower, lunch, walk through latin quarter, St. Chapelle
Day 3: Louvre, lunch, L'Orangerie
Day 4: Orsay, Catacombs

There was lots of walking in-between each sight. We stopped in a lot of coffee shops and hit some bookstores. My kids did rent bikes and rode along the Seine. I think you could very easily squeeze the Hop on hop off bus on the arrival day and a cruise along the Seine into any of the other days. I think I've done one that was marketed as a sunset cruise (it was much shorter than some of the others). With a little bit of moving things around you could have day 3 as a day trip to Versailles.

Atelier des Lumi�res is something that we did not get to, but would be a good rainy day activity.

I would say the first thing you need to do is acquire accommodations. Then, figure out your itinerary. Next, based on your itinerary, you can see if a Museum Pass makes sense and figure out other transportation options. Finally, you are going to be challenged with eating. There are a few places I can think of off the top of my head that could take all 12 of you (a least seated close to same time): le Relais de l�Entrec�te, Bouillon Republique

pbiflyer

For older kids, we did an e-bike tour, they loved it. Said it was the highlight of Paris. Will have to look which tour company we used.

1409rj

changed our plan to the following: booked eiffel tickets and timed slots for louvre/versailles,sainte chapelle; we will skip later day activities if time does not allow it, no biggie.

Day 1-Oct 12 Thursday

Hop on Hop Off bus Just to get a idea of places to visit

Seine River Cruise

Day 2-Oct 13 Friday

Eiffel Tower Book tickets in advance

Arc de Triomphe

Basilique du Sacr�-Cœur de Montmartre

Day 3-Oct 14 Saturday

Louvre Museum

D'Orsay Museum

Catacombs

Day 4-Oct 15 Sunday

Versailles

Day 5-Oct 16 Monday

Tour Montparnasse

Sainte Chapelle

Stroll on Champs Elysees

danib62

This itinerary seems a lot more doable. Seems like you'd definitely benefit from the museum pass for days 2 to 5. Day 3 might be a bit much but that really depends on how in depth you want to do the museums.

sushanna1

In my opinion, unless the children really love museums, I strongly advise against trying to do both the Louvre and D'Orsay on the same day. Pick one and enjoy your visit. Split into smaller groups and let the kids take turns choosing what to see. This means picking a time and a place to reconnect before you split up. My advice is to allow enough time to look at individual works and share what you liked the best and the least over a leisurely lunch.

AndyPatterson

Based on experiences both as a teenager and my most recent visit last weekend (!), I think most children/teenagers would not find the Musee d'Orsay to be that interesting, other than seeing the overall design of the building. Stick with the Louvre, and figure out several galleries or clusters of galleries to focus on. The children can be "responsible" for navigating from one area to the next. Under no circumstances try to see everything. The main floor (where the Mona Lisa is) can be like Grand Central Station at rush hour, while the top floor you can have a gallery to your self. The antiques halls vary from crowded to quiet. Bear in mind that on weekdays, different sets of galleries are closed on one weekday each week, so maybe best to visit on a weekend, when all the galleries are open.

Goldorak

I totally agree with both of you and that's what I said in my 1st response at the beginning of the thread. Doing 2 big museums like Louvre & Orsay the same day is a big no with or without kids.