# A 5-day Paris plan for families \(kids \~6 & 9\) > Five paced Paris days for kids around 6 and 9: sailboats in the Luxembourg, cranes to work at the Cité des Enfants, a Seine boat and the Eiffel Tower. Canonical: https://wonderkit.app/itineraries/paris-france/5-day-with-kids HTML: https://wonderkit.app/itineraries/paris-france/5-day-with-kids - City: Paris, France - Trip: Family trip · 5 days · 10 stops - Audience: families - Last reviewed: 2026-08-11 - Plan this trip: https://wonderkit.app/start?city=Paris%2C+France&source=premade_trip&vibe=family&wk_src=itin-paris-france-5-day-with-kids&itinerary=paris-france%2F5-day-with-kids&wk_cta=markdown ![A 5-day Paris plan for families \(kids \~6 & 9\)](https://wonderkit.app/og-heroes/paris-france/5-day-with-kids.8151a2af.jpg) Wooden sailboats pushed across a pond with sticks, a building site where kids work the cranes, a boat ride past the Eiffel Tower: Paris with a six- and nine-year-old works when each day has one big thing and room to run. Museums are enormous and small legs give out long before the sightseeing list does, so every day here gets one anchor, an easy backup if the morning goes sideways, and a rotation between grand monuments, parks and places built for children — nobody gets three churches in a row. Grey drizzle or proper heat, there's a strong indoor option: a science museum designed for kids, covered boats, covered markets. Strollers manage the wide boulevards but struggle on cobblestones and metro stairs; a carrier or a light umbrella stroller travels better. ## How to use this plan Book timed tickets online for the Eiffel Tower well ahead, and go first thing in the morning wherever you can — the queues at the big sights are real. Older metro stations have a lot of unavoidable stairs, so budget extra time if you're carrying a stroller. ## Day 1 — The Eiffel Tower and the lawns below it ### Anchor: Eiffel Tower It's the biggest thing a six-year-old has ever stood under, and it needs no explanation. Go in the morning, before the queues and the heat build, to the tower finished in 1889 for the World's Fair. With young kids you don't need the top: the first or second level gives plenty of view for a fraction of the queue and the price. Afterwards, let everyone loose on the long lawns of the Champ de Mars, where the tower looks better as the light changes. ### Backup: Trocadéro Gardens *Easy backup* If the tower queue looks brutal or a ticket didn't come through, cross the river to the Trocadéro Gardens. The terrace frames the classic photograph of the tower, and below it are fountains and wide steps to climb, with no line to stand in. It's a satisfying half-day without setting foot inside. ### Eat & rest There's little beyond kiosks at the tower, so eat lunch around Trocadéro before, or at the cafés on Avenue de la Bourdonnais after. Day 1 is usually jet-lagged: make the afternoon real downtime, not a second outing. *Metro to Bir-Hakeim or Trocadéro, or RER C to Champ de Mars–Tour Eiffel. Arrive at opening; it fills about half a day.* Day reference: 1 ## Day 2 — A park built for children, then a puppet show ### Anchor: Jardin du Luxembourg Rent a little wooden sailboat and push it across the big central pond with a long stick — the formal 17th-century Jardin du Luxembourg is, in practice, one big playground. There's a historic carousel and one of the city's best playgrounds, with real climbing structures \(small entry fee\). Shaded and easy to rotate — sailboats, playground, a walk past the fountains — it fills two or three hours without anyone getting bored. Bring a picnic and claim green metal chairs by the pond. ### Backup: Théâtre du Luxembourg *Easy backup* Inside the same gardens, the little Guignol puppet theatre has staged traditional French puppet shows for generations, and the slapstick lands with young kids even without much French. It's the sit-down reset for when the sailboats have run their course but nobody wants to leave. ### Eat & rest Garden kiosks cover ice cream and snacks. For lunch, walk east toward the Panthéon and Rue Mouffetard, a lively market street of crêpe stands and cheese shops with enough noise and colour to hold small attention spans. *Metro to Odéon or RER B to Luxembourg. Sailboats rent by the hour; plan on half a day.* Day reference: 2 ## Day 3 — A science museum built entirely for kids ### Anchor: Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie Water tables to splash at, a construction site where kids operate the cranes, exhibits on the body and the senses they can actually touch: the Cité des Enfants is built for ages 2 to 12. It sits inside the Cité des Sciences in Parc de la Villette, one of Europe's largest science museums, whose planetarium runs shows through the day — worth timing around a space fan. Entirely indoors and air-conditioned, it's the reset day for rain or heat. The Cité des Enfants runs timed sessions: book online ahead or on arrival. ### Backup: Parc de la Villette *Easy backup* The museum sits inside Parc de la Villette, a large modern park with canal paths, an oversized dragon-shaped slide and lawns for running. If the queue is long or the kids need to burn energy first, it is right outside the door and free. ### Eat & rest The on-site cafeteria is functional rather than memorable, but it saves museum time. If energy holds afterwards, the canal-side paths make a pleasant afternoon walk. *Metro to Porte de la Villette. Half a day at least; on a wet one, stay all day.* Day reference: 3 ## Day 4 — The river, Notre-Dame, and the islands ### Anchor: Seine River *A boat cruise on the Seine* To a young kid, it's simply a boat ride — and it happens to glide past the Louvre, Notre-Dame and the Eiffel Tower in about an hour, with no walking and no queue to get in. Afterwards, walk the Île de la Cité for Notre-Dame's façade and flying buttresses, dramatic enough from outside, then cross to Île Saint-Louis, a quiet residential island of narrow streets famous for its ice cream. Cruise docks cluster near the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame and the Louvre; buy tickets at the dock or online. ### Backup: Sainte-Chapelle *Easy backup* If the boat times don't line up, Sainte-Chapelle on the same island is a small 13th-century royal chapel whose upper level is wrapped almost entirely in stained glass. Walk in, jaws drop, walk out: it rarely takes more than half an hour. ### Eat & rest On Île Saint-Louis the ice cream queue is part of the fun, not a deterrent. For a sit-down lunch, the Latin Quarter just across the river on the Left Bank has relaxed bistros that don't mind children. *A boat, a dazzling little chapel and ice cream on an island: low walking, high payoff, about half a day.* Day reference: 4 ## Day 5 — Montmartre, the carousel, and a last climb ### Anchor: Sacré-Cœur Finish on a hill with a view. The white basilica of Sacré-Cœur, completed in the early 1900s, crowns Montmartre, and an antique carousel by the steps up makes a good excuse for a break partway. The terrace in front gives one of the widest views over Paris, free and unticketed. Behind the basilica, old Montmartre's cobbled lanes and small squares, with artists at work in Place du Tertre, make an easy wander now the climbing is done. ### Backup: Jardin d'Acclimatation *Easy backup* If a last-day climb doesn't appeal, head west to the Jardin d'Acclimatation in the Bois de Boulogne, a long-established amusement park and garden built for young children: gentle rides, a small farm and playgrounds spread through parkland. It's flatter and lower-key, and it still feels like an outing. ### Eat & rest Food around Place du Tertre is touristy; walk a few minutes downhill to Rue des Abbesses or Rue Lepic, where the cafés and bakeries are the ones locals use. A last crêpe from a street stand on the way down is the right ending. *Metro to Anvers, then the funicular \(covered by a metro ticket\) or the stepped climb. Go in the morning, before the crowds fill Place du Tertre.* Day reference: 5 ## Rainy day or heat-of-the-afternoon backup \(indoors\) Beyond the Cité des Sciences and Sainte-Chapelle, three more for when Paris weather turns: - A Seine river cruise — covered boats run in light rain and let everyone sightsee sitting down. - Galeries Lafayette \(near Opéra\) — the department store's stained-glass dome is free to see, with a food hall and a toy floor for an hour of warm and dry. - Marché des Enfants Rouges \(Marais\) — the oldest covered market in Paris, dating to the early 17th century; food stalls under one roof make an easy, dry lunch. ## Eating in Paris with kids French restaurants are generally relaxed about children at lunch, and bakeries bridge the gaps between sights: - Boulangeries \(everywhere\) — a fresh baguette, a pain au chocolat or a simple sandwich is the easiest, cheapest lunch on the go, and there is one on nearly every block. - Timing — lunch service runs roughly midday to 2pm and dinner rarely starts before 7pm; with young kids, eat at the early edge of each window. - Before you book, decide together which days are fixed — the tower slot, a Cité des Enfants session — and which can swap with the weather; the park days and the islands bend easily. ## Plan this trip with your group [Start from this plan in WonderKit](https://wonderkit.app/start?city=Paris%2C+France&source=premade_trip&vibe=family&wk_src=itin-paris-france-5-day-with-kids&itinerary=paris-france%2F5-day-with-kids&wk_cta=markdown): invite your group with one link, everyone votes on what stays, and the plan is rebuilt around your dates in about a minute. Free to start; a person completes it in the web app. ## Keep exploring - [What's on now in Paris](https://wonderkit.app/discover/paris-france/families) - [5-day Rome with kids](https://wonderkit.app/itineraries/rome-italy/5-day-with-kids) - [5-day London with kids](https://wonderkit.app/itineraries/london-uk/5-day-with-kids) - [5-day Barcelona with kids](https://wonderkit.app/itineraries/barcelona-spain/5-day-with-kids) - [All Paris itineraries](https://wonderkit.app/itineraries/paris-france) Every place on this page is verified — [how we check](https://wonderkit.app/itineraries/how-we-verify) --- Content from WonderKit public guides. Trip planning accounts are human-only at https://wonderkit.app.