In the summer of 2023, our family spent 10 days in France. We did 6 nights in Paris, 2 nights in Dijon and 2 nights in Colmar. It was incredible. It’s a trip that I’ll remember forever.

A few friends asked about our experiences and tips for their own trips, so I thought I’d write it down to more easily share it.

Many thanks to my wife who did most of the research and found all of these great tips and tricks. Just wanted to make sure she gets all the credit.

Food

• General Notes
  • Finding a kids menu - I love my children but feeding them can be a challenge. My son has more of a diverse appetite but both are picky or can be picky. We figured out quickly that “menu de enfants” means children’s menu in French. So we started gravitating to restaurants that had one on their side walk menu that they showed off.
  • The Classics - A lot of the restaurant menus were pretty similar. Seems like French food is about the French classics.
  • The Fork - This reservation site was a go to for getting restaurant reservations.
• Angelina
  • There was a wait but it wasn’t terrible. There’s a macaroon place a door or two down. So you can grab a few to munch on while you wait in line.
  • The hot chocolate certainly stole the show.
• Crepe stands
  • We had one around the block from our apartment that we got on Airbnb.
  • It was a couple of Euros.
  • The stands were better than the restaurants, IMHO.
• Grocery Stores
  • Every grocery store has epic wine, charcuterie, and bread/croissants.

Attractions

• General Notes

  • Get tickets for everything. It makes waits significantly less.

• Montemarte

  • It’s a bit removed from central Paris. So prepare for a trek. That being said, it’s totally worth it. It’s a beautiful neighborhood and has an INCREDIBLE view of the city.

• Louvre

  • It was bananas. There was a TON of people. Just prepare yourself for a crowd.
  • Lauren found an Instagram reel with a way to get in and avoid the crowd. That way had a long line too. The line did move though so it wasn’t terrible.

• Orsay

  • It was busy but we were able to walk right in with tickets.
  • If you have young kids, the kids’ audioguide wasn’t as prevalently used amongst the exhibits, so our kids didn’t use it as much.

• Versailles

  • Go early
  • Gardens
    • After you go through the palace, head to the gardens. It goes on forever.
    • Get the golf cart in the gardens. It's expensive but so worth it.

• Eiffel Tower

  • Lauren read on Reddit that you could set your phone to Paris time and then get tickets at midnight 60 days out. It worked well but felt like getting Taylor Swift tickets.
  • If we didn’t get tickets, we’d be waiting waaaaay longer.
  • I’d highly recommend going all the way up to the top. My son Miles and I walked down from the second level, which is cool.

• Book Stalls along the Seine

  • They had these amazing spots where you could buy used books in open air stalls along the Seine river
  • https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/02/world/europe/paris-olympics-booksellers.html

Getting Around

• Public transit
  • Lauren got a pass that allowed us to ride public transit as much as we wanted for a week. This was helpful.
  • We did busses and trains. Google Maps was the go-to.
• Using google maps drains the battery. I’d recommend a battery pack.
• Uber worked well in a pinch and in case of public transit disruptions, which happened while were there over Bastille Day.