family travel planning - Pitstops for Kids

Plan your next family trip to Houston

May 12, 2022 By Amy Hagstrom

Houston is a vibrant city with a lot to do and see. But, what you might not know is that Houston is a great place for family vacations.

Whether you are planning a weekend getaway or looking for something to do since you just moved into your Apartment in Houstin, Houston, Texas has been taking the country by storm in recent years. It’s been ranked as one of the top cities in America and has been attracting tourists from all over the world.

Planning your next family trip to Houston? We’ve put together some of our favorite things to do when visiting this amazing city in Texas.

The Rodeo

The Houston rodeo is one of the most popular annual events in Texas. More than one million people attend this event every year.

Rodeo has been a part of Texan culture for more than a century now and it has become a tradition to go to this rodeo as soon as it starts even if you live outside Texas.

The rodeo typically happens in the Spring with some major country music stars also performing. If you don’t get a chance to see the rodeo, you can still experience live bull riding which happens in Houston and throughout Texas often.

Catch a Sporting Event

Houston has a variety of major sporting events that can provide you with unforgettable memories. One of these is the Houston Astros.

Houston is the perfect place for sports. With multiple professional sports teams and a lot of local and international events, it’s easy to find a game to watch while in Houston.

If you’re an NFL fan you can catch a Texans game, if you’re a baseball fan you can catch the Astros, and if you’re a basketball fan you can grab some tickets to the Rockets.

Kemah Boardwalk

Kemah Boardwalk is a good place for people who want to experience old-fashioned American family fun.

The Boardwalk has a popular water park with a roller coaster, live music, food and drinks. It’s also a great place for people to bring their families and enjoy the laid-back atmosphere.

Even if you live in Houston permanently or temporarily, you won’t mind coming back to the Kemah Boardwalk again and again.

Fun Happens in Houston

Houston is one of the best places to visit in the United States. From museums to parks, there are plenty of things to do for everyone.

Houston is a great place for travelers because it has a diverse selection of activities and attractions that will appeal to all types of people. Whether you want an adventure or something relaxing, there is always something fun to do in Houston.

Travel planning: When and why to partner with a family vacation planner

November 4, 2019 By Amy Hagstrom

Here at Pit Stops for Kids, we’re of a DIY mentality. If you’re a regular reader here, you probably are, too. We encourage you to travel by offering as much useful, free information as we can, so you can make informed decisions before booking your family vacations.

But…and this is a big but! We have used a family vacation planner for some very specific trips, and think you should, too. Bringing in a very specific expert can, sometimes, mean the difference between a good and a great family trip. Wondering when and why to partner with a family vacation planner? Read on!

When and why a family vacation planner may be a smart idea:

When you’re planning that bucket list-worthy vacation and you want it to be epic. You know the type of trip I’m talking about: that dream African safari or that once-in-a-lifetime adventure in Patagonia. Maybe you want to check out the Galapagos Islands or perhaps you want to spend a full month in Europe. You’ve heard me suggest travel insurance for this type of expensive, dream trip. I also suggest a family vacation planner for essentially the same reason: it’s just too important a trip to mess around!
When you need a destination vetted: A good family vacation planning service has been on the ground at destinations that can be tricky to figure out on your own. An example that comes to mind: Iceland is a country that’s easy to travel in but hard to picture before you get there. While it’s easy enough to explore Iceland by camper van, it’s more complicated to find the right-for-you hotel rooms should you want to travel in more comfort. I recently referred a traveler to a trusted family vacation planner to book Iceland hotel rooms, since I know this planner has stayed in nearly all of the best ones!
When you simply don’t have time to plan: We’re all busy people. Maybe you simply don’t have time to plan that family vacation that deserves careful preparation. Maybe you simply don’t enjoy the planning phase of a trip. It’s a common misconception that only novice travelers use family travel planners. I know (and have referred) very savvy travelers to planning services. It’s okay to come to the planner with lots of ideas and recommendations…they can work with you whether you need a lot of help, just a little help, or something in-between. Planners are well-used to helping people who are used to doing it all themselves.
If you’re looking for value (but not a quick deal): Value seekers will do well with family vacation planners. Deal seekers, not so much. If you’re truly looking for the cheapest Caribbean spring break package or the lowest cost flight to London, DIY is best. But if you are willing to pay for value, which, to me, means trusted advice and the peace of mind of knowing that what you’ve paid for will provide your family with the best experience, a planner is the right move.

How to work with a family vacation planner:

Email us! If you have a family vacation question, we encourage you to reach out via email or Facebook page. Often, all you need is a little encouragement–you got this!–or a quick bit of advice. But we can also let you know when we think a family vacation planner will best serve your needs, and, with your permission, can refer you to our favorites. A family vacation planner starts by getting to know you and your travel needs in an informational phone call, and services can be set up from there. Give it a try!

Have you worked with a family vacation planner? What was your experience?

Things to consider when planning a family reunion

September 30, 2019 By Amy Hagstrom

Family reunions are great ways for families to come together and reconnect. It allows you to spend time with family members that you haven’t seen in a long time, and it allows you to meet, and get to know new members of the family. The important thing to remember about planning a family reunion is that, just because you may not see or speak to each other everyday, that doesn’t mean that the love isn’t there.

Planning a family reunion:

Typically when it comes to planning family reunions, the older generations do all the planning. They know more about the family’s history, where everyone lives, and how to get in touch with everyone. Once they hit a certain age, where they are no longer able to plan it, they pass the family reunion planning torch on down to the next generation.

In passing that torch, they will give you all the resources and information you need to follow in their footsteps, and will help guide you along the way. One thing they teach about planning a family reunion, is that you have to be mindful of everyone in attendance.

Those specific age groups are children and seniors. When traveling with seniors, you want to make sure they are comfortable, that they have entertainment they can enjoy, according to their age, and you also want to make sure they have services accommodating to their capabilities (ramps, handicap parking, wheelchair accessible seating, etc.).

With children, you definitely have to make sure they are accommodated, so you want to pick a family reunion location that will meet their needs. New York is a great place to plan a family reunion! There’s already so much to do there, for adults, but have you checked out the attractions for kids! It’s unbelievable!

If you happen to be the next person in line to plan the next family reunion, and you know that kids will definitely be in attendance, then here are the top two things to consider during your planning process, when kids are involved.

Kid-Friendly Attractions

When looking into taking a trip somewhere, one of the first things you look into is the attractions that location offers. With most family reunions having kids of wide age groups, you want to find attractions that accommodate all those age groups.

For added comfort, your entire family can ride together with amenities like bathrooms, to these New York attractions that will surely be enjoyed by all ages:

Bronx Zoo: The Bronx Zoo is great fun for the kids, and the kids at heart! The world’s largest urban zoo give visitors the opportunity to see over 600 species from all over the world. You and the kids can expect to see exoctic birds, reptiles, animals, and insects from the realms of Africa, Asia, and the United States!
Coney Island: This is an attraction great for ALL ages, not just the kids! Live music, roller coasters, shops, and the beach are all things you will experience at this island of fun. The great thing about Coney Island is that it’s open year round, so no matter when you plan your family reunion, you can definitely experience this historic landmark!

Kid-Friendly Hotels

When planning lodging for your family’s reunion, make sure the resort or hotel has fun activities for kids. Lots of times, these kid-friendly hotels will have family scavenger hunts, arts and crafts at certain times, and of course, the pools!

You of course can go to adults-only type of hotels for alone time with your spouse, or even just for a girls weekend, but when it comes to a family reunion, it’s not just about you, and the things you want to experience. A lot of the things you enjoy as an adult, kids won’t enjoy, or aren’t old enough to enjoy, so during your planning process, it’s important to keep that aspect in mind.

How to plan college visits for your teen

March 30, 2019 By Amy Hagstrom

As a family who’s always loved learning on the go, we’re excited to be diving into a new version of educational travel: college touring for our teens. At first, figuring when, when, and how to plan college visits can feel daunting, but in fact, we’ve found the process to be fun, helpful, and even a little relaxing! With two teens at home, and one starting the college decision-making process in earnest, here are our best tips:

Start with ‘unofficial’ visits as you travel

There’s no need to go overboard touring colleges before your child is in 11th grade, but that doesn’t mean you can’t start the process earlier in a natural way. While we didn’t schedule any official visits until our oldest son was a junior in high school, we toured approximately six major universities unofficially in the past several years. How? We simply tacked visits to college campuses onto our vacation itineraries. When we went to Williamsburg, VA, we walked through the pretty campus of the College of William and Mary. When we were in Gettysburg, we stopped at Gettysburg College. And so on. These pre-college-age college tours (try saying that three times fast) proved a great introduction to not only what college campuses offered, but the idea that kids can go to college anywhere…not just near home.

Plan to see a variety of school types

Once you’re ready to officially tour colleges with your junior or senior, be sure to visit a variety. On our first ‘official’ college tour road trip, we visited four schools. One was a state school, the other three private. Two were in urban areas, two in rural areas. Two were quite large (over 20,000 students), and two were small (under 3,000 students). The ability to compare them all really helped my son see what was out there. While he still maintains that he prefers smaller, private schools, the state school we visited has programs we didn’t know existed, which could be a game changer. Even for bright students, college homework help is a decisive factor for us.

Make appointments for tours at least one month in advance

Schools definitely make it easy to find that ‘college tour’ or ‘visit campus’ button on their websites. From there, it’s easy to book a campus tour online. You can do so only a week in advance in some cases, but I advise planning earlier. Why? Campus tours fill up fast, especially during high school breaks, such as Spring Break. It’s also helpful to look to see if the college is planning anything special, such as full day visits or overnights (usually only for seniors). It’s good to take advantage of these, since more school personnel will be on-hand and special presentations may be planned.

Can’t get to your dream school for a pre-application visit? Go to a similar one closer to home.

My son has about 10 schools on his ‘maybe’ list, half of which are far-flung, from Colorado to Vermont. Since we live in Oregon, we don’t have the time or budget for him to visit every one of these schools before he applies. Instead, we’re visiting the half dozen we can get to more easily, including a few schools that have similar qualities to the distant ones. For example, he’s interested in a small, liberal arts private school in Vermont, with a big emphasis on outdoors programs and environmental science. Since we can’t get to that one in the immediate future, he’s going to visit a similarly structured school in Washington. The Washington school is not necessarily on his shortlist but will give him a feel for the general philosophy and campus life of the Vermont school. And who knows? Maybe he’ll love it! Of course, after he applies to colleges, he’ll go visit any he is accepted to personally.

Follow your favorite schools’ Facebook pages

If your favorite schools are fairly local, or even regional, to you, check their social media pages often for info on campus events. Major sporting events, community days, or even rallies can give you a good idea of campus culture and the student body. Attending something on campus that’s open to the public allows your teen to put him or herself into the action, getting a feel for what it might be like to be a student there. This is especially helpful if your official college tour was during a school break for the campus, such as summer or Spring Break.

Ask about college interviews, meetings, or specialty programs

College interviews are rarely required during visits, but can leave a good impression. They’re also an opportunity to ask questions about the campus culture or programs. If your teen is reluctant to do an interview with an admissions counselor, remind him or her that this is really an opportunity for him or her to interview the college, not the other way around. After all, at this point, they are ‘shopping’ for schools.

If your teen has a particular interest or major in mind, ask when you book a college tour whether you can also get a specialty tour tacked on. For example, when we visited a state school, we booked a second, shorter tour specifically of the science departments. You can ask for specialty tours of campus Honors Programs, music programs, or even sports programs. Do you want to play basketball while there? Meet with the coach. Thinking of joining a specific club you’ve heard about? Ask if someone might be available to answer your questions.

Bring siblings…if they can stand it

College tours can seem boring to younger siblings, but consider bringing your young kids to at least a few. It helps them picture what college actually looks like, and helps them envision themselves there someday. It also takes some of the mystery out of the ‘going to college’ process younger siblings hear so much about as their big brothers or sisters prepare. Our youngest was actually quite worried about his big brother going to college…which we didn’t realize until he had a chance to see what colleges were actually like.

Stay somewhere central to the schools you’re visiting

Sure, you’re touring colleges, but it can still be a fun vacation, right? If you’re only looking at one college in a location, stay somewhere touristy…play the role of vacationer while you’re there. If you’re visiting several schools in an urban area, as we were, stay at a central location to cut down on driving time. We recommend an airport hotel: it will offer perks such as a free breakfast and free parking, and be central to major interstates…and of course the airport. During our college tour through New York state and Connecticut, we stayed almost exclusively at Red Roof Inn PLUS locations. These hotels are comfortable and convenient, and after a few days, we began to think of their beckoning red roofs as a sign of home. In PLUS properties, you get nice linens and pillow choices, some have complimentary breakfast, and plus, you get complimentary healthy snacks and waters. If you check out Red Roof, definitely look for their PLUS locations, as these rooms elevate the stay to a higher level for a still-economical price…after all, college is expensive! We have to save our dimes. We were able to find PLUS locations in each of the cities we were visiting, plus by the airport before an early flight home.

Have fun!

Plan to visit some local attractions during your college tour trip. During our trip to Portland, we also visited the Oregon coast, always a favorite with my kids. We ate out at fun Portland institutions, and visited some urban parks and food trucks. Not only did playing the tourist help my son picture himself living in this city, but it gave us all much-needed breaks.

TIP: Want to learn more or enhance your kids’ computer and business skills? Here’s their great companion to help them adjust on their new life in college and be at the top of their classes! Check out Training Connection here.

What are YOUR best college touring tips?

Source: Fix.com Blog

The Best of Topsail Island, NC for Families

October 3, 2016 By Sharlene Earnshaw

Topsail Island offers a 26-mile-long barrier island that lies just off the coast of North Carolina. Accessible only by two bridges (one at each end of the island) or by sea, the island is home to immaculate white, sandy beaches and tranquil maritime forests.

The island’s three communities, North Topsail Beach, Surf City and Topsail Beach all share a laid-back vibe, have gorgeous natural surroundings and are equipped with modern amenities, guaranteeing a relaxed getaway. Here are tips and suggestions on how to have the best family getaway on Topsail Island.

What to do?

Topsail Island is known for its long stretches of white sandy beaches that create the perfect setting for all kinds of water activities: sunbathing, fishing and swimming for those looking to achieve complete relaxation, and surfing, jet skiing and cycling for the more adventurous types. Rent a surfboard from one of the local surf shops (we recommend the friendly, family-run 50 South Surf) where you can rent a surfboard, get some tips from the locals on where to find the best swell, and catch a wave at The Point on the northern tip of the island.

If you’re feeling the need for speed, rent a jet ski. You can make a day of it with a guided tour, or just hire a jet ski for an hour or two. Fishing enthusiasts can charter a boat, and spend the day fishing the deep waters off the coast or for a more local experience, visit one of the many fishing piers on the island. The Jolly Roger Pier at the southern end of Topsail is a popular fishing spot where you can mingle with locals and admire their catches. While you won’t need a license to fish off a pier, you are required to pay a small fee. It is also worth a visit to the pier just for a morning or evening stroll.

The Queen Jean, docked at Topsail Beach, offers half-day fishing trips and kids’ fishing adventures as well as evening sunset cruises.

At sundown, head to the little, well-kept Soundside Park (on the marsh side) – definitely the best place to take in the beautiful sunset Topsail Island is famous for. There’s a well maintained playground for younger kids to enjoy, clean bathrooms, and plenty of benches to sit and enjoy the view, watching life (and sailboats!) go by.

Topsail Island has a network of well-maintained cycling paths that are great to explore. Within Surf City, Herring’s Outdoor Sports provides rental bikes from half days, up to a week. Spring and fall are perfect periods for riding in the area, with mild temperatures and less traffic.

While you’re on the island, visit the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center. Topsail Island is a sanctuary for sea turtles and here you can visit the turtle hospital, observe turtles and even volunteer to guard nests on the beach throughout the summer. A great activity for the kids! And be sure to check online for turtle release dates that occur periodically throughout the warmer months.

Where to eat?

A well spent day deserves a good dinner and on Topsail, there’s a variety of restaurants catering to all tastes. A classy family friendly option is Beach Shop & Grill. Established in 1952, this local institution serves up breakfast, lunch and dinner made from delicious local produce. Save room for a slice of their famous Mile High Key Lime Pie!

Another casual, popular spot is Daddy Mac’s Beach Grille, which has a fantastic outdoor seating area that overlooks Surf City Pier and the Atlantic Ocean. There’s also an exclusively vegetarian and gluten-free offering.

Quarter Moon Café is by day a friendly coffee shop, gift shop, and bookstore, and at night transforms into a wine bar. Grab a latte, iced lemonade or smoothie and enjoy the thoughtful book collection for adults and kids, or a glass of wine in the evening while listening to live music on the weekends.

Where to stay?

In summer you’ll find many rental options, from private to managed rentals. Ward Realty offers private and cozy cottages and beachside retreats, all of which are just steps away from the ocean. In peak season, the majority of rentals are weekly, but just after Labor Day you will be able to find weekend rentals.

My big tip: be sure to ask if the rental provides linens – some do, some don’t, and you don’t want to be caught short! Linens are often available for an additional fee when not included in your base rental rate.

For those planning to stay on the island, there are many options to buy provisions. A well-stocked IGA in Surf City has all the essentials, and 5-10 minutes off the island you’ll find a Walmart Market, a large Harris Teeter grocery store, CVS pharmacy, and a Dollar General for all the extras.

Shannon Tennyson is a mom of a tween and a young teen in North Carolina who loves adventure. She and her family explore North Carolina beaches annually. Shannon is also the founder of CALZICO, a travel friendly, globally-inspired, versatile clothing brand for tweens launching in November 2016 on Kickstarter.

Five family friendly activities in Sarasota

March 31, 2016 By Amy Hagstrom

While a vacationing family may be perfectly satisfied with spending their entire vacation on the beach in Sarasota, a family that wants to dig deeper (or is considering Sarasota as their new home), will need to have knowledge of some of the more family-oriented activities in Sarasota and the surrounding areas. Even a vacationing family may want to get off of the beach for a while, especially during adverse weather conditions. Fortunately, Sarasota has plenty of family-centered activities to keep everyone busy.

Following are five of the top family-friendly activities in and around Sarasota

Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium

For families that are enamored by the vast variety of marine life in Florida, the Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium offers the entire family the opportunity to come out and get their hands wet while meeting the sea lions. They will also have the opportunity to view some of the most extraordinary specimens of sea life anywhere.

South Lido Nature Park

For the family that is either tired of the water, or still attempting to get their sea legs, visiting the South Lido Nature Park will allow them to enjoy nature absent of the large body of water. They will be able to enjoy hiking along the nature trails. One of the highlights of visiting this park is the ability to view the water and the skyline at a distance, once they reach the end of the boardwalk. Some other attractions at this park are the mangroves and the trees in pairs that grow in this natural habitat.

Sarasota Jungle Garden

Families can visit the Sarasota zoo, where they will be able to pet and pose with a number of the animals. The kids will be able to feed the flamingos, as well as watch the lemurs at play. For the really adventurous kid, they can get up close and personal with a vulture.

Sarasota Opera

When it comes to the refined cultural arts, Sarasota is not lacking. There is always some type of Opera event taking place, such as the Barber of Seville and the Flying Dutchman. So, after a day at the park or the beach, the family can get dressed up and head out to the opera.

Kids Komedy Club at Florida Studio Theatre

The Kids Komedy Club is an event at the Florida Studio Theatre in which kids perform comedic sketches that they write themselves. It is a great opportunity for the entire family to enjoy unending laughter.

While Sarasota boasts some beautiful beaches, there is so much more to the city. For the vacationing family, or for the family that will be making this beautiful city their home, there will not be one dull moment.

Lara Adams recently relocated her family to Florida for her job in real estate. She writes on the subject in her spare time in the hope of helping others.

Photo credit.

Booking a family travel rental with Kid & Coe

January 18, 2016 By Amy Hagstrom

In multiple posts, we’ve recommended booking vacation rental homes when traveling with kids. We’ve had nothing but good experiences doing this, and have always appreciated the savings and local feel. There are a lot of vacation rental companies out there, and we thought we’d tried them all. When Kid & Coe approached us, we were intrigued.

We decided to book a short family trip with Kid and & Coe for this spring, when we’ll be touring some colleges with our high school-aged son. The booking process was easy, and I was really happy to see quite a few affordable nightly rates (they start at €90 per night worldwide). We simply input the city we were interested in, added our dates and family size, and scrolled the list of available homes. You can even see the first available date for each property at a glance. Once we’d narrowed down our search, we contacted the host, just like you’d do at AirBnb. Kid & Coe oversees the process, so you feel protected as a consumer.

So what makes Kid & Coe different than all the others?

It’s all about traveling with kids. Instead of scouring listings looking for properties that will be kid-friendly, they ALL are. They look for properties that meet the requirements of family travelers with kids of all ages; most are set up with cribs, high chairs and toys for younger guests, and all are in desirable family locations around the world. So families can live like locals and get that authentic experience, but still know their rental will have a high chair or game console. Even though we have older kids, I appreciate this because it means the rentals will be near public transit lines, in safe neighborhoods, and hosted by people who are pro traveling with kids.

The booking process:

If you’ve used other vacation rental sites in the past, the booking process at Kid & Coe will feel familiar. If you haven’t, this is great one to start with, because the founders have kids and understand traveling with kids. When looking through properties, you get a detailed area map, description of the property and what kid-friendly amenities it has, including little details non-parents might not think to include. For example, while looking at a property in Portland, a note read, ‘has a shower but no bath’. While this might not matter to some travelers, parents with young kids and babies know this is a problem!

We’ve booked a Kid & Coe property for later this spring, and are looking forward to reviewing the actual experience. Look for a post describing our rental weekend to come!

Have you used Kid & Coe? Where, and what was your experience?

How to plan a Paris itinerary with kids

January 13, 2016 By Amy Hagstrom

With its 20 arrondissements connected by a busy metro system, Paris can feel intimating at first. The key to planning a Paris itinerary with kids is to plan your days ahead of time, grouping destinations by proximity and utilizing walking tours to bridge the gaps (figuratively and literally).

When planning our five days in Paris, I started by making a list of our must-do’s, which included the usual suspects: the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame, and d’Orsay. Of course, at this point in my planning, I knew I was missing a lot. To properly fill out my itinerary, I utilized itinerary planning services that offer local recommendations, walking tours, and dining picks. Once I had ‘B list’ destinations and restaurants in the mix, I organized my days based on where we could walk after only one or two metro rides per day. Finally, I bought every ticket possible ahead of time, including Paris Museum Passes, which allowed us to skip every entrance queue we found (and we found quite a few).

Itinerary services we recommend:

Momaboard:

I’ve known the folks at Momaboard for years, and I was thrilled to learn they’d launched their trip planning program. Momaboard pairs traveling families with local experts with kids of their own. After a brief questionnaire about our trip, the ages of our kids, and our interests and goals, our Momaboard expert put together several days’ worth of itineraries for us, including detailed directions, dining recommendations, and fun facts en route.

How I used this information: certainly, families can use the itineraries ‘out of the box’. They’re ready to go. However, since I already had a very loose sketch of our our days would look, I instead mixed and matched the attractions suggested. For instance, our Momaboard itinerary suggested a morning in Montmartre followed by an afternoon near the Eiffel Tower. I did both, but broke them up into two different days. By far the most useful part of our Momaboard itinerary: the dining recs. We are not foodies, and we have hungry teens to feed, and all the restaurant picks were right on target for us.

TraveLove:

We also tried out Travelove on this trip. Similar to Momaboard in that Travelove uses local itinerary-builders and asks families questions ahead of time, Travelove printed us a multipage, bound guidebook with custom itineraries, walking tours, and maps…lots and lots of useful maps. They also put together a journal/activity book for our ten-year-old that included custom-built questions and activities based on our particular itinerary. He had a lot of fun with it.

By far, the best attribute of our Travelove service was the walking tours suggested. They went point-by-point, with great maps and descriptions. For instance, they put together an excellent walk from the Tuileries to the Lourve, which we actually walked in reverse. Starting at the Lourve after our morning there, we walked along the Seine past the booksellers, Latin Quarter, and Notre Dame, learning things along the way.

Here’s what our itinerary looked like by the time we’d implemented both these services and gathered ideas from other guidebooks. (I recommend Rick Steves.) Our must-dos we started with are highlighted.

Day 1:

Metro from our neighborhood in Montmartre to Musee de Lourve. Morning at the Louvre, followed by a walking tour along the river through the Latin Quarter to Notre Dame. Dinner in the Hotel D’Ville area. Metro back ‘home’ in time to walk to Sacre Coeur at night to watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle.

Day 2:

Metro from our neighborhood to the Eiffel Tower area, where we booked a morning Fat Tire Tour of the Concorde and Invalides area. (See separate post.) Lunch at street vendors under the tower, followed by a stop at a creperie recommended by Momaboard. Timed tickets to go up the Eiffel Tower at sunset.

Day 3:

Metro from our neighborhood to the d’Orsay Museum, followed by a shorter stint in the Rodin courtyard (recommended by a tour guide). Built-in ‘free’ afternoon; we spent it watching the new Star Wars movie followed by a visit to the Paris catacombs.

Day 4:

Toured the area near the Arc d’Triumph and Champs Elysees, including dining recommendations from Momaboard. We concluded our day with a boat tour along the Seine, and explored the seasonal Christmas markets. Almost all of this day was built out based on local recommendations.

Day 5:

Viator tour through Normandy to see D-Day beaches and museums (see separate post).

Getting around:

We used the Paris metro system exclusively. We found it very easy to use once we got our bearings, with good signage and multiple stops. Each day, we hopped on the metro from our Montmartre neighborhood (Chateau Rogue stop) and rode it multiple times per day. To do this, we found multi-day metro passes to be crucial (see below).

A word on the Paris Museum Pass:

The Paris Pass allows families to skip the long lines at museums, and gives parents the freedom to plan shorter museum visits (with the pass, it’s no big deal if you only spend 30 minutes checking out 2-3 major works). Kids are free at almost all museums (18 and under) which is wonderful, but if they don’t have a kids’ Paris Pass, you’ll still need to wait in line to get them a ticket (silly, I know). Because the Paris Pass comes included with a multi-day metro pass, it may be worth it to pay for kids’ passes along with adults, so everyone can skip the lines. Without these passes, we would have waited over an hour to get into the Lourve and Notre Dame each (instead we walked in immediately). Look for the Paris Pass or advanced tickets queue, or ask for it. Note: a few locations indicate they ‘don’t guarantee line skipping’, such as Notre Dame. I asked the guard at the start of the line politely if we needed to wait in line, showing our Paris Pass, and he waved us right in.

General tips:

Seek out the less touristy cafes and food carts, but not at the expense of hunger. After hours in the Lourve, we knew we should go in search of a crepe or baguette, but everyone was hungry and tired and ready to revolt if we walked in the wrong direction. The museum cafe sufficed (and actually had very good takeaway sandwiches).

Give kids spending money: there are so many tempting treats as you walk along the streets in Paris, you’ll be saying ‘no’ every ten minutes if you’re asked to open your wallet that often. Give kids money of their own to spend on tasty but small change treats such as macarons, eclairs, and crepes.

What are your best tips for touring Paris with kids?