The city looks different from the water, and a boat ride gives kids' legs a break between sights. These picks run from sightseeing cruises past the Eiffel Tower and a canal trip through locks, to rowboats on lakes in the woods and wooden sailboats kids push across garden ponds. Here's what we checked, from the Batobus to the Luxembourg sailboats, plus a ship museum for rainy days.
Bateaux-Mouches runs commentated sightseeing cruises on the Seine from the Pont de l'Alma, on the right bank. The big passenger boats pass the Eiffel Tower, Les Invalides, the Musée d'Orsay, the Louvre, the Conciergerie and Notre-Dame, then return to the same pier without stops.
Kids can tick off the landmarks as they slide by. The company also runs brunch, lunch and dinner cruises.
Batobus is a hop-on hop-off boat service on the Seine, with nine stops between the Eiffel Tower and the Jardin des Plantes, including the Louvre, Notre-Dame and the Musée d'Orsay. The trimarans are glassed in and heated, with an open-air deck at the back.
A full loop takes about 1 hour 45 minutes, so kids can ride the river between sights instead of walking, or stay aboard the whole way.
Canauxrama runs narrated boat trips along the Canal Saint-Martin, between Bassin de la Villette and Port de l'Arsenal by Bastille. Kids watch the boat work through 8 locks, pass 2 swing bridges and the Crimée lift bridge, then glide through the vault beneath Bastille, lit by skylights. Guides tell stories of Napoleon and old Paris along the way. The full canal trip runs one way, so plan the ride back.
The Tuileries is the formal garden stretching from the Louvre to Place de la Concorde, with over 3,000 trees, open lawns and ornamental ponds. Kids push little sailboats across the octagonal Grand Basin with a stick, a tradition here since 1850.
The north side, along Rue de Rivoli, holds a play area with a rope bridge in the trees, a carousel and trampolines set among palm trees.
The Bois de Boulogne is an 845-hectare woodland on the western edge of the city, with two lakes, the Grande Cascade waterfall and long forest paths. Rowing boats can be rented on the Lac Inférieur, whose island holds the Emperor's Kiosk.
Inside the woods sit the Jardin d'Acclimatation amusement park and the Bagatelle and Pré Catelan gardens, plus a playground, pony rides and picnic tables.
The city's largest green space covers 995 hectares of woods, four lakes linked by streams, and open lawns on its eastern edge. Kids can rent a rowboat on Lac Daumesnil and cross the bridges to its two islands, ride a pony, catch a Guignol puppet show, or try the playgrounds, sandpits and swings. The Parc Floral and the Paris Zoo sit inside the woods.
The navy and seafaring museum in the Palais de Chaillot shows more than 1,000 objects across themed galleries. Kids walk into a life-size ship's prow under a dome film of the sea, step inside a giant wave in the shipwrecks room, and study ship models nearly 5 meters long, gilded figureheads, compasses and lighthouse lenses.
A family trail marked with flags runs through the route.
Rental wooden sailboats on the Grand Bassin, the octagonal pond in front of the Luxembourg Palace. Kids pick a boat from the cart, launch it from the stone rim, and walk around the pond to push it back out with a wooden stick when the wind brings it in.
The boats are the same handmade antiques rented here since 1927, repainted and fitted with new sails over the years.
The city looks different from the water, and a boat ride gives kids' legs a break between sights. These picks run from sightseeing cruises past the Eiffel Tower and a canal trip through locks, to rowboats on lakes in the woods and wooden sailboats kids push across garden ponds. Here's what we checked, from the Batobus to the Luxembourg sailboats, plus a ship museum for rainy days.
Bateaux-Mouches runs commentated sightseeing cruises on the Seine from the Pont de l'Alma, on the right bank. The big passenger boats pass the Eiffel Tower, Les Invalides, the Musée d'Orsay, the Louvre, the Conciergerie and Notre-Dame, then return to the same pier without stops.
Kids can tick off the landmarks as they slide by. The company also runs brunch, lunch and dinner cruises.
Batobus is a hop-on hop-off boat service on the Seine, with nine stops between the Eiffel Tower and the Jardin des Plantes, including the Louvre, Notre-Dame and the Musée d'Orsay. The trimarans are glassed in and heated, with an open-air deck at the back.
A full loop takes about 1 hour 45 minutes, so kids can ride the river between sights instead of walking, or stay aboard the whole way.
Canauxrama runs narrated boat trips along the Canal Saint-Martin, between Bassin de la Villette and Port de l'Arsenal by Bastille. Kids watch the boat work through 8 locks, pass 2 swing bridges and the Crimée lift bridge, then glide through the vault beneath Bastille, lit by skylights. Guides tell stories of Napoleon and old Paris along the way. The full canal trip runs one way, so plan the ride back.
The Tuileries is the formal garden stretching from the Louvre to Place de la Concorde, with over 3,000 trees, open lawns and ornamental ponds. Kids push little sailboats across the octagonal Grand Basin with a stick, a tradition here since 1850.
The north side, along Rue de Rivoli, holds a play area with a rope bridge in the trees, a carousel and trampolines set among palm trees.
The Bois de Boulogne is an 845-hectare woodland on the western edge of the city, with two lakes, the Grande Cascade waterfall and long forest paths. Rowing boats can be rented on the Lac Inférieur, whose island holds the Emperor's Kiosk.
Inside the woods sit the Jardin d'Acclimatation amusement park and the Bagatelle and Pré Catelan gardens, plus a playground, pony rides and picnic tables.
The city's largest green space covers 995 hectares of woods, four lakes linked by streams, and open lawns on its eastern edge. Kids can rent a rowboat on Lac Daumesnil and cross the bridges to its two islands, ride a pony, catch a Guignol puppet show, or try the playgrounds, sandpits and swings. The Parc Floral and the Paris Zoo sit inside the woods.
The navy and seafaring museum in the Palais de Chaillot shows more than 1,000 objects across themed galleries. Kids walk into a life-size ship's prow under a dome film of the sea, step inside a giant wave in the shipwrecks room, and study ship models nearly 5 meters long, gilded figureheads, compasses and lighthouse lenses.
A family trail marked with flags runs through the route.
Rental wooden sailboats on the Grand Bassin, the octagonal pond in front of the Luxembourg Palace. Kids pick a boat from the cart, launch it from the stone rim, and walk around the pond to push it back out with a wooden stick when the wind brings it in.
The boats are the same handmade antiques rented here since 1927, repainted and fitted with new sails over the years.
