Kids remember Paris from above: the moment they spot the Sacré-Cœur dome from a rooftop, or count the bridges over the Seine. Some of these views take a climb up hundreds of steps, some an elevator or a balloon, and a few are free from a park hilltop. Here's what we checked, from the glass floor of the Eiffel Tower to the hilltop lawns of Parc de Belleville.
The Eiffel Tower is the 330-meter iron tower on the Champ de Mars, with three levels open to visitors. The first level has a glass floor where kids can stand and look straight down to the ground.
Stairs climb about 600 steps to the second level, and elevators go all the way up. The top, at 276 meters, holds a champagne bar and Gustave Eiffel's old private apartment.
The Arc de Triomphe stands at the top of the Champs-Élysées, in the middle of Place de l'Étoile. Kids climb 284 steps inside the arch to a rooftop terrace that looks down the avenues to the Eiffel Tower.
Under the arch are the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and its flame, framed by huge sculpted groups on the pillars. The climb suits kids who can handle a long staircase.
Sacré-Cœur sits on top of the Montmartre hill, and the steps and lawns below its white domes are where families stop to look out over the rooftops. Inside, kids can hunt for the huge mosaic of Christ above the choir.
The bigger adventure is the dome: 280 steps up a narrow staircase, past the basilica roofs, to a walkway with a 360-degree view of Paris and its monuments.
La Terrasse is the open-air roof on the 8th floor of the Galeries Lafayette Haussmann department store, directly above its Art Nouveau glass dome. From the top, kids can pick out the Eiffel Tower and the white Sacré-Cœur on the Montmartre hill across a sea of gray rooftops.
In the warmer months pop-up bars and restaurants set up on the terrace, and in winter an ice rink opens there.
The world's largest tethered balloon rises 150 meters above Parc André Citroën on a steel cable, carrying up to 30 passengers for a flight of about 10 minutes. It runs on helium and an electric winch, so the ride is silent, with a 360-degree view over the Seine and the Eiffel Tower.
Since 2013 it has also worked as a flying lab that measures the city's air pollution.
Notre-Dame is the Gothic cathedral on the Île de la Cité, built between 1163 and 1345 and reopened in December 2024 after the 2019 fire. Inside, kids can look up at the restored stone vaults and the big rose windows.
A separate climb up the south tower runs 424 steps past the gargoyles, which were built as rain spouts, to views across Paris from 69 meters up.
The Panthéon is a domed 18th-century monument on the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, designed by the architect Soufflot. Under the dome, Foucault's pendulum swings on a 67-meter wire, its path slowly shifting as the Earth turns.
Below the nave, the crypt holds the tombs of Victor Hugo, Marie Curie and other figures France chose to honor. Best for school-age kids curious about science or history.
Parc de Belleville covers a steep hillside, with the Willy Ronis belvedere at the top looking out over the rooftops of Paris. A cascading fountain over 100 meters long runs down the slope between stairs, pergolas and terraced lawns.
Kids head for the playground, the ping-pong tables and the foosball table, and can spot the small vineyard, replanted in 1992 where monks once made wine.
Place du Tertre is the old village square at the top of Montmartre, a few streets from the Sacré-Cœur basilica. Painters set up easels here every day, and portrait artists sketch visitors, kids included, while families watch.
Picasso, Modigliani and Utrillo lived nearby in the early 1900s. The Montmartre funicular climbs from the foot of the hill to Sacré-Cœur, skipping the Rue Foyatier stairs.
Parc des Buttes-Chaumont is a hilly park built on an old gypsum quarry, with a lake below steep cliffs and the Temple de la Sibylle on its rocky island.
Kids get playgrounds with sandboxes and swings, a carousel, a hook-a-duck stall and a can-toss game, plus two Guignol puppet theaters. A biodiversity trail marks 28 stops around the park, and waffle stands and cafés sit inside.
Kids remember Paris from above: the moment they spot the Sacré-Cœur dome from a rooftop, or count the bridges over the Seine. Some of these views take a climb up hundreds of steps, some an elevator or a balloon, and a few are free from a park hilltop. Here's what we checked, from the glass floor of the Eiffel Tower to the hilltop lawns of Parc de Belleville.
The Eiffel Tower is the 330-meter iron tower on the Champ de Mars, with three levels open to visitors. The first level has a glass floor where kids can stand and look straight down to the ground.
Stairs climb about 600 steps to the second level, and elevators go all the way up. The top, at 276 meters, holds a champagne bar and Gustave Eiffel's old private apartment.
The Arc de Triomphe stands at the top of the Champs-Élysées, in the middle of Place de l'Étoile. Kids climb 284 steps inside the arch to a rooftop terrace that looks down the avenues to the Eiffel Tower.
Under the arch are the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and its flame, framed by huge sculpted groups on the pillars. The climb suits kids who can handle a long staircase.
Sacré-Cœur sits on top of the Montmartre hill, and the steps and lawns below its white domes are where families stop to look out over the rooftops. Inside, kids can hunt for the huge mosaic of Christ above the choir.
The bigger adventure is the dome: 280 steps up a narrow staircase, past the basilica roofs, to a walkway with a 360-degree view of Paris and its monuments.
La Terrasse is the open-air roof on the 8th floor of the Galeries Lafayette Haussmann department store, directly above its Art Nouveau glass dome. From the top, kids can pick out the Eiffel Tower and the white Sacré-Cœur on the Montmartre hill across a sea of gray rooftops.
In the warmer months pop-up bars and restaurants set up on the terrace, and in winter an ice rink opens there.
The world's largest tethered balloon rises 150 meters above Parc André Citroën on a steel cable, carrying up to 30 passengers for a flight of about 10 minutes. It runs on helium and an electric winch, so the ride is silent, with a 360-degree view over the Seine and the Eiffel Tower.
Since 2013 it has also worked as a flying lab that measures the city's air pollution.
Notre-Dame is the Gothic cathedral on the Île de la Cité, built between 1163 and 1345 and reopened in December 2024 after the 2019 fire. Inside, kids can look up at the restored stone vaults and the big rose windows.
A separate climb up the south tower runs 424 steps past the gargoyles, which were built as rain spouts, to views across Paris from 69 meters up.
The Panthéon is a domed 18th-century monument on the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, designed by the architect Soufflot. Under the dome, Foucault's pendulum swings on a 67-meter wire, its path slowly shifting as the Earth turns.
Below the nave, the crypt holds the tombs of Victor Hugo, Marie Curie and other figures France chose to honor. Best for school-age kids curious about science or history.
Parc de Belleville covers a steep hillside, with the Willy Ronis belvedere at the top looking out over the rooftops of Paris. A cascading fountain over 100 meters long runs down the slope between stairs, pergolas and terraced lawns.
Kids head for the playground, the ping-pong tables and the foosball table, and can spot the small vineyard, replanted in 1992 where monks once made wine.
Place du Tertre is the old village square at the top of Montmartre, a few streets from the Sacré-Cœur basilica. Painters set up easels here every day, and portrait artists sketch visitors, kids included, while families watch.
Picasso, Modigliani and Utrillo lived nearby in the early 1900s. The Montmartre funicular climbs from the foot of the hill to Sacré-Cœur, skipping the Rue Foyatier stairs.
Parc des Buttes-Chaumont is a hilly park built on an old gypsum quarry, with a lake below steep cliffs and the Temple de la Sibylle on its rocky island.
Kids get playgrounds with sandboxes and swings, a carousel, a hook-a-duck stall and a can-toss game, plus two Guignol puppet theaters. A biodiversity trail marks 28 stops around the park, and waffle stands and cafés sit inside.
