Advice on family holidays in Paris including the best attractions, châteaux, museums and monuments

Known as the "City of Lights", Paris undoubtedly has a lot to offer the tourist and being a relatively small capital city is is reasonably easy to get around. The atmosphere is romantic, the shopping areas exclusive, the restaurants beyond compare. And yet it is also a down to earth destination that has much to interest the younger members of the family. Although a lot of the attractions are world renowned museums, even here a lot has been done to capture the imagination of children. And at the other end of the scale you can find two purpose built theme parks in the Parc Asterix and Disneyland Resort Paris. We fully recommend Paris as a destination for the family. In reality your children would tire of it for a main summer vacation destination, but for a long weekend, a half term break or a few days stop over en route, it makes an unforgettable destination. I had a short break there as a teenager and the memories are as fresh as if they were yesterday. See our recommendations for kids here.	Best Attractions in Paris
	Favourite Museums, Monuments
	The best Paris Châteaux
	Paris Office du Tourisme Website

Different ways to see Paris..many of the attractions are close together and it is possible to walk between them. However there are many other alternatives for getting around - the obvious one is to use the Métro (cheap/convenient) or RER (a bit more expensive but useful for outlying areas); there are frequent boats on the Seine (expensive as a mode of transport); you can hire a bicycle (not recommended for young children!); or you can join one of the many bus/coach tours. And there's always the taxi if desperate!

Weather.. in the spring/autumn there is always the risk of a Temperature Profile shower in Paris, however as the summer approaches the weather warms up, becomes more reliable and pleasant balmy evenings are the norm. For an up to date weather forecast click here.

Vélib – a new bike service in Paris

A new bike hire scheme has been started in Paris (www.velib.fr) which tourists to the capital may find useful as an alternative way of seeing the city. It is pretty ambitious and is in fact the largest scheme of its kind within Europe. The concept is straightforward. Around Paris (and growing all the time) are hundreds of bike stations or in local jargon – Vélib stations. The word comes from vélo (bike) and liberté (freedom). The idea is that you ‘hire’ a bike from one station and then either return it to the same point or any other station around the city. You have 30 minutes free use every time you hire a bike, but any minutes over and above this are chargeable. Similar schemes in other cities failed because bikes got stolen, lost or were never returned. Here in Paris the scheme has been well thought out; to use the system you need a bank card from which a deposit of €150 is taken and if the bike is not returned then you will be billed accordingly. There is a €1 daily charge for all users and rates after the first 30 free mins are €1 for 1 hour, €3 for 90 mins and €7 for 2 hours.

Paris Accommodation

Recommended by a France For Families visitor: We can't say enough about the great service we received and the selection of apartments available from Vacations in Paris. We were able to rent for just four nights (rather than a full week like most rental companies) and we got a wonderful one bedroom apartment just off Rue Cler and a 15 minute walk to the Eiffel Tower.

Perfectly Paris Website

Paris Online Travel Guide - Find best deals and bargains on accommodation, car hire and flights for Paris.