Paris with Kids: 3 Free Things to Do

Paris is one of my favorite cities in the world. And often it is romanticized as a city for couples, but it’s also a great city to visit as a family.

We traveled to Paris as a family of 5, when my children were 1, 3, and 5 years old. And we all had the best time.

People were constantly carrying bags for us, opening doors, and offering assistance when they saw us with young children. There were also an abundance of parks and playgrounds so in between doing more adult activities, like visiting the Louvre, we could stop at any number of playgrounds for the kids to let out some energy.

With borders slowly opening back up, you may be eyeing a trip to Paris in the next year or so. There’s so much to do in Paris with kids, we didn’t even fit everything in and we were there for two and a half weeks.

I’ll be posting a lot more about our Paris adventures, but I wanted to share with you today a few activities we really loved that were free. If you’d like to see these places, check out the reel I posted about them: 3 FREE things to do in Paris with kids.

Here are three free amazing things to do with kids in Paris.

1. Sacré-Cœur Basilica (Basilica of the Sacred Heart) is a must see. It’s a beautiful Roman Catholic Church in Paris. It’s located at the summit of the hill of Montmartre, which the highest point of the city.

Montmartre alone is a place you must visit in Paris. It feels very much like a small village and everywhere you look there’s something interesting or beautiful to explore.

Sacré-Cœur Basilica sits at the top of a large hill, and you have to climb quite a few stairs to get to it. The church is free to visit. However, if you want to go up to the dome, there is a small fee. The more you’re willing the climb, the more beautiful the view.

We went right at sunset and saw some beautiful views of the city. The crowd right outside of the church is very eclectic. There were musicians playing music on the steps and people saying prayers inside. It’s a heavy tourist spot but one that I think is worth it.

2. Parc de la Villette
We went to this park 3 times while we were in Paris. We loved it. People were walking around with a baguette in one hand and a bottle of wine in another, barefoot looking for the perfect picnic spot. The park has a large playground with equipment I’ve never seen before, encouraging kids to climb, balance, and explore.

It also has a river. You can rent a motorized boat to ride down the river for a fee. The park also has Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie, the largest science museum in Europe, which also costs money. We did visit the museum and I will be sure to highlight it in another post.

This park is a local favorite and hardly had any tourists besides us. My kids learned so much French here interacting with other kids. So it really gives you an authentic Parisian experience.

I remember the first day we went, my daughter ran up to me and asked, “How do you say, ‘My name is Anaya, what’s your name?’ in French?” I was excited that she was initiating learning the language because she met a new friend.

3. Evening walks were our favorite while we were there. We would walk for hours. Paris is so walkable, beautiful, and there’s so much to see.

Plus, at night, you don’t have to deal with the large crowds. We visited several statues and monuments at night and were the only people there. We went to Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame. We also visited these places during the day, but honestly, going inside and dealing with the huge crowds was not as lovely as seeing them at night with hardly anyone there. We hung outside of the Louvre, and it was practically empty, which helped us get some great shots.

We went to the Eiffel Tower almost every night because the kids loved to see it light up.

Outside of the Eiffel Tower, there’s a carousel and vendors selling crepes and other carnival like food.

A well kept Paris secret is in the summer, it gets dark around 10 pm so summer nights in Paris are pretty divine. Paris is also a really safe city as I saw so many women walking around in the evening alone, even after dark.

Do you plan to visit Paris in the near future?