Childrenand family holidays

You say: children tire me. You are right. We grow tired because we have to rise to their feelings. Rise, stand on tiptoe, stretch up. So as not to hurt them

Janusz Korczak

We organise private family holidays in France with children, accompanied by a personal guide.

What could be better than travelling as a family and discovering new possibilities together, especially in France, the world capital of leisure and tourism?

However large your family and however old your children, France offers a kind of holiday that everyone will enjoy.

Love sun, sea and sand? The south of France, with its mild climate and warm sea, is perfect for you.

Planning a winter trip? Winter sports in the French Alps and a stay in a cosy chalet will make your holiday unforgettable.

Prefer nature and hiking? The Forest of Fontainebleau will welcome you warmly and offer the perfect time at one with nature.

Whatever you choose, we will do everything to make your holiday memorable and leave you with nothing but happy memories!

Holidays with children at DISNEYLAND PARIS

The world-famous theme park, where a host of delightful Disney characters stroll among the visitors.

In this park there are no adults and no children. Adults will relive their childhood, and children will have complete freedom.

Opening hours:

Every day (April) from 10:00 to 21:00, (May) from 10:00 to 22:00

Time required: 10 hours including travel, or 6 hours including travel with the VIP service (no queues, accompanied by a park escort).

Holidays with children at PARC ASTÉRIX

Based on the French comic Asterix and Obelix, this theme park is aimed more at teenagers and adults, as many of its rides are breathtaking.

Opening hours:

Every day from 10:00 to 18:00

Time required: 8 hours, or 6 hours including travel with the VIP service (no queues, accompanied by a park escort).

Holidays with children at the LES FÉLINS big cat park

One of the best-loved animals among children and adults alike is the domestic cat – a remarkable animal that many civilisations worshipped. Les Félins park brings together various species of wild cats living in a natural environment, roaming free

Opening hours:

Monday to Saturday (April) from 10:00 to 18:00, (May) from 09:30 to 18:00

Sunday (April) from 10:00 to 18:30, (May) from 09:30 to 19:00

Time required: 8 hours including travel.

Holidays with children at the THOIRY SAFARI PARK

Thoiry Zoo is a wonderful place for anyone who loves watching wild animals. It offers engaging educational programmes for young visitors, so that they do not simply look at the animals living here but also come away with a good deal of new knowledge. What is more, all the tour programmes aim not only to inform but also to instil a desire to protect the environment and prevent the extinction of unique animals, since the zoo is home to endangered species.

Thoiry's African reserve covers an area of 8 km where the animals roam free. You may even come across them at the roadside. Visitors, meanwhile, settled comfortably in a special open vehicle, can observe the daily life of the many herds living nearby. It is an amazing and thrilling sight. The Thoiry safari park can be visited either on foot or by car.

You can stroll through both the zoological and the botanical gardens, or set off on a charming little tourist train. Either way, during your visit you can watch the animals being fed, and there is a playground for children, the Magic Island. Besides all kinds of rides, roundabouts and slides, children can climb down into a real burrow and watch the fascinating life of underground creatures behind glass. From April to September the zoo staff offer picnic games that both children and adults will enjoy.

Duration: 5 hours

Age: no restrictions

Opening hours: 10:00 to 16:30

Holidays with children at FRANCE MINIATURE

A unique opportunity to see France as you have never seen it before. Thanks to the talent and dedication of architects and landscape designers, an unforgettable sight unfolds before you: palaces and châteaux, the most famous architectural landmarks, as well as rivers, mountains, seas and even entire towns, all just like the real thing, only scaled down dozens of times.

Duration: 5 hours – Age: 6 and over

Holidays with children at SEA LIFE PARIS

A fascinating and educational aquarium where you will plunge into the underwater world and can even touch it with your own hands. The aquarium is 5 minutes from Disneyland Paris. Duration: 4 hours – Age: 5 and over

A visit to the GRÉVIN WAX MUSEUM – MUSÉE GRÉVIN

Wax figures – what are they? Not figurines from medieval castles, nor a collection of little elephants, lions and dolphins from children's beloved Kinder Surprise eggs, but life-size wax twins of famous people. Dreams come true: in this museum you can shake hands with your idol and have your photo taken with them.

Opening hours:

Monday to Friday from 10:00 to 18:30

Weekends from 10:00 to 19:00

Time required: 1 hour

A visit to the AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM – LE BOURGET

Grown-ups! Remember the Soviet years, when every boy wanted to be a test pilot or a cosmonaut? Your children can visit the Air and Space Museum, where the doors of the most famous aircraft will be opened for you; children can explore the cockpit and, in a playful way, take a crash course in pilot training on a simulator.

Opening hours:

Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00

Time required: 5 hours including travel

A visit to the PALAIS DE LA DÉCOUVERTE

The museum was originally conceived as a science museum, as opposed to the technical Musée des Arts et Métiers, reflecting the traditional French distinction between science museums and technology museums. From the '70s onwards this distinction gradually disappeared, and today the museum is a place where schoolchildren can see in practice the theoretical concepts they are taught at school.

The permanent exhibition includes the following sections:

• Earth and the Universe
• Matter and Energy
• Mathematics
• Life

Opening hours

Tuesday to Saturday from 09:30 to 18:00

Sunday from 10:00 to 19:00

Time required: 2-3 hours

A visit to the DOLL MUSEUM – MUSÉE DE LA POUPÉE

The museum's unique collection numbers more than 500 French dolls made of porcelain, papier-mâché and fabric. Dolls made of rubber and plastic are rarer and belong to the later part of the collection. The Doll Museum displays not only the dolls themselves, lovingly collected from the period 1800 to 1919, but also dolls' clothes, interiors, houses and even dolls' pets!

Opening hours:

Tuesday to Saturday from 10:00 to 18:00

Time required: 1 hour

A visit to the FRAGONARD PERFUME MUSEUM

The Fragonard Perfume Museum opened in central Paris, near the Opéra Garnier, in 1983. As soon as you enter the building you will notice the delicate scent of perfume – it fills the air so completely that you almost feel you could taste it. The Fragonard museum introduces visitors to the techniques of perfume-making: distillation, maceration and enfleurage (one of the methods of extracting essential oils). During your visit you can create your own perfume.

Opening hours:

Monday to Saturday from 09:00 to 18:00

Sunday from 09:00 to 17:00

Time required: 1 hour

A visit to the JARDIN DES PLANTES AND THE GRANDE GALERIE DE L'ÉVOLUTION (NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM)

The Royal Garden of Medicinal Plants, the oldest garden in Paris. It is also home to the galleries of Palaeontology, Evolution and Anatomy. Many extinct animals – dinosaurs, mammoths… – are shown here life-size. Part of the museum's exhibition is designed specially for children aged 6-12.

Opening hours:

Daily except Tuesday from 10:00 to 18:00

Time required: 2 hours or more

"PARIS AND CHOCOLATE" tour

Choco-Story is one of the youngest museums in France: it opened only in 2010, when the Van Belle family decided to bring its fascinating story to the cultural capital of Europe as well.

The story of this museum – or rather network of museums, since Choco-Story also has museums in Bruges, Belgium, and Prague, Czech Republic – is more like a fairy tale: an enchanting chocolate fairy tale for children and adults alike.

The Paris Choco-Story displays some 1000 exhibits that trace the whole history of chocolate and its journey through different countries and eras.

You will also be invited to a free chocolate-making workshop and treated to any dessert of your choice.

Open every day of the week from 10:00 to 18:00

Time required: 3 hours.

BERTHILLON ICE CREAM TASTING

In the historic centre of Paris, on the Île de la Cité, there is a remarkable place: the oldest natural ice cream maker, famous for its variety of flavours and for combining the seemingly incompatible.

A visit to the MUSEUM OF MAGIC

The Museum of Magic, also known as the Museum of Curiosities and Magic and the Academy of Magic, is a private museum in the 4th arrondissement of Paris at 11 Rue Saint-Paul (rue saint Paul, 11). It is open several days a week.

The museum occupies a sixteenth-century cellar beneath the mansion of the Marquis de Sade. On display are objects related to magic shows, including optical illusions, secret boxes, clockwork toys, magic mirrors, spectacles that let you see through clothing, posters and more. The museum also hosts magic shows. Next door is the Museum of Automata, home to more than 100 historic and modern automata.

THE WORLD OF FASHION, COSTUME, ADVERTISING AND DESIGN

Museum of Fashion and Costume – Museum of Advertising – Museum of Design

This programme is for those who are interested in fashion, love exquisite clothes or dream of becoming a famous fashion designer.

Duration: 3 hours – Age: 6 and over

The museum is open Tuesday to Friday from 11:00 to 18:00, except Thursday from 11:00 to 21:00; Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00

THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF CINEMA

A visit to the GRAND REX, a cinema complex unique in Europe

Lunch at the PLANET HOLLYWOOD restaurant

A fascinating journey into the world of film. A chance to visit a film set, immerse yourself in the fantastic world of special effects, act in a film and take home a videocassette of the film you star in.

Here, your child is the film star!

After a walk through picturesque Paris neighbourhoods where famous French films were shot, lunch awaits you at the popular Planet Hollywood restaurant, which can rightly be called a museum of cinema history.

Opening hours: tours are available Wednesday to Sunday and on public holidays from 10:00 to 19:00

Daily during school holidays.

Time required: 2 hours

A GRAND JOURNEY TO THE CITY OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY

Le Parc de la Villette: Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie

Located in the Parc de la Villette, the City of Science and Industry covers a vast area. It is a museum of a special kind, with no “do not touch” signs; on the contrary, here you can touch and try out anything that catches your interest. You can discover the achievements of modern technology, ponder once again the eternally fascinating mysteries of the ocean and outer space, try to grasp the laws of mechanics and marvel at the achievements of the human mind.

The City of Science and Industry consists of several sections:

• EXPLORA – a gigantic exhibition hall of more than 30 000 square metres devoted to the history of aeronautics, space exploration, oceanography, car manufacturing, as well as computer science and cybernetics. For flight enthusiasts, the hall is equipped with simulators of aircraft and space flights.
• ARGONAUTE – a real submarine (decommissioned in 1982), where visitors can see the torpedo tubes and engine room, the control room and other parts of the submarine.
• CINAXE – a huge hall that simulates intergalactic flights.
• PLANETARIUM – state-of-the-art sound and video equipment lets you see individual stars and entire galaxies and try to unravel the eternal mysteries of the starry sky.

The City of Science and Industry fascinates children and adults of all ages. Even the very youngest will find plenty of interest, such as attractions like the “Sound Bubble” or the “Russi Robot”.

Opening hours: the park is closed on Mondays

Time required: 4 hours

A visit to the CITÉ DE LA MUSIQUE

A visit to the Music Museum and its large music gallery. During the tour children can hear the voices of all kinds of musical instruments, try playing them, and learn many new and interesting things about music and musicians. They will see familiar instruments as well as exotic ones from Asia and Africa, old and almost forgotten instruments from centuries past, and ultra-modern ones too.

Duration: 4 hours – Age: no restrictions

A VISIT TO FAIRYLAND

The Château de Breteuil, 35 kilometres from Paris, invites children and adults into the world of fairy tales. In the vast park, with its French gardens, maze and rose garden, characters from Charles Perrault's beloved tales lie in wait for children at every turn. After visiting Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, Tom Thumb and other fairy-tale heroes, children head for the old 17th-century château, peopled with wax figures surrounded by works of art. After seeing the chapel, the medieval dovecote and the flower and fruit “Princes' Garden”, you can round off the visit with games and a picnic in the park.

Opening hours: the park opens at 10.00. Guided visits of the château start every hour from 14.30, with the last entry at 17.30 (an additional visit at 11.30 on Sundays and public holidays).

Time required: 4 hours

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE THREE MUSKETEERS (CHÂTEAU DE MONTE-CRISTO)

The house-museum of Alexandre Dumas père is in Port-Marly, on the outskirts of Paris. It is no ordinary house – it is not for nothing that it bears the name “Château de Monte-Cristo”. It is the great novelist's enchanting fantasy brought to life, “one of the most delightful follies”, as Balzac described it.

Opening hours and admission: Tuesday to Sunday, 13:30

Time required: 3 hours

THE "LOUVRE FOR CHILDREN" SERIES

"I'll take you to the museum" – a first introduction to the Louvre

or

"Journey to the land where the gods came down to earth" – a tour of the Greek sculpture galleries

or

"How the ancient Egyptians lived" – a tour of the Egyptian galleries

Time required: 2,5 hours

PARIS FOR CHILDREN

A sightseeing tour of Paris tailored to the children's ages and interests.

Time required: 3 hours

KARTING AND PORSCHE

Drive a few laps in a real go-kart, and then, for the bravest, a “baptism” alongside a professional racing driver on board a racing car: Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini.

Opening hours:

Karting Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 18:00

Time required: 5 hours including travel

COOKERY AND PATISSERIE WORKSHOP

For sweet-toothed little ones and not-so-little ones, we offer unforgettable moments in a real French patisserie, making your favourite treat.

Opening hours:

On request

A visit to ROLAND GARROS

A visit to the famous complex for tennis fans, with the option of playing for a couple of hours on a court.

Time required: 3 hours

On request

PHOTO STUDIO

A photo shoot with professional photographers, make-up and costumes,

Time required: 3 hours

On request

A SESSION IN A RECORDING STUDIO

Record your own CD in a recording studio

Time required: 3 hours

On request

A CARRIAGE RIDE THROUGH PARIS FOR CHILDREN

A horse-drawn carriage ride through the city

Opening hours:

On request