Best Paris Parks, Playgrounds & Gardens for Children

Outside Madrid, no major European capital gives you more green space per head than Paris, and with kids in tow that one fact changes the whole trip. The Haussmannian grandeur can look forbidding with a stroller and a flagging six year old, but the city is riddled with somewhere to set them loose. There are more than 400 parks and gardens, from the grand set pieces of the Luxembourg Gardens and the Tuileries down to pocket playgrounds wedged into Marais courtyards. Paris parks for children are not a nice-to-have on the side; for most families they are the backbone of the visit. The Luxembourg Gardens alone, with its sailboat pond, twice-daily puppet theater, Belle Epoque carousel, paid and free playgrounds, pony rides and chess tables, is the best toddler-to-school-age park in any capital on the continent.

This guide sorts the parks by age group, neighborhood and feature: puppet theaters, carousels, sailboat ponds, climbing frames, rowboats. The notes are practical ones. Which gate to use, what the carousel costs, when the puppet shows start.

The Best 10 Parks for Children

These ten parks make up the core family route through Paris: sailboats, puppet shows, carousels, ponies, rowboats, zoos, suspension bridges, picnic lawns under the Eiffel Tower. Over a week you’ll likely hit five or six of them.

1. Luxembourg Gardens (6th)

The undisputed champion. Twenty-three hectares behind the French Senate, built around a giant octagonal sailboat pond where children rent wooden boats for €4 and shove them along with long sticks. Puppet shows Monday to Friday at 3pm and 4pm, plus weekends. Add a Belle Epoque carousel with the old ring-spearing game, a paid playground (€3), a free playground, weekend pony rides, chess tables, and the romantic Medici Fountain. No park in the city earns its keep like this one.

2. Tuileries Gardens (1st)

The grand formal garden stretched between the Louvre and Place de la Concorde. The Tuileries carousel turns year-round at the western end. From late June to late August a summer fairground (Fête des Tuileries) takes over, with a sixty-meter Ferris wheel, a log flume, bumper cars and fried-dough stalls. Two playgrounds, fountains for hand-dipping, and sand-and-gravel paths that suit a pushchair. Less green than Luxembourg, but more of a spectacle.

3. Jardin d’Acclimatation (Bois de Boulogne)

Paris’s historic children’s amusement park, founded in 1860 and given a 2018 overhaul. Entry is €7, with an unlimited-rides wristband around €38. Forty rides, including the 1934 wooden roller coaster, a log flume, bumper cars, and a petting zoo of goats, sheep, chickens and llamas. The Petit Train runs from Porte Maillot to the entrance. Pitched squarely at ages four to ten.

4. Champ de Mars (7th, Eiffel Tower base)

The enormous lawn running from the foot of the Eiffel Tower to the École Militaire is a working public park rather than a tourist garden, and one of the best picnic spaces in the city. Two playgrounds (one at the École Militaire end, one nearer the tower), a small carousel by the tower, broad gravel paths made for scooters, and a permanent marionnette theater that runs through the warmer months. Crucially, most sections allow you onto the grass, which is rare in central Paris, so this is where Parisian families come to actually sit on a lawn.

5. Parc de la Villette (19th)

The biggest park in Paris at 55 hectares, laid out on the site of the old slaughterhouses and anchored by the Cité des Sciences, Europe’s largest science museum, whose children’s gallery is the Cité des Enfants. Then there’s the silver Geode cinema, themed gardens (Jardin des Vents, Jardin des Dunes), ten playgrounds, and in July and August the open-air Cinema en Plein Air screening on the central lawn at dusk.

6. Bois de Vincennes (12th, east)

The larger of the city’s two forest parks, almost 1000 hectares on the eastern edge. Lac Daumesnil rents rowboats by the hour (€13). The Vincennes Zoo sits at the northern edge, with bio-zones for Patagonia, the Sahel, Europe, Guyana and Madagascar. The Parc Floral runs a puppet theater and one of the best free playgrounds in Paris.

7. Bois de Boulogne (16th, west)

Vincennes’s western twin, a touch smaller but more landscaped, with the Lac Inférieur for rowing, the Jardin Shakespeare, the luxury Pré Catelan garden, and bike rental stations. The Jardin d’Acclimatation sits inside it. A ferry crosses the Lac Inférieur to a wooded island and its chalet restaurant.

8. Parc des Buttes-Chaumont (19th)

The most romantic park in Paris, built by Haussmann in 1867 on the steep slopes of a former gypsum quarry. A 45-meter cliff crowned by the little Temple de la Sibylle, two suspension bridges, a grotto with a 30-meter artificial waterfall, an emerald lake, and a splash fountain. The hilly ground wears out an energetic toddler fast; the central loop, at least, is stroller-passable.

9. Parc Monceau (8th)

A Belle Epoque English-style garden ringed by some of the priciest real estate in Paris. Eighteenth-century follies (a Roman colonnade, an Egyptian pyramid, a mock ruin) dot the lawns, and children work through them like a treasure hunt. A small playground, a carousel, and a rare bit of accessible lawn make Monceau a perfect short stop near the Arc de Triomphe.

10. Place des Vosges (4th, Marais)

The oldest planned square in Paris (1612), with a small central park inside an arcade of red-brick mansions. Two sand pits, four central fountains, a rare patch of open lawn for central Paris, and scooter-friendly gravel paths. It’s gated and closes at dusk, which makes it a safe drop-in spot in the densest part of the Marais.

Luxembourg Gardens Deep Dive

If you do a single park in Paris with children, make it this one. The Luxembourg Gardens reward a whole half day. They open daily at 7:30am in summer or 8:15am in winter and stay open until dusk, with closing swinging from 4:30pm in December to 9:45pm in June. The most family-friendly way in is the Place Edmond Rostand gate at the southern end (RER B Luxembourg).

The sailboat pond (Grand Bassin) is the experience everyone remembers. Wooden boats go out from a kiosk on the pond’s western edge for around €4 per half hour. The designs date to the 1920s, and the kiosk operator hand-paints the sail numbers fresh each season.

The Théâtre des Marionnettes du Luxembourg, near the paid playground, has staged traditional Guignol puppet shows since 1933. Performances run Monday to Friday at 3pm and 4pm during school holidays, and on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday during term. Tickets are around €6, the hall seats 270, and while the dialogue is French, the slapstick needs no translation.

The Belle Epoque carousel, designed in the 1870s by Charles Garnier, architect of the Opéra, is the oldest working carousel in Paris. It still plays the jeu de bagues: each child tries to spear iron rings with a stick as the carousel spins, and collect enough and you win a free ride.

The paid playground (Aire de Jeux du Luxembourg) costs €3 a child and genuinely earns it, with high climbing structures, zip lines, swings, sandboxes and fenced toddler areas. The free playground next door is smaller but does the job. Pony rides operate weekends and school holidays near the southwestern corner.

Toilets sit at three points: near the playground, near the orangery, and at the southeastern corner. A famous ice cream cart parks near the Medici Fountain, a long rectangular pool shaded by plane trees in the northeast corner. For more on travelling with the very young, see our companion guide to Paris with toddlers.

By Neighborhood: Where to Find Family Parks

Almost every arrondissement has at least one decent family park. The seven below are the ones with options genuinely worth crossing town for.

1st arrondissement (Tuileries / Louvre)

The Tuileries Gardens run the full width of the arrondissement east to west, carousel at the western end, summer fairground (Ferris wheel, log flume) from late June to late August. There’s easy access to the Louvre family entrance through the Carrousel du Louvre mall, which has clean toilets and a food court. Two blocks north, the smaller Jardin du Palais Royal has the famous Buren columns, where children clamber about pretending the striped pillars are floating platforms.

6th arrondissement (Luxembourg / Saint-Germain)

The Luxembourg Gardens, the single best family park in the city (see above). The Saint-Germain streets around it hold the densest run of kid-friendly creperies and casual restaurants anywhere in Paris, which is no small thing when you need to feed children straight off the back of a morning at the playground.

7th arrondissement (Eiffel Tower)

The Champ de Mars, the long lawn at the base of the Eiffel Tower, plus the smaller Square Rapp and Square Boucicaut for quick playground breaks. Best for families staying near the tower or doing it as a half-day; pair a Champ de Mars picnic with the tower visit.

8th arrondissement (Champs-Élysées / Arc de Triomphe)

Parc Monceau, the Belle Epoque English-style garden, plus the smaller Square Marigny near the Champs-Élysées. The Jardin des Champs-Élysées itself, the wooded gardens between Place de la Concorde and the Grand Palais, has two children’s playgrounds and a long-standing puppet theater.

12th arrondissement (east)

The Bois de Vincennes (the eastern forest park) plus the urban Coulée Verte René Dumont, the elevated greenway laid along a disused railway line from Bastille out to the Bois. The Coulée Verte is stroller-friendly, scooter-friendly, and skips car traffic altogether: a quiet, leafy, 4.5 km walk above the rooftops of the 12th.

16th arrondissement (west)

The Bois de Boulogne, the Jardin d’Acclimatation inside it, and the Trocadéro gardens with their famous Eiffel Tower viewpoint, fountains and a small carousel. The Musée en Herbe (a children’s art museum) and the Aquarium de Paris sit at the Trocadéro edge as rainy-day backups.

19th arrondissement (northeast)

The Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, plus the Parc de la Villette and the Cité des Sciences. Two of the most family-friendly large parks in Paris, ten minutes apart on Metro line 7bis. The neighborhood itself, around Jourdain and Botzaris, is family-residential and worth a wander even childless.

Best Parks for Toddlers (1-4)

A toddler wants sand, low climbing frames, pigeons to chase, gravel paths a stroller can roll over, and shade. Rides and science museums are wasted on them. These parks are tuned to the under-fours.

Luxembourg Gardens (6th)

The free playground has a separate fenced toddler area with low climbing structures, swings sized for under-fours, and a big sand pit. The sailboat pond hypnotises small children long before they can actually work a boat; just walking the rim eats up forty minutes.

Champ de Mars (7th)

Lawn access in many sections, rare in central Paris and exactly what a toddler needs. Two playgrounds with low equipment. The carousel near the Eiffel Tower runs continuously at around €3.50 a ride. The pigeon-chasing here is world-class.

Tuileries Gardens (1st)

Two playgrounds, several fountains for small children to dip their hands in, sand-and-gravel paths that double as drawing surfaces, and the year-round carousel.

Parc des Buttes-Chaumont (19th)

The lower meadow at the southern entrance has gentle grassy slopes that toddlers love to roll down. A small fenced playground near the southwestern entrance is sheltered from the steeper sections. Skip the cliff and the suspension bridges, and stick to the splash fountain.

Best Parks for Elementary Age (5-9)

By five or six, children want rides, water, animals and adventure. The passive park visit is behind them; they want to do something. These parks deliver.

Jardin d’Acclimatation (16th)

Forty rides, a petting zoo, a small wooden roller coaster, bumper cars, a log flume, and a miniature train from Porte Maillot through the Bois de Boulogne. A wristband (around €38) plus entry (€7) buys a full day for the under-tens. Bring a packed lunch.

Cité des Sciences (19th)

The Cité des Enfants gallery inside the science museum at Parc de la Villette splits into two sections: ages two to seven (water play, building blocks) and ages five to twelve (a TV studio, a factory simulation, science experiments). Sessions are ninety-minute timed entries, so book online. Tack on the Geode cinema.

Bois de Vincennes Lac Daumesnil (12th)

Rowboats by the hour on the central lake (around €13, four to a boat). From about five, a child can take a turn at the oars. Two small islands reachable by footbridge have cafés. Combine with the Vincennes Zoo, ten minutes’ walk north.

Best Parks for Older Kids (10-13)

Older children have outgrown carousels and puppet shows. They want bikes, scooters, sport, and to roam just out of sight. These parks give them room.

Bois de Boulogne bike rentals

Several bike rental stations inside the Bois de Boulogne let pre-teens ride dedicated paths for hours. The Lac Inférieur has a ferry to a wooded island, and the loop around the Pré Catelan is mostly car-free. Half-day rentals start around €15.

Place des Vosges and Marais loop

You can turn pre-teens loose in the Place des Vosges (gated, safe, central) while you nurse a coffee under the arcade. Combine it with the Musée Picasso and the rue des Rosiers falafel street. See our wider Paris with kids guide.

Parc des Buttes-Chaumont (19th)

The steep paths, suspension bridges, the cliff with its Temple de la Sibylle, and the grotto with its artificial waterfall add up to genuine outdoor adventure for an older child. The park is big enough that pre-teens can range a hundred meters ahead and still be findable.

Carousels of Paris

Paris keeps dozens of carousels across its squares and parks. Most charge €3 to €4, and several go free at Christmas. The five below are worth crossing town for.

Hôtel de Ville carousel

The carousel in front of the Hôtel de Ville (Paris city hall) turns year-round and goes free over the Christmas holidays (mid-November to early January), courtesy of a city subsidy. The Christmas market in the square next door turns the whole area into one of central Paris’s busiest family magnets.

Trocadéro carousel

The small carousel in the Trocadéro gardens turns with the Eiffel Tower right behind it. Few photos in Paris beat a child on a wooden horse with the tower lit up over their shoulder. It runs year-round, weather permitting, and stays going late into a summer evening.

Tuileries carousel

The western Tuileries carousel sits near the Place de la Concorde entrance and runs year-round. During the summer fairground (late June to late August) a second, much larger carousel joins it. Add the Tuileries Ferris wheel, and for six weeks each summer this is the most carousel-rich stretch in central Paris.

Sacré-Coeur (Place Saint-Pierre) carousel

The double-decker Belle Epoque carousel at the foot of the Sacré-Coeur funicular has turned up in dozens of films, Amelie among them. Its Place Saint-Pierre setting at the base of Montmartre is one of the most photogenic spots in the city. Combine it with the Sacré-Coeur visit and a Montmartre wander.

Place Saint-Sulpice carousel

The smaller carousel in front of the Saint-Sulpice church in the 6th, a five-minute walk from the Luxembourg Gardens. Keep it in reserve as a bribe after a long Luxembourg morning: promise the carousel and children will trudge another half kilometer without a peep.

Puppet Theaters (Marionnettes)

Traditional French puppet theaters go back to the nineteenth century, descended from the Lyon Guignol tradition. The slapstick carries enough on its own that non-French children laugh as hard as the locals. Tickets run €5 to €7, with shows of 30 to 45 minutes.

Théâtre des Marionnettes du Luxembourg (6th)

The most famous puppet theater in Paris, performing since 1933 in a dedicated 270-seat hall near the paid playground. Shows run Monday to Friday at 3pm and 4pm during school holidays, and on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at the same times in term. Cash and card both work at the door, with no online booking. Get there ten minutes early for a bench near the front.

Marionnettes du Parc Floral (Bois de Vincennes)

The Parc Floral, inside the Bois de Vincennes, runs a smaller puppet theater on weekends through the warmer months. Pair it with a picnic in the floral garden and the children’s playground next door. Entry to the Parc Floral is free except during certain summer events.

Marionnettes du Champ de Mars (7th)

A long-running summer marionnette theater at the École Militaire end of the Champ de Mars. It operates weekends and during school holidays from spring through autumn, and slots neatly onto a Champ de Mars picnic and an Eiffel Tower morning.

Marionnettes des Buttes-Chaumont (19th)

A summer-season puppet theater inside the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, on the southern lawn. Smaller and less famous than Luxembourg but every bit as entertaining, with the surrounding park giving children somewhere to run before and after.

Boat and Animal Activities

Water and animals are the two near-universal park preferences in childhood, and Paris supplies more of both than most visitors expect.

Luxembourg sailboat pond

The Grand Bassin rents wooden sailboats for €4 per half hour. Children push them across the water with long sticks, and the prevailing breeze does the rest, so the boats genuinely sail.

Bois de Vincennes Lac Daumesnil rowboats

Rowboats on the central lake, around €13 an hour, four to a boat. The lake is big enough to row for a full hour without going in circles, and the two central islands have cafés.

Bois de Boulogne Lac Inférieur rowboats

The western counterpart, slightly smaller, at similar prices. A small ferry crosses the lake to a wooded island and its chalet restaurant.

Parc Zoologique de Paris (Vincennes Zoo)

Renovated in 2014 and laid out by biozone: Patagonia, Sahel-Sudan, Europe, Guyana and Madagascar. Lions, giraffes, lemurs, wolves, manatees. Tickets are €20 for adults and €15 for children, free under three. Book online to skip the queue.

Petting zoo at Jardin d’Acclimatation

Goats, sheep, chickens, rabbits and llamas. Children can feed them with pellets sold at the entrance kiosk. Included with park entry.

Best Parks for Picnics with Kids

A picnic is the cheapest way to feed children in Paris. The parks below have either lawn access or a generous supply of gravel and benches.

Champ de Mars

Lawn access in most sections, genuinely rare in central Paris. The grass under the Eiffel Tower is the canonical Paris picnic; aim for the western end of the Champ for shade. Steer clear of the central paved approach to the tower, which is thick with selfie-stick vendors.

Luxembourg Gardens

Lawn access is limited here, with most lawns roped off, but the surrounding gravel terraces hold thousands of free green folding chairs you can drag into the sun, into the shade, or under the trees by the Medici Fountain. Local Parisians treat those chairs as their own back garden.

Place des Vosges

Lawn access in the central squares, exceptional for the Marais. Sand pits for toddlers, four central fountains, and a gated park that closes at dusk. Pick up provisions on the rue des Francs Bourgeois or at the rue de Bretagne market.

Parc Monceau

Lawn access in patches, plus shaded benches among the eighteenth-century follies. The surrounding 8th has high-end traiteurs (delicatessens) that turn out exceptional picnic boxes. For market shopping, our guide to the city’s best Paris food markets covers the picnic-provisioning options across the arrondissements.

Summer Splash Pools and Water Play

Paris in July and August gets genuinely hot. The city answers with urban beaches and filtered swimming pools dropped into its old industrial canals.

Paris Plages

The summer urban-beach festival runs from mid-July to early September along the Seine and around the Bassin de la Villette in the 19th. The Bassin de la Villette site is the more family-friendly of the two, with three filtered swimming pools (free entry, lifeguard-staffed) that take children from about six. The Seine sections are sand-and-deckchair rather than for swimming. Expect towels, paddling pools, deckchairs, dance classes, and floating puppet theaters along the Bassin.

Aquaboulevard (15th)

The covered water park in the 15th, with eleven slides, a wave pool, geysers, and indoor tropical landscaping. Entry runs around €33 for adults and €18 for children under twelve. It comes into its own on rainy days and in shoulder season. Take Metro line 8 to Balard, or RER C to Bd Victor.

Splash fountains at Buttes-Chaumont

A free splash fountain at the eastern entrance of the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont runs through the warmer months. Children play in the spray fully clothed, fully naked, or anywhere in between, and Parisian parents don’t bat an eye. Bring a towel and a change of clothes.

For the full seasonal picture, pools, ice creams and beach excursions included, see our comprehensive guide to Paris summer activities.

Winter Park Activities

Winter is the underrated Paris-with-kids season. Museum queues shrink, and the city installs ice rinks in three prominent spots. Christmas markets fill the Tuileries from late November to early January, complete with carousels, mulled wine and the city’s biggest Ferris wheel.

Hôtel de Ville ice rink

The free outdoor ice rink in front of the Paris city hall runs from mid-December to early January, with skate rental at around €6 (kids’ skates down to very small sizes). It stays open into the late evening, lit by the floodlit façade of the Hôtel de Ville behind it, and a little snow makes the whole thing magical.

Tuileries ice rink

A second ice rink sits inside the Tuileries Christmas market, built in alongside the carousel and the fairground rides. Entry is small (€3 to €5), and between the food stalls and the giant Ferris wheel, this is the most child-friendly winter destination in central Paris.

Galeries Lafayette rooftop rink

Each December the Galeries Lafayette department store on Boulevard Haussmann installs a small ice rink on its sixth-floor rooftop terrace, with a panoramic view across the Opéra Garnier roof to the Eiffel Tower in the distance. The terrace is free to enter, with a modest skate-hire fee.

Christmas markets at Tuileries

The Magie de Noël Christmas market runs the full length of the Tuileries Gardens from late November to early January, with chalets selling vin chaud, crepes, churros and seasonal crafts. The carousel, the Ferris wheel, the ice rink and a small wooden roller coaster for younger children all run alongside. It’s better behaved than the Champs-Élysées version and just as festive.

For the wider winter picture, with museums, indoor activities and seasonal events, see our guide to Paris winter activities.

What to Pack for a Park Day

Parisian parents arrive at the park heavily provisioned, working on the principle that nothing short of bedtime should force you to leave.

• Wet wipes (one full pack in the bag, plus a small travel pack in the stroller).
• Spare change of clothes for under-fives (sandpit days end in full sand colonisation).
• Picnic and snacks (baguette + cheese + ham + fruit covers a multitude of moods).
• Water bottle per child (Paris tap water is excellent and most parks have potable fountains).
• Sunscreen (the Paris sun is more intense than its latitude suggests, especially in July-August).
• Layers (Paris weather changes within an afternoon; a light fleece travels small in a stroller basket).
• Stroller or umbrella stroller (the bois are too large to push a toddler around without one).
• Small first-aid kit (plasters, antiseptic wipes, child paracetamol).
• Cash for carousels, sailboats, puppet shows, ice cream (some kiosks still cash-only).
• A small ball, frisbee, or kite (the Champ de Mars and Bois de Vincennes are made for these).

Park Safety and Etiquette

Paris parks are safe by international standards, but a handful of local norms catch visiting families off guard.

Keep children visible. A pre-teen should know the name of the hotel and carry a parent’s phone number on a card in their pocket. Many playgrounds are gated, closing times vary, and a lot of gardens shut at dusk (4:30pm in December). Check the gate timetable on the way in.

Lost-and-found runs through the Mairie of each arrondissement. If a hat or stuffed animal goes missing, ask at the park office first; the Mairie keeps a register. A lost child is taken to the park caretaker’s office or the on-site police kiosk.

Lawn access is restricted in most central parks, so look for “Pelouse autorisée” signs. Where the lawns are roped off, those free green folding chairs along every gravel terrace can be moved anywhere in the park. For more on family budget planning, see our guide to free things to do in Paris: nearly every park here costs nothing to enter.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best park in Paris for children?

The Luxembourg Gardens in the 6th. It packs a sailboat pond, twice-daily puppet theater, Belle Epoque carousel, paid and free playgrounds, pony rides, chess tables and ice cream carts into twenty-three hectares of central Paris. Other parks win on one or two fronts; Luxembourg wins on all of them.

Are Paris parks free?

Almost without exception, yes. Entry to the major parks (Luxembourg, Tuileries, Champ de Mars, the bois, Buttes-Chaumont, Monceau, Place des Vosges) is free. Specific attractions inside them charge: the paid Luxembourg playground (€3), the Luxembourg puppet theater (around €6), the Jardin d’Acclimatation (€7), the Vincennes Zoo (around €20 for adults). Carousels run €3 to €4 a ride.

What are park opening hours in Paris?

Most large Paris parks open early (7:30am to 8:30am) and close at dusk, so closing time swings hard with the season, from 4:30pm in deep winter to 9:45pm in midsummer. The exact timetable is posted at every gate. The bois (Vincennes and Boulogne) stay open 24 hours but are unlit and unsafe at night.

Can you have a picnic in Paris parks?

Yes, but only where lawn access is allowed, so look for “Pelouse autorisée” signs. The Champ de Mars, Place des Vosges, Parc Monceau, parts of the Tuileries and the bois all permit lawn picnics. Where lawns are roped off, the free green folding chairs along the gravel terraces (Luxembourg being the classic case) serve as picnic furniture.

Are Paris parks stroller-friendly?

Mostly, yes. The grand formal gardens (Luxembourg, Tuileries, Champ de Mars, Monceau) have wide gravel paths that take any stroller. The bois have paved central paths and rougher side trails. The Parc des Buttes-Chaumont is steep, but the central loop is stroller-passable. Place des Vosges is fully accessible, and the Coulée Verte René Dumont in the 12th is paved end to end.

Where is the best Paris carousel?

The Belle Epoque carousel in the Luxembourg Gardens, designed by Charles Garnier in the 1870s, is the oldest and most atmospheric. The Trocadéro carousel, with the Eiffel Tower behind it, is the most photogenic. The Place Saint-Pierre carousel at the foot of Sacré-Coeur is the most cinematic (Amelie filmed here). At Christmas, the Hôtel de Ville carousel runs free of charge.

Where can children swim in Paris in summer?

The Paris Plages festival at the Bassin de la Villette (mid-July to early September) drops three free, filtered swimming pools into the canal, with lifeguards and free entry. Aquaboulevard in the 15th is the year-round indoor option, with slides and a wave pool. Many municipal pools (Piscine Pontoise, Piscine Josephine Baker on a Seine barge) admit children for around €3.

Which Paris park is best for a rainy day?

The Cité des Sciences at Parc de la Villette has the largest indoor children’s exhibition space in Paris and a Geode planetarium cinema next door. The Aquarium de Paris at Trocadéro and the Musée en Herbe (children’s art museum) at the Jardin d’Acclimatation are smaller indoor fallbacks. In December, the Galeries Lafayette rooftop adds a covered indoor-outdoor option.

Lean on the parks and a family trip to Paris tends to look after itself. They cost nothing, they’re everywhere, and they hold their own against the headline monuments. Spend one morning in the Luxembourg Gardens with a sailboat and a puppet show and you’ll see why generations of Parisian children think of it as the centre of their childhood. Pack the wipes, bring the picnic, learn the puppet schedule, and let the city handle the rest.

More to explore

Use these to round out your trip:

• our guide to Paris with kids
• Kid-Friendly Museums in Paris
• navigating Paris with a pushchair
• the five-day family plan
• What to Do in Paris When It Rains
• Chambord, Chenonceau and the rest

If you want the grown-up view of the same green spaces — the botanical gardens, the rose garden at Bagatelle, the elevated walk along the Coulée verte and the cemeteries Parisians use as parks — our guide to Paris parks and gardens covers them all, with seasonal highlights and the rules about sitting on the grass.