Melanie McDonagh

Paris en famille

The French capital is much friendlier if you’re a child, says Melanie McDonagh

From magazine issue: 30 June 2012

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Melanie McDonagh

Paris en famille
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I can’t think of a child who wouldn’t fall for the Ménagerie du Jardins des Plantes, or Botanical Gardens, which is utterly unlike London Zoo, being charming, compact and eccentric. It was set up for exotic animals orphaned by the French Revolution and some of the buildings date from the early 19th century. The Snake House is sublime. It’s got vultures, sloths, crocodiles, marmosets in a curiously romantic setting.

But when it comes to animals the runaway success of my children’s trip was seeing them stuffed. Deyrolle, on the Rue du Bac, is the most wonderful shop in Paris, masquerading as a harmless garden retailer on the ground floor but one floor up turning into the Natural History Museum. You know those Victorian cases with stuffed mammals, from hummingbirds to whales? Well, this shop is like that, only more random, and the exhibits are for sale.

The Palais Royale is another unexpected hit with children: the black and white striped pillars by Buren are impossible to pass by without jumping on them and running round them. And while you’re there make for the model soldier shop at the north end of the arcades, which has fabulous battle scenes, and the little music box shop next to it. On the subject of must-see shops, don’t miss Pain d’Epices, near the Opera, which has everything a chic doll’s house could possibly need, including the most covetable inmates.

There are two ways to go when it comes to accommodation specifically for children. One is a smart hotel that has a children’s package. The Hyatt Regency Paris-Madeleine has a very good formula including a present for the children on arrival and a three-hour babysitting service for parents. The other is a self-catering apartment, where the children do their own thing and you can make meals at your own leisure. We stayed in a little apartment in Les Halles, with a tiny kitchen and a communal restaurant in which the real hit was the waffle-making machine at breakfast. Both options work well.

Actually when I say Paris is a child-friendly city, that applies to children who can walk. Don’t even try negotiating the Paris Metro with a buggy.