Paris & Amsterdam: Spring Break with Family

Trip Overview

Seven people. Four adults. Three young kids. Two cities. Ten days in March/April, catching Europe in that brief window where the weather turns and everything blooms.

We spent a lot of time exploring Montmartre in Paris — a neighborhood that rewards walking and punishes anyone who thought they’d sleep in. A canal-side hotel in the Jordaan neighborhood put us right on the water in Amsterdam, which is exactly where you want to be.

Cities: Paris (days 1–5), Amsterdam (days 6–10)

Best Time to Visit: Late March to early April is a sweet spot — spring break crowds, yes, but also cherry blossoms in Paris and tulip season in the Netherlands. Keukenhof is worth planning the whole trip around.

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Paris

Day 1: Arrival & Settling into Montmartre

Landing after a red-eye, the goal is simple: get everyone into the apartment, buy groceries, and don’t fall asleep at 3pm.

The neighborhood: Staying near Montmartre puts you steps from the cobblestone streets that climb toward Sacré-Cœur. The 18th arrondissement is lived-in and real — boulangeries, fromageries, the occasional tourist, but mostly Parisians going about their day.

Evening:

• Walk up to Sacré-Cœur for the view at golden hour
• Dinner close to home — nothing ambitious on night one

Tips:

• Get a Navigo Découverte card for unlimited metro/bus travel (far better than buying individual tickets)
• Pick up baguettes, cheese, and fruit at the market for tomorrow’s breakfast — kids will eat this, adults will be thrilled

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Day 2: The Louvre

We gave the Louvre a full day. With kids, that sounds ambitious; it’s actually the right call.

The strategy that worked: Skip the Italian paintings hall on the first pass. Head directly to Napoleon III’s Apartments — the gilded rooms, the absurd chandeliers, the feeling that someone lost the plot on interior design in the best way possible. Kids were immediately captivated. It bought goodwill for the rest of the museum.

What we saw:

• Napoleon’s Apartments (crowd favorite, not the Mona Lisa)
• The Mona Lisa (yes, do it — get there early, it takes 10 minutes, move on)
• Winged Victory of Samothrace — this one genuinely stops people
• Egyptian antiquities

Lunch: Eat outside the museum before going in or after — skip the Louvre cafeteria.

Tips:

• Book timed-entry tickets in advance online
• The Denon Wing entrance is less crowded than the main pyramid
• Plan for 4–5 hours — then leave. Trying to “do it all” breaks everyone
• The museum is free for anyone under 18

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Day 3: Notre-Dame & the Île de la Cité

Notre-Dame reopened in December 2024 after five years of restoration following the 2019 fire. Walking in is something else. The nave is brighter and cleaner than it’s been in a century, and the new interior work is careful, considered, and moving.

Morning:

• Notre-Dame Cathedral — arrive at opening (9:30am) to get in before the lines build
• Walk along the Seine toward Sainte-Chapelle — the stained glass there is extraordinary and often overlooked

Afternoon:

• Cross to the Left Bank for lunch in Saint-Germain
• Walk along the Quai de Montebello — booksellers, river views, no agenda

Evening:

• Back to Montmartre — pick up dinner supplies from the market
• Night walk up to Sacré-Cœur to see the city lit up

Tips:

• Sainte-Chapelle requires a separate ticket — worth it
• The Cathedral is free but moving around inside is managed — don’t rush it

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Day 4: Montmartre Deep Dive & Eiffel Tower

Montmartre earns its reputation slowly. The touristy parts — Place du Tertre with the portrait artists, the souvenir shops on Rue Norvins — are easy to dismiss. But walk a block in any direction and you’re on streets that feel unchanged.

Morning — the neighborhood:

• Rue de l’Abreuvoir — easily the most beautiful street in Paris. Narrow, ivy-covered, quiet at 8am. Walk the full length slowly.
• Vineyard of Montmartre — Paris’s only working vineyard, visible from the path below Sacré-Cœur
• Place du Calvaire — tiny square with the best panoramic view in the neighborhood

Afternoon — Eiffel Tower area:

• Take the metro to Trocadéro rather than directly to the tower — the view from the plaza is the one you want
• Walk across the Champ de Mars lawn toward the tower
• Book tower tickets in advance — the lines without reservations are brutal

Evening:

• Seine cruise — the Bateaux Mouches evening cruise times the Eiffel Tower light show perfectly. The kids watched the tower sparkle from the water, which is the correct way to experience it.

Tips:

• Go to Trocadéro first, always
• The Eiffel Tower sparkle show runs at the top of every hour after dark
• The Seine cruise lasts about an hour — a good tired-kids option

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Day 5: Day Trip to Versailles (Optional) or Slow Paris Day

With younger kids, Versailles is a full-day commitment. We opted for a slower Paris morning instead — a decision we didn’t regret.

If you go to Versailles:

• Take the RER C train from central Paris (~40 minutes)
• Book tickets and a time slot in advance — the palace interior queues are long even with a ticket
• The gardens are free and enormous — budget 5–6 hours total
• Versailles with kids: focus on the Hall of Mirrors, the gardens, and skip the Grand Trianon unless you have energy to spare

If you stay in Paris:

• Marais district — the covered market at Marché des Enfants Rouges for lunch, Place des Vosges for the afternoon
• Let the kids dictate the pace for one day — ice cream, parks, wandering

Dinner — Gyoza House: The kids had been requesting dumplings since we landed. Gyoza House delivered. Line up early (it fills fast), order multiple plates, and don’t overthink it.

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Amsterdam

Day 6: Arrival & Andaz Prinsengracht

The Thalys from Paris Gare du Nord to Amsterdam Centraal takes just under 3.5 hours. Train travel with kids through the Dutch countryside — flat, green, orderly — is a good reset after Paris.

The hotel: A canal-side hotel in the Jordaan neighborhood, directly on the Prinsengracht. Walking out the front door and straight onto a canal path is the right way to arrive in Amsterdam.

Evening:

• Walk north along the Prinsengracht toward Brouwersgracht
• Brouwersgracht is the classic canal postcard — the corner where Brouwersgracht meets Herengracht in the evening light is the shot everyone has seen and it still lands
• Dinner at a Jordaan neighborhood restaurant

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Day 7: Keukenhof Gardens

Keukenhof is open for six weeks each spring (late March to mid-May). Seven million bulbs planted across 80 acres. At peak bloom, it’s one of those places that feels slightly implausible.

Getting there: Bus from Amsterdam Centraal (~1 hour) or drive/taxi. Book tickets online in advance — they sell out.

With kids: The kids found the maze, ran through it repeatedly, and required almost no persuasion to enjoy the rest. The flower halls inside the pavilions — tulips arranged by color in floor-to-ceiling displays — work on everyone regardless of age.

What to see:

• The main pavilion tulip displays
• The Japanese garden
• The windmill at the edge of the park — working Dutch windmill context
• The specialty pavilions (orchids, dahlias, hyacinths)

Tips:

• Arrive when it opens (8am) — the light is better and crowds are manageable
• Bring a picnic or plan to eat at off-peak times — the food is fine but lines are long at noon
• The park is walkable in a half day; a full day lets you slow down and actually look

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Day 8: Amsterdam Canals & Jordaan

Amsterdam’s genius is its grid of canals — it rewards exactly the kind of purposeless walking that cities rarely make easy.

Morning:

• Jordaan neighborhood — walk the Bloemgracht, Egelantiersgracht, and the smaller cross-streets. This is where Amsterdam’s residential character is most intact.
• Nine Streets (De 9 Straatjes) — the nine streets that cross the main canal belt, lined with independent shops, cafes, and bookstores. Good for browsing.

Afternoon:

• Anne Frank House — book tickets months in advance (not an exaggeration). The house is small but the experience is significant; good for kids 10 and up.
• Walk the Herengracht (the Gentleman’s Canal) from end to end — Amsterdam’s most architecturally impressive canal

Evening:

• Dinner in Jordaan — the neighborhood has a good range from Indonesian (rijsttafel is the right call) to Dutch bitterballen

Tips:

• Bikes are everywhere but cycling with young kids in Amsterdam requires confidence — trams and pedestrians are both hazards
• The canal boats are the best way to understand the city’s scale

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Day 9: Rijksmuseum & Vondelpark

Morning:

• Rijksmuseum — the permanent collection covering the Dutch Golden Age is extraordinary. Rembrandt’s Night Watch, Vermeer’s rooms. Spend 2–3 hours, not more.
• The museum courtyard is free to walk through even without a ticket — good to know.

Afternoon:

• Vondelpark — Amsterdam’s central park. Playgrounds, paths, rose garden, street musicians. The kids needed to run; this solved it.
• Walk back through the Museum District and along the Singel canal toward the center

Evening:

• Boat canal cruise — an evening canal cruise is the Paris Seine cruise equivalent. The bridges lit up, the reflection in the water, the narrow canal houses from water level.

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Day 10: Departure

Keep the morning light. The Amsterdam airport (Schiphol) is 20 minutes by direct train from Centraal Station — one of the easier airport connections in Europe.

Final morning:

• Coffee at a Jordaan canal-side café
• One last walk along the Prinsengracht
• The flower market on the Singel if you have time

Tips:

• The airport train runs frequently — no need to rush if you’re organized
• Dutch stroopwafels are the correct souvenir

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Trip Summary

Detail	Info
Total Days	10 days
Paris Base	Montmartre, 18th arrondissement
Amsterdam Base	Jordaan, canal-side
Group Size	7 (4 adults, 3 young kids)
Paris → Amsterdam	Thalys train, ~3.5 hours
Best For	Families, culture, spring travel

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Practical Notes

Getting Around

Paris:

• Navigo Découverte card — unlimited metro/RER/bus within zones 1–2 (~€30/week). Far better than single tickets.
• Uber works well and is easier than taxis with luggage or tired kids
• Most major sights are walkable if you’re based centrally

Amsterdam:

• GVB transit cards for trams and metro
• Uber/taxi for airport runs and longer distances
• Walking is genuinely the best option in the city center

Logistics with Kids

• Build in at least one low-agenda day per city — the itinerary is the enemy of good travel with kids
• Museums work better in the morning; outdoor wandering in the afternoon
• Kids under 18 are free at the Louvre; under 19 free at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum (EU residents) — check ahead
• Pack snacks. Always. Everywhere.

Food Strategy

Paris: Picnic lunches from markets work extremely well with kids. Save the sit-down restaurant energy for dinners. Bakeries are restaurants in disguise.

Amsterdam: Indonesian rijsttafel is worth seeking out — abundant, varied, and kids tend to find something they’ll eat. The Dutch lunch (broodjes, kroketten) is fast and good.

April Timing

Both cities hit their spring stride in late March and early April. Paris has cherry blossoms in the Tuileries and Jardin du Luxembourg. Amsterdam is tulip season. Keukenhof’s bloom window is narrow — if the dates line up, plan around it.

The tradeoff: this is also school holiday season in Europe, so Louvre and Keukenhof see real crowds. Booking everything in advance and arriving early solves most of this.

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Must-Do Highlights

1. Rue de l’Abreuvoir at 8am — the Paris street everyone should walk before the tourists arrive
2. Notre-Dame restored — better than pre-fire, genuinely worth the visit
3. Napoleon’s Apartments at the Louvre — the crowd-pleaser no one expects
4. Seine cruise at dusk — time it for the Eiffel Tower light show
5. Keukenhof at peak bloom — one of those places you have to see once
6. Brouwersgracht at golden hour — the corner where Amsterdam makes complete sense
7. Jordaan canal walking — no plan, just walk