WITH KIDS
The Cite of Sciences of France
— The Cite Sciences of France – An enormous venue dedicated to teaching children science through play. There are several different areas and individual tickets are required for all exhibition and shows. The Geode is the world’s largest cinema screening documentaries. The site for children is broken down into age groups 5-12 and 2-5 so you might be torn on which ones to visit. Each section requires a ticket and attractions are by hourly sessions so as to avoid over-crowding. The upmarket restaurant is not worth the visit, opt for the cafeteria. Closed Mondays
M: Port de la Villette
www.cite-sciences.fr
30 ave Corentin-Cariou t: 01 40 05 70 00
Palais de la découverte - chemistry, physics, Maths and Science
— All sciences buffs will enjoy the huge array of experiments and exhibitions, of course its all in French but don’t let that deter you. There's always a special exhibition or two.
10 June to 4 January 2009, Escales en Terre Arctique - adventure of Spitzberg. photography, film, and talks about the expedition.
www.palais-decouverte.fr
Avenue Franklin Delano Roosevelt, t: 01 56 43 20 20
Musée de la Magie
— Any budding magicians in the family? This is a trip down memory lane, where old tricks of the trade are revealed. There’s even a workshop but how’s your French?
www.museedelamagie.com
11 rue Saint-Paul t: 01 42 72 13 26
The Catacombs of Paris
— If you’re into bones and skeletons this one might appeal, particularly to teenage boys and their dads. Over 5-6 million people are buried (don’t worry no flesh) in ancient burial grounds. I think they ran out of space. Lots of underground tunnels above famous Paris streets.
M: Denfert-Rochereau
www.paris.fr
1 ave du Colonel Henri Rol-Tanguy
The Cine Aqua
— Learn, eat, watch and interact with marine life. As far as acquariums go this one is well designed and interesting. If you’re kids are into nature documents there are about four regular documentaries screening each hour. Every Wed, Sat and Sunday there are free movie shows at 3.30pm. Its expensive for an aqarium but if it’s a rainy day and you feel like passing the time away its worth a visit, there are 41 fish tanks with numerous French species. M: Trocadero
www.cineaqua.com
2 ave des National Unies
Musée des Arts et Métiers
— Discover how we’ve progressed through the years in technology and inventions. A visually exciting collection of yesteryear’s cars and planes.
M: Arts et Métiers or Réaumur-Sébastopol
www.arts-et-metiers.net
60 rue Réaumur-Sébastopol. t: 01 53 01 82 00