Paris is one of those cities where you can make yourself miserable trying to see everything.

The Louvre.

The Eiffel Tower.

Notre-Dame.

Musée d’Orsay.

Sacré-Cœur.

Versailles.

Arc de Triomphe.

You could spend a week racing between landmarks and still leave feeling like you’ve missed something.

We had another variable to consider:

We were traveling with a two-year-old and my wife and I have visited Paris several times before. That changes things.

Long museum days weren’t realistic.

Elaborate sightseeing schedules weren’t particularly appealing.

And spending an hour standing in line for anything with a toddler seemed like a questionable life decision.

So instead, we approached Paris differently.

We rented an apartment in the Latin Quarter, walked almost everywhere, spent time in parks and cafés, ate extremely well, did some shopping and allowed ourselves to experience the city without feeling obligated to check every famous attraction off a list.

It ended up being one of my favorite ways to experience Paris.

Stay in the 5th Arrondissement

Our Airbnb was in the 5th arrondissement, just a few minutes from the Panthéon.

For us, the location was nearly perfect.

The Latin Quarter is one of the oldest parts of Paris, with narrow streets, historic buildings, cafés, restaurants and the Sorbonne woven throughout the neighborhood.

It’s unmistakably Parisian without feeling like you’re staying inside a tourist attraction.

And with a young child, having an apartment rather than a traditional hotel room made life considerably easier.

More space.

A kitchen.

A living room.

Somewhere to retreat when a two-year-old decided Paris had provided enough stimulation for one afternoon.

Most importantly, we could simply walk downstairs and be in Paris.

As it turned out, we could also walk downstairs and eat at a Michelin-starred restaurant.

Our Downstairs Neighbor Had a Michelin Star

Our apartment was directly above La Table de Colette.

Not near it.

Not down the street.

Directly above it.

That’s a pretty good downstairs neighbor to have in Paris.

La Table de Colette is a small restaurant in the 5th arrondissement with an emphasis on creative, vegetable-forward cooking and sustainability.

We went downstairs for lunch.

There’s something wonderfully absurd about leaving your Airbnb, walking down a flight of stairs and arriving at a Michelin-starred restaurant.

No Metro.

No Uber.

No elaborate plan.

Just lunch downstairs.

It was also representative of what I loved about staying in the neighborhood.

Paris rewards proximity.

Find the right neighborhood and some of the best experiences of the trip may be sitting outside your front door.

Place de l’Estrapade

A few minutes away was Place de l’Estrapade.

If you’ve watched Emily in Paris, you’ll probably recognize it immediately.

This small square has become one of the show’s most recognizable filming locations.

Emily’s apartment is here.

Gabriel’s restaurant is here.

The bakery and café locations she frequents are nearby.

But even if you’ve never watched a single episode, I’d still recommend coming here.

It’s a beautiful little Parisian square.

And rather than arriving, taking a picture and leaving, sit down.

Find a table outside.

Order something.

Have a glass of Champagne.

Watch people walk through the square.

You’re in Paris.

There’s no prize for getting to the next attraction 20 minutes earlier.

We Found It Before Emily Did

Apparently, Emily in Paris followed us around the neighborhood.

Farther into the Latin Quarter, we had dinner and drinks at the rooftop of Hôtel Dame des Arts.

The rooftop has one of those Paris views that immediately makes you reconsider whatever indoor plans you had for the evening.

Rooftops.

Church towers.

The city’s monuments rising above the buildings in the distance.

Paris stretching toward the horizon.

We ate, had drinks and enjoyed the view.

And then, sometime after our trip, Emily in Paris filmed a scene there too.

I’d therefore like the record to reflect:

We found it first.

I’m sure Netflix will issue the appropriate correction eventually.

Paris Is Better From a Café Table

This trip reinforced something I’ve increasingly come to believe about Paris.

Some cities reward sightseeing.

Paris rewards existing.

Walk somewhere.

Find a café.

Sit outside.

Order coffee.

Or wine.

Or Champagne.

Watch the city.

Then walk somewhere else.

Repeat.

Obviously Paris has some of the world’s greatest museums and monuments.

But if you spend your entire trip moving between them, you can miss the thing that makes Paris so appealing in the first place.

The city itself is the attraction.

With a two-year-old dictating a slightly slower pace, we had more opportunities to appreciate that.

Jardin du Luxembourg With a Toddler

One of the best decisions we made was taking our son to the Jardin du Luxembourg.

Traveling internationally with young children requires a little humility.

Your two-year-old does not care that you’re standing near one of Europe’s most historically significant monuments.

He does not care that the building you’re trying to photograph was constructed 400 years ago.

He definitely does not care about your dinner reservation.

But show him a great playground?

Now you’ve planned a successful vacation.

The Luxembourg Gardens were fantastic.

The gardens themselves are beautiful—formal landscaping, fountains, tree-lined promenades, sculptures and the Luxembourg Palace.

But our son’s priority was considerably simpler.

The playground.

And it’s a legitimately great playground.

There were things for kids of different ages, plenty of room to play and enough to keep him entertained while we enjoyed one of Paris’s most beautiful parks.

He loved it.

Which meant we loved it.

That’s how traveling with a two-year-old works.

Let Your Kids Have Their Paris Too

I think parents sometimes make the mistake of expecting children to participate in an adult itinerary all day.

We’ve tried to approach family travel differently.

If we’re going somewhere we want to visit, our kids should get things they want to do too.

A playground isn’t wasted vacation time.

Neither is a carousel.

Or an ice cream.

Or letting a kid run around a park for an hour.

Those moments make the rest of the day easier for everyone.

And honestly, sitting in the Luxembourg Gardens watching our son play felt every bit as Parisian as standing in another museum.

Maybe more so.

We weren’t simply visiting something.

For a little while, we were participating in everyday life in the city.

Museums Can Wait

We didn’t spend much time in museums on this trip.

That wasn’t an accident.

Trying to take a two-year-old through the Louvre for several hours didn’t sound enjoyable for him.

Or us.

And that’s okay.

I’ve increasingly stopped thinking about travel as a competition to accumulate famous attractions.

We weren’t going to “complete” Paris on this trip.

Nobody does.

There will always be another museum.

Another church.

Another neighborhood.

Another restaurant.

Another reason to return.

So we traded some museum time for parks, cafés, walks and meals.

I don’t regret it at all.

Walk Paris

One of the best things you can do in Paris is simply walk.

The 5th arrondissement made an excellent starting point.

From our apartment, we could wander through the Latin Quarter, along narrow streets, past cafés and bookstores, toward the Seine and into other parts of central Paris.

And because we weren’t rushing between scheduled attractions, we could stop whenever something looked interesting.

This is another advantage of traveling with a stroller.

A two-year-old can walk when he wants.

Ride when he doesn’t.

Nap when Paris becomes exhausting.

Meanwhile, you keep exploring.

Everyone wins.

Place Vendôme

We did make time for one activity that doesn’t require much convincing in Paris:

Shopping.

And it’s difficult to go wrong around Place Vendôme.

The square itself is spectacular—symmetrical façades surrounding the Vendôme Column in one of the most elegant parts of Paris.

The surrounding streets are also home to some of the world’s great luxury houses and jewelers.

Cartier.

Van Cleef & Arpels.

Boucheron.

Chanel nearby on Rue Cambon.

And seemingly every other brand capable of making your credit card nervous.

You don’t necessarily need to buy anything.

Walking through this part of Paris is an experience itself.

Although buying something certainly doesn’t hurt.

Paris With a Child Is Still Paris

Before traveling with children, it’s easy to assume family travel requires replacing the experiences you enjoy with “kid activities.”

I’ve found that’s usually not true.

You just need to change the rhythm.

We still ate exceptionally well.

We still had Champagne at sidewalk cafés.

We still went shopping.

We still enjoyed rooftop drinks.

We still explored neighborhoods.

We simply mixed those things with playgrounds, parks and enough downtime to keep a two-year-old reasonably happy.

That balance worked.

What I’d Do Again

If we were repeating this exact trip, I wouldn’t change much.

I’d stay in the 5th arrondissement again.

I’d choose an apartment over a hotel while traveling with a young child.

I’d walk as much as possible.

I’d have lunch at La Table de Colette.

I’d spend an afternoon around Place de l’Estrapade and actually sit down rather than treating it like a photo stop.

I’d go back to the Luxembourg Gardens.

I’d have drinks on the rooftop at Hôtel Dame des Arts.

I’d shop around Place Vendôme.

And I’d deliberately leave empty space in the itinerary.

Because Paris will fill it for you.

Final Thoughts

This wasn’t our most ambitious trip to Paris.

Maybe that’s why I enjoyed it so much.

We didn’t try to conquer the city.

We lived in an apartment near the Panthéon.

There happened to be a Michelin-starred restaurant downstairs.

We walked to cafés.

We drank Champagne outside.

We discovered that half our neighborhood apparently belonged to Emily in Paris.

We took our son to an incredible playground.

We wandered.

We shopped.

We ate.

And we let Paris dictate the pace.

There are trips where I want to see as much as humanly possible.

Paris isn’t one of them anymore.

Paris is somewhere I want to experience slowly.

Find a neighborhood you love.

Walk everywhere.

Sit outside.

Order the Champagne.

And if you’re traveling with a two-year-old, find a good playground.

Paris will take care of the rest.