Autumn half-term: Paris with children, without wearing yourself out

The French autumn school holidays, known as the Toussaint holidays, last two weeks, straddling the end of October and the beginning of November. French families use them to come to Paris, and places designed for children fill up accordingly. Nothing insurmountable, provided you adjust your habits a little.

Rule one: one big visit a day, not two. A child lasts two hours in a museum, rarely more, and the third hour is paid for in the evening. Better the Natural History Museum in the morning and a garden in the afternoon than two museums back to back that nobody will remember fondly.

Rule two: book whatever can be booked. During the holidays, timed tickets for the big museums and family attractions go several days ahead. Booking them from the sofa the night before saves an hour of queueing under an autumn sky.

For ideas, the Grande Galerie de l’Évolution in the Jardin des Plantes still stuns children and parents alike: a procession of life-size animals under a vast glass roof. The Jardin d’Acclimatation, on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne, mixes vintage rides with wide open spaces. And the Cité des sciences at La Villette has an area set aside for the youngest, which also needs booking.

Gardens remain the best safety valve. At the Luxembourg, children rent a small wooden sailing boat for a few minutes and push it across the big pond with a stick, as people have done for a century. There are swings, a puppet theatre and an old carousel too. Nothing is more Parisian, and nothing is less tiring for parents.

Finally, think about the light. In late October it is dark around six, and earlier still once the clocks go back. Days with children therefore centre on the morning and early afternoon: go out early, lunch early, head home for a snack. In the evening, the apartment becomes the best place in Paris.

That is the real difference from a hotel: a kitchen for simple meals, several bedrooms so everyone sleeps on their own schedule, a living room where nobody has to whisper. All our apartments have a travel cot and a high chair; just tell us the children’s ages when you book.