Day date at the Eiffel Tower with my toddler
I recently took my 2.5-year-old to see France’s Iron Lady. Below, the details of our day date, outlining everything from breakfast to France’s health pass to the elevator up the Eiffel Tower.
Classic Parisian breakfast
We live in the Montparnasse district of Paris, so naturally, we started off the day with breakfast at one of our favorite local restaurants, Le Select. If you follow me on Instagram, you know my love for this place is strong. Many people know Café de Flore or Les Deux Magots—Le Select is a similar Parisian establishment minus the tourists. Le Select is kid-friendly to the extent that the waiters are patient, and they have highchairs (no changing table in the bathroom, however, for the kiddos still in diapers).
Destination Eiffel Tower
We then hopped on Bus 82 at the Vavin stop (conveniently situated in front of Le Select), which dropped us off at Le Champ-de-Mars next to the Eiffel Tower.
The day we went was the first day of the health pass or pass sanitaire in France. You have to show either proof of vaccination or having had COVID-19 within six months or a negative antigen or PCR test. They had COVID-19 testing tents for those who didn’t have the health pass. Paris by Mouth explains here how to transform an American vaccine card into a French health pass.
Once you’ve shown your health pass and gone through security, you can access the grounds surrounding the Eiffel Tower.
We decided to go up the tower on arriving, and happily, the ticket line and line to take the elevator to the top were short. Short equates to 10 minutes to buy the tickets and 10-15 minutes to head to the top. A ticket to the second floor (the summit was closed) was 16.70 euros; kids under four are free. I highly recommend buying tickets in advance if you know you’d like to go to the top.
We spent about 10 minutes taking in the view—my 2.5-year-old more or less lives by the motto, “We came, we saw, we conquered.” He was very excited to see la Tour Montparnasse. It was a familiar face given he also sees it from his bedroom window. We took the stairs down to the first floor, walked around, and took the elevator to the bottom.
Le déjeuner = lunch
My husband’s office is next to Lady Eiffel, so my little one got to see dad at his office. We ate lunch together at a nearby Italian café, Il Sorrentino (note: they also have an upscale restaurant down the street). In an area flocked with tourist-trap restaurants, this one has a local and authentic feel, catering to businesses and residents. It’s one my husband frequents with colleagues. The staff speaks Italian and the food is solid. We ordered a charcuterie plate, two margarita pizzas, and a bottle of sparkling water.
If seeing daddy wasn’t on the agenda, though, I would have packed a picnic and set up camp on Le Champ-de-Mars.
Home bound for la sieste
We finished off our afternoon around 1:30 pm and headed home on the bus to put my little man down for his nap after what was a perfect morning and early afternoon spent taking in one of the world’s most visited monuments.