September 17, 2025
We just wrapped our first international trip with a toddler, and oh boy did we learn a lot. We spent ten days in and around Paris, France with our almost two year old. It was an amazing trip. Tough, but amazing – but we now have lots of tips for travelling with toddlers to share. My husband and I love to travel. We were both living abroad when we met, and spent the first year of our relationship exploring Europe on the weekends and in-between school semesters. We knew that any trip we went on after becoming parents, we wanted our children to experience as well.
Before our trip, we got a lot of, “she’s not going to remember any of this.” And that’s true, at 21 months Josephine likely won’t have any of her own memories of the trip, but we will, and we’ll tell her all about it.
We’ll remember our daughter frolicking a vineyard while we sipped champagne. Picking up rocks outside the largest cathedrals in France and storing them like treasures. The elation in her eyes as we handed her the first warm, crepe au sucre that she enjoyed on a walk along the Seine. The complete joy and awe as she watched her favorite Disney heroine dance in person before her eyes. Her resilience as she navigated a new time zone and environment. Plus, we’ll have all the photos and videos to share and look back on.
So enough of my plug to take the trip and take the photos, let’s get to the reason you’re really here – the tips for travelling abroad with a toddler.
Table of Contents
Limit the layovers
If you can manage a direct flight, it’s worth the extra splurge. We had a layover in Dublin en route to Paris and I think it threw off our game a bit. Although Josephine did sleep on the transatlantic flight, she was wired and ready to party during the layover (which was about midnight our time) and the hour long flight to Paris.
If we could have replanned the trip, we would have either booked direct to Paris through the closest international airport (which is a two-hour drive from our house on a good day), or, left from our local regional airport but scheduled the layover for an east coast hub like JFK or Logan. That way, we knock out the layover while it’s still “daytime” for us and we can try to start the next day off fresh in the new time zone.
Have a “home base”
This one probably tops our list of tips for travelling with toddlers. This trip was originally scheduled for when Josephine was six months old and we were planning to do two countries and several hotel switches. We quickly became intimidated by that plan when her six month sleep regression kicked in, and rescheduled the trip for a year and a half later. We also narrowed it down to one county with two accommodation changes.
For our first leg of the trip, we created a homebase and stayed outside the city. From this point we rented a car and did Disneyland Paris, spent two days exploring Champagne, and two days relaxing by the pool and shopping (designer outlets for mom, Costco for dad). It was really helpful to have this homebase (which was an excellent townhouse setup courtesy of Marriott) to return to each day. The hour and a half drive back from Reims and Epernay let Josephine have a good car nap, and then we would return to the hotel for pool and playground before dinner.
After that, we spent two days, three nights in Paris proper at a stunning AirBNB. We are still on the fence whether we should have just taken the commuter train into the city each of these days and stayed at our townhouse setup in the country. Even though we enjoyed our accomodations in the city, the Marriott townhouse was pretty ideal for a toddler.
Plan around parks
Our trip wasn’t your typical tourist adventure. We didn’t do any museums (albeit one quick trip into the free Petit Palais while Josephine napped) or big touristy hubs other than Notre Dame and Montmartre. Instead, we explored the city through its local parks and child-free activities.
During our first half of the trip we stayed in the suburbs of Paris where our hotel had a pool and several playgrounds. After a day of exploring the Champagne region, we would come home and let Josephine play before dinner.
Once we got to Paris, there was a cute little playground on our block. We would start off every morning there. One parent would go out in search of a takeaway breakfast while the other stayed with Josephine at the playground. It let her get some energy out before we ventured into whatever activity of the day we had planned.
We were only in Paris two and a half days, and almost one of those full days was spent exploring the Luxembourg Gardens in the Latin Quarter. This was a park I frequented a lot during my time as a college student in Paris, and I was overjoyed to now be there with my own daughter. The park has a boat pond, carousel, playground, and to our surprise – 10 euro pony rides, which was definitely the highlight for Josephine. For lunch that day, we picked up a kebob and returned to the park so Josephine could finish getting out her energy before a stroller nap. This leads to my next tip….
Takeaway when you can
I know it’s tough to limit your restaurant meals while travelling, and for some that is half the fun! We found that two meals in a restaurant each day was tough so we tried to offset that with one meal either at home or on-the-go in a park. For us in Paris, this was a great opportunity to take advantage of the boulangeries’ sandwiches au jambon, miam miam, and European kebab culture (much to my husband’s delight). Other popular French street food are crepes and hot dogs – which our toddler very much enjoyed.
Settle for stroller naps
I am a big proponent of a regular nap so this was a tough one for me. Josephine also has terrible fomo and is very stubborn about wanting to be a big girl, so getting her to sit in her stroller long enough for a stroller nap was tough. But tire her out enough, and it will happen.
On that same note, car naps. When we were out in the country, we had a 90 minute drive back to hotel each day. Josephine would always fall asleep in the car and wake up ready to play. It was a later nap than she would usually take at home, but also shorter, so she was still ready for a full night’s sleep. Which leads me to my next point….. sleep and jetlag.
Tools for the time zone change
I think if we had a different flight itinerary going to Europe, we would have had more success with toddler jetlag. But we didn’t and we worked with it. Having comfort items really helped. Pacifiers, mama’s milk and a lovey and blanket were crucial to calming Josephine down when she was overtired.
I think the normal advice with jetlag, to try and maintain the new time zone schedule immediately, is the best strategy. Otherwise, help them feel comfortable and at home the best you can. Upon landing, Josephine fell asleep in the van on the way to the airport. We all took a quick nap after lunch – and were still ready for bed by 7 p.m. that night.
Ask for accommodations
We found most places in Europe to be super accommodating of little ones. When we had the stroller, we often were allowed to skip the line and use the accessible entrance points. This came in the biggest clutch when skipped a giant line to enter Notre Dame. We simply asked if we could enter with the stroller and they let us in, no questions asked.
Having Josephine also helped a lot in the European airports. We were given priority lanes going through passport checks and obviously, preboarding the plane.
Book the bassinet – if you can
The bassinet on the long haul transatlantic flight was such a relief. Like I said earlier in the post, we originally booked this trip when Josephine would have been six months old – and still very sleepy and prone to naps, also a lap infant, therefore we could get the bassinet.
My husband booked the flights for him and me online, then immediately called the airline (Aet Lingus, in this instance) to add our lap infant, book the bassinet and bulkhead seats. This is something you have to do over the phone. There are only two-three bassinets on each long haul flight so you do want to do this early.
When we rebooked, I was almost hesitant to book the bulkhead because I figured that Josephine would be too big for the bassinet, and that she wouldn’t want it. We went ahead and rebooked it just in case, and I am so glad she did.
She loved having her own space on the plane. As a lap infant under two years old, if the seatbelt sign was on she had to be on my lap and buckled in, but if the light was off she could be in the bassinet. The flight attendant brough us blankets, pillows and we made it super cozy. She asked to go in it several times throughout our flight and even cried when they took it away at the end of the flight.
Although she only spent a few hours in it sleeping each way, it was so worth it just to have a few minutes of personal space to myself.
Learn the public transportation
If you’re not planning to rent a car, be sure to understand your transportation options. In Paris, cabs and Ubers cannot transport an infant or toddler without a car seat, and we didn’t pack one. We made use of buses and renting private transportation to get around. We kept away from the metro because strollers and underground can make things difficult. My college French professor always said the best way to get around Paris was by bus so we took that to heart. With the Bonjour RATP App, it’s pretty easy to figure out which route you need to get from point A to point B. I have found that most big cities with public transport have apps like this, so it would be best to look that up prior to your visit!
While in Paris, we also discovered the G7 Taxi App, which allowed us to prebook taxis and vans 30 minutes in advance that had child seats. This came in handy when we were too tired to take the bus or it was getting late and we just wanted to get home.
Most important of all the tips for travelling with toddlers = lower your expectations
I will close with this final piece of advice that you probably hate to hear, but do not go into your travel with any expectations. Your toddler will be a toddler. They will throw fits, practice their vocal range in 800 year old cathedrals, be jetlagged, and more. It all comes with territory. To be honest, our one-week beach trip two hours away from our home yielded just as many sleep issues as our trip abroad. Travelling with a toddler is different. You’re not museum-hopping, your days aren’t full in the same way as they were when you’re travelling alone or with other adults. But it’s still fun in a different way, and seeing the world through her eyes was pretty special. I will add that it’s also not easy, but you are stronger as a parent and your child sees you being brave and as a result is exposed to different cultures, worldviews, and ways of life.
I realized one important truth during our trip, and that is that parenting and childhood are universal. At the end of the day, no matter the country, we’re all in the same boat just trying to figure it out, and isn’t that beautiful to think about?
So there you have it, my top tips for travelling with a toddler. I hope that if you’re a parent planning your first trip with your little one, that this post will bring you some comfort in knowing that it’s worth it. I looked at my husband several times during our trip and asked him if we would do this again and he always said yes.
Keep an eye out for more stories in this series:
- Paris with a toddler
- Disneyland Paris with a toddler
Jacqueline Burns is Richmond family photographer specializing in maternity, newborn and lifestyle family photography. Her work has been featured in magazine and online blogs worldwide. Jacqueline serves the Richmond, Virginia area, including the counties of Henrico, Hanover and Chesterfield, as well as the cities of Bon Air, Ashland and Mechanicsville.
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