Paris

Over the school holidays this summer I travelled to Paris with my kids (Olivia - 9yrs & Max 7yrs). During our four day trip, Paris captured our hearts and is now one of our favorite cities.

Here are our recommendations, all tried and test by us:

Travel

Eurostar is fast & comfortable from London (St Pancras Station) to Paris (Gare du Nord) travel time 2hr 15 minutes. We bought standard seats which honestly were perfect. There are so many great shops at London St Pancras Station: John Lewis, Hamleys, The White Company.  Once you arrive at the Paris train station: Gare Du Nord Paris it is short taxi drive to all the main hotels. Once in Paris we Ubered everywhere and did not bother with the subway.

Hotel

We stayed at the Westin Vendome, the hotel has a superb location opposite Jardin Tuileries which is a stunning park & playground. Our room was not huge but we were barely in our room, the bathrooms could do with a little sprucing up! If money was no object I would stay round the corner at The Ritz, mainly because I love this location especially for a short visit.

A short walk from our hotel is my favorite shopping street - Rue St Honore (3 min walk), Place Vendome for stunning buildings great for photos (3mins walk) Louvre museum (15 minute walk) through Jardin Luxembourg. I love walking as much as I can around Paris, each time I gasp at the architecture and landscape.

Restaurants

Here are a few of our favorite restaurants and less of a tourist trap.  Paris restaurants are notorious for crappy service, despite your French fluency! Below are our favs”

Breakfast - Cafe Florre Eggs, Cappuccino & croissants!

Lunch - NOTE nearly everywhere will close service at 2pm or 2.30pm!
Maison Maison Overlooking the Siene. There is a cute kids play area next door.

Pizzeria Iovines delicious pizza, wine & salad. Round the corner from my favorite store Sezane.

There are boulangeries on most corners. One day kids & I just grabbed a-to-go quiche, baguette sandwich and carried on admiring Paris!

Hotel Costes: Perfect. Kid & adult friendly. Lovely setting and so easy for first night.

Sightseeing

Note - Buy tickets in advance and allow time for security checks! We did not buy tickets in advance and in the red hot sun we queued for an hour for some sights but was well worth it!

Louvre - Beautiful! Kids loved the Mona Lisa but we also enjoy stunning setting, architecture and incredible curation of art. Admission free for kids!

Eiffel Tower - Magnificent! We loved so much, truly one of the most stunning monuments I have every seen. The views are spectacular, we all have our own interpretation of a city but I loved seeing Paris through my kids eyes! We bought tickets for the elevator up & down!

Notre Dame - Worth a visit, line moves super fast and is donation based! My kids recognized the the historiacal cathedral from the movie, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. This was super quick visit for us!

Palais Garnier, Opera National de Paris - This was huge hit for all of us! They recognized this beautiful opera house from the movie LEAP, my kids remembered every scene from in Palais Garnier. Indeed an extraordinary building surrounded by the busy streets of Paris!

Jardin des Tuileries - This incredible public park links you to Louvre Museum from our hotel The gardens were designed by the same architect of gardens at Versailles . It has playgrounds and the kids loved it. It also had a small pop up fun fair for the summer months which was a huge hit in the evenings for my two! During the Christmas months they have a pop ice rink and winter fair.

Jardin du Luxembourg - Napoléon dedicated the 23 gracefully laid-out hectares of the Luxembourg Gardens to the children of Paris! Beautiful public park next to Luxembourg Palace, lots to do for the kids including playground and there is a pond in front of the palace where you can rent sail toy boats which they push round the pond using sticks! Cute kiosks selling ice-cream and coffee! Also a great place for a picnic!

Arch de Triomphe & Champs-Élysées - One of the most famous boulevards linking to the most famous Arch. We did a drive by which was fabulous to avoid the sea of people.

Shopping

Le Bon Marche - Temple of Paris Department stores.

Monoprix - Target of France, we stocked up on reasonable toiletries and cheap chic clothes for kids!

Shop Rue St Honoré - My favorite shopping street. Isabel Marant, Bash, Goyard. These street is close to our hotel and Lourvre.

Louis Vuitton Place Vendome Flagship Store is worth visit for the history and stellar views of Place Vendome. The building was designed in 1714 by a Versailles architect which showcases Paris artistry at its best. The store is magnificent and you have endless options of their incredible collection. They have an artist onsite who can personalize your Louis bags.

Sezane - Gorgeous French collection which I covet online, so wonderful to view and buy their collection in their Paris store.

My family adore Paris and can’t wait to visit with Christopher.

Thanks for reading and sorry it took so long to write!

Genny xo

Tulum

Our family are just back from 5 beautiful days in Tulum. I was a little diva and did not want to wake up in my house on my 40th Birthday so we booked a trip to Tulum which ended up being a a wonderful 5 days in paradise. I have compiled our family recommendations, we are only sharing places we visited and tested. Good tip: Leave your heels and make-up at home!

I travelled with Olivia (8) & Max (6) and Christopher flew from Orlando the following day to join us!

Travel Day

A short flight of 3hr 20 minutes from JFK to Cancun we arrive in Mexico. I pre-booked a car service with Front Desk, they were a little more expensive but I really wanted a suburban I figured they were safe! The driver was friendly,  car came with a TV & Wifi access, It took us 1.5hrs to get to Tulum.

Hotel

We stayed at Posada Margherita a true gem of a place with a private beach! The hotel only has 8 rooms, we stayed in room 6 which has 2 kings beds & 1 single bed. Our room was on the 1st floor, was huge with a cute porch.  The hotel has a stunning private beach with cabanas, loungers and swing bed. Their restaurant is incredible serving fresh italian and seafood topped off with stunning views of the ocean. I often had grilled shrimp, salad & rose. Kids loved the shrimp and fresh pasta. The hotel does not have a kids club or pool, but our kids did not care they made friends with kids on the beach and truly embraced days on the beach and ocean! We all fell in love with a beautiful dog called Nola who was rescued by one of workers and lives at the hotel. The hotel is extremely kid friendly, a super location. Not overcrowded and a short taxi ride to fantastic places to eat & drink. They take reservations via email: reservation@posadamargherita.com

Restaurants

You can be spontaneous with most restaurants, if you are a large group I suggest making a reservation. 

Cenzontle - Mexican food, this was our first dinner out. Kids had quesidilla and chicken. I had fresh seabass & salad and super refreshing Ella Fitzgerald tequila cocktail. Great setting and service.

Breakfast we went to the Real Cocunut based in the Sanara Hotel. We faced the ocean while eating a healthy delivious breakfast! The menu gluten, grain, dairy and refined sugar free but still delicious! Kids had the gluten & grain free pancakes, I had the perfect almond cappuccino and Very Berry Chia Parfait. This became our regular breakfast venue, the service was wonderful. Try and arrive before 10am for breakfast, before all the yogis finish practice and it gets a little busier.

Posada Margherita: Our favorite lunch place was at our hotel, because it is delicious and setting is just incredible it is very popular venue for lunch & dinner. Gets busy, they don't take reservations and cash only. 

Gitano - Mexican fusion. Restaurant & Bar. Great atmosphere, superb service and food was incredible. Kids loved the Chorizo with Taco wraps. Christopher & loved the Octopus ceviche and slow roasted Pork Belly with crispy cabbage. We all demolished the chocolate dolce leche dessert!

Nu Tulum - Mexican food. This restaurant only opened 2 weeks ago and was INCREDIBLE, was recommended to us by a local. Stunning setting, food had incredible flavors and cocktails were perfect! We enjoyed pork ribs in tomato sauce, quinoa rice and rib-eye steak. Kid friendly.

Hartwood - This is an institution in Tulum and a reservation is much needed or you queue from Midday to catch a table for dinner. You can email a month in advance to make a reservation. All this hype what did our family think, loved it. The service was super friendly, the food was delicious. They are very kid friendly and have high chairs too. The menu changes daily but it is well worth making a reservation and enjoying their food, setting & excellent service.

Mulberry Project Pop-up Tulum- This was recommended by a friend and this was the perfect place for my 40th bday drinks, super kid friendly, DJ on Monday night and stunning setting within La Zebra Hotel. The Mulberry Project is a Manhattan bar and they have pop-up bars abroad creating bespoke cocktails!

Matcha Mama - Shack with swings as seats serving smoothies, juices, bowls, açaí, kombucha, ice cream, everything vegan! Max is a smoothie lover and really wanted dessert sitting in swing, he loved his Mamacita smoothie: almond milk, banana, mango, almond butter. Topped with amaranth (we just asked for no Matcha)

Mur Mur - Mexican food, lovely place for dinner under a canopy surrounded by palm trees and lovely shops. Open kitchen, very cool seating areas and friendly service.

Prep Hair  I met canadian born hairstylist Chelsea owner Prep Hair. I got my usual single process done at her beautiful salon. Chelsea & her team do color, haircuts, blowouts, weddings and special events. They can travel to your hotel for a group booking.

Tulum is magical, a great place to switch off and enjoy paradise. Olivia said all your need is a beautiful beach and the ocean! We can't wait to visit again.

Thank you for reading. Genny xo

Cenzontle

Mulberry Project Pop-up Tulum

I found true gem and needed a single process, highly recommend Prep Hair

Posada Margherita

Posada Margherita

Nu Tulum

Perfect way to celebrate turning 40 :)

Link to my dress by Anthropologie also comes is blue stripes  http://shopstyle.it/l/A00b

Many restaurants are cash only, try and get dollars or pesos at the ATM at the airport or at your original destination because the ATMs close to the above restaurants have high charge and bad exchange rate.

Jamestown and Newport, RI

Once schools out, my kids & I normally end up in The Hamptons for 2 weeks. This year we kicked off our summer in Jamestown, RI and Christopher was able to join!

Jamestown is about a 10 minute drive to Newport, RI. They are both gorgeous towns, everyone is so friendly, lots to do with the kids and the change of pace was welcomed by our family. You truly kick back and relax, we were lucky enough to stay in a beautiful house overlooking the water.

Below are the highlights of our trip.

Jamestown (10 minute drive over the bridge from Newport, RI or take the ferry)

Slice of Heaven and East Ferry Market were our favs for breakfast or lunch. They both offered non-dairy milk and outdoor seating. Dogs are allowed to join if you are seated outside!

Simpatico was our favorite restaurant for dinner, yummy Paella and chocolate bomb they have beautiful outdoor setting.

Spinnakers serve delicious home made ice cream! 

Grapes and Gourmet will take care of all your wine, beer. spirits, cheese and charcuterie needs.

Zeek's Creek Bait & Tackle: A little shack selling fresh seafood, and bait to go fishing.

Fishing with Kids, great place to fish with kids Fort Wetherill State Park

Newport

Tennis Hall of Fame lush grass courts, plus an interesting tennis museam. Anyone can play on the courts just bring your whites! They have adult and junior clinics and a morning kids tennis camp.Great lunch venue overlooking centre court!

Cliff Walk beautiful walk with stunning views, more mansion spotting and somehow kids enjoyed too. Futher on in walk it gets a little rocky ideally wear sneakers! Start at Memorial BLVD near First Beach we walked to Ledge Road approx 8 miles. 

Arcade & Game room we stumbled across this and lets the kids bask in their glory! Luckily it was small so we were only in there for 30mins!

Thames Street and Bellevue avenue are lovely streets to walk along and who while spotting all the historic houses dating back to 1700s.

Newport Mansions  our family loved seeing the summer residence of America’s wealthiest families. All the mansions are replications of grand european residences. You can almost see the Vanderbilts, Oerlichs, Astors and Berwinds elaborate spectacular summer parties.

Green Animals Topiary Garden Beautiful setting, 80 pieces of topiary throughout the gardens, including animals sculpted from California privet, yew, and English boxwood. Gardens are beautiful and kids had fun spotting all the animals! 

Juice'd Cafe I had my first matcha bowl here and their juice combos are delicious, huge hit with our family! They have a full healthy menu. Great location too, drink a juice while shopping!

Newport Creamery yummy ice-cream. 6 locations round RI. 

Guerneys Newport I love Guerneys in Montauk, the Newport location just opened so there are a few teething problems but I sure they will iron out very soon!

Newport Wine Cellar & Gourmet Lovely lunch venue plus you can shop for food and wine.

Beaches: Second Beach is stunning. Tip is to stay clear of First Beach....major red seaweed ocean alert. Daily parking $20 per day

Kid&Coe have some nice family friendly homes in Newport available on a nightly basis.

Watch Hill - East Beach (45 minute drive from Newport)

East beach is a beautiful sandy beach. Set back is a picturesque village, very easy to walkaround with young kids. Daily parking approx $5 per day!

Ocean House a beautiful family friendly hotel

Ten Sandwiches perfect for lunch they have a full bar and offer Ten sandwiches and salads made from local and organic ingredients!

Sweet Lolo A cute store selling colorful accessories and great edit of kids toys and knick knacks.

Carousel: Watch Hill carousel was made in 1867 and has been beautifully restored! Kids love it!

Watch Hill, East Beach

Olivia rash guard top is by crew cuts and shorts from Zara

Max is wearing Ralph lauren polo and Crew cuts swim shorts

Ten Sandwiches - Watch HIll

Simpatico - lovely restaurant in Jamestown, highly recommend their Paella and chocolate bomb pudding