Cassis (& Paris) – A Couple Cooks

Here’s what to do in the South of France! I traveled to the town of Cassis France on vacation with family and had the time of my life. Here’s a download of everything we did, plus a bit about our stops in Paris and London.

I highly, highly recommend traveling to Cassis if you’re dreaming of the South of France! All the details what to do are below, as well as some notes on our trip to Paris with two kids in tow. I also included London because we made a brief stop there too.

This was a “just for fun” family vacation that ended up being a whole lot more: a big adventure and a creative inspiration for all four of us. There are so many things to share! We’ve included all the info we could think of below.

What To Do in Cassis

​See my Instagram video highlights here

Cassis is an incredibly unique town in the South of France near Marseille. It happens to not only have beautiful beaches and cute winding streets: it’s also right next to Calanques National Park, a breathtaking natural area with miniature fjords with turquoise waters. It really does look just like a postcard! We were happy to find it wasn’t (yet) overrun with too many vacationers when we were there in early June.

Where we stayed

We stayed ​at this Airbnb​ with my sister and my dear friend and her family (8 people total). It had an incredible salt water pool and beautiful gardens with cypress and palm trees, as well as two separate main living areas. It was absolutely perfect and the kids swam every day. Each evening we’d grill dinner and eat on the patio overlooking the water and cliffs. It was perfect for vacationing if you’re with a large group and we’d highly recommend it.

What to do

Since the Paris part of our trip was pretty busy (we visited it first), we wanted to keep Cassis super relaxed. Here’s what we did:

Beach

• Our house was near ​this beach​, which a more secluded, private beach than the main Cassis beach. It’s rocky but absolutely perfect for kids, and there are a few bars where you can get a drink or ice cream (our favorites were a double caramel Magnum bar and the traditional ​Pastis drink​, an anise flavored liqueur).
• Keep in mind that topless sunbathing is not out of the ordinary, so be ready for possible questions from kiddos on the cultural differences!

Calanques National Park

• Our house ended up being within walking distance to town, the beach, and Calanques National Park, which was absolutely ideal. It is incredibly beautiful and the fjords are simply magical against the turquoise water.
• There were 3 different Calanques that were within hiking distance from us. The two older kids (7 and 4) were able to hike to the second Calanque and look for shells and wildlife. Different groups of us took hikes over at different times of the day: sunset was especially magical!

Town

• We walked to downtown Cassis every day: it is a cute little fishing village with pastel colored shops and restaurants. It was fun to shop and get coffee and a pastry in the cafes.
• Our favorite bakeries were ​this one​ (loved the Canelé and fougasse) and ​this one​ (we got amazing beignets and muffins).

Market

• There is an amazing farmers’ market open on Wednesdays and Fridays in Cassis, and it’s full of incredible fruits and vegetables and huge displays of olives, spreads, cheeses, and meats. It’s definitely worth a visit.
• Most days we’d go to the market or grocery and get food for the evening’s dinner and then grill on our patio or make a big cheese board with meats, spreads, olives, and veggies.

Wineries

• The area is known for its rosé wine, so we wanted to make sure to hit up at least one winery. We went to ​THIS​ winery and had a lovely wine tasting (we recommend making reservations).
• We brought back a white and a rosé bottle in our suitcase and luckily both of them made it!

There are lots of other great destinations that are great day trips from Cassis (it’s about a 1 hour drive from Marseille — to get there we took the train down from Paris and rented a car). Since we were with kids, we didn’t venture out too much since we wanted to keep things laid back. Next time!

What To Do in Paris

Paris is one incredible city. It is also massive, so much of what you end up doing is neighborhood-based. Here’s a bit about where we stayed and what we did! For this leg of the trip it was the four of us and my sister.

Where we stayed

We stayed at ​this Airbnb​ in the 3rd arrondissement, so most of what we did was within walking distance. We did take the subway quite a bit as well, for example to the Eiffel Tower and some dinners. Our trusty travel stroller that was perfect for long walks with a 1 year old (more on that below). We liked the Airbnb pretty well: the neighborhood was residential and not glamorous, but it was close to a lot of things and had a nice Parisian charm on the interior.

Bakeries in Paris

Our favorite thing to do was go to bakeries every day to sample treats! The best we came across were:

• ​Boulangerie du Sentier​: Probably our favorite bakery, and everything was vegetarian! A must-try was the kouign aman, a traditional ultra-rich buttery pastry from Brittany (we all agreed this was the best thing we ate while there). They also have amazing vegetarian sandwiches.
• ​The French Bastards​: Everything we got here was fantastic. Our favorite was the rose praline roule.
• ​Maison Bergeron:​ This bakery is near the Eiffel Tower. The almond croissant is incredible and one of our top pastries of the trip (behind the kouign aman).

More pastries & coffee

• Our other favorite pastries and breads to order: Canelé (a rum and vanilla soaked custard cake), Fougasse (a traditional bread), Pain au chocolate (standard chocolate pastry), any Parmesan bread or olive bread, Beignets, Roule (roll pastries), and Cruffins (croissant muffins).
• We loved going to random cafes: our favorite coffee to order was a noisette, or espresso with a little bit of frothed milk (the same as a ​macchiato​).

Lunch in Paris

• For lunch, often we ended up getting something from a bakery or cafe, or going back to our Airbnb to eat.
• ​Breizh Café:​ When we asked people for Paris recs, this place came up the most. They serve delicious savory and sweet crepes and there are multiple locations around the city. They even do delivery, which we did one night and was perfect with the kids.

Dinner in Paris

• For dinner, it’s customary to make reservations so make sure to get them nailed down before you go!
• We had a great romantic meal at the tiny but classic bistro ​Le Comptoir des Petits Champs​ (ask for the table by the window if you can). Then we walked to see the Eiffel Tower lights sparkle. The lights turn on for five minutes at the beginning of every hour, starting from nightfall, until 11:00 PM.

Things to do

• Eiffel Tower: The best place to view it close up is Trocadero. But our favorite place ended up being at this little flower shop, ​L’Howea​.
• Photo shoot: We booked a ​professional photoshoot​ near the Eiffel Tower and it was totally worth it!
• Notre Dame: It’s still under construction due to the fire in 2019, but it’s still great to visit. Larson watched The Hunchback of Notre Dame before we left to prepare, and it was one of his favorite spots!
• The Louvre: Since we were with kids, we decided to do the Louvre but only for a few hours. We made 3 destinations: the Mona Lisa, the period apartments, and the Egyptian artifacts. It was just enough! Make sure to book timed tickets ahead of time to skip the line.
• Climbing wall with Eiffel Tower view: For kids, there is a small climbing course on the Seine bank near Notre Dame with lovely views. Larson loved it! It’s the ​Mur d’escalade pour enfants​.
• Jardin du Palais Royal: The Tuileries was extremely crowded, so we loved the ​Jardin du Palais Royal​ for a little more relaxed feel.
• Place des Vosges: The ​Place des Vosges​ is our favorite plaza where we love to soak up the beautiful fountains and gardens.
• French Open: We got to go to the French Open while we were there, which was the experience of a lifetime! (We recently became tennis fans after watching the Netflix documentary Break Point!) If you ever have a chance to go, we highly recommend it.

Great Fosters in London

Adding this just for fun: we actually stayed just outside London for 2 nights in a magical Bridgerton-esque manor house called Great Fosters. Alex somehow found a much cheaper ticket out of Marseille back to Indianapolis via London, so we made a quick 2 day stop instead of flying straight back.

We stayed at this incredible manor house and gardens and still ended up ahead on ticket prices, so it felt like we were making money (ha!). We got a good deal on staying here because our dates seemed to be off-season.

What we did: ​Great Fosters​ feels like Bridgerton meets Downton Abbey meets Hogwarts. It’s a historic manor with extensive gardens and it felt like something out of a fairy tale. Here’s what we did:

• Gardens: We ran around in the gardens for hours, playing tag in the hedges, walking near the moat, watching the geese and herons and playing in the rose gardens. It was totally magical.
• Restaurants and bar: We had a great casual meal of perfectly crisp fish and chips and a ​bramble cocktail​ in the bar area. We also had a great sit-down dinner with the kids in the restaurant. If we weren’t with kids, we would have tried to hit up the Michelin-starred restaurant (next time).
• Tennis, pool and hot tub: There was a tennis court onsite, so we played some tennis with the kids. Larson and I hit up the pool and hot tub, and ended up being the only people there (again, it was the off season!).
• Tea: One of my favorite parts was doing a high tea with Larson, complete with a 3 tiered-tray of tea sandwiches, scones with clotted cream, and pastries.

We skipped trying to get anywhere in London, though we hope to get back to the city someday. This country escape was just what we needed at the end of the trip!

Travel Essentials

Many of you readers have asked about travel tips, both with and without kids! Here are some of our must-have items and some tips for traveling with kids and jet lag:

• ​Travel stroller​: This travel stroller was the champion of the trip! It was super light weight and easy to collapse.
• ​Camera​: We are absolutely obsessed with this camera for taking next-level travel photos. We primarily used our 18mm and 27mm pancake lenses.
• ​Travel cubes​: These travel cubes were perfect for fitting all our stuff for 2 weeks into 3 suitcases.
• ​Walking sandals​: Many of you asked about my walking sandals from the photos — these are the most comfortable sandals I’ve ever worn and I’ve taken them on both of our last two Europe trips. They are Naot brand and designed for extensive walking (I prefer them to tennis shoes).
• ​Travel steamer:​ This steamer worked great for getting out all the wrinkles in our clothes over the 2 weeks! It’s high quality and we’re now just going to use it as our regular steamer, too.
• ​Outlet adapters​: These adapters were a godsend for European travel.
• ​Travel crib​: We packed this travel crib which fits in half of a suitcase. However two of the three places we stayed already had cribs, so if you are traveling with kids you may not even need this!

Travel With Kids Tips

• Our top advice for traveling with kids is to invite along an extra adult or two, like aunties, uncles, friends, or grandparents. We brought my sister and met up with dear family friends and their 4 year old, and it was crucial for having help with the kids.
• We also took turns babysitting on different nights after bedtime to allow the other people to go out. If you can, this is clutch for traveling with kids!

How to manage the time zone adjustment

• We were a little nervous about the time zone adjustment, but our kids did great! We were traveling from EST, so it was a 6 hour time difference to Paris.
• For the flight there, we left in the evening EST, so we tried to all sleep as much as possible on the flight there since it was our “night”. (We used melatonin for our 7 year old.) The flight arrived in Paris at 9 am, so we stayed up all day and then went to bed at a normal time Paris time, which had us well adjusted by Day 2.
• For the way back, we left around 2 pm London time and arrived at 9 pm EST, so we tried to stay awake for the entire 8 hour flight. Larson (our 7 year old) did great and just watched movies; Britta was very squirmy but did stay awake the entire time.
• Then we crashed hard when we got home and they both slept through the entire night, making us right back on EST the first day we were back. We also used melatonin for Larson to adjust for the first 2 days back.

Tips for the plane ride

• Honestly, the plane ride home was a little tricky with a 1 year old! She slept much of the way on the way there, but the way back was harder. We brought a small handful of toys and a sticker book (which held a little more attention since she could put stickers on herself and other people). Overall, she really didn’t want to sit still that long, but we powered through it!
• Larson had a great time watching the plane movies and snacking: he was a complete breeze! There was a lot of preparation involved for explaining to him all the lines at passport control, customs, etc and transporting our suitcases between the destinations: he did really well but at the end of the trip we were all pretty exhausted!

Managing walking

• We did a lot of walking on this trip, and our 7 year old handled it great! He couldn’t have done as well at 5 or 6, so we’re glad we waited until this age. We carted 1 year old Britta around in the travel stroller the entire time and she also did great: it was perfect for when she wanted to zone out for a bit too.

Planning activities:

• Overall, when travelling with kids you have to make some sacrifices: you’re not going to be able to see or do all the things you’d do with an adults-only trip! It was nice because we had been to Paris before, so we didn’t feel like we were missing out.
• In Cassis, we tried to keep things pretty laid back with pool, beach, hiking and cooking at home, which was a nice rhythm. We made sure to do a quiet / rest time each day during Britta’s nap (around 1:00-3:00 pm), which was a nice pace.

Overall thoughts on travel with kids

• After experiencing this trip with kids, we’d absolutely recommend it but keep in mind: travel with young children is totally non-stop!
• There was lots of managing bodily functions, changing diapers in weird places, preparing kids for lots of waiting during travel, adjusting expectations and daily rhythms, etc.
• We are 1000% glad we did it! However, it does requires a lot of organization and energy. Next time I think we will be ready to try a longer trip away from them and go just the two of us! 🙂

What are we missing?! Let us know what other questions you have by replying to this email. Also, tell us where you’re thinking of traveling!