u/edileereads

This may be a really foolish question, but I've never been to an all inclusive resort, so bear with me. Family of 4 with two tweens - the kids' favorite vacation was a cruise, and their favorite part of the cruise was the buffet. As a parent, I loved not having to wait on a menu restaurant. So, my question is, do most all inclusives have some form of buffet along with the plated restaurants? I can't tell from the menus online if each restaurant within a resort is a sit-down/menu restaurant. I know that buffets are generally considered a step down but they're also so relaxing and give us options to accommodate some significant food restrictions and allergies.

We are looking at resorts that are a direct flight from Seattle (primary Cabo, Puerta Vallarta, Cancun) so if anyone has specific recommendations for resorts with particularly good and expansive buffets, that would be much appreciated! (we also would love a swimmable beach and the opportunity to take long walks directly from the resort) - would lean toward the higher end of the budget (but not if it prices us out of the buffet!). Thank you!

This subreddit was so helpful as I planned our family trip to Paris, thank you! We spent 10 sunny April days in Paris.  This report will probably be most interesting if you either:

• procrastinate;
• have school aged children and/or food allergies.

If you, like me, failed to book a single museum, tour, or restaurant before your trip - it doesn't really matter. There's an infinite number of amazing things to do in Paris. 

We stayed at a relative's apartment in Batignolles (17th, near Pont Cardinet) - this was a perfect location. We took the metro (usually the 14 line) into tourist areas but spent a lot of time just walking and admiring our beautiful neighborhood. Packed cafes from morning until night, bars spilling out into the street, exceptionally well dressed small children everywhere. 

My booking laziness ended up helping us - we all got a cold and one of our kids had a very hard time with the 9 hour time change (flying from West Coast, USA). Since we didn't have a fixed schedule, we could spend lazy mornings with pastries and baguettes, or do a morning activity, nap in the afternoon, and walk in the evening. 

Highlights for the kids: Jardin d'Acclimatation; Bouillon Pigalle, the Eiffel tower, Musee d'Armee, the guard tower and falconry show in Provins, and the Seine River tour. Additional highlights for the adults: romantic walks in our neighborhood, buying produce from the market down the block, cotton pajamas from Monoprix, coffee on the little balcony in our 5th floor apartment. (Oh, and a French shopkeeper complimented my French accent, which made me melt into a puddle of joy since my French is limited to approximately 25 words). 

Allergy management: relatively straightforward. One of our kids has an anaphylactic allergy to egg. We ate the majority of meals at home - he skipped the pastries (egg wash) but ate a baguette daily. At restaurants, we asked for the Allergy card - one restaurant didn't have it but the waiter carefully went through all of our meals to check for egg. Dinner is late in Paris - starting at 7pm - and most days we were not up to a full meal at that time, so we usually ate a large lunch and a more casual dinner at home.  

All the Parisians we interacted with were so kind. We said Bonjour and Merci, warbled out our few words of mangled French, apologized, and they generally switched to English and put up with us very nicely. 

We loved the Metro. Seattle's subway map is this: h (two lines connected by one cool floating bridge). It was so much fun to navigate the sprawling and comprehensive subways - trains every 2 minutes at rush hour! Hub stations like underground cities! I'm sure it gets old for a daily commute but we had a great time. We loaded tickets onto our phones and had two refillable cards for the kids and did not bother with the complexities of the weekly passes. 

Things that surprised us:

• Parisians wear even more scarves than the stereotype, but airkiss less;
• parks are usually fenced and close early, around 8pm;
• for my fellow caffeine dependents, the cafes open later than in the US, around 8-8:30am;
• the only time our US credit cards failed was for the G7 taxi, which required dual factor to our phone number (we used an esim so couldn't receive it);
• the 2.55 euro fare for the Metro will take you to Versailles and Provins and many far-flung suburbs; 
• the public spaces are even grander and more beautiful than their reputation.

 

It was great. I can't wait to go again. Happy to go into more detail about anything of interest above!