Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Paris with teenagers.

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Paris with teenagers.

Hi, It's my childrens first trip to Paris ages 13 and 16, besides the main sights, what are the most interesting things for them to do, restaurants, music etc. Any help greatly appreciated I want to make this a memorable trip! regards, Sandra

First of all, make sure they want to go and will appreciate the travel experience . I teach 8th graders this year and work with teens and at this age they are very interested in their peers. I had a student whose parents took him to England and he was totally unimpressed! He left his friends and his girlfriend back home and really wanted to stay with his grandparents. Talk about a waste of money! So first make sure they really want to go and are interested. Some teens are really interested in travel and others are more interested in friends. If leaving them home is not an option, get several guide books, especially ones like Time Out which is geared for younger people as well as the DK books which have great pictures and let them read and help with the planning. Letting teens plan is a great way to get them excited about the trip and it is a great educational experience. Are your kids taking a foreign language at school? This will be a great motivator for them to learn French. As far as activities, girls will love to shop in Paris and teens usually love active activities such as biking, horseback riding or adventure activities like hot air balloning. Time Out website will have more current music and theater listing. Good luck, and post a follow up if this has been helpful.

Sandra, I think your family will have a great time whatever your teen's enthusiasm level is. My recommendation is to step back as much as possible and let your teens choose what to do and when to do it. They will feel empowered and connected to the vacation. Have a list of activity and destination options as a spring board. This is a great approach whatever their level of enthusiasm is. It works well for me because I am happy whatever I am doing in Paris. A few specific ideas to consider are: The sewers of Paris climbing the towers of Notre Dame getting ice cream at Bertillon(sp) on Ile St Louis At the age of 14 my son's favorite memory on a London/Paris trip was Giverny. A mini bus picked up at the hotel. He loved the ride through the countryside as much as the house and gardens. linda

Sandra, In-line skating is very popular in Paris. In the evening on the parvis in front of Notre Dame many young people gather and practice/perform skating feats. It is a lively fun time. Also, on Sunday aternoon and Thursday night (I think) some Paris streets are closed for community skating. I believe that the evening skate is a higher skill level. The French tourist office will have more details. There is also a group- I believe they are called Bullfrog Bike tours-that give morning, afternoon and evening bike tours. They begin at the Eiffel Tower. If I have the name correct, they have a web site at www.bullfrog.com If that is incorrect I will come back to let you know. Have fun. linda

I have been with my kids to the sewers and they really liked to go into the underground of Paris. You find the entrance at Pont d ´Alma (Metro) opposite the Diana Memorial at the Seine. The Diana memorial actually became a memorial after she died in the tunnel under it.Originally its a replica of the flame of the Stautue of Liberty in NY- present of the Americans. Only saturday or sunday you should visit the flea market at Porte d ´Clignancourt ( Metro ) which is said to be one of the worlds biggest. Young people crowd the Sorbonne university area around Blvd. St.Michel and Blvd.St Germain in the Quartier Latin especially at night time . The shops have all the brands kids like-especially on Blvd.St.Germain . Bon voyage

Hi Sandra, Last June I took my 14 year old niece to Paris. I made some suggestions of what to see but mostly let her choose. The things she particularly enjoyed were going to the top of the Arch of Triumph and the Eiffel Tower, the sewers (she read every placard and looked at every working part), Versailles where we spent the whole day (2 guided tours and the audio tour), the costume museum (she looked at every costume), and the Louvre (we hit the highlights but what she especially liked was the old foundations underneath the museum), and Montmartre (place du Tertre and the souvenir shops). We had lunch in Montmartre and she enjoy eating under the tents surrounded by the artwork. Originally she had wanted to see the Catacombs but when I found the virtual tour for her on the Internet she thought it was gross and changed her mind about going. I don’t think she really understood what it was before she viewed the photos. At Ste-Chappelle we accidently arrived at 2:00 for an English tour of the chapel given by a graduate student. This tour impressed her to no end. We also did 3 walking tours with Paris Walks which she enjoyed – Notre Dame area, Pere Lachaise cemetary, Montmartre. She liked hearing explanations of things rather than just looking around at them and reading guide books so any tours we found were helpful. She’s an avid reader and was reading about Marie Antoinette from the Royal Diaries series. Any books that would connect history with what the kids are seeing is helpful to make it come alive. She was not interested in street markets nor in going into any churches, although we did go (briefly) into Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur. She was also not interested in the Mosque which I did alone nor the Pantheon. She didn’t want to see any art museums other than the Louvre. Our last night we walked to one of the Seine bridges to watch the Eiffel Tower fireworks display and she really enjoyed that. We ate at restaurants in the neighborhood of our hotel. She’s a very picky eater so we searched for restaurants with the plainest food available and ate pizza twice. I had told her ahead of time that we weren’t going to be eating at MacDonalds. As long as the restaurant served french fries she was happy with that and a piece of plain meat or chicken. She did try a couple of dishes in sauces and did OK with them. Our hotel had a garden so one night I bought some food and we ate in the garden. Hope this helps. Email me if you need further information. Adrienne

Sandra: I've had the good fortune to have been in Paris many times and my experience tells me your teenagers would like to: - Visit the catacombs(take a flashlight) - Take the Paris Sewers tour - Tour around Pierre Lachaise cemetery(Maps free at gate) - Visit Musee de l'Armee(World's largest(?)armour and weapons collection and excellent dioramas and exhibits of former French military glory. Also, see Napolean's amazing tomb next door under the golden dome. - Take a Bateaux Mouches(sp?)cruise at night - Go to the top of the Eiffel Tower - Climb Notre Dame's inside stairs - Climb the Arc de Triomphe stairs - Visit St. Chappelle church - Visit Le Conciergerie(dungeon stuff!) - Take in the free fashion show at Galleries LaFayette(one hour show twice a week in the afternoon...Tuesday and Friday at 3:00 possibly?)you must get tickets at the concierge desk on the main floor ahead of time...search here on "Galleries Lafayette" and you'll find details). - Go to one or more sites of the August, 1944 street fighting between German occupiers and the French Resistance(ie. around Jardins de Luxembourgh on Blvd. St. Michel there are bullet holes in many buildings.,,,also on the Palais de Justice walls) Get a copy of "Is Paris Burning" from the library and see some period pictures before you get there) - Look in the windows of the swanky shops on Place Vendome - Visit the Fauchon and Hediard stores on Place Medeleine. Here they can get some great small packaged treats to take home for Nana and the odd treat(baked?Mmmmm) for themselves, too. - Visit the Latin Quarter at night... for dinner(try the cheese fondue for fun! - Tour Les Halles shopping mall and surrounding area - Visit le Louvre(See Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Greek/Roman statuary, Charlemagne's helmet and endless art treasures of the world) and Musee d'Orsay(See Whistler's Mother, Renoir's beauties, Van Gogh's self-portraits)and the Pompidou(see some wild, modern stuff)and if they can stand more culture, Musee Rodin(the Thinker, the Kiss) and Musee Picasso(mostly squiggly lines)....still not had enough?...L'Orangerie(Monet's Lilies)and Le Musee Carnavalet(Paris history) - Go to restaurant Chartier for dinner - Go to the Champs Elysee both night and day...walk all the way down to the Place Concorde from the Arc de Triomphe and ride the ferris wheel....the crepes there are excellent, too! - Have an omelette breakfast(every day?)in a brasserie along with a cafe au lait and croissant and jam. - Go to Mass at Notre Dame(even if you're not Catholic) -Visit Place Bastille and walk the neighborhood of the nearby Marais. Might as well pay a visit to Place de Vosges while you're nearby(it's been called the world's mot beautiful square. Victor Hugo lived here!) I'll be there in late October, early November for a week with my two sons(14 and 16) and hopefully we'll be doing all of the above. Also, get yourself a copy of Adam Gopnik's book..."Paris to the Moon" to read before you go and you'll get some other great ideas from that. Enjoy! Scott

Wow! Thanks everyone, These are fantastic ideas, I think I'll need more than 5 days though!! I'm going to Paris armed with a print out and hopefully two well satisified teenagers. Merci beaucoup, Sandra

what about the moulon rouge (sp?) for teenage girl

This is very helpful to me. We will be in Paris in 2 weeks with our kids 11 and 14. My husband and son (the 14) are going on a day tour of the D-Day Beaches and Normandy, and we are also all going to Versailles. Any suggestions for food with kids? I have told them no American and they should be fine as long as they can get plain chicken or fish. But I am looking for restaurant/bistro suggestions.

I asked the same question awhile ago since I'm taking my 13-year-old daugther in April; search under Paris with 13 year old girl. I have also had her reading before we go. One book we both liked was called Postcards from France, written by a girl spending her junior year in high school in France (though not Paris). Lots of great insights about the French from a teenagers perspective. I also gave her an Insight Guide to Paris and asked her to look through it and highlight what she wants to do. We're also doing some other reading together, about the Revolution, Paris during WWII, etc. The other day we had an argument about who was more excited about this trip, her or me! Engage your kids in the planning and they'll get more out of the trip. I've decided we'll do one cultural thing (e.g. museum, cathedral) per day, so she learns something but doesn't feel it's forced down her throat. By the way, if either of your children is female, you might want to consider either the Musee de la Mode (fashion) or a similar museum in the Louvre. We're going to get tickets for a fashion show at Galeries Lafayette (You can get them in advance at their web site). Have a great trip!

If you e-mail me, I can send you a long compilation of what Fodors forum families liked best in Paris. Then the children can pick and choose. Welcome to Europe. [email protected]

Galeries Lafayette fashion show is way way up high for male or female alike. Mine really really liked the wax museum - it is very very fun and cool. I also think it is useful to give them some advance history lessons so they'll appreciate that angle. Mine don't really like museums but the Eiffel Tower was a huge hit as was the Notre Dame cathedral on Sunday morning. Versailles is very interesting also. People watching at cafes is fun, too. Just make sure you balance the days with culture, sight seeing, and shopping, and they'll be fine.