Acceptable teen IDs for Paris museums?

She will have her Passport.

I was hoping we wouldn't have to carry it with us at all times, but of course, you're right.

You can try and get a passport card. That way you could leave the passport at the hotel safe.

By law all are supposed to carry their passports
It’s really the only legit ID

The safest place for your passport is on your person

You probably won't be asked for ID unless the kid looks very much older than 18 but you might be; I would carry a copy of the passport. They might not accept it but I have never had a situation where I have used it hwere it hasn't worked. e.g. have used a copy for hospital admission, for Detax in stores. For banking, telephone purchase and immigration you need the real deal. I also carry my passport card.

I have been to the American Embassy on business and seen the panicked travelers who have missed their flights due to a lost passport -- would rather avoid that.

Why not just get a state ID and carry it plus a copy of the passport?

I keep my passport in my money belt and on my person at all times. Twice on RS tours the group was delayed while people returned to retrieve theirs from the hotel safe.

Where on a tour was the passport required? I have been traveling in Europe since 1960 and have never once had to produce a passport except for banking, border crossings and buying phone chips. Copies have worked fine everywhere else. If we are traveling outside the city, I carry our passports in a money belt under our clothes but if I am in a city, it stays in the hotel safe or apartment.

I've had a few occasions when a color photocopy of my passport photo page was not accepted--at least once in a museum (to rent an audio guide) and at least twice in hotels. It definitely can happen. I'd think age verification for a child wouldn't be a likely situation for someone to get picky, but it would be possible.

I'd prefer to leave my passport locked in my suitcase inside my hotel room, but reading this forum (plus the incidents described above) have convinced me it's better to carry it with me. I keep it inside a Zip-Lock bag, because it came perilously close to destruction when I got caught in a heavy rain storm. (I'm now waterproofing my fabric purses, but I'm not sure that will be sufficient.)

We keep ours in a small zip lock in our money belts

Our thinking is having your passport on your person means you have your ticket home if anything crazy should happen ( you might not be able to get back to your hotel)

This next trip I’ll have to keep in my crossbody bag ( in a zip lock) for first week at least because I do see where some places want to see passport along with CDC card
I purchased passport folder with slot for the CDC card

Once that restriction is lifted 5/1 they will go right back into our money belts.
I like having it right there where I can feel it
Feel naked without it!

I’m not worried about it being stolen
Worried about it being lost and all the hassle to replace
And as I said above, safest/smartest place is in my possession

The safest place is not in your possession, in case of a pick pocket (it's not that they'll intend to steal the passport, it's that it'd be taken along w $$ and credit cards).

We're talking France. If I'm in any W European country, the passport stays in the hotel and a copy goes with me, period. There is zero scenario where I'd have to immediately have to go to the airport and fly back to the US w/o going to my hotel room to get luggage, period. Even folks in Siciliy with the volcano had plenty of time to evacuate. E Europe? That's a potentially different story. But yeah, I have no desire to spend a day getting an emergency replacement passport at the Embassy.

You are required by law to carry valid ID
that is your passport
Our host agrees
https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/trip-planning/travel-documents

To each his own

My thinking is, the most important thing I take on a trip is my passport. The only form of ID accepted worldwide without question, the main way you will get home if anything hits the fan, still worth its weight. It's always with me buried deeply on my person. You can have my credit cards but not my passport.

I would NEVER leave my passport as security for an audio at a museum; they are thrown in a drawer and maybe someone takes care and maybe they dn't (years ago when leaving it at a hotel check in in italy I came back to get it back (once they had registered it with the police) and found our passports just lying on the counter available to anyone who walked into the empty lobby. Now hotels get a copy if they need to keep it for record keeping. Of course they won't take a copy to give you an audioguide as a copy is not security -- it has nothing to do with it being ID. I leave my driver's license if I need to leave ID -- that is a lot easier to replace than a passport.

ChristineH, I understand your line of thinking and agree. This is why I carry my passport in a money belt with me at all times. What if I can't get back to the hotel and need to get myself to a distant city to get out of harms way. A passport and credit cards (and now CDC card) can get you anywhere in the world if planes are flying.

People on the forum will never agree on whether to carry or not carry. Each person has to do what is comfortable for themselves within the bounds of the law of the country they are visiting.

Meanwhile, back to OP, you can tell from my reply that I'm in the carry your daughter's passport with you camp.

Let us know how it works out!

If you do decide to carry it get a money belt worn under your clothes. They are undetectable properly worn and you don't fish them out in public -- but you have them. they are not available to pickpockets that way. I am taking my granddaughter on a day trip to Nantes this spring from Paris and will carry our passports for reasons Pam mentions -- disaster strikes, and we are in a position to cope with unexpected travel. While in the city we leave them in the apartment.