Help with Paris Itinerary

Sorry for the long post.

We will be reaching December 29 at 9 AM Paris time (US Central time 2 AM) and I am sure Jet lag will set it in as it would be late night for us when we land and won't be able to sleep much during the flight when we board in evening US time. We will be staying in Saint-Germain-des-Prés 6th arrondissement area. I doubt we will have hotel room available earlier in the day during busy season.
I am wondering how to utilize that day and what to do to help with jet lag especially for my 13 year old? I have not planned any thing for that day. 5 days itinerary starts next day.

I have booked tickets for Eiffel Tower with Get Your Guide - Paris: Daytime or Sunset Eiffel Tower Tour for Friday December 30 at 7:45 PM.

I will be doing day trip to Brussels on Tuesday January 3. Already booked the train tickets.

I have looked at various itineraries online including from Rick Steves.
I want to visit big museums. I guess these are Louvre, Orsay museum and Picasso museum. Any other must see recommendations?
Versailles is closed on Monday, visiting Brussels on Tuesday and need to change hotel Wednesday night for early flight next day (hence avoiding to go to Versailles on Wednesday). I am not sure if Versailles is open on January 1, which leaves Friday December 30 (have booking for Eiffel Tower at 7:45 PM) and Saturday December 31 on New years Eve to visit Versailles. Any recommendations?

Some itineraries divide Le Marais and Montmartre visits into different days and some visit them in the same day. Some itineraries do museums in one day.
Example below:
https://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/how-to-spend-5-days-in-paris/
Day 1: Notre Dame | Ile de la Cité | Louvre Museum | Tuileries Garden | Place Vendôme | Galeries Lafayette | Moulin Rouge
Day 2: Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, Musée de l’Orangerie, & more!
Day 3: The Palace of Versailles, Père Lachaise Cemetery, & more!
Day 4: Eiffel Tower, Les Invalides, Holocaust Museum, & more!
Day 5: Paris Catacombs, Rue Mouffetard, Musée de Cluny, & more!

Some itineraries do not include the Catacombs which we would like to visit. I also need to book culinary lesson for my 13 year old, either macarons or pastry.

Appreciate input. Thank You once again.

To me pre-set itineraries only work if the things are of interest to you. I've forgotten where you are staying and it looks like you are going the end of Dec.?

Here are my thoughts:

Day 1: WAY too much unless you are just looking at buildings from the outside. Of course, Notre Dame is just an outside view with a very high construction barrier around it. The rest of the itinerary for this day could actually take a week to do. I'd not recommend trying to spend 4 hours in the Louvre for your first visit. I do love the Louvre, go at least twice each visit but honestly as much of a museum lover as I am I max out at 2-2.5 hours. Maybe 3 hours if I sit and have a coffee and a snack. For MYSELF the things I would choose to do are: See Notre Dame from the outside, walk over to Sainte-Chapelle for a timed entry visit, then go to the Concergerie if you have a strong interest in Marie Antoinette otherwise skip until your next trip. Walk across Pont Neuf to the Louvre for a timed entry. Have lunch either in the Carrousel shopping mall below ground or elsewhere. Walk thru the Tuileries to a Metro stop to get back to your hotel.

Day 2: I'm not big on the advice to "wander and get lost". That just doesn't work for my personality. I'd have breakfast in your hotel (efficient) and head to the Picasso. Have lunch at Place du Vosges ($$) or grab a falafel from one of the stands along Rue des Rosiers in the heart of the Marais. If you want a walking tour, do one with Paris Walks (www.paris-walks.com ) or use one of Rick's from his audio guide either for Marais or Montmartre. I'd recommend either but in Montmartre the walking tours take you up a back way to Sacre Coeur to avoid the bracelet scammers on the steps up to the top of the hill. So, Marais in the AM, Montmartre in the afternoon.

Day 3: This has a lot of outside stuff so it would be fine in summer and maybe not so good in winter. I've not been to Jardin des Plants in winter although it's a go-to in summer for me. If you want a museum today, I'd suggest the Cluny Museum with the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries. Walk from there uphill to the Pantheon if that is of interest to you. Take a jog to the left side of the Pantheon to Saint-Etienne-du-Mont, then if you are a MIdnight in Paris fan, the steps on the left side are where the time-traveling taxi picks up Gil (Owen Wilson), lol. Back track to the Luxembourg Gardens knowing that the main street from the Pantheon to the Gardens was there the Roman Forum was located! Take a quick look at the Medici fountain (right in the area, then go north to Saint-Sulpice church (if you are interested in churches) and on the the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Pres. Take the Metro home from there.

Day 4: Or whenever your Versailles day is...to me Versailles is a full day. It will be past dark when you get home in December. You might like a neighborhood Christmas Market if you still have the energy.

Day 5: This is fine but to me walking down the Champs-Elysees is boring. Maybe go a few blocks then catch a Metro to the Orsay. I'd say 2-2.5 hours is good. Start on the 5th floor where the Impressionists are and work your way down. That way you front-load the art "I" like best, lol, and if you get tired you can leave. You can walk toward the ET area along the Seine from the Orsay and catch the Bateaux Mouches river cruise on the way.

https://goo.gl/maps/85CudBwE67JEtUZ6A

All in all, I'd say that prepared itinerary is WAY too busy. They've got a lot of sites in there that are fine if you are walking by anyway but can also wait for the next trip. Go for a major site in the AM and in the PM and save the rest.

Skip the 69 bus "tour". Skip Pere Lachaise. If the Catacombs are a must, I'd skip the Arc/Champs-Elysees and slot the Catacombs into that morning. For a cooking class, perhaps pare down Day 3 and just do the cooking class and the Cluny.

Cross posting with you so catching up to your 2nd post:

That itinerary is still too much in my mind.

• NO WAY do I recommend doing Louvre, Orsay and Orangerie and more in one day. Louvre and walk thru the Tuileries to Orangerie, yes. Orsay and walk across the Seine to Orangerie, yes.

• I'm not a shopper nor a night club person so adding the Galeries Lafayette and Moulin Rouge would be wasted on me. I might want to walk by the windows with the Christmas decorations but not go inside.

• Versailles is a full day. Pere Lachaise can be held until your next trip. It may not be at it's best in winter and I'm not sure it's worth the time with a 13-year-old. For myself, Pere Lachaise takes several hours whether I am just walking and looking for particular graves or whether I am following Rick's audio guide.

• The Holocaust Museum in the Marais is very sobering. It is very worthwhile but can be kept for your next trip. Les Invalides and the Army Museum are very interesting to me but unless you have a strong interest in military history, hold this until next time.

With your desire to do the Catacombs and a cooking class for your 13 year old, select one half a day for each of those activities and then do a Museum or another walk in the afternoon. Plan on one major thing in the AM and one in the afternoon. Save the evenings for dinner and walking around to see Christmas lights.

Do as Rick says....assume you will be back. The sights of Paris are enticing. There is no way to see everything in one visit so you are going to have to make decisions on what is of interest to YOU not a canned itinerary. Recommendations from those of us on the forum are also to be taken with a grain of salt if they do not match what your interests are....even mine, hahaha! To me there are also NO "MUST DO" sights in Paris. Do what is of interest to your family. Start by plugging in YOUR must do's of the Catacombs and a cooking class, then work in your museum around that. I'd personally not spend a day going to Brussels but that sounds like it's important to you so you should make yourself happy!

What Pam said. On both of her posts. This is your family's trip (just you and the 13er, or are there more?). The canned itineraries you've been looking at may be fine if you have the energy (I wouldn't) but you (collectively) have to decide what really interests you most. Here are our host's suggestions for planning your time in Paris, also to be taken with a grain of salt.

You'll be sleep-deprived and jet-lagged on your arrival day, but you could still do some worthwhile things if the weather lets you spend enough time outside. Drop your bags at your hotel and explore the St-Germain area and maybe Latin Quarter. That could include the Luxembourg Gardens, churches like St-Germain and St-Sulpice, the Ile de la Cite, the outside of Notre Dame, the Archeological Crypt, and Pont Neuf. You might take a one-hour river cruise on Les Vedettes du Pont Neuf if the weather allows it. Break up this walking with sidewalk cafe stops, outside if it's warm enough (they often have overhead heaters), otherwise inside, including a lunch break. Go farther afield if you have the energy. At some point in the afternoon your hotel room(s) should be ready, and you'll most likely want a nap. People handle jet lag differently -- ideally you would power through that first day and get a good night's sleep that night, but it's easier to do that after an afternoon landing than a morning one. If you've napped and find yourself wide awake in the evening, go out again for dinner and another stroll, maybe in a different part of the city, maybe even visit a museum that's open late, but go to bed when you would at home and try to sleep through that night if you can.

The next day you'll have done a lot of that first Day 1 itinerary already and you can move on to what else interests you most, whether that's museums, views from high places, strolling down famous streets, shopping, or whatever. Paris is fairly compact but you'll want to use the Metro and/or city buses some of the time. Group your days geographically if possible, try for one big museum (like Louvre or Orsay) on a given day, mix and match activities, take breaks. Paris Walks is a wonderful resource, I'd especially recommend their Montmartre walk. Versailles will be a full day, though you could plan something that evening. Keep in mind that the Catacombs is a long walk underground, and you exit a long way from where you enter. Whatever your reasons for a day trip to Brussels, I hope they outweigh the value of another day in Paris.

I hope that's as helpful as it is long-winded. Enjoy planning and visiting one of the world's great cities.

Before leaving home download Rick Steves app.
Day of arrival – explore the 6th arrondissement followed by the Latin Quarter. Make note of what’s nearby i.e., cafés, pharmacies, groceries, etc.
Do not plan on more than two activities a day and maybe one night take an evening tour since it gets dark early. Window shopping along the grand boulevards was not thrilling for my sister or me. We expected more and got tired of it quickly. Following is a sample itinerary but it doesn’t include cooking classes:
Thu. Dec 29 - take Rick’s Paris Historic Walk followed by touring the Louvre. If you’re up to it go to the Musée Orsay afterwards where you can see the Moulin de la Galette. That evening you can take a https://2cvparistour.com/ to see this illuminated city. A lot of places you want to see are on this tour.
Fri. Dec 30 – from Picasso’s Museum catch bus 69 from Saint-Paul on Rue Saint-Antoine: https://www.ratp.fr/plan-de-ligne/img/bus/69/plan-de-ligne_busratp_ligne-69.1650495603.png and get off at Père Lachaise Cemetery. This is a full day so no need to add more to it.
Sat. Dec 31 – take a day trip to Versailles and spend the day.
Sun. Jan 1 – going to Montmartre early in the day is better than going at night. I’ve been three times and don’t feel you need to join a tour to feel safe.
Mon. Jan 2 – start at Pont Alexandre III bridge and walk north (Av. Winston Churchill) and turn left on Champs-Elysées and walk to Arc de Triomphe. Do not start at Arc de Triomphe because you’ll never know what street is Champs-Elysées from this landmark. There are twelve busy streets that converge at Arc de Triomphe. It took a lot of walking and crossing streets before I found Champs-Elysées. Afterwards go to Trocadero.
I’ve been to Trocadero three times and was bored. Rick Steves says teenagers like it and that’s why I suggested it.

Wow. I’m exhausted just looking at that itinerary. I would seriously slow things down. The idea that you can accomplish all this the day after arrival is overly optimistic:

“Day 1 – Notre Dame, Ile de le Cite, Archaeological crypt, the Saint Chapelle, the Conciergerie, the Point Neuf, The Louvre museum, Tuileries Garden, Covered passages of Paris, Place Vendome, Opera garnier, Grand Boulevards, Galeries Lafayette for rooftop view. I think Louvre will need at least 4 hours or a guided tour and this itinerary doesn’t allow 4 hours but now I may be able to add time to it as not going to Moulin Rouge or cabaret.
Is night tour for Opera Garnier needed? Will there be enough time to do window shopping at Grand Boulevards? How much time will it take for all of this or should I skip something?”

I agree with grouping sites in geographical vicinity. So in theory these are all “close” to each other. And some of these aren’t really “sights”, since you’ll just cross the Pont Neuf bridge and walk past Notre Dame. But the Louvre could take hours (depends on how your 13 yo feels). Ste. Chapelle could be another hour or two (security lines). Lunch could take at least an hour (remember restaurant service is slower in France). I would plan one more thing that day - only one.

We travel with two teens. We plan our “must see” activity for the morning (not the morning after arrival - jet lag). We seek out lunch with a great view. Then sometimes we return to the hotel/apartment for a break/nap. Then we head back out, see one more sight, have dinner, then wander or do an evening activity. Don’t underestimate how much time (and energy) it will take to get from place to place. You’ll walk 10 miles/day easily. Your goal is great memories, not to see EVERYTHING.

Sit down with your teen and scale back this itinerary big time. Like by at least half. Prioritize what YOU two want to see. Not some list of every possible sight.