Outside of Paris, where with a 14 yr old?

You need to give us some ideas of what his interests are.

What is this 14 year old boy interested in? Surely you all have some ideas. Medieval castles? French history? Skiing? WWII history? Disneyland? Caves? Napoleon?

Give him a guidebook of France with pictures, like Eyewitness or similar. See if anything lights his fire.

You say no museums but I take (or took) my teenage daughter to museums that are not dusty exhibits. So for example, we went to the Chocolate Museum and a perfume museum in Cologne, and in Brussels we went to one of the museums of illusions (there are two, one I haven't seen). The Musical Instruments Museum in Brussels was also good because it was very interactive. Those all went down well, very interactive, also with tastings or testing in the case of the perfume.

Can you get some history into him? If you could get to the D-Day beaches with a history lesson beforehand, they will be meaningful. Or Mont-St.-Michel, which is visually impressive no matter who you are. Or Fougères, which has an amazing well-preserved historic fortress. Again you can climb up to the top of the walls and run along them. Anything that gets interaction going. Rouen is also a good visit. There is a little road train that takes you around the town and shows you sights like where Joan of Arc was burned. Involve him in the planning. You can often do that by the age of 14.

Lavandula

Let him watch some of Rick Steves videos about France on this website.

Stop in Nantes to ride the elephant and the marine carousel.

https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2019/09/13/les-machines-de-lile-nantes/
Mont St Michel
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2014/01/21/mont-st-michel-is-that-a-real-place/
Lyon and the Traboule is an interesting place to explore
Brittany and the neolithic sites is interesting
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/category/brittany/

We took our kids to France at 8 and 10. We had our grandkids there at 9 and 12. I don't know your 14 year old, but don't underestimate their possible interest in museums and tourist sights....In Paris there are the catacombs, the Invalides (army museum, with suits of armor for people AND horses, lots of artillery, etc.), the Pere Lachaise cemetery, the Eiffel Tower, buying and eating a confiture-filled crepe on the streets, riding the metro, seeing the large Rodin statues in the garden of his home/museum, looking for a cool souvenir from the bouquinistes along the Seine River, taking a one hour cruise on the Seine on the Vedettes de Pont Neuf, exploring a grocery store and comparing cookies and snacks to those from home. And I bet he will be impressed with Notre Dame. (In the La Defense area, they is a highly recommended virtual tour of the building of Notre Dame. All who have experienced this have raved about it.)
Outside Paris check out castles and chateaux. Provins is a well-preserved walled medieval town nearby. Le Mans is another well-preserved town where the famous auto races occur. Have him watch "Ford vs Ferrari" first. The museum of race cars and autos has been closed for renovations, but is supposed to reopen in late March.I believe. In the Loire valley there are troglodyte caves where people lived in prehistoric and early medieval times. Have him watch "The Longest Day" before the trip and then spend a night in Bayeaux after a day-long tour of the DDay beaches and watching the flag-lowering ceremony at the American Cemetery. Believe me, a 14 year old will understand and be impressed with this slice of history.
You don't have to venture far from Paris to find things of interest for a 14 year old. As I said above, don't underestimate his interest in what France has to offer. He may even surprise you and enjoy a bit of time in an art museum in Paris when you return to the city.

The only museum I've seen in Paris that hosts the numbers of school groups who become very animated and boisterous is the Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace. The kids can fly aircraft simulators, crawl through multiple types of planes, and see some stuff that many of them are very interested in.

East of Paris, over by the German border is the converted coal mine; now a museum, https://parc-explor.com/ That's very popular with families.

But you say you're leaving soon, so in this weather (cold, wet) let me suggest you go to Stuttgart. Show him the Porsche Museum, where he can sit in some of the cars, and the MBZ museum. Take a short trip up the road to Sinsheim and let him run with all the other kids through the Technical Museum. And don't forget the Dinosaurs at the Natural History museum. I know, museums, he's not into that. I don't know many 14 year olds who don't like dinosaurs, cars, airplanes, submarines, etc. that they can actually run around, touch, sit in, and in some cases, even make them run. These are places that always have families visiting. And there's even a couple palaces in town that you can grab some "culture" with.

Thanks for the suggestions. He is really in to collectibles (i.e. Pokemon, One Piece, Anime, Dragonball, Gundam (I'm impressed I could say these). I know he will be totally entertained in Paris. My dilemma is figuring out what to do otherwise. You have given me some great suggestions. His dad hasn't told him about the trip yet. It is supposed to be a surprise but maybe it's time to tell him. I am in charge of planning this whole trip, so I struggle. I didn't really want to venture too far from Paris that's why I though of Alsace and take it from there. I looked in to flying somewhere for those few days (Nice, Switzerland, Italy) but last minute airfare is quite expensive. This was a very last minute trip with no planning beforehand. Saw good airfare, it is spring break, and we grabbed it without thinking. Maybe train to Geneva and go to Chamonix and Annecy? I've never been there, sounds interesting.

Hi,
Could you stay in Paris the whole time? Maybe you could fill the time with a day at Disneyland Paris, a class to learn how to make croissants or macarons together, maybe a perfume class if he's into cologne at that age, a Seine cruise etc.

Really depends on his interests, or things that might be new to him but still things he would enjoy. I'm sure there's tons of things outside the typical tourist route there that could fill that time easily. Just a thought!

PQ

You know the kid better than I do. But, when I was a teen, I would have been disappointed if my folks "surprised" me with a trip and I had no input. And I would have been devastated to know that we could have gone to the coolest place on earth, but instead we went to dullsville because they didn't bother to include me in the planning.

Get the kid involved. You may be surprised.

PS No need to travel far from Paris for a wonderful trip.

In Paris there's the wonderful Musee des Arts Forains. It's room after room of fairground games and rides, a few of which visitors can play or ride on. Lots of fun. You have to reserve in advance and it's a guided tour in French but you can get an English handout to read. We got one but didn't look at it. It's an amazing collection of buildings that were formerly used to store wine.

There are a lot of travel videos available on Youtube, including Rick Steves'. I would echo the recommendations to ask him. Part of the fun of the trip is the anticipation and the planning , even if you only have a couple of weeks to do it.

Yes, yes, yes to involving him in the planning! You should reveal the surprise, and I agree that he should be involved. And definitely open his world up to something outside his everyday realm of collectibles. Try something new. As you can see by the recommendations, every museum is not just about art.

As some others have suggested, get him involved in the planning. Perhaps let him pick one or two things / places that really interest him. Not that an unhappy 14 year old (even the best of them) is every a problem, but the more he is "invested" in the trip, the better the trip will be for all.

Please get him involved! Give him a job. At 15 years old, our daughter became our travel team navigator and restaurant researcher. At 31, when we’re lucky enough to have her traveling with us, we still rely on her to find the best restaurants.

If he plays Pokemon Go! (which I don’t and know nothing about except what a friend has told me) he may use that as a jumping off point in choosing a location in Eastern France or Western Germany to explore. When my friend heard I would be in Basel last year, she asked me if I would look for and “catch” a rare Pokemon Go character for her. Using GPS on my phone, I chased around one afternoon and “caught” it. I don’t know anything else about the game, but it was fun.

I am sure you are not going to Brussels but my daughter is also into collectibles and we found them plus manga in French and English at Super Dragon Toys in Ste.-Cathérine and FNAC (a chain) in Ixelles. Give your boy an opportunity to find where to buy them in Paris. If he is learning French in school this is also a fun thing to buy.

Lavandula

Thanks for all the input. His dad had not told him yet, as he wanted to come up with options and narrow a focus down before telling him. He is going to do that this weekend. He also wanted to make sure everything was a go as he has to fly him here from another state before we leave. Lots of backstory there, but he will know this weekend! His first question would be where should we go besides Paris? We've talked about Paris a lot and I know he will love that. This trip came up so fast, so we wanted to give him several options as well as letting him come up with something.

@Jens Yes he plays Pokemon Go - he definitely will enjoy that wherever we go

JR, we obviously don't know the situation. But if the 14 year old is traveling out of the country without BOTH parents, make sure you have all the proper consent forms.

Thank you Jean

Yes we have a notarized consent letter from the mother specifically authorizing his trip with his Dad. We also have a copy of his birth certificate. Isn't that all we need? We already have his passport. The agent at Air France said we didn't need a letter but we got one anyways just to be safe. Do we need a separate letter of consent to leave France - wouldn't the one letter suffice since it has all the specifics of the trip?

Engage the 14 yo and get him to help select those 4 days or so. You’ll all have a better time if he’s invested the trip.

Still too cool for southern beaches. Mountain hikes will be under snow.

Take a look at Dordogne for Cro-Magnon caves (start with Lascaux 4 for accessibility and then Les Eyzies for a quick hour in the little museum there about the ancient cave dwellers plus time at a genuine cave, such as Font de Gaume or Grotte des Combarelles. See generally https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/france/dordogne

And take a look at chateaux in the Loire Valley and perhaps combine a couple of those with something related to Joan of Arc, such as the castle at Chinon. See generally, https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/france/loire

One of those two regions could be pretty engaging for the whole family. The Loire could be done without a car. A car might be needed for the Dordogne.

Maybe the 14 yo will suggest something else entirely, once you ask him for his thoughts. But with the time you want in Paris at each end of your brief trip, just one area beyond Paris should have plenty to explore.

I hope you get these logistics all worked out! Its wonderful to be taking him! My nephew and wife last year based their honeymoon in Paris. They did a canyon/rock climbing day trip tour. They loved it! I know there are these outdoor adventure type areas in France. If he would enjoy that…it might be worth researching?
We are taking our 5 grandkids and their parents to Paris this summer prior to a longer trip. Our oldest will be 15 then. She thought the underground and catacombs would be very cool and interesting! We are also spending a couple days in Normandy area. Not sure he is interested in history? I know this thread suggests he needs to have a say in this adventure and do some research! I agree. This is a tough age. Even if you dont get the response you hope for….he will gain so much from this experience. Stuff you find out later. Yes…and dont let the word museum be a negative. So many options!