Paris itinerary advice for June 2025 - family with teens

Monday July 7 (back in Paris for our last day in Europe before catching plane back to California on July 8)

People should read the other post regarding your time in France before reacting to this.

One practical question: Are your teens early risers? Have they dealt with jet lag before? Your schedule has them out the door at 8 AM most mornings.

Right, I did ask a general France itinerary question a couple weeks ago! :-) Based on everyone's advice then we simplified our plans to 1 week in Paris, then London for a week, flying to Provence for 6 days from London and then taking the train back in Paris to fly home from there.
My kids are early risers and rarely sleep in. I know they will likely be jet lagged, but was expecting that they would likely wake up early due to the jet lag on our first full day and they will be very excited as well. We do plan to go to bed as soon as we arrive at our airbnb around 7 or 7:30 pm. However, the girls have not had experience with jet lag before so I really do not know how it will be for them, to be honest.

I should add that the main reason for scheduling the early times for the museums is trying to not be there at peak times when the massive crowds would be overwhelming and frustrating for the girls (and for me too!). Hoping to just get in there early and get out before things get too bad.

My number 1 piece of advice to people visiting Paris, which I don't see enough of IMO, is to use bateau bus to get around the seine. It is practical, relatively cheap and so beautiful. No need for a cruise with this.

June 19: get a guided tour for the Louvre or at least create a game plan on what you want to see and most effective way to navigate it. The Louvre is massive and you can easily get lost. Early in the morning is good as it gets really busy. But since you are staying close by, consider late in the evening too. Outside the Louvre is so beautiful at night. One of my favourite things was a night picnic. I always go in from a back entrance (don't know street name) as it is not crowded. The garden next door is beautiful and worth a visit.

June 20: Versaille is great to visit and again morning is good. Probably the most crowded place in all of France. If you don't plan to see the garden, add it. It is amazing in scale and beauty. I actually enjoy it more than the castle due to crowds. Makes for a great picnic.

I think you are being way too ambitious with your afternoon plan. I would move the Eiffel to another day as it would make for a long and tiring day.

June 21: I would start with the 6th in the morning. It is my favourite neighborhood in Paris and is what movies portray Paris as most. Do you have a particular reason to visit Mouffetard? It would not even make my top 30 list. I would skip it and use that time for something else. Have a picnic in Lux garden if not planning on it. My fav garden in Paris. I would probably use the afternoon for Eiffel here or consider Champs Elysee. Your daughters would love it if nothing else. Speaking of your daughters and shopping (don't know much about it as I never do it), look into Galeries Lafayette. There are several and they are supposed to be great.

June 21: D'Orsay is my favourite museum because it packs the best collection for the building size IMO. Make sure you reserve your ticket and lineups should be manageable. 2 hours is good to see a lot of it but more is better of course. Don't know much about Orangerie as never been there. I personally would scrap it unless you are interested in the collection.

Montmartre is beautiful and worth seeing. Do you like opera buildings? The Paris one is beautiful and is next to one of the lafayettes.

My cousin and her 16 year old daughter both spent time and money at Galeries Lafayette. I was much more content to just window shop just about everywhere. They wisely kept me out of the used bookstores, as I can get lost in them, and always come home with something. The booksellers along the Seine are just as good.

My advise for the Louvre and d'Orsay is go all the way up ASAP, and work your way down. Don't be surprised if you spend more time than you expect.

There's a thread on here somewhere about thrift shops the girls might find interesting.

We've been in Paris for the Fête de la musique several times. Until sunset there seems to be a variety of musical styles offered. But last summer, by sunset the street concerts were amplified rock and the age of the audiences were younger and younger, rowdier and rowdier. The clubs had moved into the streets. As the sun was setting around 10, we caught a bus back from Saint Sulpice in the 6th to our hotel near the Gare de Lyon driving along the left-bank of the Seine. The driver said this would be be the last bus of the evening because RATP called in the buses to get the vehicles off the streets. You may want to keep this in mind as you are out on the evening of the 21st. There's plenty of music to enjoy early in the evening

Having a picnic or just sitting on the Champ du Mars in front of the Eiffel Tower on a Friday night with locals is one of the highlights of our trips there (with our teenager).

Your trip is well thought out and arriving early at the sights is wise.

Enjoy!

Blockquote My advise for the Louvre and d'Orsay is go all the way up ASAP, and work your way down. Don't be surprised if you spend more time than you expect.
Blockquote

I’ve seen this advised elsewhere and have a follow-up question in relation to the d’Orsay. We reserved audioguides for our visit there and I’m wondering if anyone knows if they are the “smart” audioguides that adapt based on which room you are in? Or does it somewhat force you to take a particular route through the museum?

Thank you everyone for these really helpful suggestions! :-)

Less…
Plan for down time, wandering around and getting lost, always the best time of my vacations in Europe.
My niece and her family were in Paris and the Metro was on strike for the whole time. they said the best part was walking from A to B. Plan that into your trip. the experience with your daughters walking around Paris will be more memorable than the crowds at the Louvre…
Enjoy your trip

I'd try to work in Eternelle Notre Dame - the VR experience located underground in front of the Cathedral -- a 45 minute walk through Paris as Notre Dame is built. An amazing experience that I think teens will like.

Hi Lin,
I am following your posts closely as we are also traveling to France early July with our teenaged daughters (13 & 15) from Canada. :) We have a somewhat similar itinerary although we are flying into Toulouse & will take the train to Paris for 3 nights then train to Marseille where we will rent a car and stay in Provence 4 nts, drive to Carcassonne for an overnight then to Hossegor / Basque region for 5 nights and fly back out of Toulouse.

I’ve picked up so many great recommendations from your ideas, questions and answers so I hope you don’t mind if I tag on to ask a few questions?

We have booked our Hossegor stay and train tickets but not our hotels in Provence and Paris (yikes!) Would love to get some recommendations for where to stay in Paris or Provence? My husband and I have been to Paris but it was many moons ago! We’re hoping to see the lavender fields and perhaps Gorge du verdon for hiking, paddleboarding, kayaking but Saint-Remy also seems like a great base.

If it’s rude for me to tag on, please let me know and I will start a new thread. I was just so thrilled to see a similar trip.
Thank you!
Vicky

Hi Vicky!
Absolutely, happy to share itinerary/hotel ideas!
We are staying in vacation rental apartments in both Paris and St. Remy. Our rental in Paris is in the Latin Quarter on Rue de la Harpe.. We used the Vacation in Paris rental company. Rick Steves has a list of several other companies with rentals in Paris as well. In Provence, there are lots of vacation rentals in other villages beside St. Remy - as I have searched online for activities/village info I have found many local vacation rental companies offering rentals in many different villages. For a short stay though you may need to do hotels as some of the vacation rentals will only book for 7 days minimum. I don't have any recommendations on hotels in Provence as we are not staying in any hotels there, however I think St Remy is a great base and itself an interesting town to stay in

Apart from the vacation rental in Paris, our last night in Paris we are staying in Hotel Albe Bastille near Gare de Lyon, in the junior suite room (double bed plus double sofa bed). Have never stayed there before but the reviews/photos looked fine. Fingers crossed!

We considered going to the Verdon Gorge during our Provence stay but then realized that the drive there would be 2 1/2 to 3 hours one way. Our girls were excited about aqua trekking or kayaking the Verdon gorge but they didn't want to spend that much time in the car, so we're keeping activities within 1 to 1 1/2 hours from our St. Remy base. So we plan to spend 1 day visiting/swimming at Pont du Gard and the nearby village of Uzes for dinner; another day canoeing on the Sorgue River from Fountaine de Vaucluse to Isle de la Sorgue coupled with a visit to nearby Abbey Notre Dame de Senanque with its lavender fields, Gordes and Roussillon; on another day take a boat tour of the Calanques so the kids can swim in the Mediterranean and see the Calanques. On one of the days we will also visit Les Baux and the chateau there plus the Carrières de Lumières light show and also see the Roman ruins in Arles. One day we will also devote to just seeing what's in St Remy (Wednesday market, Van Gogh things, nearby Glanum and Eygalieres). Probably more on our list than we will actually be able to do.

Interested to hear what your family is planning to do/see as well! We will be in Paris from June 18-23 and then July 7 as well, and will be in St. Remy from June 30-July 6.
Happy travels to you and your family!
Lin

janettravels44, The Eternelle VR experience sounds interesting. Have not heard of that. I will check it out -- thank you for the tip!

Vicky, Your trip sounds good, but have you narrowed down where in Provence you want to be? Provence is over 12,000 square miles with several different areas. St Remy de Provence is popular, but there are dozens and dozens of other towns and villages to stay at. Be sure to check the proximities from each other of your preferred locations. Maybe take a look at a map, or review the Rick Steves Provence book when planning your days there. It will save you time and aggravation.
Bon voyage!

Hi Lin,

Thank you so much for your thorough and kind reply. I love your itinerary and may “borrow” a few. :) Also, thank you for the recommendation to check out Vacation in Paris rentals. We have tentatively booked a place in La Marais through VRBO but it does not have air conditioning which could be uncomfortable. Thank you again for all your shared info and apologies as I just noticed your kind response.

Hi Judy,
We definitely should narrow it down! Our family is very much beach / coast or just generally water loving (especially in the hot summer). I had originally wanted to visit the Cote D’Azur but realized it was too busy. We’re aiming to see & do a lot but also want some relaxation and down time and that often feels like water - whether pool, lake, ocean.
I had settled on Cassis but also want to see the lavender fields and some of the lovely towns like Gordes and Rousillon. While Aix is quite central, I think it’s too big / busy so either Cassis with more driving around or Saint-Remy area with a pool in case we decide to have a day of mostly just relaxation. I’m still unsure!