Paris with teen granddaughter

Well, it depends on your granddaughter's interests. I visited Paris with my two daughters (18 and 13) in 2022. The older one enjoyed the D'Orsay art museum. They both enjoyed strolling the streets and shopping and dining. It seemed like there was an ice cream shop on every block and my younger daughter enjoyed that a lot! They found a thrift store and my older daughter found a vintage leather jacket that was in great shape. I'm sorry I don't remember the name of the shop. We also went to Versailles, and they both enjoyed that.

My daughter and I were in Paris at the end of her grade 8 year. Your granddaughter will love seeing all the famous landmarks including anything she has seen in movies or tv shows/series. A river cruise on the Seine is great too. So many great sights to see when walking and things to eat and sample. Does she want to see the Louvre or Musee d'Orsay.? Seeing Taylor Swift would likely be a huge highlight if she is a Swiftie. My daughter and I met in Rio for her falling reading week for her concert and it was an experience to remember. The concert was outstanding. Can't comment on Hamburg as its a part of Germany we haven't been to but would say the concert would be alot of fun. Have a great trip.

I would think browsing Galeries Lafayette and then lunch up on the rooftop would be a must for most teenage girls.

Taking your DGD to Hamburg for a Swift concert. I wish I'd had a Grandmother like you. I took a quick look at the cost of 2 tickets and had to sit down for a minute until the faintness passed. And I wouldn't count on hotel prices being cheap. One of her concerts will definitely drive up prices for days on either side of the concerts. But you can check that out in minutes on booking.com.

Depending on her age and her interests, and the season, we would recommend some museums, the main attractions, the tours, the river cruise, the shopping areas, the foods...
Paris is always a good idea.
And if you tell us more, we could suggest more precise ideas between many : Atelier des Lumieres, science city of Paris, Versailles, treasure hunt in the Louvre, shopping itinerary, art class or art tour.

Traveled with teenagers.

First, while it is tempting to share all the things that you love, they may just...yawn.

You really need to get her involved, what is it she wants to see? I can tell you now, some of the things she may want to do will seem like a waste of time, but the important thing is balance. She wants to go to McDonalds for a meal...sure, no problem, but then you get to pick some small bistro and have her try something weird or different. She wants to shop...sure take her a few places, then go to a cheese shop (she'll never forget the smell) or some of the fancy shops to see dresses costing a moderate salary. She may even just need an afternoon at the hotel, on her phone, catching up with friends...get a bottle of wine and some pastries and go with it.

Not been to Hamburg, heard good things, but it roughly in line with going through Belgium and Amsterdam, so lots of possibilities along the way.

I''ve been taking my daughter to Paris every other year or so since she was 14. She's 31 now and still goes to Paris with me whenever her schedule permits.

When she was 14 her greatest love was riding the métro. On our last night, I asked her what she wanted to do, and she replied, "Ride the métro". I taught her how to navigate it and told her that subway systems the world over all work pretty much the same. She had great fun and learned a life skill.

Any young person would love the Eternelle Notre Dame VR underneath the parvis in front of Notre Dame. You can buy tickets online. Just make sure they're for the one AT Notre Dame and not the one at La Défence. They fit a 4-5 pound pack on your back with virtual reality glasses and the show goes from the middle ages when ND was being built to current times. We went in December and it was just really cool.

Such fun to see Paris though the eyes of a young person.

I love the idea of adding on Taylor in Hamburg, but it’s borderline crazy. If you can stop somewhere halfway for a few nights, like Koln or Brussels (not exactly on the way) to break up the train ride there then fly out of Hamburg? That sounds doable to me. I wouldn’t necessarily want to deal with CDG for a flight to Hamburg. Thinking back to my early trips to Europe, it was fascinating how different all these countries felt from each other. Visiting some other countries is an experience I’m sure your granddaughter would appreciate. Still, it’s not so simple so nobody’s fault if it can’t happen.

Some very nice suggestions on activities already. I think the best thing you can do is be prepared with options and let her lead the way. Resist the temptation to cram in the sights, and let Paris do the talking. If there’s someplace particularly special to you, share that personal connection with her. The slice of life stuff is what I think makes a big impact: assemble a picnic in the park with other Parisians, stop at every shop and greet the shopkeeper, see how folks go about their business in that very specific French fashion. I get the impression you think this way already, and bet you’ll have a wonderful trip.

I totally appreciate wanting to give your granddaughter a memorable concert moment. Are you sure you can even get TS tickets? It appears to me that they're sold out. I wouldn't use a reseller site (such as Stubhub), they are extremely particular about their electronic ticketing process (according to my Swiftie niece, anyway). At this point you're going to have a very hard time finding affordable accommodations near the date of the concert. Volksparkstadion holds nearly 60,000 people. Save the memories for the next TS world tour, she's unlikely to stop touring any time soon (and when people tire of her, tickets will be so much easier to get).

If you really want to add five extra days, since Olympics preparations will be in full steam when you are there, you could consider adding on London. Plenty of interesting things to do with a teen and it is easy to get there by train. Otherwise, based on my experience taking my older teen nephew to Europe, 10 days (your extra three plus the 7 day tour) is quite a long time for a young person to be out of their element and away from their routines. My two cents, save a longer trip for when she's older.

Thank you all for your ideas.
I’ve taken notes and will be asking my granddaughter if she’s interested in any of them. My initial thought when thinking about this trip was to just go and do whatever she wanted. I know we’ll be visiting McDonald’s and Starbucks. And shopping. I’m fine with anything.

The VR Notre Dame experience might be something I’d like to do during free time from the tour. I had never heard of that before. She would enjoy that, too.

I’ve decided to forget the concert in Hamburg. Too much time, money, unknowns and crowds involved.
Luckily, she doesn't know I was even considering it.
Thanks again!

Just came back from Paris with my 13 year old over spring break. She really enjoyed vintage clothes shopping around the Rue Tiquetonne area (Kiliwatch was a favorite) and food shopping right around the corner on Rue Montorgueil (Stohrer, the oldest pastry shop in Paris is there.) We also had a blast riding e-bikes across Paris for a morning with the Paris Charms and Secrets Tours, as well as taking in a concert at St. Chapelle around sunset. She also liked the Dior Gallery.

At the risk of having rotten tomatoes thrown at me, I am going to suggest you sit down with her and watch Emily in Paris, also consider other movies that you might enjoy with her. We also when we took teenagers because we knew we were going to give them spending money, made them earn it by answering questions and for each question they answered they got five dollars towards their total spending money. We got our value for money that way because they recognize things when we were there from the questions that they had. Hope you have a fabulous time kids make you see the city through different eyes and that’s worth the money for me as well.

This was 10 or 11 years ago, but when my daughters were about 14, I took them to Paris and two "different" things we did that they really enjoyed was a Fashion show at Galeries Lafayette (they still do them) and the One Direction Concert. You could see if someone she likes is playing while you're there. At least back then, the concert was a very different experience than in the US and the attendees where much more polite/well-behaved.

Edit: just saw you are hoping to get Taylor Swift tickets. That would be awesome if you can get them.

So many great suggestions! Thank you. I don’t live near my granddaughter and I haven’t seen her in over a year, so sitting down with her isn’t an option before our trip. We text. She’s interested in the fashion show and the Galerie Lafayette, an e-bike tour (I’m a little apprehensive about that.), and the VR experience. I don’t want to schedule too much, but the tour has quite a few free afternoons, so I think we’ll survive.
Thanks again.

You don't need to fill every moment. Just walking the streets of Paris (pick a neighborhood) is sometimes just lovely. Stop at a café for a sip. Stop into an interesting looking shop. Sit in one of the many pocket parks dotting the city. It's an easy, fun way to while away an afternoon.