Planning for Paris with granddaughters

With four years to plan, you could start collecting miles/points for your preferred airline. Airfare is typically the biggest expense and depending on the class of service you would want, miles/points can save you thousands. I'm not an expert in this area but you can start researching on the Points Guy site or just get the credit card of your preferred airline and start putting everything on there. I live in Delta country, so I have a SkyMiles card that all my expenses go on. I never carry a balance though, interest charges would negate any benefit. I have caught business class mileage sales a couple of times to Europe which is sweet.

Lodging in Paris can be very expensive and the rooms very small, so you might consider an apartment rental rather than hotel rooms. Then you can prepare at least some meals or snacks in the room and - most important for me - also have coffee available when you wake up! If you book far enough out, you can probably get a nice apartment for less than $300 per night. Pretty good price by Paris standards.
Everything else really depends on your travel style and wish list. You can eat on the cheap, prepare meals in your apartment, go to Michelin starred restaurants or anything in between. You could select free museum days (with crowds), enjoy architecture and parks, or do the full private tour experience. You have a lot of time, so start reading and researching and enjoy the planning. That's almost as much fun as the actual trip!!

How many days do you hope to stay in Paris?

Thank you, Celeste, for your practical info! I hadn't thought about the airline miles, and it's a great idea since I have some preparation time.

Janet, a week-long trip is what I have in mind. I think that would be the limit for the younger two.

We took our 2 granddaughters to Paris for a week (Italy for 2 weeks) in 2019. They were 14 and 16 when we went although they had been 2x before at younger ages. We had a good experience renting apartments in Italy but in Paris we couldn’t find exactly what we wanted (2 br, 2 bath, AC, location and price). We ended up renting 2 adjoining rooms at a traditional Holiday Inn which also provided breakfast. In 2019 the cost for 2 rooms was about 210€ per night. One room slept 3 and the other slept 2 people. If we could have found a licensed apartment for about that price or a little more, we would have preferred that but we only had about 5 months to plan that trip and we couldn’t find an apartment we liked.

We had breakfast at the hotel, ate a snack type lunch at a museum cafe or crepe from a street vendor. We ate a 2-3 course dinner with wine for us at little neighborhood restaurants for about 100 USD for the four of us.

We used Metro transportation cards that we could reload.

We bought museum entrances ahead of time and asked about a student rate.

If you go during the school holiday time of mid July to the end of August, there will be fun family activities along the Seine and Bassin near Canal St. Martin.

Our granddaughters were interested in cooking classes and we found Cookin with Class to be one of several cooking schools that had fun culinary experiences for families.

I hope your retirement dream comes true. Enjoy planning with your girls!

Thank you, Mona! I love the idea of a class featuring some aspect of Paris they might enjoy. An apartment rental seems ideal, and your experience tells me to look well in advance. I thank you, especially, for including your costs, which will help me as I begin my plans and research.

We also love apartment rentals, but the vacation rental situation in Paris has changed since we were last there. It's my understanding that a legal rental must now have a registration number. You might search the forum for many previous discussions of this issue to learn what you need to look for.

I would definitely get the girls the book, "Linea in Monet's Garden". It is a story about a grandfather/granddaughter and their trip to Paris. It is focused on Monet, but there are lots of illustrations of Paris. When the time comes, you might consider Giverny. Another thought might be to also give them a taste of a smaller French town. Chartres is close and could be a nice day trip. The cathedral is amazing, the town charming and there is a light show at night--lights in patterns are projected onto many of the buildings.

There are many gardens in Paris and a fun and budget friendly idea would be picnic lunches (or eat lunch in a restaurant) and picnic for dinner. It would be fun for them to shop for goodies at the markets all over Paris.

Thank you, Janet, for the apartment advice, which I will research. I already started to look at Air BnB for apartments, just to get an idea of what's out there.
Jules M, thank you so much for the Linnea recommendation. It is precisely the kind of "preparation" I'd like to start experiencing with the girls. I've got the book on order, and also found a video on Youtube.

The journey to the journey is sweet indeed!

Janice, I just remembered, not that it matters, but its a neighbor man that travels to Paris with Linnea. Sounds a little creepy as I type it, but it is a very sweet book. You might pick up some books about Impressionism or the Orangerie art museum. Many children are drawn to Impressionist art. Also, there is a movie that might be interesting for the girls right now, "Grace Stirs up Success". It's an American Girl movie based on a "doll of the year". I think for little girls it will be of interest, likely not for older people looking for more depth in a movie! It's a sweet little movie with scenes of Paris and a little "lesson". It can be rented on Amazon Prime or the DVD purchased from Amazon for about $5. A library might have it for check out, too. Another movie is a rom com "Midnight in Paris". It isn't profound, either, but there are scenes of Paris and I and others enjoy it for something lighter. You might want to watch the movie to scope out content before sharing it. My recollection is that it is extremely tame.

I see no reason for grandma and granddaughters to not enjoy anticipating and planning for a very special trip. Obviously, kids and tastes change, but what a lovely gift to these girls (and grandma, too, to have this special time) For some, part of the fun of travel is the planning and anticipation.

As far as budgeting and savings, airfare depends on a lot of different factors. You could do some fare searches at varying times of the year to get a general sense. For me, where I live, anything under about $950/round trip is a pretty good fare, though occasionally I've been able to get something more around $750. People on the east coast seem to routinely get better fares than I do.

We've found restaurants to be less expensive than we would expect the same meal to be at home. Also, I have been able to get hotels in Paris, that are cheaper than what I can get in the U.S. You will save money if you get an accommodation that provides breakfast or with some type of apartment, eating breakfast and at least one meal in or a picnic is a cost savings. Time of year can really impact the cost of accommodation. Hotel prices seem higher in August and rooms a bit more scarce. I think that is especially the case with budget or moderate priced rooms.

Right now, the dollar is a bit weak against the Euro, at least in comparison to times we've traveled before.

EDITED TO ADD: I should have been more clear on the dollar/euro exchange rate. As you plan just realize that it fluctuates, and if you look at prices be sure you know they are in dollars or euros. For, us, the current exchange rate, I believe is worse than what we typically have had when we traveled. We have had several trips that the euro and dollar were about equal.

A lot of the museums are free for children.

Dream on! This amount of time will allow you to really research Paris, and you can hone in on what interests you and the girls. The Rick Steves episodes are wonderful for planning. You can watch them on this website, Amazon or sometimes on your public television's content.

Your 7 & 10 yr old will really like the Luxembourg Gardens in the 6th arrondissement, it has a wonderful playground, carousel, donkey rides and marionette shows in a little theater. You’ll love the LG too… : )

Janice, it remains to be seen what the exchange rate will be in 4 years but I'll agree with exploring LEGAL apartments for the 4 of you. Having breakfast (and some other meals) in will be a cost saving, not to mention make for less stressed mornings getting 4 ladies up, washed, brushed, beautified, dressed and fed! HA!

I think one of your challenges will be traveling with one grandaughter who will technically be an adult, another who will still be very much a little girl, and one sort of in the middle. It may be difficult to find things for the 4 of you to do together which don't bore the eldest or go over the head of the youngest. One suggestion is to involve them in final plan? This is a prime opportunity for all of them to experience a Travel 101 lesson - skills to start building on for putting their own trips together someday - but will be especially opportune for the young lady most apt to travel solo sooner rather than later. It's also a great excuse to spend some quality one-on-one 'grown-up' time with her before she flies the family nest. :O)

Consider that she'll be old enough to go off on a bit of researched sightseeing of her own now and again while you head a different direction with the two younger girls.

Anyway, while hours and entry fees and some other stuff might change before you go, the attractions aren't likely to. Encourage them to start learning about Paris now by checking age-appropriate books out of the library (the baby of the family should have "Madeline"read to her) or browsing the net (the elder two). Maybe present all 3 with their very own guidebooks for Christmas closer to your trip. If they each have hand in the plan and choosing some of the sightseeing/activities, they'll be less likely to fuss about having to do the things a different sister (or Grandma) chose. 😉

Here is a link to a trip report I did in 2019 from an Italy-Paris trip we did with our granddaughters. Our planning was a lot more intense than you are facing with your four year timeframe but maybe an idea here and there might be useful as your time gets closer. Our biggest takeaway is go when you and they can, those opportunities will diminish. Also involve them in the planning but don’t overwhelm them.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/italy-and-paris-with-teenage-granddaughters

What a wonderful grandmother you are to be planning this for your girls !!

Definitely refer to Mona’s trip report — she really created a fantastic experience for her granddaughters.

I am grateful that you are all so willing to share your experiences and suggestions! I will read every link. Your suggestions of introducing some of the sites and scenes to look forward to will feed their anticipation - and mine! I do hope to involve them in the planning as we get closer to our travel time. Giving each their own guidebooks is a great suggestion for our planning time.

Thank you to all!

What a wonderful adventure to look forward to! 18 years ago, we took our daughter to Paris for the first time when she was 9. We made some of our most magical travel memories on the trip that started her true, lasting love for European travel. In the intervening 18 years, we’ve been back to Paris with her 4 more times.

I have a few book recommendations for you. For the little ones - This Is Paris, by Miroslav Sasek is a lovely picture book.

While the book The Little Prince (Le Petit prince) is not about Paris, the author Antoine de Saint Exupéry is a French national hero. The book is at a young adult level but can be enjoyed by young ones as a read aloud. In Paris, you will see copious souvenir items featuring the story’s iconic illustrations. Our daughter had coincidentally read and become enchanted by the book just before our trip. This was a serendipitous connection to French culture that added to our fun.

One more idea, consider giving each girl a small sketch book or journal to write and/or draw their impressions wherever they go. Note: many museums allow drawing/sketching with pencils only (usually no pens or markers - check museums websites for exact sketching rules.) Have fun planning!

What a wonderful grandmother you are! How I wish I had been able to visit Paris with my grandmothers.
Enjoy the planning and your trip!