Seeking ideas for older kids in Paris, Venice, Umbria+Tuscany, Rome, etc.

Can't help with Paris, but in Venice your family can have a group rowing lesson on the back canals withRow Venice. It's 90 minutes for all of you and about 100 euros total. Tip- it's much harder than it looks with the one paddle. I think the kids would love it!

Venice- you can also see where the gondolas are built.

London- our kids liked it a lot more than Paris when they were your kids’ ages. Harry Potter may have had something to do with it. We had to drag them both out of the British Museum. They loved Westminster Abbey too. And food wise, fish and chips were a big hit, French baguettes too but not French dinners. They both loved Tuscany too, another trip.
You will be making incredible memories for your kids!

I take it that your itinerary is as follows changing the order:
1.5 days London Then taking the Eurostar to Paris
5 days Paris Flying to Rome
3 days Rome Taking 70 minute local train to Orvieto
5 days visiting Orvieto and Tuscany with a car Turn the car in at Florence and take a train to Venice
3 days Venice Flying to Amsterdam
2 days Amsterdam And flying home from AMS

My opinions:

Spend 4 days in London
Spend 4 days in Paris
Spend 4 days in Rome
Spend 2 days in Orvieto and pick up a Hertz rental car across the street from the Orvieto train station. Hit the road in the rental car visiting hilltowns in Tuscany like Siena, Volterra, etc. for 3 days. Then visit Florence and turn the car in there.
Spend 3 days in Venice
Spend 2 days in Amsterdam

Note that i changed the number of days you have allotted above. London, Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice and Amsterdam are all GREAT and important European cities and all are worthy of more time than you have planned.

What a great trip for them! You will need advance tickets for Anne Frank's house. I think London is the absolute best city for children, so I like David's itinerary(unless they've already been to London recently).

I lived overseas for nine years in two countries and took my kids, pre-teens and teens everywhere we went.

We never did Disney (sorry, but you can do that in the USA), or specific kid stuff.

We treated them like adults and exposed them to history, art and culture as well as scenic places. They loved it all.

I would read from my old green Michelin Guides explaining the history in detail. Now they all love to travel and were enriched by the travel.

Things they really enjoyed were gondola ride in Venice, going up the Eiffel Tower and Seine River cruise in Paris and well as climbing around the Youngfrau in Switzerland or the Zugspitze in Germany.

Art museums for kids under 10, yes, after half and hour they are ready to leave. Still you gotta do museums.

My kids were all in awe of the Sistine Chapel and wanted to know all of what the frescoes were doing.

Venice:
Ride a gondola
Check out the puppet theatre https://carlogoldoni.visitmuve.it/en/il-museo/percorsi-e-collezioni/the-puppet-theatre/
Look for and Try on masks
https://www.planetware.com/italy/venice-with-kids-top-things-to-do-i-1-38.htm ( scroll down to the paragraphs which talk about which neighborhoods have mask artisans.
Visit the playground
Watch the glassblowers on Munro

Paris
Wait for the Eiffel Tour to light up
Visit the Catacombes
Jardin D’Acclamation
Walk along the Seine River path:
https://www.cntraveler.com/story/paris-will-open-a-new-scenic-walkway-along-the-river-seine/amp
Take a fat tire bike tour:https://www.fattiretours.com/paris/?utm_source=GMBParis&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=GMBParis&utm_id=GMBParis

Thanks, everyone!
David, our itinerary is already set (leaving in 3 weeks) with all the planes, trains and automobiles accounted for. Our primary focus for this trip is France and Italy, with future intentions for England--we need the kids to get a little older to join us on our favorite inn-to-inn National Trails long-distance walks. :-)

London and Amsterdam (actually Hoorn) just got tacked onto this trip because we were able to snag some cheap open-jaws flights via IcelandAir from Seattle. We're traveling extremely light and staying in AirBnBs with washing machines and kitchens, as well as telecommuting a bit in the evenings to our day jobs and school work back home. No night-life for us.

I'm trying to plan no more than 2 events per day to keep everybody well-rested and cooperative. But this morning, my 13yo son looked at my spreadsheet and said, "I'm excited about the food, but I feel like we're just going to be looking at stuff and not DOING anything."

So here I am, looking for stuff to DO! Thanks everybody!

Hi I'm new to this forum and travelled using Rick Steve's books 25 years ago! Loved all of it.

Now I have kids 13, 13, and 16 would love to follow almost this exact itinerary but overwhelmed with arranging it all. Is anyone here using travel agents?

Teens are different animal for sure and arranging 5 or 6 people is way different than how I travelled with my Eurail pass alone.

Thanks for guidance.

We took a Paris Charms and Secrets electric bike tour on Sunday afternoon in Paris with our 12 and 14 year old daughters. We went on bike paths and smaller roads and loved both the feeling of riding through Paris and the stories they told.

At the Eiffel Tower, you could take the stairs between the second and first floor for a different look at the structure. My husband and kids did but I was more bothered by my fear of heights at the lower stories (where I could look down) than at the summit so I stayed on the elevator.

We climbed both Sacre Couer and the Arc de Triomphe. Sacre Couer was more interesting because you go along different parts of the roof.

There are carousels near Sacre Couer and the Eiffel Tower, but maybe that is too young even for your nine year old (or closed for the season).

Your daughter might enjoy the book Mission Paris: A Scavenger Hunt Adventure. We used the Barcelona one at age 7 and 9. It gives some activities to do or things to find at the sights.

Many people talk about doing a cooking class. Some of the food tours will customize to families.

Also, you might consider splitting up for different activities once or twice. I sort of regret not taking the kid who saw a poster and asked to go to the Grevin wax museum there while my husband went to the Army museum and examined everything in detail.

Hi Lisa, you might want to post in the General Europe forum for advice, but since you're planning a similar itinerary, I'll just reply a bit here:

We didn't use a travel agent at all, just read up on various locations and planned using a spreadsheet and budget. This forum is the best place for detailed information. Use the search function, then you can limit by date. Because of the global travel changes as a result of the pandemic, I've found it's important to look up recent information no matter where you're going.

Our #1 strategy for traveling with our kids is to book apartments or houses instead of hotels. We find it much easier to get enough sleep, eat healthy food and save money if we've got a fridge and plenty of beds and space. We mostly use AirBnB, and use Google maps to look around the neighborhood to make sure it's a place we want to stay.

PlannerMom, splitting up is a great idea for some of these activities.

I really appreciate all the recommendations, this really helps!

Lorraine, while in Paris, how about attending a Spring fashion show at the department store, Galleries Lafayette? My 10 yo granddaughter and I really enjoyed ourselves. After the show, we picked up take out lunch from the food hall at the store and went up to the rooftop deck to enjoy our little picnic. Here is a link to the store info

https://haussmann.galerieslafayette.com/en/?s=Fashion+show

Thanks Lorraine. I hope you and your family have a wonderful trip!!!!!

PARIS: Take a cruise on the Canal Saint-Martin. The ferry starts near Place de la Republic and about a third of the voyage is underground. Then it is up in the air sometimes, looking into apartment windows and traversing locks. Final dock is in the basin at La Villette, a good place to find a waterfront cafe for lunch. Then a visit to the Cite des sciences et de l'Industrie, a technology museum said to be oriented toward youth.
Here is a massive link to a commercial cruise agency:

https://www.google.com/search?q=canal%20st-martin%20and%20cruise&rlz=1C1ONGR_enCA1027CA1027&oq=canal+st-martin+and+cruise&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i22i30i625j0i10i22i30i625j0i390l4.6910j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&tbs=lf:1,lf_ui:1&tbm=lcl&rflfq=1&num=10&rldimm=10776779023212364658&lqi=ChpjYW5hbCBzdC1tYXJ0aW4gYW5kIGNydWlzZUj0ptyAi7GAgAhaIhAEGAAYBCIaY2FuYWwgc3QgbWFydGluIGFuZCBjcnVpc2WSAQ1jcnVpc2VfYWdlbmN5mgEjQ2haRFNVaE5NRzluUzBWSlEwRm5TVVJsZFZCaVdXTjNFQUWqAQ4QASoKIgZjcnVpc2UoAA&phdesc=kRX0eiaDQPY&ved=2ahUKEwi2pOOW0rP9AhUNjIkEHazhAeEQvS56BAgREAE&sa=X&rlst=f#rlfi=hd:;si:10776779023212364658,l,ChpjYW5hbCBzdC1tYXJ0aW4gYW5kIGNydWlzZUj0ptyAi7GAgAhaIhAEGAAYBCIaY2FuYWwgc3QgbWFydGluIGFuZCBjcnVpc2WSAQ1jcnVpc2VfYWdlbmN5mgEjQ2haRFNVaE5NRzluUzBWSlEwRm5TVVJsZFZCaVdXTjNFQUWqAQ4QASoKIgZjcnVpc2UoAA,y,kRX0eiaDQPY;mv:[[48.8862236,2.3740365],[48.8490131,2.3390578]];tbs:lrf:!1m4!1u3!2m2!3m1!1e1!1m4!1u2!2m2!2m1!1e1!2m1!1e2!2m1!1e3!3sIAE,lf:1,lf_ui:1

The Villette area:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Villette,+75019+Paris,+France/@48.8873706,2.3853178,15z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x47e66dd75390f999:0x7214db08363c60a1!8m2!3d48.8906167!4d2.3767267!16s%2Fg%2F11bc578hwc

What a great trip! (1) First of all, I totally get the Disney Paris day - we did the same when our kids were younger. They loved it, and it bought us a little cooperation on some of the other days. And for what it’s worth, it actually IS a little different than Disney in the US, which can be fun to look for. (2) Check out this sidecar tour of Paris. https://www.retro-tour.com/en/paris/. We did this in 2021 (kids are now teenagers) and had an absolute blast. Hands down one of our favorite trip experiences. (3) Have a dinner picnic on the Champ de Mars. We brought along two mini blankets (now a travel staple), and had a blast. Picnics are so easy to assemble in Paris. Stay until Madame Eiffel puts her lights on. Magic. https://www.amazon.com/Oceas-Outdoor-Pocket-Blanket-Built/dp/B07C7N6S73/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?adgrpid=55245610279&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI683s5sLV_QIVPntvBB1-oAXOEAAYAiAAEgLwYvD_BwE&hvadid=274713864881&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=9058193&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=14580399095009247629&hvtargid=kwd-314673950062&hydadcr=17133_9496626&keywords=mini%2Bpicnic%2Bblanket&qid=1678594265&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyM1YzT0dPQTlSRVRMJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwODQzNzk3MVo5QllXTzVKRlBFSCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNzc0MjU1MjVCWjg2QUZDVlE3USZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX3Bob25lX3NlYXJjaF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl&th=1