Teen boys: Paris or London?

It is all personal taste, but if I were 13 again, I'd certainly prefer Paris. How should I say, the scenery is much nicer....

I would say London--history, music, more fun things for "kids," it's the same language so they'll feel more comfortable, great side trips.

To give them a "taste" of Rome, you could take a day trip to Bath.

But more important...what are their interests and have you asked them where they'd prefer to go?

It depends a little bit on the twins interest. But when our sons were in that age range they much preferred London because of the manly things - war museum, horse guard, war rooms, the tower, changing of the guard, etc.

If your boys read the Harry Potter series they would really enjoy London. As the above posts stated, there is so much for the boys to do in London that they would love. You can't go wrong..going to London.

My vote is Paris. My son loved the Eiffel Tower and just loved Paris. We went for 6 days - 2 days Paris, 2 days Normandy and 2 days back in Paris.

My son's been going to Europe since he was 11 (he's now 20) and he would choose Paris over London in a heartbeat. For all the reasons Pat listed, as well as Mike's Bike Tours (now Fat Tires?), climbing the stairs to the top of Notre Dame, the roller bladers and performers at Notre Dame at night, the boat tours on the Seine, the pastries, Luxembourg Gardens, Vaux le Vicomte chateau, the Conciergerie, camembert sandwiches, crepes, Champs-Elysees, Latin Quarter, rue Mouffetard, the Marais, and just the culture of Paris. He loves Paris and can never get enough of it. He just now pointed out that if you want your boys to experience a different culture, Paris would be a better choice than London, since British culture is not very different from ours.

Both my sons have been to London and Paris. Both went at 14,, on two seperate trips( they are two years apart in age) .

Both preferred Paris,, and these are reasons.

Eiffel Tower( haven' met a kid that didn't at least know about it)

Catacombs- tunnels and bones,, what can I say,, its something pretty unique, and they both bring it up still.

Versailles, both rented bikes while there and cycled around grounds.

And both boys enjoyed climbing the Arc De Triomphe for the views,, they are active kids,, so we were always climbing stuff.

One boy LOVED Invalids Army and Weapon Museum,, other one loved Louvre, just personal tastes.

To be fair, both enjoyed other places in UK ,, even more then Paris ,, Thorpe Park is a amusement park( think roller coasters etc) my hubby took one son to,, and Warwick Castle I took other son to,, both were enjoyable.In the summer when we went Warwich put on a great jousting show,, Knights in full armour( as were the war horses) and a Catapault demonstration, my son loved it) I did take one son to Bath,, but really,, he wasn't as fascinated as I hoped he would be with the whole "look the Romans were hear long ago " thing( hey, I was fascinated!)

I didn't have time to take son to the Natural History Museum in London, but I got there finally myself this past summer, and I can't imagine a kid not enjoying it,, it was a great place.

Geesh, I forgot, haven't been there yet,, but you can google this place,, it has a great website.

It is a World Heritage site,, and seems very interesting, has bunch of shows going on too, a living museum type of place,,

Provins.

PS

Just a note about French Food, I have one very picky eater son.. he loved having steak and fries for dinner almost every night in Paris,, LOL ,, I think he had roast chicken maybe twice too.. My other son tried way more things. There is something for everyone .

My kids (1 boy, 1 girl) loved London when they were teens! The Tower and Windsor castle were favorites. They really liked Covent Garden and Camden Lock markets- we had to practically drag them out. People watching in Covent Garden, Trafalgar and Leciester Square- watching the buskers and the street artists. Both ended up with henna tattos one summer! Dover would make a nice side trip (as well as Windsor).The castle there is excellent and in summer there are things like archery contests and lessons, falconry exhibits, etc. at various times. York also makes a very good day trip, as does Cardiff Wales.

My family (son, 14 and daughter, 16) visited both Paris and London last summer. When I posed your question to them, they both said London. They felt there was a large variety of museums in London. We spent almost half a day at the British Museum (and didn't make a dent!), and 2-3 hours at the British Library. Loved them both. The Tower of London was great-half a day there. We took a tour of Westminster Abbey which was very interesting. Additionally-if your budget isn't too tight, you can take in a show or two easily in London. We saw (and loved) Billy Elliot, which is about a 13 year old boy. The show has lots of strong language-just a warning. But honestly you can't go wrong with either choice!

Whichever one you choose...don't forget that you can do either city as a day trip via the chunnel Eurostar train. You can get a taste of both cities.