Best European destinations for teens?

hey if they get bored; threaten to ship em home, and EYE will take over the trip.[and yeah..i have little respect for poor little rich kids].

Ron, that is a great idea about each family member reading guide books and picking indivdual priorities. I highly disagree with your London itinerary though. Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Church? That's great if you are spending a week. If you're only there for 2 days, you must see the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace (walk the mall to the Palace), Houses of Parliament (Big Ben), Nelson's Column, Picadily Circus, etc. The fact is everyone has different priorities and preferences.

Teresa, your kids will not be bored. Teenagers should really get to enjoy this trip. The 4 cities that you name are quite possibly my personal top 4 cities in Europe. I would space the time fairly evenly although Ron is correct that Venice should get less time. London, Paris and Rome all have so much to offer and do. Just keep the itinerary to a minimum so you can enjoy it.

My son turned 16 just after our trip a year ago and my daughter turned 14 whilst away. We live in a remote area without high schools so they go to boarding school, and weren't at home for the planning of the trip. I too was worried about how they were going to go at times. I had a list of things to do for places and they helped choose what to do at the time, but on occasions they left everything up to me because they didn't know what to choose and were just happy for the experiences. My kids really enjoyed Venice, but we our trip was much longer than yours. I'm wondering if your 14 days includes flying over and back? If it doesn't you the 4 places might work particularly if you fly into London, chunnel to Paris, night train to Venice, train to Rome and fly home from there, or viceversa. If it includes travel time maybe just London and Paris with somewhere close thrown in like Amsterdam, but I'm not really experienced enough to advise. I like the idea of 5 nights in the big cities.

sorry never actually posted that my teenagers weren't bored.

1- prior to leaving for italy:have everyone have their own "italian-english" phrase book: what is "fork", "where is...", "may i please", etc..and practice at dinner, etc.
2-have them participate: do research on rome, etc., download maps, learn the streets, know how to get from the train to the hotel, to the vatican, etc.
3- if visiting museums, have them "look it up!", again find the location on the map, research EVERYthing, what kind of art is to be expcted, and where; who are the artists;
4 have THEM find out where they think would be cool for "teenage girls" to go
in other words, bring them into the planning, research, and EXCITEMENT of visiting new country

With 14 days, the first thing I'd do is cut out Venice. Do the "grand tour" of Rome, Paris, and London...with travelling time from one city to another, that'll allow you time to explore each city rather than rush around. Get the girls to seek out Wikipedia articles on the cities you plan to visit to give them an historical perspective of what they'll be seeing, as well as on the sights you'll find in each city. Rough Guides,Lonely Planet and Let's Go guides are more for young people....get them to go thru those as you use Rick's guides. Let them participate in the planning of daily activities based on their favourites...dance, music, computers, science, art...you'll find places to explore covering all these areas and more. And see if you can find some setting where they can mix with young people their own age.

Teresa-assuming you will pick only some of what you have mentioned, here what my kids (now 20 & 18) have liked:

Rome & Venice - daughter and friends LOVED these 2 cities. No one can be bored by Rome and Venice is truly unique.

Paris - great if there is any french connection, i.e. both my kids took French in high school and knew quite a bit of French history & culture so Paris was very personal for them. We had to visit certain Gardens as they were featured in their "French in Action" class videos.

London-again, both kids LOVE London, have been there a few times. If you like Theatre this is my top recommendation. Also easy to let the kids wander as there is no language barrier. They will like the shopping. And my kids DID like Westminster Abbey, looking at all who are buried/memorialized there.

In general - let your daughters have some freedom to be on their own, to use whatever language/travel skills they have. Allow them to sleep in some days. Have a great time!

Wow! Thanks to everyone for taking the time to respond. Let me clarify my question about being bored. When my husband and I went to Italy, it became clear we had different interests to some degree. I could have looked at ruins and duomos all day, but after several hours, my husband wanted to look at wine menus! We know the girls will have a great time, but we want to be able to plan the trip with the interests of both adults AND teenagers in mind, and we realize that what sounds cool to us might not be so exciting to them. So, keep the specific suggestions coming--it's most helpful. Also, any recommendations on places to stay for a family of five-adult size people? Ciao!

Teresa-since you do realize that 5 people will have different ideas of what is fun or not, try the "divide & conquer" route. Even on our first trip to Europe with kids we did not all stay together all the time. It was great for everyone to break off once in a while into 2 groups and do different things. In exchange for EVERYONE getting up bright and early to go to St. Peter's, for example, the afternoon can be spent with your daughters going one way while you go another. They will enjoy being on their own, will be safer than in most big US cities, and you will all be more interesting when you reconnect at dinner to talk about your day.

Along with splitting up, be sure you and your husband also do some things the girls choose, even if you think it a "waste". In London my kids wanted to see Madame Tussauds. My husband could spend days at the British Museum so he was really NOT thrilled with this idea. Of course he went and it was a great break from the serious stuff.

Continuing-at the same time, don't underestimate your girls interests & maturity level. We have spent hours in some museums because one or both kids wanted to stay. My son is still disappointed because we never took the "secret passages tour" of Doges Palace in Venice.

Some specific sites/things my kids have liked: Rome-the Colesseum, St. Peters (however we all were TOO overwhelmed by the Vatican Museum). Just walking the streets of Rome and eating lots of gelato was a highlight.

Venice - St. Marks square, riding the vaparetto to different stops and walking around to get "lost".

Paris-the catacombs, Eiffel Tower (they are sorry we missed getting to the top), Musee D'Orsay (over the Louvre).

London-Shows, climbing to the top of St. Pauls, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, London Eye.

If you drink alcohol, allow them to partake as well-the culture of drinking is so different from the US. We have done winery tours complete with tastings with the kids.

As a sixteen year old girl, I have to recommend London. Last summer, my mother and I took a trip to London for two weeks. London is practically built for teenagers to have a good time and learn a lot. Although it is arguably the most expensive city in Europe, it is a cultural mecca which is bound to hold great times in store for you. Try to visit the Tate Modern (a modern art museum housing Warhols and Dalis), Westminster Abby (a classic), and the British Museum and the London Eye (which while I considered it to be overrated, the others around me loved). Because of the relative expense of London, most of the museums are free which is just a perk to go explore the cultural and intellectual core of the Worlds Greatest City! I noticed how kind Londoners were to young American women (not in a creepy way, just in a generally friendly way). The shopping is incredible and I would recommend the 'Pop Boutique' an amazing cheap vintage shop in Covent Garden and 'Ad Hoc' for teenagers. I had two highlights to my trip: The first being Hyde Park speakers corner on Sundays. It was the most enlightening and amazing experience of London. You have people from all poli/social/economic groups standing on soap boxes and venting. I jumped up on one and got into a debate about US foreign policy with a Muslim-African-Brit. Also, try to take a train to Brighton one day.

While the language is the same: there are three big culture shocks to worry about:
1. smoking. kids our age will be smoking constantly, just warn your daughters in advance
and
2. drinking. Depending on your families values i would recommend allowing your daughters to drink if you do. It is just so foreign thus fun and is very much a part of the culture.
3. nightclubs! because they are in their teens, many boarding school british teenagers go to 151 or Crazy Larrys to dance and have fun. It's good that they will be able to look out for each other and have as much fun as I did!

Two years ago we traveled with another family and together we had 3 girls aged 14, 15 and 17. In Rome we didn't let them out of our sight, but since we traveled north to progressively smaller places, we were able to let the reins go a bit.

Rome -- see the Cappuccin Crypt, American Embassy & Hard Rock Cafe (with a Metallica guitar) on Via Veneto. If you're lucky enough to be there on a Friday night, don't miss the Miracle Players. The girls seemed to enjoy the higher elevations (why??) and they also liked watching guys on Vespas and looking at Smart Cars everywhere. St. Paul in Chains gives you a feel for how an ancient prison cell might have been. We all enjoyed the Catacombs and made a day trip to Cerveteri to see the Etruscan necropolis -- very interesting! (we were in Rome 10 days)

We didn't go to Venice, Paris or London, but we did go to --

Siena -- where we let them go out for dinner on their own. they saw the mummified head and thumb of St. Catherine. A great little walled city with terrific medieval flair. Easy to walk around in, but hilly. Cool cathedral to take very artsy photos.

Varenna -- such a small town that just about all they could do was go wading in the lake, go to the internet cafe & just chill or walk around. My daughter actually liked it the best of all places we visited.

Everywhere you go, let them have their own cameras and IPODs, stop for gelato often, stop at internet cafes often, write postcards to friends while sipping a cold drink, and hit a McDonald's once or twice (at most). Ours all wrote in their journals every night too. They should have their own money to budget and spend as they choose. And they all have to carry their own stuff all the time.

We tried not to overdo the churches & museums, because that seemed to be the most boring. Sometimes we'd just let them sleep in and watch Italian TV while we went out.

Have fun!