Paris with teenage boys - help! What if anything should we pre-book?

Hi Wendy,
I don't think that there is anything that you need to pre-book for your visit to Paris. We traveled to Paris in January with our 18 year-old nephew. He really enjoyed seeing many of the main sites--especially Notre Dame including climbing the Notre Dame Tower; the Arc de Triomphe (including climbing to the top); Napeleon's Tomb; and the Orsay Museum.

We visited all of these sites using the Paris Museum Pass (we bought a 2 day pass for 32 Euro.) You can purchase it at one of the museums (the Orsay for example) on Tuesday morning. Having the pass helped us prioritize the sites we wanted to see and organize our days to maximize our time. It's best to decide if what you want to see if included in the pass and then if it works out to be a good deal for your family!

Here's info about the Pass:
With the museum pass, there's no admission charge, no waiting in lines and no limit to the number of times you can visit more than 70 museums and monuments in Paris and in the Paris region.

What are the advantages ?

• Free direct entry to the permanent collections.
• Unlimited visits

PARIS MUSEUM PASS How does it work ?

Show your pass on entry, there will be no need to wait, or pay an admission charge, you can go straight to the top of the line.

Please Note

* The museum pass does not permit access to temporary exhibitions or guided visits.
* Most museums : offer free admission to children under 18 years of age, offer reduced admission to young adults between 18 and 25 years of age.

Have a great trip!

Please note that many, if not all, sites covered by the Paris Museum pass are closed on Tuesday. You would be able to use a museum pass for the major sites only on Wednesday.

Tom makes a good point! The Orsay is open on Tuesday but the Louvre is not.

My teens did not enjoy the river cruise because the water was too high and we could not ride on the top. (Not enough clearance for the bridges.) The weather turned crappy just as we boarded, and we were stuck inside. So don't pre-book that, just play it by ear. We also had booked an Illuminations tour. That's a narrated bus tour at night. They didn't care for that much either. What they did love was, of course, the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Montmartre, the book stalls along the Seine, and hot chocolate in the cafes. I think you should do some activities, but leave a lot of just walking and sitting time.

Pick up the movie "Paris, Je t'aime" and watch it with them before you go.

Thanks to everyone for the advice. Too ba to hear about the Tuesday closures but certainly a help instrategizing!

Rick's France or Paris book lists the museum opening and closing days!

A couple of teen-friendly restaurants in the Marais that our nephew liked were:

L'As du Falafel in the Jewish quarter (34 rue des Rosiers.) For pizza, Restaurante Sant Antonio (off rue de Rivoli on place du Bourg Tibourg.)

But, there are tons of fun places to eat!

Teen boys,( have two myself), take them on the Fat Tire Night bike tour,, ( or the day one if you prefer) . No pre booking needed. Lots of fun, and safe( I was paranoid, but had a hoot when talked into it by a friend) . I am firmly middleaged,, and had not been on a bike for at least 30 years, but it was easy and fun( central Paris is not hilly,, nice a flat,, and bike seats are big and comfy!). This gives you a great evening activity,, and they will love the guides,, all young (25-30 ish) folks( Americans, as it is an American company) who will give a quick "history lite" overview of sights as you bike around,, heavey on humor, light on boring lectures and dates.. ( hey, I know history is not boring, but the average 15 yr kid on vacation wants fun not too many dates )

Look up their website, just google Fat Tire.

My sons both loved visiting the Catacombs too,, really, wasn't my fave, but both still talk about how neat that was..
One son loved Invalids War Museum, the other thought it was ok.

I'm taking my 16-year-old daughter to Paris next week. The only thing we've pre-booked is the Fat Tire Segway tour at night since it has limited space. We've done bike tours with them (or similar companies) in other cities and really enjoyed it. Great way to get a quick overview and see a lot of sights fast.

I'm getting a Museum Pass and understand that she'll be able to enter with me through the passholder line (under 18 will be free at most locations). That way we'll avoid lines as much as possible - her biggest complaint when sightseeing. Even if we don't break even on admission cost vs. Museum Pass cost, going around the lines and avoiding a grumpy teenager is worth it to me.

To get her involved, we made a list of things we could do and she chose her top 5. Some weren't on my list so we're reorganizing a little to include most of what she wants to do.

Pat gave a wonderful suggestion about the fat tire tour. I'm also middle aged, and did the tour in Berlin!
believe me, teens will love the bike tour! Hope you have good weather! I was lucky.

I would take them to the Catacombs! That was a great experience, and it is not expensive. The line looks long, but it is about 20 minutes, since it keeps moving.

Bring the student ID's since there's a lot of discounts.

I want to give a thumbs up too for the night tour with fat tire bike tours. We were recently in Paris and took the tour. I have an 18 year old son and he thought it was so cool. Our guide was a "surfer dude" from California. He made the educational part a lot of fun. Perfect for teenagers. You do go on a boat tour of the Seine at the end of the evening. We felt it was very well priced for what you get.

I second the L'as du falafel. The falafels are really good and so is the lemonade.

My son also loved a "gyro" type sandwich. I don't know what it is called, but It's a baugette with meat, yougurt sauce and french fries on the sandwich. I also can't remember the name of the place we ate, but we were in the latin quarter and there is an area there with a lot of greek restaurants. They all make this sandwich.

Have fun!

my teen-age daughter really enjoyed traveling and navigating the subways. Also tops were the croissant fom corner bakery each morning and crepes from the small crepe shop across from our hotel in the evening-yum!