Paris with teenagers – France

Most would agree that certain compensations need to be made when travelling with teenagers. Spending hours in museums is not their idea of fun. As this was mine and Mr Travel Bee’s third visit to the city, we were happy to oblige in finding some of the more fun, less history focused activities.

First up we choose Le Canards de Paris for our unusual tour. This amphibious bus combined both a bus tour of the city with a river cruise. The guide was engaging and humorous as he expertly switched between languages, explaining where we were and a little history about the buildings (but not too much to bore the kids).

The sun was shining and Paris showed us all of its beauty as we learnt quirky facts and met our fellow travellers. As is often the way in this small world, the people sat next to us were from Perth!

If I had one criticism, it would be that the river cruise section of this trip was not in the centre of Paris. Presumably this was due to lack of access to the river in the tourist areas. It did mean we got the see a bit more of the outskirts of Paris including PSG’s stadium which pleased the football contingent.

Next, we chose a two day self directed/metro tour of the sights we didn’t see on the bus/boat. Once we worked out how to buy a ticket, the Metro was an easy and quick way to get around. Our tour included the Sacré-Cœur, the view from Montparnasse Tower, the Louvre and a walk in the Tuileries, the view from Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame.

I found it quite sad to see the beautiful Notre Dame in it’s current state of disrepair following the fire of 2019. It was very different to when I visited 20 years ago. However, they do appear to be getting on with repairs and there is a large display encircling the church explaining about the fire damage and the restoration work. Let’s hope it can one day be enjoyed as it was.

We also chose to do a food tour of Le Marais but that deserves a whole blog to itself….

TTB