I am originally from Paris. When I bring my dual citizen kids there, they dutifully do the museum tours and Notre-Dame and Versailles and Giverny, etc, but what really makes them happy is food. And food makes them happy wherever they travel around the world My son is into battlefields and war-related historically sites, my daughter is into zoos/aquariums/forests/natural history. We include those as well. In exchange, they accompany me to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, which I love.

It's OK not to do all the highbrow stuff with kids. Love of travel is what you really want to instill. Make it fun and tailor your trips to their interests. When they're adults, they will then want to go out and explore on their own. Not everything needs to be crammed into their childhood.

Our kids are younger than yours, but they really enjoyed the playgrounds and sailboats at the Luxembourg Gardens. The George Pompidou Center is a really cool building, but I think it might be closed for extensive renovations. The bateau mouche also are fun for kids. We also did the traditional museums, but we mixed in activities that we thought the kids would enjoy and tried to avoid tiring them out by packing too much into a single day.

We took the train to Versailles. Did not do a bike ride or picnic there. But we still all enjoyed it.

And, gasp, we took the kids to Disneyland Paris…it was great!

My kids liked Catacombs and Eiffel Tower probably the best of all the things we did. And they liked going up in the Eiffel Tower, but they loved seeing the lights sparkle from the grounds at night.

The augmented reality show "Notre Dame Eternelle" was pretty interesting. There is only one location now about 30 minutes ride on the subway from the center city right at the Great Arch at La Defense.

"From January 1, 2026, the Notre-Dame Eternelle experience will be offered exclusively at the Cité de l'Histoire in La Défense. Eternelle Notre-Dame is an immersive, touring virtual reality experience that takes you to the heart of Notre-Dame's history, from its construction to its current restoration project."

https://www.eternellenotredame.com/en/pratical

We also liked a bakery tour we booked through getyourguide.com.

Anonymous wrote:If your kids happen to play tennis, the behind the scenes tour of Roland Garos is amazing. Both of my kids LOVED it.

The botanical gardens next to Roland Garos are spectacular.

If your kids happen to play tennis, the behind the scenes tour of Roland Garos is amazing. Both of my kids LOVED it.

The one PP would not be happy but what we did with my teen over 4 days was eiffel tower, louvre, baking class, food walking tour, catacombs, musee d'orsee and montmarte. And yes, you need to get catacombs tickets well in advance, preferably right when the tickets become available one line (within hours they get booked). We did walk up tickets for the eiffel tower, the same day (to include walking up the steps to the first platform) but if you want the elevators all the way to the top, you also need to get the tickets the minute they open up online or pay very high fees for touring companies. Museum tickets you can have a bit more flexibility but if you wait too long they will get booked too. Pretty much everything needs to be planned out in advance.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please show your kids some real history and culture rather than endless food tours, bike rides, escape rooms, cooking classes, and the other ridiculous activities that people try to pass off as “travel” these days. Dear God.

The point, IMO, is to have time together as a family, have fun and make memories. Who cares what you do?

Sure, but why do you need to go to Europe for that? Low brow family fun can be had at home.

The combo of sneering AND contempt from this poster is impressive. But won't feed the troll after this.

A food tour if done thoughtfully can be cultural and historical. A bike tour can be a nice way to see sites that are otherwise impractical for walking, but better and more grounded than just driving. All of these types of things can be done in an interesting, informative way AND be fun.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please show your kids some real history and culture rather than endless food tours, bike rides, escape rooms, cooking classes, and the other ridiculous activities that people try to pass off as “travel” these days. Dear God.

I'm the PP who suggested the bike ride around the canal. FWIW, growing up in Versailles, this was a regular weekend activity at our house. We would make a picnic, and bike over there, ride around, stop for a picnic, and bike home. But rant away.

OK, but honestly for Americans visiting France in a short term basis, there is a better use of time, just like I wouldn’t tell a French person visiting DC to ride to Harper’s Ferry.

I met some Germans biking to Harper's Ferry.

And in the Netherlands, biking is basically a tradition.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please show your kids some real history and culture rather than endless food tours, bike rides, escape rooms, cooking classes, and the other ridiculous activities that people try to pass off as “travel” these days. Dear God.

What do you qualify as real history and culture? My kids are not going to spend days looking at Renaissance art, nor are they interested in visiting church after church. We'll do some of each, but a bike ride one day sounds like a nice break from crowds.

With all due respect, then they are not ready for Europe. Y’all can ride bikes at home.

That's a silly perspective. It's an introduction. They'll get a taste of different types of art for a morning at each of several museums, visit some historic sites, and try new foods.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please show your kids some real history and culture rather than endless food tours, bike rides, escape rooms, cooking classes, and the other ridiculous activities that people try to pass off as “travel” these days. Dear God.

The point, IMO, is to have time together as a family, have fun and make memories. Who cares what you do?

Sure, but why do you need to go to Europe for that? Low brow family fun can be had at home.

Food walking tours can be a lot of fun. Boats on the Seine.

I think the weirdness of Versailles (particularly Marie Antoinette's weird little village) is a lot of fun.

What kind of things are they into? I remember getting kind of tired in the Louvre but then got really excited when we found Anne of Cleves's famous portrait, because I'd read a boom about it (I was a teen at the time). So if they have any niche interests, lean into them.

I also as a kid liked climbing things, so walking up the Eiffel tower stepa or the basilica in Montmarte appealed to me because it burned off some energy.

Anonymous wrote:Please show your kids some real history and culture rather than endless food tours, bike rides, escape rooms, cooking classes, and the other ridiculous activities that people try to pass off as “travel” these days. Dear God.

The point, IMO, is to have time together as a family, have fun and make memories. Who cares what you do?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please show your kids some real history and culture rather than endless food tours, bike rides, escape rooms, cooking classes, and the other ridiculous activities that people try to pass off as “travel” these days. Dear God.

What do you qualify as real history and culture? My kids are not going to spend days looking at Renaissance art, nor are they interested in visiting church after church. We'll do some of each, but a bike ride one day sounds like a nice break from crowds.

With all due respect, then they are not ready for Europe. Y’all can ride bikes at home.

Anonymous wrote:Please show your kids some real history and culture rather than endless food tours, bike rides, escape rooms, cooking classes, and the other ridiculous activities that people try to pass off as “travel” these days. Dear God.

What do you qualify as real history and culture? My kids are not going to spend days looking at Renaissance art, nor are they interested in visiting church after church. We'll do some of each, but a bike ride one day sounds like a nice break from crowds.