Do your pre teens like going on holiday still? Where do you go?

[NoLogicInThis]

Son is almost 12 and finding it a awkward stage where he isn't quite a teenager and fully Independent and going out with friends all the time and so just wondering do your pre teens or early teens still enjoy going on holiday with you and if so what type of holiday do you do?
I'm thinking for next year but don't want to book something and he transform into 'Kevin' the teenager overnight and not find things cool and I book somewhere and he just wants to be on his phone.
Any ideas

My 12 year old spent a bit more time chilling in her room this holiday. She did join in with activities (jet skiing, go karts, mud baths, water park etc) but declined some in favour of watching YouTube! She also went through her TOTM while away so swimming etc wasn’t really on the agenda for her for a couple of days which I think was rubbish for her as she’s usually the first one in the pool and it was so bloody hot.
The eldest and youngest were absolutely fine joining in with everything.
We had a villa in Spain, went out to eat daily and she was happy to do that.

My ds is 12. We went camping in Wales with friends and their DC, and the kids had a great time - swimming, kayaking, walking, cycling and an epic trip to an observatory.
The holiday works for all of us as the dc get on (though they only see each other once a year, and the boys of the other family are older than ds), they have a good amount of freedom on the campsite, and both sets of adults get time off

DD is 12 (only child). She really loved taking a friend on holiday earlier this year. She loves all inclusive but im too tight to pay for that every year, so we usually go to a caravan park in the uk.

DS is 13 and this year we hit a wall in terms of holidaying. All he wanted to do was find WiFi or play on a gadget. I’m looking for a holiday with easy access to activities for next year as he barely moved this year.
We holiday with friends for s week earlier in the year so I don’t feel I can hijack their children for the summer too.

DS is 12. We go on city breaks and have been interrailing. His favourite city break was New York. We did villa with a pool this year, but with friends so he had other kids to play with. We all like to be active and exploring.

Princess, what did your ds enjoy about New York? I'd love to go, but thought dd (11) might be a bit young to appreciate it.

theliverpoolone I took DS11 to New York this year and he absolutely loved it. He loved all the famous buildings, the yellow taxis, Central Park, going up the Rockerfeller Tower, taking the ferry past the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Brooklyn Bridge. We went to a basketball game which he loved and he loved the hot dog stands and pretzel carts and riding the subway. Honestly the most happy I have ever seen him and he still talks about it all the time amd we went in February.

Mine still like camping, walking, cities, sightseeing (not museums, outdoor stuff), cycling, pottering round gift shops, eating food from markets etc. We've never really done pool/beach holidays, if we do go to the seaside it will only be the odd half day at the beach. I would love to take them interrailing.

Check out TUI Splashworld holidays - they have waterparks within the hotels aswell as the usual swimming pools. A lot of the water slides are aimed at 10yrs+ so you tend to get families with older kids holidaying there rather than younger families, which gives more scope for making friends.
*Note - search for Splashworld hotels NOT Family Life hotels as the latter are aimed at younger kids.
The hotels are all inclusive which means they can go off and get themselves a drink/icecream/chips etc without having to worry about money, and all the ones we’ve stayed in have had WiFi in the rooms and by the pool.
Depending on where you go (they have hotels all over, Spanish islands, Greek Islands etc) there are usually local excursions if you want to go out and about for the day.

Yes, mine have.
We've always really relaxed on holidays. We don't go and 'do' anything particularly.
Over the years we've been to All Inclusive in the sun, and we've been to cottages by the coast in the UK.
This year the older 2 didn't come and my 16 yr old brought a friend. It was lovely.

Body boarding has been a great hit with ours, and this year they both had a proper surfing lesson which they absolutely loved. Wetsuits are essential though. I have a feeling we unleashed an expensive hobby but if it means they still enjoy holidays away with us then I'm happy. We were in Wales on the Gower this year, such a beautiful unspoilt area.

Mine like either staying in a house somewhere hot with its own swimming pool (ideally in the middle of nowhere so that they can shriek and we don’t need to worry about disturbing anyone) or US/Canadian cities. We live rurally so a few days of museums, rsturants, theatre, sports matches is very exciting for them.

Wash8ngton, Boston, NYC are favourites.

What do your teenagers like doing? We just try and do that on holiday!

Neilson water activity holidays.

Hotels with water parks.

Hotels with children and separate teenager clubs in the French Alps where the teenagers go off and do quite exciting things.

Camping and we do a mix of biking / hiking / coast steering / day trip to a theme park or other type of activity / eating nice food.

Villa holidays with a pool and WiFi.

I’m not hugely into city break type sightseeing so don’t tend to do that with them.