Why is finding a summer holiday so hard with an 18 and a 15 year old?

[DairyM1ilk]

After no holidays for the past two years, we want something special, but I am finding the difficulty that by August, DS will be 18 so he'll be classed an adult, so 'teen activities' won't apply. DD will be 15.

An added difficulty is that we all find the heat a bit difficult, so if we're going to be somewhere hot, we don't want to have to lift a finger in terms of our food, but also finding entertainment.

At the same time, we don't want to end up in a family resort surrounded by young children (no offence to anyone with young kids out there, we've been there, we're passed that stage now).

Ideally, we would like a lovely resort with a pool near a beach that offers a lot of activities, like water sports, yoga, gym, excursions...

Half board would be our preference but will consider AI.

I'd be really grateful for recommendations of specific hotels. TIA!

@Joystir59

You've reached that point where you stop having family holidays. Your 18 year old should be earning money and saving for holidays with their friends, and the same will be true if the 15 year old next year.

Is there an actual rule book or laws for this?

Or is an 18 year old joining their family on holiday not unusual?

@Joystir59

You've reached that point where you stop having family holidays. Your 18 year old should be earning money and saving for holidays with their friends, and the same will be true if the 15 year old next year.

Seriously??! My dc are in their 20's and don't live at home any more but love to still come on holiday with us for one week a year. They pay their way and it's great to share experiences and proper quality time with them.

Norway or Iceland. Most places in Europe could be very hot.

@Joystir59

You've reached that point where you stop having family holidays. Your 18 year old should be earning money and saving for holidays with their friends, and the same will be true if the 15 year old next year.

What a load of nonsense. Our dc were 21 and 18 on our last family holiday. OP when ours were the age yours are, we went to Anatalya in Turkey all inclusive. We had a fab time. Lots of stuff for both of them to do and lots of kids their own age there too.

@rookiemere

Costa Rica? We had a trip all booked up for Summer 2020 but of course that was cancelled. We had planned to travel round, but someone here highly recommended the Tulemar resort at Manuel Antonio on the beach and in a sloth colony. We'd planned to relax the last few nights there, but you could spend the whole break at one place.

Now that looks bloody amazing. Just bookmarked it as desperate to go to Costa Rica.

I am having this trouble as well. I agree your dc will have much more fun with their friends, and so probably need to move on to a different kind of holiday without you - but I am with you on going as a family for as long as possible, and keeping that deep connection with your children. I will be inviting my dc for as long as they wish to come. Dh is counting down the days to reduce the cost and effort

We have a great time in the Maldives with teens, it ticks all of your boxes and is deeply deeply relaxing. Amazing stuff to do. If you pick a LUX hotel there are teen meet ups etc and a young vibe. You can probably stretch to it in August with a package holiday. It is by far the best holiday we have with our dc, young and old. Instagram heaven, stunning on every level.

I'd say Barbados. It's safe for the teens to walk round or catch the local buses to explore and it's tiny so is easily done. Most beachfront big hotels have lots of activities. There is surfing (lots of surfing schools) , scuba diving, wreck visits, fishing. It's a very easy holiday but a lot of fun. The food is amazing too.

If you take the costa rica idea, which is a great one - go via New York. It breaks up the journey really nicely and what teen doesn't like NY?

August in Barbados is hurricane season, although unlikely you will be affected, the weather isn't always great out of season. If you are relaxed about the weather it is a very good time to go as the prices are much lower.

I think Costa Rica would be great for you and your kids. We went in August, it was around 27C, TUI do AI packages within that budget and that would give money for excursions as well. Our hotel was surrounded by rainforest with waiter service food included every night, really good quality, saw raccoons, geckos, monkeys, coati in the hotel or its beach / rainforest and lots of watersports there kayaking in Pacific, windsurfing and SUP included. Very few younger kids, pool and sea to swim in, things like beach volleyball and some entertainment and night. If you go on 15 August or around then it was their Mothers Day and got given flowers and cocktails. Next door to our hotel was Diamante with a 60mph hour, 300 metre ish high zipline which kids loved. Lots of excursions by TUI or local / other operators from there - the local one on the beach took us to see sloths in rainforest and just us, we also did Buena Vista waterslide through jungle, horseriding, hot tubs, zipline about 30 metres high, saw toucans and monkeys as zipping along, active volcano. Another trip to Arenal volcano, another one to botanical gardens. Only thing is I would not describe our resort as peaceful so probably not our one (RUI Guanacaste) there were some loud adults though they did all congregate in the pool bar area in the day so were easily avoided if you don't go to pool bar but another resort may be more suitable if you are peace seeking.

Within Europe Scandinavia is great for cool temperatures and we have done things like seeing brown bears in the wild at Arola Bears which kids loved and we had meals included, all homemade Finnish ones with lovely unusual fruit juices and canoeing on site. Need to hire a car for that and only for a few days and we combined with other places with white water rafting, beach at Oulu etc, summer toboggan. Lots of reindeer around and very quiet. Norway had quite a few activities like ziplines and kayaking though prices were incredible there but beautiful scenery.

Colleague was in in St Petersburg Florida before Covid happened. Kids similar age to you . Kids got to picked three days out in Orlando and the rest of the two weeks spent on west side of Florida. really enjoyed it, lots to do there great beaches . They then stopped fro three days in New york on their way back

@DairyM1ilk we went to Mexico late July / early august and it was absolutely fine. We loved it and would definitely go back in the summer months. Not too hot and we did a few excursions.

What about one of the specialist "adventure" type package holidays OP?
www.101holidays.co.uk/holidays-for-teenagers/

Being a previous user of Carnival, I have just landed the best cruise price I've ever seen! $175 plus fees each for myself and son in a balcony cabin - Dover to Dover 12 night cruise. The cruise spends 3 days in Iceland - the main reason we booked it - but there's a similar price for one to northern Europe in august that I'm considering booking that too for 4 of us.

If you've cruised before, now is the best time to rebook. Use cruise 118.

Even full price at $1250 per person it's cheap with full board, full room service and a great show programme!

Good luck hope you find something!

Mexico? The pacific coast is probably a little cooler than the Caribbean side, although there’s possibly more in terms of excursions if you go to the Caribbean coast.

You've reached that point where you stop having family holidays. Your 18 year old should be earning money and saving for holidays with their friends, and the same will be true if the 15 year old next year.

This is such crap!😂

Ours in their 20’s and 30’s still want to come with us. They came all the way through their teens too.

I never gave mine a choice of where they went on holiday. They just came as we were paying. One came until he was in his mid 20s, the other til he was 17.

We also love cycling and hiking in Provence, if you stay somewhere close to Monaco and Cannes that is great fun for teens. Sailing and water sports are always a hit in the South of France. You could continue to travel into Italy as well, as a two centre holiday or Switzerland if you have sporty dc. Drop into Paris for cultural on the way home.

*culture and arts on the way home

Lanzarote is absolutely lovely and never feels too hot (at least it didn't at the resort we went too as it was quite windy and great for surfing.) A great place for teenagers too with lots to do and a water park etc!

Biarritz/San Sebastian area of France/Spain? Cooler and Atlantic coast, fantastic beaches and surfing.

Île-de-Re or anywhere on the French Atlantic coast?

Cascais near Lisbon, also Atlantic coast.

There are beautiful beaches in the Netherlands too.

I would say Croatia would tick many of your boxes but it's liable to be hotter than 26, but so many wonderful hotels in the Istria/Rovinj region as a pp said.

Ludicrous that an 18 year old wouldn't still want to go away with their family!

If DH hadn't trashed his knee, we were going to go to Club La Santa with our 15yr old as we wanted all the sports, and perfect for going and doing your own thing then coming back together again

Mexico?

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

You've reached that point where you stop having family holidays. Your 18 year old should be earning money and saving for holidays with their friends, and the same will be true if the 15 year old next year.

This is such crap!😂

Ours in their 20’s and 30’s still want to come with us. They came all the way through their teens too.

It's not 'such crap', it's just a different perspective. My 15 year old would have zero interest in going on a two week AI beach type holiday with family and I can understand why and it's no reflection on his relationship with the rest of us. There is a whiff of smugness off this thread, all these wealthy people with their amazing children on amazing holidays loving spending all that time together. Good for you, lots of people and families do things differently and doesn't mean there's anything 'wrong' with them. And yes, by the time he's 18 I fully expect my son to have a summer job and to be using whatever leave and spare money he has to be spent on and with his friends.