Blowout holiday with teens.. where?

[Mayaj1]

My dc are 9 & 12 but we want to do a huge holiday with them in their teens & start saving in the new year for 2 or 3 years!
Where to go?!
Safari?
South Africa?

We went to the Masai Mara with our teens and it was incredible. So much to share together. Then some days in a beach hotel
just outside Mombasa so they could chill and lie in. Highly recommend.

My first thought was Costa Rica, the animals are amazing.
But I'm wondering if a USA road trip might be better. We had a lot of fun mixing up State Parks with Las Vegas, LA and Denver.

I’d just start saving and ask the kids nearer the time! They will have opinions - plenty of opinions.

My teen would choose Costa Rica, but she’d also say she’d rather lots of cheaper trips if it means she can go to a lot of places and have a week in NY when she turns 16.

The best holiday we had with teens was a few days in Miami, a weeks Caribbean cruise, a few days in the Keys (over Christmas) then a few days in New York on the way home. It was an amazing holiday.

Vietnam is meant to be beyond amazing. Know a few people who've been and say it's the holiday of all holidays. It's on my list!

Mine loved Mexico but our next big holiday with them will be either Japan or Vietnam

Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand

We did Mexico with all the Xcaret stuff, cenotes, exploring mayan ruins, etc. was awesome

Considering something similar, on my list:

Costa Rica
Borneo
Japan
Possibly a cruise
Road trip in America

Full disclosure, I'm South African.

I think South Africa is the way to go for you as you can tick all your boxes.

So Safari - you could go for 5 days or so somewhere near Kruger which would be fab. OR, option 2, consider somewhere like Sun City where you can spend time in a flash resort but do day trips to the local safari park (but it's less full on SAFARI if you know what I mean). If you do Kruger, you could also do a long weekend at Sun City.

Then I'd travel down to Cape Town where you can do all the high end PLUS cool local shopping you want, visit wine farms and also do lots of fantastic outdoor activities from chilling on the beach to diving to surfing to kayaking etc. All in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Plus non-water stuff like walking, going up Table Mountain, cycling etc. If you are in Cape Town and staying fairly centrally, the teens would also have options for independent shopping etc by going places like the Waterfront or some of the many markets in Cape Town.

What kind of budget do you have in mind?

Oh, and because our chidlren have done SA, if I was doing a blow out holiday with teens we'd be looking at the US - California, Disney etc - or Mexico.

We’ve just done New York with our dcs who are 13 & 18. We offered them a beach holiday or New York and they both chose NY. It was an amazing trip.

I am not sure that a 12 and 15 year old are going to appreciate more cultural or diverse holidays at that age nor doing day excursions all the time. I would be more inclined to do a beach resort in Europe but pay for a top end hotel.

I suppose there is Disneyland USA and other theme parks which might hold their interest.

Our kids (now 17&20) best was definitely safari and South Africa - we've found as they get older that "doing" holidays where we move on every few days are best.

We did 2 weeks in the Canadian Rocky Mountains when I was 15 and my sister 18. It was an amazing trip and something we still talk about 25 years later!

Costa Rica

We did a self guided road trip in Namibia in a 4x4 with roof tents. Then a few days in Cape Town at the end.

Kids were 11-15 and really loved the camping and animals and how it felt like a proper adventure - and even got used to life without internet access as there’s next to no phone reception in most of Namibia

We did Costa Rica when kids were around 12/13 which seemed about right in terms of age.

Another poster has mentioned grumpiness. This is what we are dealing now with 16 year old DS. I want a last holiday blow out on an LA/Yossemite road trip style holiday but worried it will be a disaster if he’s grumpy the whole time. It could be a monumental waste of money (and cause arguments). Hopefully yours will be less grumpy. Many are. But I wish we’d done our big trips earlier. We’ve run out of time a bit now.

I was thinking 10k for 4 of us

I suggest you contact an agent and ask what you can get for that. I asked about a 2 week blowout in SE Asia for late teens (so 4 adults) and one company said £25k would be more realistic than my budget of £20. That did include 2 destinations and several flights. Also think about when you want to go… some places may be too hot/wet/cold.

I’ve just booked a solo trip to Asia (various reasons) and the kids are happy for me but very jealous too! If it’s a success maybe I’ll go back with them.

What time of year? If school holidays, you’ll probably need to budget quite heavily for a lot of destinations. We just paid £1,100 each for return flights to San Francisco in August 2025, plus £4,000 for 14 days RV hire - so e.g. a US road trip might be off the cards unless you pick a more regional flight destination and get creative.

We're thinking the beginning to mid June. We're not in the UK so the kids will be finished school then.

Do check hurricane and rainy seasons in different areas.

Where are you roughly? That could make a huge difference to your travelling costs