Successful holidays with older teens...where and how?

[gerbo]

We have 2 teens, 15 and 18. Since they were tiny we have had brilliant Eurocamp holidays, very relaxed, caravans, pool, beach, bbqs.

We widened our net the last couple of years with mini 'road trips' around France/Germany - 2 City stops (culture/walking round old towns) followed by a campsite to fulfil pool/beach needs!

We are a bit lost as to what to do next year.

We aren't hotel people particularly (like tge independence of airbnb or camping) and like a balance of seeing things and chilling. Happy to drive or fly.

We have 1 holiday per year, normally on a budget too - eating out maybe twice per holiday, etc.

Has anyone had any breaks which they think have gone well with older teens? We ate open minded for next year. Thanks in advance.

Backhometothenorth, can I ask how accomodation worked? All pre booked???

Hi yes all pre booked. Took a lot of planning time but feel much more confident now for the next similar trip.

Re interrailing: you can plan an itinerary and book accommodation in advance, and you don’t have to eat out all the time. Book self-catering or glamping type accommodation, stay one - a few days, have breakfast there, make packed lunches, and cook at home. Shopat local markets and shops where you can buy as much as you need. Most self- catering places provide a few basics: tea, coffee, oil, condiments; and usually they have toiletries so if you’re not fussy about your shampoo etc, you can reduce what you carry.

Iceland has been the biggest hit for ours (18, 16, 10 at time) they loved it. We self drove and did about 4 nights/5 days. They’d love to go back and see more!

When ours were 15 and 17 we did a trip with Alpine Elements to Morzine that everyone really (really) enjoyed.

We did Croatia this year . Flew to split, hired a car and got ferry over to Brac. Stayed in villa for 3 nights then came back to mainland and stayed near Trogir. Did a mix of exploring and chilled days but led by them. They researched where they wanted to go via TikTok and instagram!
Best holiday ever they said…
we have done similar to you previously.
all booked last minute and cost £4k including food and drink. We shopped at Lidl and had two evening meals out, bbqs on other days

Meininger Hotels are good - family rooms are decent size & en suite & they usually have bar & social area. We have stayed at a few in Europe & it’s usually about £80/night. They’re similar all over & have kitchen area with fridge so you can keep snacks & food in. A cross between Travelodge & a YHA.

https://www.meininger-hotels.com/en/

I am not at this stage yet but as they are older why dont you all give some ideas what you'd like to do? They might surprise you and come up with some great ideas themselves? You could tell them the budget and see what they come up with? Im sure I'll read this in a few years when mine are that age and laugh at my own suggestion though!

We went to Lublin in Poland and our 17 and 19 year olds loved it

Thailand. You can reduce the cost of flights by flying indirect and it’s extremely cheap when you get there in

We did two weeks US two years ago, wouldn't do it unless the Orange one is gone but would entertain Eastern Canada. Expensive though.

Otherwise, we had great experience with a mix of city break/signtseeing and relaxing. One year we did Berlin and then a week at the Bavarian/Austrian border and this year a week in the Loire valley and Portugese Atlantic coast near Lisbon.

We are history nerds though, Loire meant 3 chateaus, one castle and one mediveal abbey.

Berlin is a worthwhile place for teenagers. Plenty of self catering flats available. Transport is excellent.

Barcelona

i would recommend Riviera Maya in Mexico or Thailand for teens.

Aside from big budget ones like Pacific highway USA and Japan etc ,I'm looking at interailing around Europe .

Also places like Europa park are great fun

@mygrandchildrenrockorganised it myself, was v easy…booked accomodation first via Airbnb or booking.com then booked the trains via failure app.
flew into Nice and out of Naples

@Backhometothenorthsiunds like we had the same holiday!!

We did camping in the Ardeche region, camping in Gorge du Tarn, both campsites were by rivers so I booked riverside pitches for us. Canoeing on the rivers and sightseeing in little villages around. The campsites had tennis courts so we'd play daily. The dc got into pingpong on our first trip so I bought them their own bats and balls instead of hiring.

We did Amalfi coast airbnb built into a cliff with a pool on the top floor. Hired two cars as there were 6 of us on that trip. Up and out early morning to beat the traffic. Brilliant holiday.

We did Rome and on to Amalfi coast then back to Rome to fly home, this was with one teen. Another brilliant holiday.

We also spent a lot of time in Pembrokeshire, walking the coastal path, going to the beaches, visiting castles, seeing different towns/villages.

Depends on the teens surely?

I have one who needs a break. Has a very busy, full on life, and just wants a pool and sun. Rest and a bit of souvenir shopping.

the other prefers something a bit more active- theme parks, water parks, water sports.

we usually try and find somewhere we can do both. They’re old enough that if they want to park up by the pool we can just leave them there while others do something else.

generally it’s a nice hotel somewhere warm with a good pool/food/drink set up as a base, in an area where there’s stuff to do. Don’t plan or overschedule, just decide day to day.

Sorry I forgot to reply to this! Yes, one rucksack each (well, suitcase for me!). Route planned and all accommodation booked in advance. Some trains you need to book but lots not, you can do it all on the Interrail site. It tells you if booking is required/recommended for each train.

We did a mix of city and beach - trains go everywhere so doesn’t have to be city only. Stayed places where we could make our own food (Air BnBs, a hostel, cabin on a campsite), so bought breakfast stuff as we went. Stayed at a beachside hostel for a few days which was great, joined communal dinners which were v cheap but generally yes, did spend a lot on eating out. But most of the places we stayed we could have cooked dinner for ourselves if wanted.

One of our best ever holidays.

Florence and Tuscany was a hit with mine. They loved the cauldron in Santorini and thought Croatia was too dull apart from Split. Switzerland for hiking in the summer is always excellent and lake swimming.

Croatia! We went to the Istrian peninsula - beautiful beaches with excellent snorkelling right off the shore, cave zip lining, pretty cobbled towns and some Roman ruins to check out. We hired a 2 bedroom apartment and a car and had the best time - mine are pre-teen/early teen but I could defo see it working for older kids too

We carried on doing Eurocamp right up to university years with ours, as they loved it so much. We changed the type of place we went to, and chose ones with loads more sporty stuff available. There’s one we went to in northern France which had its own boating lake and high ropes course (a bit like Go Ape in the UK). I can’t for the life of me remember exactly where, but I think Normandy?
We also went to Lake Garda camps, which were fabulous.