Your best ever holiday with teenagers

[Louloubelles]

I’m getting fed up with the dark and cold and need something to look forward to. Thinking about a holiday next summer after exams or later in the year.
Looking for inspiration. What have been your best holidays with teenagers? Mine will be 16 and 19 and will hopefully still want to come with me! Any budget. Cheap and cheerful or once in a lifetime.

Just after my son’s GCSEs we all had 2 weeks travelling around California. He was 15 at the time (young for the year), my daughter was 13 and my youngest was 9 so younger than yours but the kind of holiday that would appeal to any age. It was action packed, we didn’t stay anywhere longer than 3 nights, mostly just 2. It was amazing!

An active holiday in the alps was probably one of our best.

That sounds amazing (and £££). I think my kids would love an American road trip but I’m not sure I’d love the driving.

Road trip around California, for almost 3 weeks with 15 and 18 year old. We got back the day before DS’s A level results. Completely amazing and teens loved it!

Started in San Francisco, picked up car and did Yosemite, Death Valley, Las Vegas (inc Grand Canyon), Palm Springs, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Monterey Bay and back to San Fran. Stayed mostly 2 or 3 nights in each place with occasional single nights to break up the journey. Loads to do in each place and we had fabulous fun. We didn’t stay in v expensive places except in Palm Springs as it was DH and my anniversary so we had a treat. Oh and Vegas, but if you stay there mid-week it’s stacks cheaper than at weekends. Our travel agent worked the whole trip around that as it made such a difference in price.

Booked with Trailfinders who were amazing. Can highly recommend!

Florida, all the parks! Was great fun.

17-year old DS loved Florida, theme parks, animal parks, beaches.
[But sadly your 19-year old won't be allowed to drink!)

I can see I cross-posted with another California road trip! The driving was ok although I did share it with DH, but a single mum friend did more or less the same trip with her girls and was completely fine. The roads around LA are crazy but other than that it was quiet.

Ah my suggestion won't work for the Summer but the best holiday we have had with teens was to Iceland for New Years. I have heard Iceland is good in summer too but it was the snow and the New Year's celebration in Reykjavik that made it so special.

My other suggestion would be New York. Mine were 11 and 8 when we went and we had a fantastic time. I imagine teens would love it as well.

Funnily enough I was thinking about the alps in summer. I believe you can do some good sports etc and the scenery looks beautiful.
Sorry, I can’t remember how to actually reply to posts and don’t want to risk quoting the whole thing!

Also there’s loads to see as you drive along so we would just stop, take in the view etc. A highlight for us was driving along the coast road to Monterey Bay, Beach Boys playing on the sound system and seeing about twenty elephant seals on the beach below. We pulled up, got out, took photos and carried on…magical!

We did some cycling (can hire e-bikes), walking, white water rafting, canyoning, paragliding, summer sledging, outdoor swimming pool etc. lots of lifts are open so you can get up into the mountains easily.

There was so much to do in glorious surroundings, I highly recommended it.

We are doing more shorter breaks with our teen and making them city-based but with a pool or beach part to it. Also fairly heavy on history and culture. Like a PP, we don’t stay in the same place for more than 3 days. So, Rome packed with all the sights for 3 days, then to the beach for a couple of days then home. Granada, Cordoba and Seville, hotels with pools for that one. Using the train between bases. Eating out in the evening, or walking around old towns getting street food is much more enjoyable when they get older and can stay up late.

Shanghai
Sri Lanka

Really recommend the Alps in summer. Fantastic views, the ski lifts are open and there’s so much to do. We did rafting, guided hikes and runs, a zip wire, via ferrata (sp?). There’s all the cheese as well!

Alps, Chamonix. It was amazing. Loads to do.

The alps are lovely, also look at the cevennes - gorgeous gorge swimming, some kayak stuff and landscape. My teens favourite.

We loved the Alps in the Summer. We were in Morzine. Everyone was happy. I’d go for a trail run (stunning) in the morning before they woke. They did mountain biking down the ski slopes. We swam in lakes, did Via Ferrata and white water rafting. There’s a massive public pool in Morzine so we spent a day there too.

Did an Airbnb chalet so lots of space.

Bali - it’s amazing loads to do for teenagers and really cheap as well. ATV, Water rafting, Breakfast with the orangutans, snorkelling & much more! Hotel, Ab&b, food is really cheap too!

Loving these suggestions. Thanks for sharing your experiences. Lots of love for the alps in summer.

Rome. Interrailing around Eastern Europe.

P&O cruises. He was always very sociable and joined the children/teens club asap and we never saw him again. They would even meet up when the club wasn't open in the evenings and as he got older, in the ports. He's 30 now and still friends with some of those cruise club kids.

This is a bit mild compared to the others but we went to Domaine des Ormes campsite in France and they really enjoyed it.
There was loads to do and the tree climbing really was transformative, they were in great moods after all the exercise.

How about Japan? We booked our own flights and did a family tour using local guides in each city - Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Hakone - traveled by train between the cities - it was amazing. We did temples, cat cafes, monkeys (macaques), palaces, shopping, studio Ghibli, sushi making lesson, skyscrapers, tea ceremonies, peace park, 7 storey games arcades, Manga museum, geisha spotting - all sorts. My teens still go on about it 7 years later and one is now 21. It wasn’t cheap but priceless memories!

I'm cruising the fiords with GC in August. Their choice!

Japan for us was amazing with teens. So much to see, easy to get around and so much fun!