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.

As a single parent, I took my 17 and 15 year old to Calgary and Vancouver. I didn’t want to do lots of driving, so we had a private tour out to Banff and Lake Louise etc, and then sea plane ride out to Vancouver Island. Fantastic.

A couple of years before we did Toronto and Niagara, which we also loved, even Niagara. The town was awful, but all the activities around the falls were amazing.

Tromso mid November with my 18 year old eldest daughter. We had a brilliant time.

I fancy NY

I also did the California road trip with my teens - San Fran, to Yosemite, Monterey and Carmel, Big Sur, Santa Barbara’s then up to the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas and then LA.

Another great road trip was around the Yucatan in Mexico, from Cancun, to Chichen Itza, Merida, lots of pyramids in the jungle, exploring lagoons and then to Tuluum. That’s was just me and my DS16. Fab.

Oh and a fab trip to Iceland. Yes in the summer which was brilliant.

New York if you can

My two are nearly out of teens now but our best holidays were (in order as discussed recently)

1. Sri Lanka : amazing friendly people; great wildlife and culture; fab food. Relatively cheap ( we self booked in small hotels and airbnbs then hired a driver). Saw elephants; whales; turtles…Lots to do and see.

1. Mexico: again airbnbs and hired a car. Especially lived holbox (small island off caribbean coast with hardly any cars: great vibe, bioluminescence in the sea, and whale sharks!)

1. Rome for a long weekend in October.

1. Alps in summer - drove down to Chamonix, and stopped off in champagne en route: Kids were 18 + that year!)

1. Islands off Croatian coast for chill, swimming and gorgeous island hopping if you want something less active.

Nice and Monaco with my two. They loved it so much that we went back again thia year at 23 and 20 and bored an Airbnb farmhouse with a small pool. Not expensive and an amazing week x x

Two of our best holidays were Clearwater Beach in Florida and a Neilson activities holiday in Turkey. The latter being much cheaper. We stayed in an apartment in Clearwater Beach that had a waterfront pool. The beach was a short stroll away. There were numerous bars and restaurants close by. The teens especially loved the masses of food you get in America. They also loved the pool. We went to Busch Gardens theme park and travelled into Orlando to do Sea World and Universal studios. My teens loved it.

Neilson activity holidays are brilliant for all the family. My teens went off every days doing the water sports. I thoroughly recommend Neilson. We learned to sail on that holiday and went back the next year and chartered a yacht for two weeks. That was completely amazing. The teens sailed the boat and we anchored for lunch every day and swam from the boat. They loved the rustic Turkish food.

Where did you stay? This sounds ideal!

We went inter railing round Europe last year. Best holiday ever. Prague, Slovakia, Hungary and northern italy. Absolutely amazing.

Japan

Road trip through Germany to Venice via neuschweinstein (which I can’t spell!) and europaparc. It’s 2200 miles so not crazy distance

Without a doubt Japan! So much fun!

At the other end of the spectrum- the holiday that gets the most nostalgic mentions was 3 days in Whitby followed by 3 days in York; never more than 2 hours from home and no airports!

Morzine was amazing, and we all loved it.
South african safari is always a hit
https://www.exploreworldwide.com/holidays/family-adventure-tour-of-morocco

and this trip to Morocco was amazing, we all had a great time.

I agree with the many PP that the Alps are brilliant in summer. We are there again this year- followed by a week in Lake Como. There’s just so much to do, accommodation is easy to find and that feeling of being active in the mountains is great.

Our favourite places with teens have been:
Namibia safari
Vancouver and Vancouver Island
Western Australia (in our summer, heading north to Ningaloo and Kalbarri, it’s awesome.)

Ours was a eurocamp style holiday in south of France, not booked through eurocamp. Hired a car, went out exploring everyday either morning or evening and left the to it on camp rest of time so a bit of everything.

Relatively cheap - Cyprus with water parks and swimming and lots of amazing food.

Not so cheap - Cairns and the Great barrier Reef. Snorkelling, the Sky Train, visits to a crocodile farm. Cairns is small and easy to get around.

We went to Japan late March / Early April (school Easter holidays), and were lucky enough to catch the Sakura (Cherry Blossom) in several of the cities - stunning! It was warm - about 19-24 degrees depending on where we were. Friend who lived there warned us that Tokyo is very hot, and humid /wet in summer holidays. I am told Autumn is lovely weather too and cheaper than Easter but no blossom. Onsen (traditional spas) are also a great experience in Japan but check if they are sex segregated, nude and don’t allow tattoos! This is the norm so check first. .Some in tourist areas are more relaxed, if you find one with mixed bathing (rare) you wear your swimwear.

Xcaret Mexico! So much fun - lots of activity but also some culture and history thrown in 👍

Agree with xcaret Mexico. The water park is great. We hired a car and drove about to cenotes and places like Coba and Tulum. Best holiday ever.

they do Morzine, Les gets and Tignes

Florence

In Morzine with Alpine Elements