To find holidays with teenagers hardgoing?

[isittooearlyforgin]

I’m thinking of not going away with family this year as the cost of holidays seem exorbitant while not fulfilling the remit of offering activities. Until last year we’ve gone camping in France but it seems they’ve outgrown it. What do you guys do that combines value with fun?

We have taken to doing short breaks/weekends instead - have done London, Scotland, Devon and wales and Barcelona are on the to do list - 4 nights max and plenty to do and they are really quite pleasant... 2 weeks in the sun and I doubt any of us would be left alive

Yes short breaks are the answer. I have switched from villas to hotels so that we can go away for 3-4 nights instead of a week.

Really they just like slobbing around at home .

I've kept mine busy which helped massively.
Last year we went to Hong Kong
This year we did New York
Both cheaper than a week in center parcs

I find the busier they are the less moaning and fighting I have to deal with

I would recommend California. My teen loved it and so much different things to do so not doing the same thing every day . There is Theme parks, beaches(can do surfing lessons), Whale watching, hiking, shopping and siteseeing. Cruises can be good too as they can do there own thing and make friends and give you some peace.

Take them somewhere exciting, not a campsite in France

We are going to Amsterdam, then train to Berlin

Bit random, but lots to do and see, and a change from our rural life here!

Yes DS is enthusiastic ( as enthusiastic as he can be these days) if it's an exotic location. He was up for New Zealand and whilst it was expensive, a week or two in the sun is also pricey by the time you add in water parks and other activities.

I also read a book on teens on the flight out - had rather a lot of time to do so - and that really helped to set my expectations, so we'd let DS skip the odd walk or meal out provided we were happy with the security in the apartment. He loved and needed his alone time.

Am thinking Costa Rica for next summer ( but may also look at cruises)

We go somewhere cheaper and take their friends! It's the best way to keep everyone happy.

I bloody miss holidays with my kids.
The teenage years were the best for holidaysand the highlight of the year. They are 20 and 23 now so I still occasionally go away with them but it's not the same.
There wasnt a holiday with them that was hard work.

Watersports holiday in France. They def need stuff to do that doesn't require just hanging around w mum and dad. Mine are young teens though.

We’ve done California with teens. Mostly fun but they were a pain in the evenings in hotel rooms. They need their space and we need ours! This year we are doing city break (everyone is busy so usually fine) and then relaxing by the pool for a week. Hopefully they can split their time between pool and apartment depending on what they feel like and we can all get a bit of relaxation. I love them to bits but holidays on our own sound blissful at the moment

2 DC- 16 and 10
A week in the UK as usual. We go on trips, beach, to cities etc
Then they will go with their dad and gd to Europe for a few days as they have done for the past few years.

2 wks in Greek Islands with my 4 teenagers, sight seeing and pools/water park.

We're doing 2 weeks in Kalamaki, Zante with our DS14 and DD19, AI They wont get bored, lots of family time and day trips etc..

They def need stuff to do that doesn't require just hanging around w mum and dad
This is not necessarily true. If you are just hanging round a pool or visiting art galleries, then yes maybe but it's not a ' def need stuff .....*

Lalandia in Billund, Denmark.
It's a chalet park in a water park with ice skating, arcades, climbing wall etc and everything including food is done by wristband so you can load up the wristband account and let them roam around the site while you do your own thing.
Right by Legoland too (not that exciting for teens but I loved that bit ).
I went with 12 and 14YO teens and they had a great time (not that I saw them much).

Duinrell in Holland

We go on holidays to do nothing...............

DS loves this.

We sit on the balcony and read and he hangs in his room like a vampire using YouTube.

We hit the pool (100 meters away) once or twice a day for a dip and a mess around, sometimes he joins us, sometimes he doesn't.

We all head down to dinner and have pre dinner drinks, dinner and then head back to the apartment.

Generally he will join us on the balcony (inevitable screen in hand) and shoot the breeze.

We pay for one or two dives, if he wants them.

We approach it as three adults on holidays, with only two providing the finance... we have taken this approach since he hit sixteen and it works well.

DH and I work our balls off during the year and feel no need to be active on holidays, so fail to see why DS should not just chill as well.

FrancisofAss - we've always had separate sleeping areas from when DS was young, unless it's a Premier Inn or something for one night on the way to a destination. So a sofabed in the living room or two separate bedrooms within an apartment. At first it was for our benefit, but now as DS is older it's for his as well.

It is a bit of a pain to source places to stay and generally means we stay in aparthotels or motels rather than nicer hotels, but really worthwhile. Also that type of accommodation generally has a kitchen area which means we can rustle up our own breakfast and drink gallons of coffee ( not 13 yr old DS) so its more relaxing.

Naomi - that sounds like a great plan - we're off to Tenerife in October and I think if DH would embrace that philosophy we'd have a great time, but he's always wanting us to go off and do things and eat out every evening whereas I - and probably DS - would be as happy staying in the apartment.

My dd prefers city breaks

Last family holiday we took was a villa in Menorca when dc1 had just trundled off to uni. Dc2 was a delight. dc3 spent the entire week whining about what he was missing out on at home . Both however still wanted to spend most of their time feeding euros into the rapacious computer at the hotel up the road. We decided that was the last time we took any of them.

Prior to that Duinrell was a pretty good choice for all of them for several years. Lots to keep them amused.

I didn’t find teenagers hard to holiday with. We went walking in the Lake District (now in their 20s, they still come with us sometimes) and also went to hot sunny places, where we’d snorkel etc. and camping in France and skiing. Don’t remember any problems at all. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I always wanted to go on family holidays. I must have been an unusual teenager it seems.

What does your child like to do? Base the holiday around that.

Typical holidays from about 12 up for our family in the summer were activity holidays in the alps - stay at nice hotels on half or full board and signed up for activities separately or together. Hiking, cycling, climbing, via ferata, canyoning, white water rafting, horse riding etc. Lot had kids clubs for teenagers and we did some really cool stuff like hike up a mountain and stay overnight in a hut.

Or go to one of the glacial resorts - I could snowboard on a freestyle camp in the morning, mum and dad hiked, then afternoon spent doing something together even if it was just a relaxing pool afternoon.

Or to an AI resort with water sports included.

But if your teenager doesn’t like sports there holidays won’t go down well!

Cruising or AI definitely worked best for us. Cruises look quite expensive upfront but if you get the inclusive drinks package you don’t actually have to spend any extra money if you don’t want to, so actually work out way cheaper than most holidays and you can just leave the teenagers to it. They can eat and drink to their hearts content, and I never have to put my hand in my pocket.

You have to manage your expectations though with teenagers. It’s their holiday as well, and my two like food, swimming, water parks and sleeping late so that’s what they do. No point pretending they are still 5 and we are going to build sandcastles and have lots of jolly family time.