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've booked a cottage in Wales. A lot of space so they (15, 15, 12) can avoid each other. In a small town with a harbour so the one who likes to mooch off and contemplate his ineffable superiority to the other two can hopefully enjoy his mooching, and even get himself a drink or snack to mooch with. Free wifi and a pile of board games for the others. Lots of days out where we can splash cash on activities as we haven't spent thousands getting overseas and hiring cars. Canoeing, boat trips for wildlife, swimming with decent waves.

Plenty booze for us, and we are hoping for thick walls and solid floorboards. Or just a shower with a door that locks. Please?

@rookiemere I'm sure he did - I was from NZ, and it was all I'd ever known, I didn't know how lucky I was, to paraphrase the song, lol!

It also sounds like you did some fabulous things with him - for me the highlight was a cooked chook in a motel, lol!

"What do teens get to do on cruises?
I've never been on a cruise so have no idea what we or they would do."

I've never been on a cruise either. But when I was in my teens a friend from school went on a cruise every year and from her tales it seemed they mostly snogged / shagged the other teens on board....

Blue5238
I went and had a look and found these links

www.cruisecritic.co.uk/articles.cfm?ID=1748

www.cruisecritic.co.uk/articles.cfm?ID=815

Had to laugh at this bit. sounds like your friend wasn't lying

9. Lay down the law. Explain the rules on alcohol and drugs, and talk to teens about sex. Think of a cruise as a weeklong party for your teens. Be aware that whatever you worry about your teens doing at a party on land can happen on a cruise

We go with friends - 4 boys the same age plus 2 slightly younger - we barely see them!

Haven 😩

We're doing a US road trip this year @ValleyoftheHorses ! Kids are very excited!

I'd love some recommendations for my family. DC are 1, 7 and 12

I always recommend Neilson on these threads. Everyone gets a holiday - parents, teens, tweens, and toddlers. Really good for families with a range of ages, that's how we found them quite a few years ago now. We often go take the grandparents too.
Something for everyone, even teens. If you want to sail they have flotillas, if you want to post selfies they have WiFi. Our young adult DC still happily join us each summer.

I love love love Neilson holidays, wish I had discovered them sooner!

We've not been on a Neilson holiday - they look good, but very pricey- our friends went on one that was paid for by her DPs and said it was great.

Actually another reasonably successful holiday with DS was Simply Morzine with his pal. Small hotel where they had their own room on the same floor, half board and could arrange activities through the on site rep. Basically a package holiday, but not beach based so more things to do.

We have 2 late teens and one nearly teen. We prefer city breaks. Greatest hits New York, Berlin and Venice. We have also had great holidays hiking in the alps in summer. Just amasing scenery and you can swim in the Alpine lakes. We prefer the German and Austrian alps and I think it’s cheaper. You can combine it with a City break to Munich or Salzburg.
This year we are interrailing around Europe for 3 weeks. We have bought the tickets, given the kids a map and a book of traintimes for Europe and asked them to plan the route.
We are keeping cost down by using airbnb’s And we always fly budget airline and self cater a lot. We always look for airbnb’s With no dishwasher as you can find really good ones but they tend to be cheaper. You obviously have to do the dishes though😏

I've booked an apartment in Majorca with half board . Near a beach. Own bedrooms and pool.
Dd17 can either do stuff with us or do her own thing.
If she doesn't want to get up for breakfast she can make her own later. If she wants to play on her phone half the night she can without disturbing us.
I intend to get on with doing as I please and not spending two weeks trying to coax everyone to come to breakfast or pack for the beach.
Me and the 7 year old will just head off and her and dh can faff about to their Hearts content.

Thanks for recommendations. Will check them out. To those who’ve said camping in France is boring.. we’ve gone previously (and they’ve enjoyed when younger) because we can afford 10 days for about £1300 and get guaranteed sunshine more or less. Any other abroad holiday for 4 is almost certainly going to cost twice that which is tricky for us to afford. Also thinking of all of us just putting together a bucket list and having a staycation.

OP it should be possible to meet that budget with a city break for next summer if you book flights as soon as they come out - usually 11 months in advance - and also look at slightly odd durations so not Saturday to Saturday for example. Should be able to get reasonably cheap apartments through booking sites. Maybe a two centre Barcelona and Sitges ( beach resort) near Barcelona could work.

Or activity holiday in Morzine. Flights to Geneva take a bit longer to rise than traditional summer holiday destinations and there's loads of nice accommodation that's expensive in winter for skiing but much less so in summer.

For this summer I do think it's a bit late to get something that fits the bill within budget.

We drove to Geneva / Annecy area before it is about 7 hrs from the ferry at Caen so do-able as well.

Op I remember going to France camping as a teen and thought it wonderful!

Mine whinge. Oh they whinge. Ds wants good internet and dd doesn't like the heat / the cold/ crowds/ the food etc. Despite this we are a well travelled family (they were more amenable when younger). On a Canada holiday last year they moaned a little during Montreal, perked up during the outdoorsy stuff at Mont Tremblant but refused to leave the hotel room during Quebec City (boring and too busy apparently)

This year dd is taking a friend when we go to a villa holiday in Croatia but ds says he "doesn't want the responsibility of entertaining a friend all week'. I love them dearly but can't wait to holiday without them

@MoobaaMoobaa it really depends on the ship and your particular teens. Mine didn’t get up till lunchtime, so we met them for the quizzes and then for dinner. We were on a ship with a ropes course which mine loved and used loads, and a surfing thingy which they didn’t. They liked the mini golf and standing on the heli-pad getting blown about by the wind. There was a huge sports court with ball games and stuff where loads of teenagers hung out and marauded in large groups if yours are into that. Other groups took over the jacuzzis and didn’t move all day. There were films shown at night on a big screen by the pool. There’s literally loads to do, whether they are sociable or not.

Maybe a balloon ride across the Serengeti. Not as expensive as you’d think

Really nuggets? I would love a link to the Serengeti for less than £10000

@CathyorClaire and @katewhinesalot thanks so much for your recommendation of Durinnell. We have now booked a week and children excited plus we get to visit Amsterdam - something for everyone. Really looking forward to it and fits our budget too!

We are doing Salou with DS 14 and DD 12. Taking the inlaws and there is Barcelona to visit my DS will love the Nou Camp, 2 water parks huge theme park and plenty of stuff going on at night to keep them interested. They struggle with the heat and prefer going out at night when its cooler. There is huge beach and we can hire bikes. Next year we are looking at doing a group holiday with friends with kids of similar ages for company then year after Florida as I know they will love the parks. Mine are sporty and love activities but prefer to join in if they have company so we'll do things with them like golf, football and horse riding . I am really looking forward to getting them away from some of their tech for 2 weeks although obvs not the phones lol ! x

Wow, I am currently in Cornwall with dh, dd, 14 years old. The first year our New Year break has not really worked. Dh and dd really wanted to go away and for the first time, I wasn't so enthusiastic, as summer holiday wasn't great. Usually, going away makes her 'join' in more, but this year it's changed, as someone said it seems to cost to put a smile on their faces. We did a split holiday last year, Barcelona, pyrenees, then a week in Cornwall, with our little boat, she also went body boarding and sailing. Just reading these comments, very costly holidays, cruises, NZ, Auz, Costa Rica, Vietnam, wonderful but not in everyone's budget. We try and do things that she would like and talk to her, asking what she'd like to do, keeping her in involved, however its getting much harder which is sad as used to love our holidays.