To think I’ll never find a holiday that satisfies my whole family

[Holidaysay]

Looking for a summer holiday. These are my family’s priorities:

DS (11):
Making friends
Hot
Beach
Activities

DD (14)
Cheap shopping
Wifi
Beauty treatments
Not doing anything
Beige food

Mine:
Sun
Water
Nice food
Everyone happy
Easy to pack for

DH:
Not too hot
Easy journey
Self catering
value for money

Is there anywhere that would fit the bill?
Or what do I prioritise?!
Dd says she’d rather stay at home (with relatives) but it doesn’t seem right to go on a family holiday without her!

Loire Valley. Not too hot in the summer, lots of activities (you can do day clubs canoeing on the river), can drive to the beach for a day. Lots of little towns for shopping. You can get relatively cheap villas with a private pool. Good food (also lots of bread, chips, pizza, rotisserie chicken for your daughter).

You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time!

Your son should be easy to sort out. Beaches, new friends and activities are everywhere. Likewise nice food, anywhere you go you can look for restaurant recommendations. If you think of somewhere with cheap shopping, probably prioritise that as you can't find that everywhere but can find the others in most countries.

Well you won't satisfy all these criteria, given that two are "hot" and "not too hot"!

So I guess you have to prioritise. If you husband is prone to sunburn/allergies/etc then you'll have to go somewhere temperate/warm and your son will need to suck it up, I'm afraid. But if he's just a bit moany in heat then I suppose it's up to you to gauge whether it's worth the moaning 😁

If you can go ahead with hot then my first thought was southern Spain/Balearics beach resort, maybe Mallorca? Or you could go somewhere cooler like the Alps, or German lakes, and leave your daughter at home.

South of France- particularly Biarritz

not too hot has to take priority sadly.
DS will be happy as long as it’s shorts and t shirt weather. (He really is the easiest to please)
French alps is my first choice but there’s nothing there that appeals to dd unfortunately!
DD’s first choice would be Turkey but far too hot for dh

Can you do both? A long weekend at a hot resort with kids activities and beige food. Then another mini break somewhere less hot, self catering with nice shops.

if your second holiday is uk based it’ll be easy to find stuff for DS to do and beauty treatments for dd.

Canary Islands. Hot, but with a breeze. Loads of kids and fun water sports etc. big supermarkets for the food. The bigger towns have all the shopping (tat!) a 14 year old needs. Also I’d tell her to suck it up (a bit). She’s too young to sack off a family holiday .

Try Zell am See in Austrian Alps. Ticks all the boxes.

How hot is too hot? And which months can you travel? If it’s school summer hols then you’re probably limited to Northern Europe?

What's the temperature requirements for DH? Like below 30, below 20?
What about something like a eurocamp/canvas holiday in North France. You could go into a local city for a shopping centre for DD, easy to make friends for DS, cheap and self catering for DH

Wouldn't be too hot but more reliable weather than the UK

Will you DH do all the cooking? If not I don’t think he gets to choose self catering.

Oh wow this looks amazing. 3 of us would love it-no tat shopping though 🙄

Canaries would probably fit the bill for me and kids but need to check the temperatures. We’ve done Balearics and Dh didn’t really emerge from room/shade until the evening which is quite limiting!

other than your self catering criteria I would look into Neilsons beach clubs

Yes dh is happy to cook/go out to restaurants. None of us really like the idea of all inclusive so that’s fine.

eurocamp could work. Will look again at those. Neither of us is keen on driving on the other side of the road but I think dh would give it a go if it wasn’t too far.

Would also suggest Mallorca. Lots of apart-hotel resorts which mean you can self cater but still have the pool and resort facilities and opportunities for your DS to make friends.

Could you jolly DD up by taking one of her friends along? Would give you the added reassurance of there being two of them to look out for each other when exploring the local town etc. Being a 14-year-old girl is an awkward stage for a family holiday, teen girls don’t really tend to want to “make new friends” in the same way boys of your DS’s age still find relatively easy.

On the eurocamp/canvas websites there is an option for car optional (or at least there used to be). These tend to be ones near an airport and bus routes/train stations so you don't need to bring the car

A Mediterranean or Canary cruise? Should fit most of your criteria, depending where you go and when. Lots of activities, friends to be made, possibly hot and beaches depending on destination for DS11.

Wifi and beauty treatments for DD14 (although this can be expensive, depending what's included in the fare), beige food available on buffet, perhaps some cheap shopping, depending on ports.

Sun, water, nice food, happy kids, only have to pack once for you.

Easy journey for DH, especially if departing from the UK. May not be too hot, depending on the time of year, or if leaving from UK! If it gets hot, there are plenty of things to do/places to hang out inside, or on a breezy balcony or deck. Not usually a cheap holiday but can be very good value for money. No good for self catering though!

We've had a couple of wonderful cruises with our 3 teens, who all like different things from holidays, and there was always something to suit all of them on a cruise.

Of course you can! I organised a 2 week holiday for my dads 60th that had 20 people ranging from 1 year to 93 years old.

Firstly settle on where you want to go, then look at all the resorts.

It took me 8 months to pick somewhere that would suit absolutely everyone but it turned out amazing.

I'd also suggest the Canaries. Have a look on Jet2holidays as packages are often cheaper than booking independently and they arrange everything for you. You also get luggage allowance included.

Maybe an apart hotel where you stay SC or B&B. Make sure it's walking distance to shops/restaurants/beach etc so DD can safely go out shopping by herself if everyone else is lounging by the pool or doing something else. There will also be onsite activities or businesses in the local commercial centres that do watersports etc.

Eat out once a day (Canaries are noticably cheaper for this than Balearics and holidays can often be less expensive even though further away). Do easy food/BBQ for other meal each day and stock up on drinks, snacks, ice creams etc from supermarket, so you're not paying restaurant or convenience store prices all the time.

Most restaurants do something and chips, even when the rest of the menu is more interesting, so should be possible to choose places where DD can get beige and chips and everyone else can enjoy tapas, Italian etc.

Make sure DH and DC (I'm assuming DS and DD are similar age) do their share of shopping, cooking and cleaning up so you're not running round after them all . They're all capable of getting a drink, loading or unloading the dishwasher/washing up/going to the shop etc.

Alternatively what about Germany? There's some good theme parks there, shopping. You would have to stay at some sort of eurocamp/centreparcs/resort in order for your DS to make friends though

One way to thread the "hot, but also not too hot" needle might be to find somewhere with a lot of different scenery in one place. Lake Bled in Slovenia springs to mind - lovely and hot in the summer with a few beaches for sunbathing, but also a lot of shaded forest walks and mountains very close by. Tbh I think the Slovenian lakes might actually tick all of your boxes.

There are a couple of department stores that have a lot of tat in them, in Zell.

The Alps are hot enough to lie out, but there is often a cooler mountain breeze so suits those of us that can’t go too far South.

my other recommendation is a Eurocamp in Brittany, lots of towns with endless tat shops. And great restaurants. Get the ferry to St . Malo and then you won’t have far to drive. Roads are easy to drive on after five mins.

Canaries will be way too hot in the summer. Be perfect at Easter to early summer though.

Genuine thanks for all these ideas.