holidaying with slightly older kids

[RainbowBear]

I have been reading all the gorgeous reviews of short haul places and they all seem great for babies and toddlers and pre schoolers. I am looking for somewhere next summer that is good for a nine and eleven year old.. Any suggestions anyone? Need sun....

Watching with interest. We've 12 and 13 dds ..................................

Sorry, I meant 12 and 13 year old dds!!

We find the Algarve perfect for everything and think it would suit all ages, there's beaches (with lots of local teens/kids playing football/beach games), fun parks/water parks, shopping malls, little towns with cobbled streets, large towns/city for sightseeing.

Very child friendly & the weather great from about march to nov.

Places that are more holiday camp like - mark Warner,club med etc seemed to suit dsc in the 10 up bracket . Anything that had organised activity and a pool seemed to suit as allowed them time to do
Their thing

Thank you , will look into - anywhere in Algarve in particular?? Like to be lead, clearly..

Mallorca if they love swimming. Beaches, where we go, don't have as much room for games as the Algarve.
Both have water parks, riding, tennis etc.
I much prefer Mallorca very friendly, more relaxed, sea totally calm so you can let a bonehead old swim without worry. Much less traffic than mainland.

Sorry that said nine year old. No idea where that came from.

My DD is 9y. This summer we are going to France - 3 nights at DLP, 4 nights in an auberge in the Loire Valley and then a week with a villa and own pool near Biarritz.

It really depends on what you are looking for in a holiday and what you want to be doing.

We don't do hotels and kids clubs, and we dot't really like beach holidays. But DD has fun whenever we go away, and had never disliked any place we have been to yet whether it has been long haul, short haul and int he UK.

My kids need activity - and to be active. They play well with other kids (better than if they are just alone, when they tend to bicker). Kids clubs optional, as they are kind of old enough to amuse themselves. All these suggestions great, thanks.

When we were last in Algarve we were impressed with Armacao de Pera, its very portugese, lots of local kids playing on the beach, authentic restaurants & good location, near to parks etc and main resorts/towns (Portimao, Albuferia) and not too far from Faro for airport/sightseeing.

It is quite built up but not very brit touristy, lots of Portugese holiday there.

I can tell you exactly where to go to meet your requirements as I am very fussy and have done a lot of research and travelling with my two children who are now in their teens!
Our favourite is the Sani Beach Hotel in Greece. Beautiful setting, lovely hotel, lots of other children for them to play with and free run of the football courts, tennis courts, bike hire and pool. Great evening shows too!
Last year we went to the Pollentia Club Resort in Majorca and this was also a success. Again, a great pool, lots of other children to play with and although not as beautiful a setting as Sani Beach, still a great family hotel which cannot fail to please you and your kids if an all round family holiday is what you are looking for.
Oh yes, and one other place we have been to which we all loved was the Sensatori Hotel (Thomsons) in Tenerife.
Good luck and if anyone else has got any other ideas, let me know too as I'd like to try somewhere different this year?!

Mine are 13 and 16 now and I am also struggling to choose. In recent years we have been to Alvor in the Algarve, lovely resort with plenty of restaurants, bars and beautiful beaches. Also Protaras in Cyprus - slightly cheesy but the boys loved it and fab Water Park.
Last year Fuertaventura and Tenerife. Another great Water Park in Tenerife but the resort was chavvy.
Actually a good water park is a must and those in the Algarve are poor compared with Cyprus or Tenerife.
I'm looking at Majorca for this year. Self catering as we like to eat out but a hotel with teenage activities. The teen equivalent of kids clubs is much looser, allows shy teens to make friends quickly which they wouldn't do otherwise.

thank you - will google the sani hotel right now. I have also looked at club med and mark warner - hideously expensive and the kids would be split into different clubs - at 9 and 11. Would not be an easy sell! More suggestions for everyone appreciated. All the great mumsnet review ones seem to be for small kids where the personal care is crucial. Bigger kids need other bigger kids I suspect..

How about an adventure type holiday.
iexplore (via Thomson) have some great tours and holidays aimed at families.

Do you want to be abroad? If not we have been on two of the Field Studies Council family holidays and they were fantastic. Last year's one we did rock climbing, gorge scrambling, a long day mountain climb. The age ranges vary by holiday but there are a lot suited to the 9 - 13 or so age range. I really fancy the snorkelling one too but unfortunately DH doesn't do water where he can't see the bottom

We did a FSC holiday when the girls were younger and it was fantastic. Would deffo recommend.

How about something active?

We took our DCs (then 6 and 9) on a cycling holiday in Holland. It was an organised trip (biggish group) and the kids aged in range from 6 to 15.

The cycling was organised so that there was always somewhere interesting to stop off at (max cycling of 15 miles per day) and the kids all got along great despite they were from UK/Spain/Italy/Belgium/Germany.

This Easter we're off to Cuba with Exodus. Again a family activity holiday and we're taking Nana with us too. The kids challenge is to get her to go on the zipwire!!!

keycamp/eurocamp to brittany.
good sites are les mouettes /carantec [medium sized] and des ormes/ dol de bretagne [bigger]
Our boys [13 and16] don't go to clubs but play football,pool,tabletennis,games room and swim
we walk,read and relax.we see them to feed them!

Eurocamp good - mine last year were 11, 9 and 5. The older 2 made some great friends and 'hung out' in the park every evening - DD had her first crush!! Lots to do on site and we had days out too

exodus do holidays in turkey for teens that look good