Help! Best holidays with young teens so they don't drive me to lose their passports on the way home!

[NaturalBlondeYeahRight]

Have an 11 yr old and 13 yr old. I need to find a holiday, probably Europe that might keep them from bickering for more than 5 mins. We did Disney last year and fear that I have ruined all future holidays now.
Not Spain, been to many times. Healthy budget but not crazy.
Please give me some ideas.

are they sporty? if so we always found the eurocamp holiday good. it meant they could do their own thing on site some of the time and get a bit of independance and make some friends, leaving us to chill out, read and drink wine

I have similar aged DC to you and find cruises work well. We get lots of family time doing activities on the ship or sightseeing and DC also meet new friends and hang out with them. On days where we don't do sightseeing my DS's have a lazy morning and order room service breakfast which they love and DH and I can go of and do our own thing. We usually eat together in the evening at the beginning of the cruise and DS's go of and do their activities or watch late night movies at the cinema and then as the holiday progresses they eat at the buffet restaurant with the other teens. I've found because they are busy there's no time for moaning or arguing or moods.

We stayed Park Albatross in Tuscany a couple of years ago and that was fab for older kids/ teenagers. The clubs allow them to make friends and it is a family active site so there was alsorts of activities laid on during the day. They also ran the clubs in the evening a coup,e of times a week meaning we could go off for dinner by ourselves. There is a special teenage club area where they have discos etc in the evening.

We went with Canvas by the way.

Thanks for these ideas, DC would love cruise but wouldn't get DH on one in a million years. Two of you have suggested Eurocamp type things and I was looking at the one in Lake Garda funnily enough. How did you get there portfino ? It's a long old drive or did you arrange flights/car separately from the main holiday?
Also, there are a lot of companies that provide the holiday for the same park (eurocamp/canvas/tompson etc) whats the difference?

natural - we've done it in brittany, a lot. very little difference between companies - quotes and mobile sizes vary a bit. some have air con, dishwashers others don't. some kiddies clubs, others not. also the pitch sizes tend to differ a bit - but you probably won't be able to tell till you get there.

i suggest getting quotes from several, that are at the site you are interested in. if you are looking for this summer availability will be an issue.

ukcampsites.co.uk has reviews of the ones in france.

its a great holiday for kids....though we have 1 set of friends who hated it, but they are a bit strange.

Well if you like camping then I'm sure those are great but I want some luxury on holiday.
A good all inclusive hotel has worked for us in the last few years with DS1 17 and DS2 15 . I wish I had done this sooner.
It works well for teenagers because they can have freedom in safety, meet others, get involved in sports and games and meet up with us for meals.
In self catering hotels or villas they find it much harder to make friends because everyone goes out of the hotel in the evening.

No, not camping for two weeks. Don't mind mobile home idea if it works for everyone. We have done a lot of AI over the years and these were fab when they were 5-10 ish but they don't want to join in anymore. It's a bit of an awkward age, not children but not proper teens yet.
I agree that the villa issue could be a bit dull for them but it has more space than most of the rooms we have got up till now - going to have to pay out for two rooms now.
If no one can agree then my DC will have to just suck it up, we pay for it and its not like a holiday is a punishment is it?
Was just hoping that I might have missed some ideas that would suit all.

We drove and did several stop offs. Other people we met flew to Pisa and hired a car. For something similar, less distance, Siblu La Carabasse has good facilities for teenagers. The site itself is not a patch on Albatross, but is walking distance to the town/beach/mini golf/huge funfair. My dd is a bit younger, but we saw plenty of the older ones meeting up in the evening for karaoke/talent show sort of stuff. It all felt quite safe to let them have a bit of independance. We will go back i think.

Actually the accommodation was better at La Carabasse and more spread out. And wifi - though you have to pay for it. Lots to do in the local area.

You are right 11 and 13 is a bit in between for many activities. Too old for kids clubs and too young to "hang out" with the older ones. although DS1 did have his first holiday romance at 13
The AI hotels we've been to had organised activities for teens which acted as an ice breaker and thereafter they seem to gravitate together around the pool or ping pong table..
I think cruise fits the bill but DH would never agree.
We have done European Center Parcs when DCs were around 11 ish and they worked well but of course you are not necessarily going to get good weather.

was also going to recommend Keycamp/Eurocamp (owned by same company). Specifically look for those sites which have Base Camps for the older teen www.eurocamp.co.uk/activities/kids-clubs.html
we've been to 3 of these, they've varied in quality of activity but if nothing else the DCs have used the clubs to meet other teens so they can "hang out" away from the clubs if there aren;t any activities they fancy. Also the teen clubs tend to be on bigger sites so they have evening entertainment too (not always our cup of tea but the DCs have enjoyed it)