Holidays for older children with lots of stuff to do. Any ideas?

[Portofino]

My dd will be 10 next year and is getting bored of pool/beach type holidays. She really needs other kids but plenty of activities - a bit wider than your average Eurocamp kids club thing.

On holiday this year she really enjoyed the tree climbing/zip wire day we did. But at the same time, we would like a bit of pool/swimming/sunbathing.

Any suggestions of what has worked well for you?
Lakes, mountains, sailing? Activity holidays. Places where there is lots of outdoor stuff to do close by?

Hmm budget. We normally do 3 weeks and self cater - so about 1000 euros per week for accommodation with spending money on top. So about 5 - 6 k I guess for everything if we were talking all inclusive.

I've noticed since my DC have got older they are not as keen on long holidays as they miss their home, gadgets, friends etc. Would you go away for a shorter period of time?

Racing Heart: Re are you very sporty as a family? I'd love to do the via ferrata with my DC but one of them doesn't have much of a head for heights. Are they all quite challenging? Did you take bikes or hire them there?

I have to confess to being the least sporty of the family! I have 2 DSs (6 and 8) and a sporty DH! He has done via ferrata, and loved it, and I was going to try it this year, but for various reasons we didn't do it. Jungle Adventure (or Indiana Forest as it is called in Vars) is great training for it...and there were a couple of challenging moments height wise...I do not have a great head for height either. In our area, we have a number of via ferrata and I know that they are graded differently - some are v difficult, others are suitable for children of 5+. I would look very carefully before committing!!

We have a place there and keep mountain bikes there...but the children's bikes we bring out with us. I think it is pretty easy to hire them, but given we go every year, this makes sense for us.

I would consider doing 2 weeks at Easter and 2 weeks in the summer, but Belgian school holidays are 9 weeks long. It takes a lot of covering, hence normally taking 3 weeks in one go.

We went to Corsica this year (could be a possibility if you want to combine it with Italy - you can cross from Italy for cheaper than from Marseille).

We have been 3 times, but this year went with my SIL and her 11 yr old DD.

It works well for us because you can go for a hike (or zip-wire, canoe, kayak, climbing, canyoning) in the morning and then go to the beach in the afternoon. You can also swim in the rivers which our neice enjoyed).

We camped, which gave us the freedom to move around quite a lot - because it's always fine, you don't need much stuff.

Porto, when DCs were about 13 & 19 we drove from Amsterdam to Lake Garda via an overnight stop in Basel. Slightly different route on the way back, with an overnight in Andernach (on the Rhine) then a few night in Amsterdam before the ferry back home. Brilliant holiday, brilliant scenery. One of the best holidays ever.

Some wonderful ideas here. Thank you!

Holidays with older children. Our DD will be 12 and DS 13 come summer. Any ideas for hols this August kids want other kids to make friends with, a pool, a beach not far away, some space to run around and maybe table tennis or something else on site. We want a relaxing break for us lovely scenery, nice restaurants, decent sized accommodation not a double bed and double sofa bed would like a double or king and single beds for DC's. Have previously enjoyed family holidays in Alvor, Carvoeiro (private let's), less relaxing city breaks in Rome and Barcelona and mad AI holidays in Majorca. Prefer Algarve nowhere to manic but just need more facilities than we have had with private let's. Thanks

f with interest as have an only child so need to entertain a bit

What about the Austrian Alps? Mayerhofen not far from Innsbruck is lovely. You can go walking, skiing in summer, paragliding, rafting. And there are also some Badesee (artificial lakes) to chill out at.

Thanks Cheminote. I have visited Mayrhofren skiing one Feb in my younger single days and I remember meals out were extortionately priced. I hadn't really considered it as a family holiday destination and not sure how the exchange rate compares or how relaxing it would be with two older children in August? But thanks for the suggestion.

We do Club La Santa, Danish sports resort in Lanzarote. Our kids, aged between 10 and 22, all love it. If you can think of a sport or exercise, then they do coaching or a class in it. Youngest DS(10) basically spent his time windsurfing, learning to dive and playing football. The accomodation, food and leisure pools are all first rate too.

The only neg is lack of culture really, but we did do a bit of volcano sightseeing.

Thanks Tinkly I'll look it up. We do like a bit of culture rather than just a purpose built resort but paramount is keeping everyone happy. DS would probably find an activity or activities he would enjoy but DD is left handed and isn't at all sporty. She's more into craft and friendships.

i heard good things and about river dart country park