Christmas or Easter family holiday with teenagers - where to go and when?

[whostolethesocks]

Is it cheaper to go at Christmas or Easter? And any ideas of places to go where I'm guaranteed warm, decent weather and would be a nice holiday for a 12 and a 15 year old boy and me. Maybe some swimming/activity and some culture/interest/trips too. But not horrendously expensive! Vague I know but welcome to all suggestions....

I was after the same thing as you and when I looked into dates and prices found Christmas was more expensive than Easter but Easter was to close to my older son's GCSEs. I ended up going for Feb half term and have booked Atlantis the Palm in Dubai as there looks like there is lots to do at the hotel and I like sightseeing in new countries so hopefully we will all be happy. My DS's are 13 and 15. I hope you find something.

Thanks CreamyCooler. I'll investigate half term too. I did initally look at Christmas (travelling on Christmas day as thought it would be cheaper) but was quite astonished and the costs.

We used to have a week at Easter, usually Canaries where you should get warm sunshine (but cold pools).
When DS1 was in year 11 he wanted to revise for GCSEs so we didn't go that year, this year it was AS levels, next year it will be A2s and DS2s GCSEs..........
I think at Christmas you would have to go long haul for it to be hot enough. My DC like water based activities and proper hot (not just warm) sunshine.

Yes I've been looking at Easter prices now as would like to go for about ten days rather than a week (at half-term). Thinking about Turkey or Egypt as should guarantee some good weather in those areas really (although really want to go to Cuba or Mexico but that seems really expensive :-()

I wouldn't risk Turkey weatherwise at Easter but have been to Egypt that time of the year and the weather was perfect, 27-32 degrees. We went and did a fab day trip where we flew to Cairo and visited the Egyptian museum, pyramids and had a felluca ride on the Nile. Obviously this type of trip to dangerous at the moment but the resorts such as Sharm seem safe. I've also been to Cuba at Easter and again the weather was wonderful. We had 10 days in Playa Pesquero and then flew to Havanna for 4 days. I booked that through a company called The Holiday Place. Check out prices for Dominican republic, the prices are sometimes a bit lower than other Caribbean islands. One feb half term I squeezed in a nine day holiday to Cape Town which was my best holiday ever. That was with Virgin who offer greater flexibility on which day of the week and for how many nights you trave.

Thanks for the advice CreamyCooler. Love the sound of what you did in Egypt. I did go to Luxor many years ago before children and it was a brilliant holiday as loved all the culture and history and the flights aren't too long.