July - Italy, Spain or France with 1 to 15 year olds

[Sibble]

Hi

We will be coming from NZ for a 3 week family holiday probably end of July next year (2015). My dss will be 10 and 15. My family including my nieces and nephews aged 1-9 will fly out from the UK and meet us. There will be 8 adults including my parents who will be 70ish and 6 children.

The (very) loose plan is my family will spend 2 weeks sightseeing. Ds1 is keen to see Venice, Rome, Pisa, Pompeii (so we are swaying towards Italy but would love to take the dss to Paris and am open to suggestions about Spain and France). We will then spend a week having a family holiday with my family. Here's where it gets tricky!

We will be on different budgets. We want self catering (I want local markets, love cooking and am happy to eat out occasionally but not every night (if nothing else we won't be able to afford it), day trips, water activities and heaps of things for teenagers to do. My parents will want a hotel and restaurants, bars and shops. It will have to be safe and have something for the littlies.

My sister is telling me Italy will be too hot, too expensive and too busy.

If you could chose anywhere that will suit every different taste and age where would you chose and why.

(NB This trip was meant to be a fun thing instead of us going back to the UK and doing the same old thing. It's turning into a nightmare mission)

TIA

Paris then St Tropez then Tuscany then Amalfi coast.

Somone might have to give a little..... If you go for the Tuscany / Umbria option then loads of activities for teenagers and also shops and restaurants concentrated like a resort might be hard. If you go to a resort say on the coast jesolo ( water park..beach restaurants hotels shops) then you don't get your quaint village , local market small local restaurants etc.
Am possibly thinking Spain for the family break ??
Lake garda possibly ?

I would do Italy with your family a mix of villa and hotels then Provence with your extended family. Villa for you and your siblings and children and a little hotel or b&b for your parents close by. Do Paris from Provence at the end or beginning. hot/busy is Western Europe in the summer!

Spain is by far the cheapest option - I couldn't believe how expensive France was when we dropped over the border from northern Spain last month. If I lived in Biarritz/Bayonne etc I'd be driving over to do a monthly shop in Spain. Found a lovely resort Hondarribia - very close to San Sebastian.
They will all be hot (the further south you go)but if you pick northern Italy rain is always a possibility.

Thanks all. Jammietart - I like your suggestion! Spent last night on the internet and am pretty set on seeing the Italian sights. I think what my family forget is that we don't have Europe on our doorstep. If we are spending the amount we are, we want to do what we want and get it right. Having said that I am happy to compromise for the week we all catch up as that's more about family time.

Sibble you could always do a week in a Eurocamp type place with your extended family with parents in a B&B nearby. It might not be exactly what you had in mind but great for the variety of children's ages and you can still do the market/cooking/sightseeing thing but with plenty of entertainment on tap.

and another random thought what about a cruise? Good three generation holiday with activities and sightseeing! (not the most authentic way of seeing Europe but there was a cruise ship in the harbour as I was going to bed last night and it looked so beautiful all lit up!)

Thanks again, I ruled a cruise out as I get seasick but a few friends have done them and rave about them. Turns out BIL wants to go to Nice but my sister said no - at least we have year to sort!

The more I look the more I'm drawn to Sorrento and Naples for us, throwing Rome, Florence and Pisa into the mix - looks doable by train in 2 weeks. Just the joint week to sort and as long as it's not Southend I don't mind haha