Where would you take your 13 yr old DS for a week?

[TimTamTerrier]

DS's class will be going to Irish college in the spring for a week long residential. DS won't be going and I would quite like to take him away for some mother-son time rather than him just sitting at the back of another class doing his own work for a week. (School will be fine with this.)

I would like shorthaul in Europe, perhaps with a bit of educational opportunity. He's very active and I'm not so much, but don't like sitting around a pool or on a beach either. He probably wouldn't want to do more than one or two museums, but would probably love to learn a new sport, perhaps snorkelling or windsurfing or something. I am very keen on a driving tour of Iceland, but he says he doesn't want to go to Iceland (although I think he would love it once he was there).

Any suggestions?

How about Barcelona? I haven't been but it was suggested to me by a well travelled friend as an idea for a mixture of sightseeing city/beach break for me and my soon to be 12 DS.

He's been to Barcelona already, and Madrid and he's probably going to Seville for Oct half term. He might like to go back though, I'll put it on the list, thanks.

1- Stay in Venice. You can make a day trip to Pisa by train. It's not very close but definitely doable as a day trip. Also you can take an overnight sleeper train to Rome and stay in Rome for a couple of days, sightseeing including Vatican.

2- Alternatively stay in Rome and do Pisa for a day trip from there as well as Florence fir a day trip by train. Followed by sleeper train to Venice and staying in Venice for a couple of days.
3- If your base is Rome, you can again take the train to Naples and stay for a couple of days in Naples, making sure that you visit Pompeii ruins and a day trip to Capri by boat. We didn't like Capri at all but it was good to put a face to a name.
We have done this in one week. Our base was Rome, we did day trip by train to Florence (it was a bit rushed, but doable), then another day to Venice, stayed one day in Venice and moved to Naples & stayed there few days, we only did Capri and Pompeii in Naples.
I believe Pompeii appeals to your sun, so is the Rome and Vatican.
Hope it is useful somehow.

I know you said short haul but how about Cuba? The country changing rapidly and it would be a unforgettable trip for him with all the old cars, the music, the weather. Good for watersports too. Soon it'll be like any other touristy Latin American place, it's the best time to go now, before that change happens.

Ah Song you beat me to it. I came back to post something similar. We had a short break in Italy a couple of weeks ago. Pisa, Siena and Florence easily done in a few days.

Definitely no to Cuba, although I would love to go there. DS hates flying and he already has to do a long haul return trip every year to see relatives in the far east so he definitely would turn it down on the basis of having a long flight.

I'm not sure about Italy tbh, I've never had much of an urge to go there and DS doesn't really have any interest in history (unless you consider dinosaurs to be historical).

Ideas!
Budapest, nice city, thermal spas, water park, trams, river Danube, history
. For windsurfing look at ocean elements or seafarer. Go to Greece
Another alternative look at doing the ardeche decent.
When in spring are you talking March or may? If March what about skiing. If may Alps hiking, glacial features to look at. Or city on edge Alps, Annecy, Interlaken , Lausanne.
Lake Constance?

Berlin. So much there; good prices on flights and accommodation.

It'll probably be early May, so too late for winter sports.

I'll have a look at all your suggestions mary21, thanks. I hadn't considered the Alps at all, I have an old friend living in Zurich so Switzerland would possibly be something for me and something for him.

Berlin is a good idea, I used to live there before DC so it would be interesting for me to see it again after nearly 20 years. I mostly remember the fabulous night life, so it would be a different experience with a child.

Croatia. Never been but had it recommend many times by others and it looks amazing. Possibly water sports got your son and culture for you. Beautiful place.

We're doing Rome for exactly this trip next year with 13 year old ds, with a very long day trip to Pompeii included.

We were going to take the train which I was BEYOND excited about, but it turned out that it almost certainly will cost the three of us a total of £1000 to do the whole trip by train and back (leaving out cost of accommodation for stopovers), whereas we can do flights for about £200 including the fuel to get to and from the airport. Since our budget for the week is £1200, we are going to trash the environment.

My plan is to see the Coliseum, the Forum and maybe the Sistine Chapel (if we can get up early enough) - with Pompeii as well, I'm happy to spend the rest of the week mooching about doing a bit of the old dolce vita.

Rome is a good idea. Iceland - I took DS who's 14 and my DD. DS loved it. Reyjavik, geysirs, glaciers, geothermal and volcanic acitivty. I loved it too.

Iceland

What about Crete? Plenty of diving places and other water sports plus Knossos and other historical/interesting trips like Spinalonga etc. plus great beaches and amazing food!

I took my 13 yr old DS to Berlin. Great 5 days- free city walking tour, visit to the Olympic stadium, Berlin Wall gallery, underground tunnel tour, Reichstag, Stasi prison, 'Boris Bikes' through the Tiergarten, lots of lovely meals out and a hotel with a pool and gym!

Berlin is very cheap to get around and only 3 euros for the train transfer from the airport into the city. Meals were great value too.

I'd take him rafting in Morocco. We did group trip in May, 4 days rafting and a few days in Marrakech. It was perfect.

There's loads here that I hadn't considered, thanks everyone. I'll look up the different attractions in different places and see if there are any that grab his attention.

I was talking to my au pair about this and he said that one of his friends has a surf school in Spain, so I'm adding that onto my list of options for DS to choose from.