Holidays with teens and not teens.

[Pinkpeanut27]

Really struggling this year to think of somewhere to go.
We have had 2 fab holidays in USA the past 2 years and really can’t stretch again .
We have 2x 15 ( b/g) and an 8yr old.
One of the older 2 loves beaches and heat and doing not a lot the other not so keen on heat ( need air con)and needs to be doing . Youngest is pretty chilled !
They tend to like new places and have loved our city adventures but also they love the beach / coast.
We are not keen on the package hotel type holidays as I always find sorting rooms tricky and 5 becomes expensive.
I don’t want to be in a tent - really not a holiday for me
So hit me with your ideas !

Barcelona? Best of both worlds with a beach and lots of things to see/do.

New York - get a hotel with a pool? Am sure Virgin have a seat sale on at the moment.

We did New York 2 years ago and loved it sadly can’t stretch to going again so soon.

Did think about a Barcelona but Dd was due to go in June with school and they were advised not to go and have moved the trip to a Madrid so I wasn’t sure this year was a good year to go.

We are going in April to Barcelona.

I love NY.

It was a lot easier for us this year as its the first year our boys haven't come away with us so only DH and I to please

We are going in April to Barcelona.

I love NY.

It was a lot easier for us this year as its the first year our boys haven't come away with us so only DH and I to please

And I am so it posted twice.

Malta.

Great value, wonderful cities to explore, small, friendly. English as the main language, fabulous food. I really couldn’t fault it. Sea is the med (I think) blue and warm, beaches not great though, rocky.

Chania, Crete. History, architecture, culture and local arts scene, great beaches close by, mountains and gorges for walking. With a car you can quickly get off beaten track. Find an apartment in town, or a village house in the surrounding area.

Thanks will look at both of those

Nice? Rent an apartment in the old town and swim in the sea at Villefranche. It's easy (and cheap!) to get trains to the likes of Cannes, Monte Carlo etc. Or if a pool is important and you're watching your money, get a hotel further out along the Riviera stretch that's on the train line.

We have stayed here in the premium mobile home before, its by St Tropez and has beach, waterslide, 50 metre pool and would recommend, excellent entertainment on site in the evenings with rock band etc but you aren't near to if in premium homes. Homes have wifi, large flat screen TV, very clean, own bathroom, kettle, leather sofas etc. Booked through Booking.com I think or direct. Lots can drive to from there.

www.lesnaiades.co.uk

Will have a look , never been too keen on France but never been to the south and I'm keeping my mind open for a change !

How about Croatia? Lots of lovely sounding places to keep everyone happy.
Or Cascais or Italy?
You could maybe do a two Centre holiday with private let’s you get the space you needed and could alternate between eating out and taking a turn cooking something.

Love Italy but the kids hated the lakes as it was 'boring. '
Not looked at Croatia so that's something new .

We did Costa Rica last summer which was perfect for older kids - beach, really high zipwires through jungle, sea kayaking, active volcanoes, rainforest trekking, horse riding, feeding raccoons, cuddling sloth, monkeys, geckos but may not meet the budget or no package requirements. £6,300 for hotel, flights AI via Thomson for 4 plus c£4 to 500 per trip of which we took 5. Stayed in RIU Guanacaste.

Don't hate me Lily2007 but our holiday to Costa Rica summer 2016 cost just over half of that! There were only 3 of us though and it wasn't all inclusive. Book flights direct from Gatwick on BA to San Jose (£2100 on release), private car transfers and resorts directly. Agree it would be a brilliant place for outdoorsey teens and for smaller kids (our then 8 year old loved it).
The South of France does feel very different Pinkpeanut to the South - has more of an Italian vibe - liked it a heck of a lot more than I was expecting too - I'm not really that fussed about France either! Croatia would be good - went to Split last year and it's very pretty and not overly expensive and ideally situated for ferry's to Hvar etc.

That was £2100 in total for the 3 of us on release as that's not very clear!

Its fine SJane I did look into fly with BA at the time and booking everything directly and the cost was the same for the 2 weeks as what we paid plus you had to go to San Jose rather than Liberia and I was concerned as they had been striking. I'm sure there are ways of doing it cheaper especially if you avoid school holidays.

I'm not that fussed about France either though south is much nicer but have a French DH.

What's "on release"?, it makes it sound like you were on a break from prison but I'm presuming not.

We have trouble cost wise as with 3 kids way their ages we need at least 2 interconnecting rooms which tends to double the cost of some holidays. Also my older 2 are twins and absolutely will not share a room . I've learnt it's not a compromise worth making for my sanity .
This is why we have fallen in love with USA as there seems to be lots of accomadation with 2 bedrooms and a kitchenette and sofa bed .
I've tried package holidays before and they just don't work for us as there is never the right sort of accomadation available unless me and DH take 2 separate rooms and split the kids which doesn't really work as we often put the youngest to bed and sit up with the older ones .

Lily2007, they let me out of Wandsworth nick to go on exotic holidays if I'm a good girl! On release means on release of the flights - BA do this nearly a year in advance and they tend to be cheap(er) then. Know what you mean about BA & trust - mind you, my DH has booked a surprise holiday to Carcasonne for us later in the year on Ryan Air, hope I don't get any additional 'surprises' about that one! Pinkpeanut, go the Air BnB route and hire apartments?? Or if not AirBnB, booking.com etc do apartments as well as hotels??

We are going BA this year to Australia and I've booked everything through them - it seems then you get protection. I know when we went at Easter we were glad we had flown EasyJet not BA as the people who had gone BA were stuffed by the strike especially if they had booked accommodation separately as that's not covered. Possibly if you pay with credit card that covers you I don't know.

That's very good of Wandsworth nick - if they let you go on holiday that much might be worth getting in there. . I've always been fine with Ryanair apart from one time they had taken priority off for children and we didn't know and had two very young kids and they made us go very last on - great.

That Costa RIco holiday sounds absolutely fabulous my two 13 and 14 would love that but I don’t think our budget could stretch to it and flights would be even more expensive expensive especially as we are up north. Did it feel safe when you were and any tips to help make it more affordable without loosing out too much.

Where we were RIU Guanacaste and excursions out felt very safe. You are advised not to drive there and heard of people having problems, not so much safety as no road signs anywhere and crazy roads, you have to drive through rivers sometimes, mud tracks, people drive on wrong side of road. I don't know about safety if you go independently but nowhere felt unsafe.

BA do flights to San Jose direct and they have their sale on now. We went with Thomson who fly direct to Liberia which is nicer and closer to our hotel. I don't think San Jose is that nice but there are lots of lovely areas you can get to from there. You can play around with dates on the Thomson site but we booked ours around Feb and the price didn't shift after that. Obviously indirect flights are cheaper but its already 11 hours so I wouldn't bother with that. You could try the tripadviser Costa Rica forum for tips, they hate the AI hotels but my kids love them and I have one ASD boy who AI is perfect for. The RIU is a bit lively, food was really good, pool area was a bit taken over by loud people who drank but you are right on the ocean and they have a nice beach, ocean to swim in and free kayaks, SUP and windsurfing and beach volleyball. From the beach of the RIU there are guys Gecko Tours I think who sell the trip to cuddle a sloth - this isn't widely available but was lovely and only the 4 of us on the trip. At the hotel when we ate at the steakhouse a family of raccoons would come to eat with us and they ate the steak - which was fine as they give even the kids 16oz! There were also geckos and a coati on the hotel grounds and just outside there are monkeys. Diamante a mile long zipline is just next door and holds a ecopark. We did 5 trips and if I had to cut down I would do sloth/rainforest trek, BuenaVista - ziplines, active volcano, monkeys, toucan, hot springs, horse riding, water slide through jungle and Diamante - zipline and eco park. The other two trips were lovely Arenal and blue river but not too different. The trips are about £400 each. Strangely July was slightly cheaper than August and I would guess if you can go right up to the deadline of when they go back in September you may save a bit. You can book hotels via Booking.com but be a little careful if booking separately as you aren't ATOL protected. Credit card may cover you. Other thing is to shorten it - think Thomson do trips plus hotel packages for 10 days though trips are all at start and I prefer them spaced out.

www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/costa-rica/safety-and-security

Seems to say you do need to take care. Anything through Thomson will be safe, if go independently as long as you follow the advice should be fine. Felt safer than London anyway!