Family holiday suggestions post GCSE’s and A levels?

[jenthehen]

Looking for a family holiday late June early July before the schools break up as my two ‘children’ will have finished their exams. We normally have a ski holiday and then stay in the UK for holidays walking, surfing and sightseeing etc. As we have the opportunity to travel out of main holidays for the first time in years we fancy something different, but no idea where! Would probably only want a week to 10 days. Can’t see them enjoying a pool/villa holiday but equally trekking round European cities would be my eldest son’s idea of hell. Any suggestions gratefully received.

Anyone?

We want to go to Iceland in same window of opportunity but I haven't looked into it yet. Also a Greek sailing / beach activity holiday like Nielson's.

Cruise?

Cruise, marella are all inclusive and good value for a family. The western med one went down well with my teen

Safari?

What's your budget?

Hi we are planning similar and will be visiting Cambodia, Vietnam and Loas (will be away for 3.5 weeks though)

New York for a few days followed by a week on a cruise/trip to the Bahamas/Florida

We did Florida post GCSE - weather was perfect and the parks less busy than during the school holidays.

You could go mountain biking in Colorado or Utah
Or a winery cycling tour of Tuscany

When we get to this stage will probably do California as that's where kids want most though would probably need over 10 days for that.

Costa Rica might also work - show them rainforest, lots of very high ziplining, whitewater rafting, wildlife - sloths, raccoons, coati, monkeys, geckos, toucans etc - again 2 weeks is better but 10 days wouldn't be impossible. Pretty reasonably priced.

We went to Canada 🇨🇦 for two weeks good mixture of outdoor and city.

Thanks so much for the ideas do far. I think I’ll save Iceland for a winter trip (in the hope of seeing the Northern Lights). Definitely on our list though. I like the look of Costa Rica but from my brief research it didn’t sound like July was a good time to go due to the weather?? Canada also sounds right up our street but it’s SO vast, is there an area that could give us a real taste for the country without days and days of travel?

I’m not sure about theme parks, none of us are particularly excited by them. What would be the top things to do in California avoiding theme parks (or would that make the visit a bit pointless?)

Off to check out Utah and Colorado too. Probably wouldn’t want a full week of mountain biking, is there a base you could recommend for discovering the areas?

Place marking.

Try Yosemite in Northern California. Stunning hiking and not too far from San Francisco.

Look at www.sailingholidays.com
We have done 4 of their flotilla holidays and loved them, we'd never sailed before!

Safari?

Costa Rica should be OK. Think it is "green season", but any rain is normally quite short lived I believe. Maybe investigate it a bit more. It's currently top of my bucket list.

We went to Costa Rica in August and then it was around 25C-27C everyday, it does rain most days (we had one thunderstorm in 2 weeks in evening) but was generally sunny everyday until 4pm then rained after that so you could work round rain. It actually worked well for us with the time difference - we started at 6am their time and so had days out with no rain. We also liked having rain in the rainforest and having it green but if say you are lying on the beach people its not great for that - beaches are a bit wild and more activity based (kayaking, jet ski, windsurfing) than sunbathing. Both mine loved it, we are not city people and like wildlife /activities and prefer not too hot but depends what you are looking for. It was constant excitement for them over there - jungle, ziplining a few hundred metres in air, wildlife, watersports, active volcanoes.

Fly to Vancouver and do Vancouver and Whistler not loads of driving but plenty of outdoors. And hire some bikes in whistlers summer is awesome there.

San Fran to LA via Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, Death Valley, Santa Barbara. Carmel. Big Sur. Possibly Vegas. We did this as our honeymoon 20 years ago and redid it with the kids (then 12 and 10) 6 years ago. (Vegas with them was weird and we cancelled our second night there).

We did Canada this year. 16 days and lots of driving. Flew into Calgary and out from Seattle via the Icepeaks Highwigh, Whistler, Vancouver and a few other places.

We did a California/Vegas road trip after my daughter's GCSE's.

This year after A-levels we are doing a New York to Chicago roap trip via Niagara and Cedar Point. Also going to a concert in Detroit before Chicago.

Love Cedar Point my favourite theme park in the world - kicks the crap out of universal and Disney in my eyes. Also, have a special place in my heart for Detroit spent 6 months there 25 years ago working

lovelyupnorth we have heard lots of brilliant things about Cedar Point and can't wait to visit.