Suggestions please holiday with teens

[flier]

Dc will be 14and going on 17 this summer. 17 yo likes to be active, 14 yo dd less so. We like some sun, beaches, water sports, a bit of shopping and sight seeing. Dc hate organised kids/teen club type things. Any ideas?

Just so we can be useful and suggest appropriate places, what’s your budget and I assume as you have mentioned their age in the summer that it’s then that you’d like to go? Do you want to stay in one spot or travel around? And (sorry OP! Lots of questions!) where have you all liked and where have you not?

Sun Gardens Dubrovnik is quite close to the medieval centre of Dubrovnik. It’s really sporty and has a nice private beach.

Budget is around£5k. We like to be near a beach, but to have a town or village close by. We do prefer us own accommodation rather than a hotel, but it depends on the area. We want somewhere where kids can be kept relatively occupied of an afternoon with water sports , withbsome sightseeing thrown in. We also all love animals

Flights and accommodation might be beyond that (although if you use a low cost carrier like Norwegian and hire somewhere through AirBnB it might work) but how about California? I’ve not been so can’t be of much use suggestion wise but I’d have though it would have teen appeal in spades + the water sports.

We went to Costa Rica a couple of summers ago and though it’s rainy season, in effect that means you’ll get a daily thunderstorm in the evening or afternoon and the prices are cheaper. We went between San Jose, Arenal and Manuel Antonio. Manuel Antonio was popular with families with teens. There is a big National Park there and quite a few restaurants and bars on the road leading up to the park as well as a nearby town. We stayed at a resort called Tulemar which was beautiful, it was an anniversary trip so Tulemar was not a cheap option but you’ll find accommodation to fit various budgets on booking.com. As well as the wildlife all around you, there’s zip lining, horse riding, diving, snorkelling and kayaking. It’s a beautiful place!

PS you can hire a car in CR or hire transport which was what we did, didn’t cost the earth. There are direct flights from Gatwick on BA to San Jose which is what we did but you may find cheaper options on Skyscanner that involve a flight change.

When I was 16 and my brother just turning 18 we went on a family holiday to New England, staying in various places - that might suit you as you can get the beaches/watersports/whale watching somewhere like Cape Cod or Nantucket, and there's also sightseeing/shopping opportunities somewhere like Boston.

Vietnam/Cambodia? Our teenagers loved our holiday here. Sun, sand, sight-seeing, shopping are all available. And dd, who’s just started university, says it’s sufficiently pretentious to impress her fellow students after discussing a level results .

We did Airbnb in Holetown Barbados 2 weeks family of 4 with hire car. Was less about £3k mixture of self catering and restaurants lots of water sports and a few historical and other sites. Even enjoyed an afternoon at the Polo club.

Cape Town - amazing!

Canada 16 days for 4 including car hire, mixture of accommodation mostly eating out for £5k

Was looking at Cape Town for us last week

• average temperature in July is 18 degrees with rain. Put me off anyway!

lovelyupnorth how did you manage to do Canada for that price? I’m looking at the moment and it’s coming out really expensive. Tips appreciated!

Lots of ideas thanks everyone, keep them coming though 🙂

We took ours on cruises at this age which they liked in fact they don't like it now we go without them-the youngest is 22 now !

Mexico

Neilson beach holiday, loads of water sports included free of charge.

Our summer is winter in Cape Town! It’s Southern Hemisphere. Not many beaches in Canada either.

California will be expensive. Remember eating out attracts local tax and tipping is expected and it’s double the tax.

Western France would be in budget. Lovely beaches in Brittany. Long haul won’t deliver much at £5000 for 4 of you. Or is it 3 of you? You might get somewhere cheap and cheerful in the Caribbean. Some of the loveliest islands have good self catering units.

Toronto has a beach off Lake Ontario which used to have water sports 20 years ago. Also up at Tobermory in Canada - lovely places to camp and swim 20 years ago.

Definitely not California on your budget. It is very expensive when you're there.

I love Mexico personally. It is really cheap if you stay away from the main resorts, has glorious beaches, lots of watersports and outdoor activities and some really interesting culture. We've been a few times and everyone we've met has been lovely and we love the food.

Personally I wouldn't book a package but do flights and hotels/apartments separately. Uber is used extensively by expats as it is safer then local taxis due to the tracking devices on the cars and is dirt cheap.

Lots for me to take a look at- thanks so much everyone

@Callingyounique

Flew with AC to Calgary - Hand luggage only and didn’t book seats - you can take two bags as hand luggage and we had access to washing machine.

Hired car for 16 days. Booked locally in Canada rather than global website

Stayed in Canmore, Grande Cache, Kamloops, Whistler and Vancouver.

Mixture of hotels and apartments booked via booking.com and Airbnb

The £5k included all for ate our mostly though did have breakfasts in our various accommodation and cooked a couple of meals, we did whitewater rafting in Grande Chache, did a cable car near lake Louise to see the bears and the views. Did it early son quiet and included really good breakfast. Just walked up to the glacier on the ice fields parkway and watched some do the free films. Most expensive thing was whale watching in Vancouver.

We flew back from Vancouver.

Car hire we really needed to look round as loads had massive one way excess. We booked through Dollar got an Alamo car only small one way excess.

Was a fantastic holiday.

Wow sounds amazing thanks will take a look. Flights alone to Toronto are about 5k so I was losing hope !