What have been your best holidays with young teens?

[TwoMagnificentLabradors]

We are looking for an august 10 day holiday with DS12 and DD14. We enjoy being outdoors, cultural trips, museums. Not really ones for hours on the beach, but enjoy a lake or private pool. We normally self cater, often to the Alps, but also enjoy US National Parks and city hotels. We’ve never really done package/ resort holidays. Often mix city break with a nature/ beach spot. We are stuck for ideas this year and fancy something different.

What have been your best summer holidays with kids this age?

Hijack can you tell us more? That sounds fab. Did your DC love it?

Western Canada - start in Seattle for a couple of days, train to Vancouver, couple of days there, then car rental to drive through the Rockies (Whistler (zip lines and gondola), Jasper (rafting), Lake Louise, Banff, then fly back from Calgary (after spending a few hours playing on the luge at the Winter Olympics park).

Or Florida - Disney/Universal.

If more of a Europe budget - Bavaria.

If UK, Lake District :)

Thanks everyone. There are some amazing ideas on here. A few we’ve considered or already enjoyed, but some we’ve not. Canada and Slovenia are currently front runners.

@Sunsetintheeast it was amazing and the kids loved it. We did an inside passage cruise out of Vancouver with Disney. We panned for gold, saw bears, watched a totem pole being carved, did a dog sled ride, went whale watching, and then had amazing Disney food and entertainment.

What was the driving like?

Please tell me more about Slovenia. I’ve heard it’s beautiful.

Neilson holidays in Greece .. but we have a very sporty only DC who loves joining in with other teenagers (we even went when he was 17) ... may not suit everyone. I had always been a bit snobby about AI holidays but it was wonderful .. DH & I have booked to go back alone .

I’ve not done it yet but the holiday that I’m dying to do with my kids is a US road trip incorporating Yellowstone and Grand Teton. Lots of outdoorsy things to do and see. I’ve been pre kids and it is my favourite place on earth. They would love it but are still a bit too young for the trip (3 flights to get there although can incorporate stopover in nyc on way there and Chicago on way back) and I think they are a bit young for some of the hiking…your kids sound the perfect age for it though!

We did a 14 night Spain and Portugal cruise which was absolutely amazing. Plenty to do onboard - shows, parties, sports activities etc - our teens had the best time. We also loved visiting the cities and beaches - we managed to see Barcelona, Lisbon, Alicante, Malaga, Cadiz, Mallorca and Monaco in one trip.

Florida was a winner. The Ardeche region in France, you can kayak the Ardeche river with rapids, we did it over 2 days but you can do longer camping out, and canyoning in the mountains was fun, not for faint hearted. Slightly older teens now loved New York.

Costa Rica is literally the dream with kids that age. Cant recommend it highly enough.

We went to Rafiki safari lodge and did the super lekker safari.

We had a great time in Berlin: stayed in a cool apartment, rented bikes, did city stuff, street markets, swimming in lakes, tree climbing day, mooching around tech shops and eating whatever we fancied

We went to Amsterdam first, then took the train to Berlin . Was a surprising success

Walking holiday in Norway was fun too

But for both Norway and Germany you need to be a bit luck with the weather

We also lived Berlin and Rome . We are villa with pool people , never done the hotel thing . We like that everyone can get up when they want etc . I know several families who have enjoyed walking in Crete with teens. We did do Disney but pre teen . Safari was a big hit too but maybe not in August . What about cycling in Denmark

@BeyondMyWits
@TwoMagnificentLabradors
Where did you stay in Sorrento? We are currently considering taking two teens (15 and 19) away this summer and looking at ideas and options.

Safari was a big hit too but maybe not in August

Its a perfect August holiday. Often not as hot but in the dry season. It’s peak time in some places.

@AlexaWhatsMyUsername we stayed in the Grand Hotel Vesuvio about 1mile from the centre of Sorrento. We booked privately with them so as to get the room set up for the 4 of us (Italian hotels are traditionally 2 adults 1 child max, but they are more flexible for direct bookings.).

It was lovely. In a lemon grove with one half of the hotel looking over the sea, the other half the lemon trees. A nice pool with small outdoor bar that served panini type food too. (This was just before covid, so you may need to check). It also had a free shuttle bus to the middle of Sorrento and many excursions by coach went directly from the hotel. The restaurant was amazing. Proper Italian food.

The only things I did not like were the room above us had a lady in high heels on ceramic tiled floors (click click click every morning and evening for what seemed like hours)... and it was very "quiet" , you had to go into town in the evening to get any "buzz" at all.

We did two weeks in Vancouver Island which was our most family favourite holiday. Bears, amazing wild swimming spots, whales, beautiful scenery. If we’d have longer we’d have gone to the Rockies as well.

Slovenia is gorgeous and im tempted to take the kids. Lovely lakes, some fun things to do (car train, luge run), day trip to Italy.

1. California road trip. So much variety in one state. Actually we started in Las Vegas.

1. Montreal, Toronto, Niagara Falls.

1. Classic 2 week med cruise including Rome, Florence, Pisa, Monaco.

We did a driving holiday a few years back that both mine still talk about.

Started in Barcelona and headed north west across the country heading up to San Sebastián. We stopped at Barcelona, Sitges (seaside, chill out), Leida, Zaragoza, Pamplona and San Sebastián. Flew back from Bilbao. Leida and Zaragoza were highlights.

We stayed a couple of nights at each place (we had a pool in a couple of places so we had some chill days), no drive was longer than a couple of hours and we had a wonderful time. Loved it.

I’d like to apologise for how many times I said “couple” in that post 😬

We're looking to go to Transylvania at Christmas to the Christmas markets in Sibiu. The whole region looks amazing & there is loads to do.

That sounds amazing! If we have the funds I’d really like yo do a European Christmas market this year.

Denver as above is fab, so much to do.

we absolutely loved Peru with our 13 year old last year, the most amazing place but prob not the best time to go atm.

canada- stunning- drive from Calgary to Vancouver- drum helmet and dinosaur provincial park, Canmore for grassi lakes walk and trips to banff, Jasper, revelstoke oh my goodness and Vancouver island. It is the most incredible place, only issue is what to leave out!

we loved Sri Lanka too- wildlife, culture, amazing food and fab beaches. People were just lovely too.

woukd love to do Namibia, currently looking into that for Ovtober.

we’re going to Jordan with our teens this year- ancient sights, desert, snorkelling, wadis and can’t wait!

We took DDs on quite a few long haul holidays from when older DD was around 8. Favourites were numerous! Ecuador snd the Galápagos Islands was incredible. We went to the rain forest too. We also went to Peru. They enjoyed the British Virgin Islands, Alaska and Tuscany in Italy. We went to Boston, New York and Cape Cod. All were great holidays. When they were a bit older we went to India and included tiger watching. We did several safaris from when the older DD was about 10. There are lodges where children are welcomed. We also went to South Africa when the older DD was 13. Perfectly ok in August.

We also loved Boston and Cape Cod with younger children. Bet it’s great with teens. I fancy Acadia too. We have friends in Oregon and I’ve always said we should go- I know the wine is great!

At the moment we are tempted by Slovenia or western Canada. But some of the more far flung destinations sound amazing.

We have two weeks in South Africa and Namibia visiting family and old haunts over Christmas/ New Year. It’s been very long awaited due to covid ( sadly some family have died before we made it there) and I hope the kids love Namibia as much as we do