The BEST family holiday you've ever had...

[dontforgetme]

Was where? And why?

Mexico, 2 weeks all inclusive but a lot of extra trips that we booked ourselves or used public ferries/taxis. Something for everyone. Dds were teens.

The top 4 are:

LA, Hawaiian Islands, NYC
A month in Thailand
A month in the Outer Hebridies in a camping van
A week over Xmas and New Year in Iceland

We are very frugal and spend a huge proportion of our annual income on holidays, we really value them.

@Theimpossiblegirl Mexico is where we've been looking this morning, can I ask where you stayed?

Our kids will be 10 and 7 next summer.

@User1775 all sound absolutely amazing!!

We've been twice, both times near plays del Carmen. Booked through TUI. We've stayed at the riu tequila and another I can't recall the name of. I've heard good things about the moon palace too, but most hotels are of an excellent standard.

Older teens , road trip around California - San Francisco down to Santa Monica. Lots of stops on the way.

Younger teens - Florida. Disney waterparks + Universal (three days max) then Everglades, St. Pete’s, Naples and the Keys. Then back to Orlando for a last day shopping/theme park. This would not be my ideal holiday but the kids loved it.

IKOS Resorts, awesome, the service, the food, choice of restaurants & bars, the staff are absolutely wonderful, nothing is too much trouble. Very popular with families.

@Theimpossiblegirl been looking at those 2 hotels this morning!

Walking holiday in the Austrian Alps going from hut to hut.
With children the same age
Just amazing views
Not too expensive as there is nothing up there to spend money on.

The RIU company has a few in the same area and depending on your package, staying in one can give you access to others.

Two weeks in Saundersfoot circa 1993. Me, DM, DH and our beautiful labrador Barney.

Antigua! Resort is now adults only but is near the most amazing public beach so we had that and the resort’s two beaches, three pools etc etc. As island small was easy to do trips out and island is beautiful and people lovely. Flight direct from Gatwick no connecting stuff.

I'd choose 2:
When DD was older we did Riu Yucatan and Riu Palace Riviera Maya, both in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. The Yucatan was great for animals roaming the grounds, the Palace for luxury.

PdC is fab, loads to do, lots of trips out, shopping, bars, X Parks, history & ceynotes, paradise islands and Coco Bongo's and Senor Frogs!

When DD was 8-10 we went to the Jungle Aqua Park in Hurghada, Egypt. 3 summers to the same place, because it was just so good. The pools/waterpark/daytime activities for her were brill, the accommodation was very good, the food choices excellent. Evenings were quieter though unless you went into town (very close and perfectly safe).

Posters mentioning America and rravelling between states, did you organise it all yourself or use a particular travel agency?

How expensive ia car hire and fuel, is driving really stressful?

In 2011 when we were 26 the wife and I did New Zealand in two weeks. Drove from Aukland to Queenstown stopping off doing awesome stuff, hiking mountains and glaciers, sky dive, bunjee jumping, zorbing, open air camping etc - a life highlight.

The first time we went to Florida when our boys were 4 and 2… was such a magical holiday! They are older teens now (and there are three of them). We also loved Atlantis in Dubai… everything is just SO much more expensive now… feel like we are getting priced out of the holidays we loved before 😢

Road trip to Tuscany and back staying in lots of different places - Rhein Valley, Bavaria, Interlaken, Lake Como, Lake Garda etc. Lots of lovely things to see and do. We did it over 3 weeks though. Dordogne - castles, caves, fun parks, dinosaurs, kayaking, nice food.

Road trip from Santa Monica to San Francisco with stopovers at Santa Barbara,Pismo Beach and Monterey.
3 centre stay in Switzerland travelling between towns by rail.

Maybe Sri Lanka? We were recommended a local tour guide and went around the country for 2 weeks with him staying in one place for 3 nights before moving on. We bathed elephants in a rescue centre, saw leopards on safari, went to a spice farm and rolled cinnamon, picked and dried tea, played cricket with our tour guide's kids at their school, saw temples, went fishing and then collapsed on a beach.
Vietnam was also amazing as is Iceland and Jordan.

New York then Florida with teens.
Stayed with family in NYC, so a good mix of tourist and local stuff.
Internal flights to Orlando for Disney on-site stay with free dining, and a few nights at Universal's Portofino (club level with some food and fast passes included). Side trips to watch baseball.

Definitely recommend taking teens to Orlando as they have the stamina for long days. Did early entry, chilled afternoons by the pool, then back out for dinner and parks until they closed at midnight.

We got the train down the leg of Italy .
We stopped at loads of different places and just did what we fancied. We ended with a week Sicily and then got a ferry to Malta and spent two days there and flew back.

2weeks in Orlando. Did all the parks except sea world.
Long days but got on all the rides in the days of fast passes.

Food was disappointing though.

A three week road trip across South Africa. We saw ALL the animals, including a mother whale and her calf. We had sleepovers with elephants and lions (that was much more terrifying than I expected when one tried to escape!). We swam and kayaked and rode scooters down Table Mountain (also surprisingly terrifying). The whole thing was amazing and we came back sure that we could never enjoy another holiday as much.

The kids' favourite was a week in Lapland in January when they were 10 and 8. They were utterly enchancted by the snow.

Hawaii and New Zealand ( this was pre DS but we're planning to take him now he's a teenager)

Florida - DS was 10 and the rides were amazing.

P&O med cruise. Have been twice when DS was 4 and then 7. Brilliant for families and loads of stuff to do.

Chile & Easter Island, with a friend i met fleetingly a year before, she was a great companion, the sites were amazing to behold, Chile was going through a political revolution and the food in Easter Island was spectacular.