Teen long-haul Summer Hols (Asia/Africa/Americas but NOT US/Canada or Costa Rica)

[kidyounot2]

Looking for inspiration...please. For mid / end July.

Probably 12-14 nights max and teens keen on both exploring combined with beach type relaxation (but could throw in a few nights in a busy city). Given the limit on days away, probably not looking at a super hectic multi-centre but could do a 2/3 centre hols possibly. We're not a family that enjoys moving every 1-2 nights...

Would love Asia (have been to Thailand and India in the past, though India not in the Summer so would avoid that). Was thinking about Vietnam but think it might be wasted with not enough time to explore. Japan is supposed to be unbearably hot in summer otherwise that's on a list of places we'd like to see. Guess China is not that great at the mo or in the summer?

Perhaps Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia - please hit me with your itineraries - or a combo of one country (perhaps for exploring) with another (for beach or city).

Keen on other cultures, visiting temples, towns (including perhaps 2-3 nights in a busy metropolis, that would be fine), exploring life and people. Love beautiful scenery and nature but, weirdly, less interested in wildlife.

This might be the last time our eldest travels with us and husband is coming up to a special birthday so looking of a budget up to £3-4k pp.

Not interested in Europe at this stage. That will be another time and have done it before.

We loved Vietnam, but the weather isn't the best in the summer, especially in the north and south.
https://www.selectiveasia.com/vietnam-holidays/weather/august
Weather is good in Borneo - google itineraries with teens, you may be too late for the river lodges, they have nice beach resorts too.

There's quite a lot of suggestions on here which would be relevant for July/August in Peninsular Malaysia. Also if you're interested in some more quirky places, I can recommend a few.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/holidays/4944953-long-haul-long-shot

@kidyounot2 We took dc to South Africa. Shame you don’t like wildlife but lots of other sights are possible. I think end of August is better as you should see whales at Hermsnus. Beaches not so good as it’s winter.

Japan isn’t great in July. Very hot and humid. It’s a lot of money to swelter in the heat! We took DC to Kenya and Tanzania but again for wildlife but there are beaches. Also Peru. Good time to go there but not for beaches. My teens loved Peru and we went with Families Worldwide. The Peruvian rainforest was amazing. Galapagos might be beyond your budget and of course wildlife is the main attraction. We also went to Brazil. Maybe not the best beach weather in July, but lots to see. We’ve also been to Alaska but I see you don’t want USA.

Lastly look at Caribbean. You will find it humid but we like BVIs and if you go early you should avoid hurricanes. You can visit several islands which is fun. We went on a crewed yacht so you could look into this. It’s low season so you might find something of interest.

@Kucinghitam thanks and yes to quirky options!
@TizerorFizz thank you - sounds amazing

My dd went with bf and family to columbia, despite reputation they said it was amazing. Few days in Bogota, up to rainforest then over to an island.

Cuba? I went with one teen and one pre-teen about ten years ago, and they still remember it as their best holiday ever (and we have been all over Europe, Australia, Asia etc). Lots of variety: music, history, beaches, zip wires, river swimming, vintage car rides and so on. It was hot and sticky in the summer but bearable.

We went with an organised small group tour operator, in a group just for families with teenagers, which meant that they had company to mess around in the pool or play cards and so on in the evening rather than just being stuck with me. I don't know how much it has changed in a decade, but back then there was no wifi or data roaming so spending all the time on their phones was not an option.

Sri Lanka is amazing, we went for 12 days in June and had an amazing time. You won’t see everything if you want a relaxed trip but you can definitely see a lot. If you want my itinerary then just let me know and I’ll dig it out.

@exexpat Thats why we used Families Worldwide for Peru. They are not luxurious holidays but dc met others.

I think you'd need to go to northeast Sri Lanka in the summer rather than the southern beaches. The middle is likely to be pretty wet too.

Bali is meant to be good at that time or year or the Koh Samui side of Thailand.

I really want to go back to Central America but the weather is bad in our summer.

Otherwise friends have raved about Namibia but it's not that hot then.

We did south africa (cape town) and nambia with teens last summer. the beaches aren't hot but there is great hiking and incredible animals.

We live in Malaysia and haven't left for the last two and a bit years so have seen quite a bit of it. Nice mix of city , jungle and beach (islands).

Wonderful food , driving is the same side of the road and fairly easy to travel within the country.
I also love Sri Lanka. Can highly recommend there , but I went at Christmas time and the weather was perfect.
Capetown and Stellenbosch are absolutely stunning - again I went in our winter so their summer.

You can check out (Danang/ Hoian, Hue, Dong Hoi/ Phong Nha cave…) in Central Vietnam.

Taking our teens to Singapore and Central Vietnam early July. I don’t care that we aren’t exploring the whole of Vietnam - it’s huge and as you say we don’t want to be nomads madly rushing around whilst we are there. If we love it we will revisit at a different time of year another time and see the parts we don’t see this year.

OK so it can be a bit difficult to avoid wildlife (especially small crawling/buzzing things) in the tropics so bear this in mind and apologies for the long post

In addition to the accommodation, water parks etc in that thread, here's a couple of tips for things we and teen DDs enjoyed in recent years. I confess I know Penang and KL best. Some culture included. Hiring a car or a driver may be required for some of these

• Mangrove river cruises, these are offered all over the country where there are mangroves. A very popular one is in Langkawi which takes you between the little islands too, and usually has a sea eagle feeding session. If you go East Coast, we went on a Cherating mangrove cruise and (DDs' absolute favourite) a Kuantan River sunset evening cruise which included fireflies and crocodile spotting. Fireflies and mangroves also available closer to KL, search Kuala Selangor for example.
• In Penang, you should visit the rural "back"of the island called Balik Pulau. It has paddy fields, fruit farms and a quirky little sleepy town centre with the best laksa on the island. Tourists almost never make it there because they're all Instagramming in Georgetown, so it is 99.9% locals. Accommodation is all homestays with random standards and quirky styles, Google and you will see! We love this place which is also a fruit farm (I'm almost hesitating to tell the world here) and it has free bikes for you to cycle around the country lanes and paddy fields.
• Also in Penang, visit the clan jetties. All the tourists go to Chew Jetty, and it is definitely worth going because it's been decorated with artwork etc. But also visit the non-famous jetties for a more authentic experience not crowded with tourists (please be aware actual people live there!!) - last year we went to see my family-name jetty and we were the only non-residents there.
• Go up Penang Hill on the funicular, there are nice views especially at sunset and various lovely places to eat there, too many to list. The queues for the funicular going up and down can be epic, and everybody gets crammed in like sardines making it impossible to enjoy the ride (possibly going very early AM can help). There's a rainforest discovery centre called Habitat which has some spectacular views, tickets are quite expensive by local standards but cheap to UK visitors. Oh, also there are several charming colonial-type accommodations up there which I haven't tried but am tempted to.
• Other Penang miscellaneous. Pinang Peranakan Mansion is beautiful and IIRC they used to do a thing where you can dress up in traditional kebaya, the cost of hiring the outfit includes admission to the museum. Georgetown itself is beautiful, but to avoid the tourists go first thing in the morning - I mean early, like dawn. The temples and mosques in Georgetown are some of the oldest in the country and well worth a visit; the Kuan-Yin temple in Pitt Street is the oldest and Kek Lok Si in Ayer Itam is the most spectacular. There's a cute park with a long drain of fish called Sia Boey which means "town tail/bum/end" - lovely place. Another cute place with a weekend craft market is Hin Bus Depot.
• In KL, everybody goes to KLCC Park because it is gorgeous and has the best close-up views of the Petronas Towers, and I do recommend it. But also consider the Perdana Botanical Gardens (not the bit with the bird park that everyone goes to) where local people go jogging at weekends and is a beautiful serene place only a few minutes' walk from KL Sentral (we saw a family of wild otters playing in the lake), and Taman Tasik Titiwangsa where you get stunning long-distance views of the KL skyline.
• While you are at KLCC, walk towards Kampung Baru for an old-town of Malay wooden houses (and some excellent Malay food), and on the way you cross the Saloma Pedestrian Bridge which is the joy of all Malaysian Instagrammers. There are other places where you can get a taste of old KL too, for example if you walk from Dang Wangi LRT station across the river - and while you're there, go to Yut Kee for the best colonial Hainanese food in Malaysia.
• KL Chinatown is a tourist trap of fake goods if you only walk along the main covered Petaling Street. Go down the side roads, there are temples and eateries galore. And street art everywhere. One place which is touristy but great for photos is Kwai Chai Hong - my tip is go wait until around 6:30 - 7 pm, it's a lot less crowded but there is still daylight for photos and you can get some evening shots too.
• While I'm on the subject of timing for great photos, go to Thean Hou Temple again around evening time, again for amazing day and evening photos with views of KL. Unfortunately it gets really crowded because everybody in KL knows this tip.
• There are actually loads of quirky countryside places to escape just outside KL, an hour or two's drive. Google for retreats around Janda Baik or Serendah or Rawang for example. Our absolute favourite (again I hesitate to tell you) is this one which we always book full-board for 2 nights because the food is amazing.

@Kucinghitam amazing ideas, thank you.

Should clarify, we're not worried about wildlife just not massively into safaris or zoos etc. Happy to try elephant sanctuaries or of course see animals on the way but would not go out of our way to do so. More interested in scenery, remote, unusual experiences and people/culture/art etc. And empty beaches!!

Thanks everyone, lots to consider! :)