Holiday with teens

[MrsBooks]

Looking to book a holiday for May half term next year. Kids will be 12 and 16, DH and I are at loggerheads between a villa and AI hotel.

I've found a hotel in Albir (Spain) with onsite waterpark, games rooms, consoles, entertainment etc. Walking distance to busy town and beach, flights and transfers for £3.5k all in. Obviously the kids can eat and drink as much on site as they want so don’t have to worry about much spending money.

DH wants a villa, ideally on an island (Greek or Balearic) or Portugal. Cost around the same but would need to pay for food, car hire, plus day trips and any meals out so would work out a lot more spendy IMO. Plus I think the kids would get bored on days where we just might want to hang at the villa by the pool. He thinks hotel will be too busy and loads of other families and other people’s kids will ruin the holiday.

Opinions? We haven’t had a holiday abroad since 2017 so no experience with older kids.

Thanks for any help!

All Inclusive for teens, they’d get bored in a villa.

Yup I would definitely go for the AI.

Most teens like things to do and other people around, plus teens enjoy being able to get their own food and drink when they want. Plus feeding them will cost a fortune if you stay in a villa.

I'd go for the all inclusive. We've did both with our teens, and on the whole, they preferred the all-inclusive. Although they didn't get bored in a villa, despite it being quieter than a hotel, as we would go out most mornings, and spend the afternoon in the pool. We would eat breakfast and lunch at the villa, then dinner out in the evening. It does tend to work out more expensive than a hotel though, as teens can eat and drink a lot!

All inclusive as it's May half term. It won't be as busy as summer as not everyone in Europe has the same week off, so it is not like the summer from that point of view.
Weather not 100% reliable in May, very likely to be lovely but you really need lovely if you are in a villa.

Depends on the teens.

DD was bored in an AI hotel, yes she liked the pool but not for that amount of time. She also wasn't keen on the restaurants in the evenings. We found the teen club set up quite basic.

We preferred being out and exploring with a bit of pool time in the afternoon and then off to dinner somewhere else.

You won't have heaps of people in May half term as lots of other European countries won't have holidays yet. While there may be families with non-school age children, the other guests will be mainly couples.