Where next for Big Holiday after Florida with tweens

[crazypiglady]

We went to Florida last year & are looking for another big holiday destination…kids are at an age where they want to be doing stuff (11 and 13) rather than sat on a beach. Where’s a good destination to explore? I’ve looked at Canada, Mexico, Africa, Japan…

Safari in Africa

Same

I did think about this but a bit nervous of planning it - where would you start? Are there companies that specifically run safaris?

I'm sure there are but we booked it all ourselves. Started off in Cape Town, then flew to Port Elizabeth for the safari parts. We stayed at Sarili Lodge in Shamwari and then Kwandwe and they were both blissful.

I'd love to go to Kenya for the next one but it looked more complicated with the internal flights.

British Colombia in Canada.
a few days in Vancouver, over to Torino for surfing, bear watching, fishing. Up to whistler for mountain biking and then to lake Louise.
great holiday for summer.

Big holidays with kids that we've either done or are on my list:

California road trip (massive hit with the kids). You can do a good mix of cities, national parks, cute towns, beaches, theme parks, so something for everyone.
African safari haven't this done yet and DS1 did a bit of safari on school rugby trip, but would like to do as a family. Would like to go to Cape Town as well and Stellenbosch for wine tasting (purely for the grown ups ). Game drives tend to start v. early in the day (pre-dawn) so bear this mind.
Costa Rica better done in UK winter as less humid - kids loved it although they griped a lot about early starts (necessary for wildlife watching). Beautiful country, lots of variety, amazing wildlife, active volcanoes, fabulous beaches, etc.
Thailand this will be our next 'big' trip. Also best in UK winter.

This, exactly!

With the road trip did you book your flights, hotels and car hire yourself? Where did you stop off? We did this when I was a kid & that’s when I fell in love with America, it made a huge impression on me

Yes, I researched the whole thing and booked it myself, although if you don't want to or don't have time to do that you can book with Trailfinders, BA holidays, Virgin Holidays, Travelbag, etc.

We did San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite NP, Monterey, Pismo Beach, Santa Barbara and LA over three weeks. It was amazing!

I wouldn’t do Costa Rica or Thailand in our summer holidays.

We did Mexico with teens in summer holidays and it was brilliant - it’s whale shark season in our summer and swimming in the wild with them off Cancun really is a once in a lifetime experience.

We did 3 weeks travelling Japan with 3 DC (11, 15, 17) last summer, we all absolutely loved it.

California road trip is our next big holiday, tried feeling a few others out with them but this was the one that made them squeal with as much excitement as Florida!

Japan was a close second and what they'll want to do after California!

@crazypiglady I disagree with previous posters about Costa Rica in UK summer holidays.
We went last summer and had an incredible time.
Only had rain during the day on 2 days out of 3 weeks.
Fabulous overnight storms just added to the fun.
Turtle egg laying on tortuguero can only be seen at that time of year.

Other big trips that have worked for us in school summer hols are Sri Lanka (my favourite) and Borneo.

Costa Rica was brilliant, and we are about to head off to Japan in a week. We liked Egypt too (Cairo and Luxor to see the historical sites).