Big Holiday ideas for 'wow' adventure with teens. Indonesia? Africa?

[Goodenoughisgoodenough]

Hi!
Family of 4. DS 18, DS, 14
Where would you take two teens for what is probably going to be our last 'big family holiday' in July/August.

We've still not planned a summer holiday - but we're used to doing things last minute.
I'm looking at Java, Indonesia and would really like some input from anyone who's been there! Especially with teens

Some context: We're fairly well-travelled with our kids; Sri Lanka, Bulgaria, Romania, Egypt, France (many times), lots of UK camping trips.... We tend to travel on a tight budget - and our kids are fairly good at 'roughing it'. public transport and cheap hostels. Basically my DH and I have forced our kids to relive some of our 1990s back-packer adventures.

I've got a budget of about £5k - and can go away for 3 weeks.

I've decided to blow some savings on what is likely to be the last family holiday before oldest goes to university. I'm not sure that we'll persuade him to come unless it's something pretty 'wow'....!

Our kids especially the 18-year-old are 'up for stuff'. they'll like going on treks, exploring monuments, old temples, and will eat most things.

Our 14-yr-old especially will also appreciate downtime. hanging out on a beach and by a pool.

I'm also slightly conscious that DP and I are both in our 50s and just don't have the energy/stamina we did 20 years ago when we did this kind of travelling - so would love to hear from similar, who've done this kind of travelling with teens

I've been looking at Java, because I went there 30 years ago. Pros: Flights are (relatively) cheap, and the weather is good in July. We can explore volcanos, cities, temples, plus get some beach time. Cons: hell-of-a-long flight. More travelling when we're there. Not sure how 'touristy' it will be? Some of it might feel like more hard work than a holiday!

Uganda is another idea....
Anywhere else in the Far East in the summer? Sri Lanka again? Malaysia?

I'm open to other ideas? Where have you taken two teens on a once-in-a-lifetime type holiday?

Look at the Philippines, it's amazing

Following as planning to do similar - budget, ages and travel style.

We went to Costa Rica last summer for 3 weeks - spent 3k there and about 3k on flights for 3 of us (1:adult 2 teens so all adults prices).
Sri Lanka, Borneo and Vietnam were great for backpacking.
Venice-Slovenia-Trieste combo was beautiful and plenty to do. UK prices mostly, although we could find reasonably cheap accomodation.

@Goodenoughisgoodenough How did you find Bosnia and Romania in the summer climate-wise?

How about the Baltics? Flights are very cheap so you’d have more of your budget for exploring.

duplicate

I have been to Java with my kids in the summer months. We explored merapi, visited Borobudur and other temples and were based in Yogyakarta- which is ok, but there are nicer places. Easy to combine with Bali- ubud is fabulous.
other good dry locations for summer in Asia- Malaysian Borneo- orangutans, long houses, trekking etc. prefer Kuching to Kota Kinabalu. We also had a few days in Brunei which was fun for rainforest stuff, but it’s a bit dull there.
central Vietnam also dry - Hue and Hoi An - both fabulous and my kids enjoyed the Vespa tours. food is excellent and very reasonable. Have also been to Hanoi in the summer and we had a couple of rainy days, but plenty of thinks to do inside eg cooking course or museum so a rainy day or two will have little impact. It is too wet to go to Sapa in the north.
we have also been to Laos and Thailand in the summer months- some rain,but not every day.

duplicate

We've backpacked round Vietnam and also round Malaysia with our teen and pre- teen. Both brilliant holidays and v cheap once you've paid out for the flights. We did 5 weeks in each.

Weather was fine in both during uk summer - there were some massive rain storms but they were pretty short lived and didn't stop us doing anything!

The cheapest way we did it was to travel one June after dc finished GCSEs and primary school - as the flights were so much cheaper than July/ august. Could be an option of you've got kids finishing national exams or primary in the same year!

@ShanghaiDiva out of Indonesia and Thailand, which did you prefer?
Where did you go in Thailand in July/August?

Kazbegi looks amazing! Thank you - will do a bit more research. Plus much cheaper flights, so more spending money when we're there. Any top tips for a two - three week itinery? Could we take in a nice beach too? thank you

Thankyou @ShanghaiDiva thats really useful. When you say 'there are nicer places' do you mean there are nicer places than Yogyakarta, or than Java? I've picked Java because the flights are (relatively) affordable, and it's inexpensive when we're there. But will also look at Vietnam
thanks for your input!

@House4DS
Phuket - two days with rain July 2009
Bangkok - no rain - July 2018
I prefer Thailand to Indonesia.

@House4DS Both Bosnia and Romania were fine climate wise. Hot, like 27 - 30 degrees or similar. But also both have pleasant mountain climates. We found lots of shady places to swim and picnic beside rivers in both Bosnia and Romania. We drove to Bosnia from Croatia, and it was much cheaper than Croatia, way less touristy. Fascinating. And cooler and greener than the Croatia coast and we had the odd rain shower, but mostly sun. Would like to go back. In Romania we were in Maramures and Transylvania in August, it was mainly hot and sunny - bit like being in the south of france weather-wise. Also cheap, and fascinating. We found a few public swimming pools and picnic spots. Our kids were young then and so we didn't travel so much just found a few beautiful places to hang out. Was really really lovely

@Goodenoughisgoodenough
I’ve only been to Yogyakarta and the surrounding area eg Merapi, temples and imo the city is not very pleasant, but good value hotels, great food and lots to see. My dh used to travel to Java: Jakarta and Bandung for work and traffic is horrendous, Jakarta not particularly safe imo and corruption is rife.
would pick Vietnam over Indonesia every time.

For That budget I would do Bangkok, Chang Mai and then down to the islands on the East coast - Koh Samui if you want touristy. Koh Tao if not or you’ve got time to do both.

Not on £1250 per person including flights!

How about the Azores? There are 9 islands and they are stunning.

You can get direct flights via titan airways from the uk and then fly to the other islands.

@Goodenoughisgoodenough where did you go in the end? Looking for summer with similar requirements !! Appreciate any advice

Hi! We went to Sri Lanka, 2.5 weeks. It was fantastic. Really great holiday. It's the third time we've been to Sri Lanka (2nd time with the kids). So we know it well and have lots of tips. We had a really fantastic holiday - and our total spend was around £4,500, including flights. So compared very well to what it would have cost us to go to Europe/the Med for 3 weeks. We do travel cheap though - but it's really excellent value! We paid about £40 a night (tops) to stay in hotels with a swimming pool.. You can have a really great mix there; beaches, sight-seeing, mountains, easy to get around and lots of variety. Happy to share more tips . How old are your children? What kind of things do you like to do? Budget? Beaches?

@Goodenoughisgoodenough tgank you so much for your reply!
so this summer looks like we will stay in Europe BUT may well ask for your input /advice for 26!!!