What’s the best holiday with older kids (8-12)?

[SupermarketMum]

Appreciate this is a very privileged problem to have, but I feel like we have been going on the same type of holiday since kids were little (one week on a beach resort or Airbnb in Europe) - Greece, Italy, Portugal etc. essentially just spend the whole time on the beach or hotel pool.

next year I’d love to do something more adventurous with a mix of beach and nature or other activities. Where should we go!? What’s been your best holiday with kids around that age range?

We found Barcelona brilliant at that age - great sightseeing with lots to do + see, lovely beaches nearby for more relaxed days and you can also get the train down to PortAventura theme park. Something to please everyone!

My DCs have liked:
Dorset: Monkey World, walking with alpacas, the Swannery, Crealy, tram ride.
Finland: sledging and skiing, husky rides, meeting reindeer.
Anywhere with a water park. So that can be a city or island holiday where you get to go round and see the sights as well.
Disney, I like it too because I'm a big kid. I don't see why people take toddlers to Disney!
Other theme parks.
One of them really liked sea kayaking.
Unusual train rides e.g. Amtrak with a dining car, one of them is desperate to go on a sleeper but we haven't found one that works.
London: the museums, shows, river boat ride, and to be honest just riding round on buses/tubes/eating out etc.

Mine enjoyed a week at Duinrell at that age

We took out 8 and 11 year old to Canada- fab holiday. Mix of outdoor activities and city exploring. We travelled around Ontario and Quebec

Mine loved a campervan in the Hebrides and also in Iceland at that age.

Look at Neilson, lots to keep older kids entertained : https://www.neilson.co.uk

The Alps for activities and fresh air!

High ropes parks (like Go Ape in the UK), zip wires, rafting, water parks, mountain bikes and BMX tracks, cable cars, treasure hunts on mountain trails, hiking, outdoor lidos and lake swimming, lakeside beaches, working farms / petting farms, pony trekking, caves and old mines open to visitors, cake ... places like Zell am See or Saalbach have most of these activities, as do many other places in Austria, France or Italy.

holidays we enjoyed when mine were a similar age.

Corsica - beaches, history, wild swimming in the mountains, horse riding on the beach.

corfu - water park, donkey sanctuary, aquarium, shopping, historical sites, inflatable sea assault courses, boat trips.

you can make most places suit older kids. We’re quite active on holiday anyway so they’ve never been bored. They’re 17 and 20 now so cocktail bars are thrown into the mix 😂.

For a sleeper the Caledonian one which goes fron
London to either, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, fort William, Inverness or Glasgow every night except Saturdays is a great adventure 😃.

Unfortunately you have to get on and off at 4 am at our nearest stop!

Takes away from it being a sleeper I guess then!
back to the main thread we had a great time in the Netherlands.

Center parcs in the Netherlands. Much better than uk and great for that age

Mine loved anything that gave them a range of things and easily accessible food!! So a cruise worked really well (although 4 of us on a cabin was a squeeze), as did eurocamp ( with water slides) and a French gite. The latter I had to become a sort of ‘pool games leader’ in the afternoon - but we took inflatables and sinkers and it wasn’t a hardship to sit by the side and make up games!!
all have them ‘down time’ as well as lots of activities, canoeing we usually do, potteribg around places, rockpooling if by coast etc.

I don't know what your budget is like, but everyone raves about Costa Rica, offers beaches, sloths and also adventurous activities, I have friends who rave about it, but we've not yet been ourselves as my youngest doesn't deal with the humidity. If you want to stay in Europe, we had a lovely holiday in Slovenia, split between Ljubljana and Bled with a 7 and a 10 year old, zip lining, hiking and swimming in the lake. Croatia has some gorgeous coastal towns and cities, that you can combine with some down time in the sea/pool but both of these countries lack sandy beaches. Croatia has a small handful, but they are not the norm. We've also done trips that combine sightseeing in Paris combined with Disney, or walking in the cinque terre with Pisa and nearby beaches. I wouldn't hike in the cinque terre in summer though, more of an early/late season destination.

The netherlands has lots to offer:
We've really enjoyed Duinrell / Eftelling / Bekse Bergen

We had a great week in the summer with cheap flights TO Hamburg and HOME from Copenhagen....
Used public transport and a gorgous tourist boat trip, with a 1 way ticket to see lots of places via Sweden. It was really cheap and we had a few nights in the very nice Tivoli Hotel, after nights in a german premier inn (Far better than any english one ive ever stayed in) and a night on the ferry between germany and sweden.

We like a nice "hot all inclusive holiday" and we love swimming and snorkelling.... nice hotel where you can snorkle straight off the hotels beach..... one afternoon according to my fitbit we all swam over a mile..... then some nice boat trips including swimming from the boat. Then a water park for some fun slides and lazy rivering, and our own swim-up pool is lovely. (Blue lagoon Village, Kos)

We also love a cruise. Great to explore a new place each day, have really nice food together in the evening and great entertainment, then wake up in another city.... on sea days my children enjoy the kids clubs, and we enjoy relaxing with a book, or a sit in the hot tub,

We've enjoyed Disneyland Paris, by train. And all the UK themeparks.

We loved Lapland (did it DIY) and we would defintely go back for the magical winter activites on offer (not santa anymore)

Lake Garda has lots to offer, we did Venice (did a gondala) and Verona, Gardaland, Hired a boat on lake garda, went up Mount baldo

Manor house hotel in Devon is also brilliant. cheap and cheerful but really good family fun

Cornwall and and isle of wight have lots to offer including amazing beaches if the weather is kind. (we did those when they were slightly younger (during covid) but there would be plenty for them to enjoy now they are older too)

This year we have planned
a cruise
a hot last minute holiday once their school breaks up. (there were amazing last minute deals last year; hoping for the same)
A trip around Italy.... Naples / Rome / Florence / Pisa traveling around by train.
They are also going for to switzerland for a week of adventure holiday in the alps with scouts.
They will be going Skiing with school in February

We have Florida (not necessarily Disney), California, and Australia on our bucket, lets try to do soon-ish list.

My children are 11 and 13

Interrailing.

Thank you all. Wow so many amazing ideas, I feel like we’ve been missing out on some exciting holiday destinations.

they all sound great. I feel like kids are finally at an age where we can be more adventurous. Will go over your ideas again and again to plan an October half term getaway!

Cruise…our kids loved it at that age

I second the post about the Alps. We go to the French Alps - car or train is I think better than fly/drive. The lakes often have aqua parks, you can do beach things or kayak / paddleboard. Or you can walk in the mountains snd explore local villages and places like Briancon.