Holiday ideas for older children. Menorca, Majorca, Portugal?

[Cheeky19863]

I have a 17 and 12 year old and we usually holiday in Portugal. We love the relaxed vibe, old towns and friendly locals. We like to do boat trips, day trips to explore towns and usually a day at a water park. Can anyone recommend areas to stay that are similar to Portugal? We dont like it to be too touristy or busy. Would Menorca or Majorca be similar? Looking for a nice relaxed family holiday away from boozy Brits

Soller might work in Majorca. It’s not undiscovered by tourists though and will be busy in the main season.

Have you tried northern Portugal? Not sure about water parks but plenty of surfing, interesting towns and great food. North of Lisbon is Peniche and Nazare, which is a surfing area, and there’s beaches and interesting places to explore as you head north - Obidos, Coimbra, Porto.

Sollar is very very expensive.

Stay in Palma perhaps with trips to the beach further down the front?

Or what about Alghero in Sardinia

Cala D’Or in Majorca has been our holiday destination for many years .Cala Ferrera is idyllic,children loved it there even as teenagers.Very quiet .
Fun to be found and also quiet areas as well.

Croatia would be my suggestion.

We usually go to Portugal so was looking for somewhere different this year but may end up back in Portugal if theres no where like it

Thank you i will look at this area

Northern Spain if you're looking for more off the tourist areas

You can avoid boozy Brits in Majorca in two ways: Go to where the boozy Germans are, or go to a much quieter town like Puerto Soller, Puerto Pollensa, Portocolom, or Sant Elm. But in the last two you will probably all be in bed by 10pm.

Almost anywhere else, including Cala d'Or as mentioned by a PP, you are quite likely to meet at least a few somewhat loud people who wear football shirts and don't shop in Waitrose. Waterparks are built near places with lots of large hotels, not small fishing ports. Boat trips attract people who want to have a good time (of course, private trips are also possible).

Also, the quieter the town, the less good the beach is, in general. The best beaches have the largest number of hotels on them because that's where tourism started. There is an Ikos in Majorca, €1000 per night for a double room with all-inclusive, and the beach is (a) public and (b) about the size of a tennis court.

You put ideas for Portugal in the thread title though

Have you tried northern Portugal? You could fly into Porto and head north and up into Galicia. Not much in the way of water parks but spectacular scenery, beaches, history, food, good walking and some amazing places to stay. We have done it with similar aged DC a few times.

Or northern Spain, from San Sebastián along the coast to Santiago de Compostela and down to Fisterra.

I’d look at south west France, from Agde/Sete down towards Perpignan and the Spanish border. Great beaches, lots of small towns to explore, or go into the Pyrenees/over the border to Spain. I don’t know how busy it is these days - it’s years since I went but it used to be busy in summer but nothing like the Côte d’Azur.

North coast of Sardinia, if you can fly into Sassari. There are a few water parks along the coast, amazing beaches (we homed in on Costa Paradiso, Badesi and Castelsardo) and of course the food is excellent too.

We just got back from the Azores and loved it! Portugal but with a tropical vibe. Beaches, surfing, hot springs, whale watching, hikes to waterfalls and the most spectacular views. 2 hour flight from Lisbon…

Puerto Pollensa in Mallorca ? It's a beautiful resort with loads of restaurants and bars but no nightclubs or rowdy people. 2 old towns close by - Alcudia and Pollensa- although PP itself is beautiful to walk around in. There's a waterpark in Port De Alcudia and you could go to Palma if you don't mind a longer trip on the bus.

Maybe cambrils, which is salou, Costa dorada. But you don't want to stay in salou as that's very touristy but cambrils is lovely. You gat get buses to Tarragona, and Barcelona.

How about Lake Garda? Sirmione is beautiful and lovely for boat trips across the lake, but it's also next to Gardaland Theme park. You can do very easy day trips (1 hour by train) to Venice and Verona and for the teens, there are local activities like mountain biking in the mountains or wind surfing on the lake.