Summer in the Alps with teens- ideas please

[SorciereDesMemises]

We are spending a week in the French Alps (Chatel) with family next summer and hope to add an extra week in another Alpine area. Happy to go anywhere provided it’s drivable (even with an overnight stop if needed.)

We will have DD17 and DS14 with us. We all enjoy nature, hiking, lake swimming, history, good food. DD loves visiting cities and wouldn’t say no to a spa. DS loves adventure activities like ziplining and wants to try power boating.

Any ideas for a good second spot? Current considerations are the Dolomites (but we don’t know the area at all) or Berchtesgarten. But I’m sure there are lots of spots we’ve not even considered

We have a good budget and I’d prefer a 4/5 star hotel, with a pool etc. as we did more than our fair share camping/ chalet holidays when the kids were younger!

Any ideas would be really helpful.

How do you plan to move between? Maybe Switzerland such as Zermatt, or Chamonix if you stay in France

How long do you want to drive for between? Chatel to Dolomites would be a 10+ hour drive, as would Berchtesgarten.

Personally I’d stay close to Chatel - Annecy, Geneva, Chamonix, Samoens are all close by and good for summer activities.

How about Austrian alps?
Much more affordable than Switzerland. Let me know if you’d like any recommendations for Seefeld (we stayed in a beautiful spa hotel here for 7 nights last summer).

I would suggest Annecy or Interlaken. Both amazingly beautiful and lots of outdoor pursuits for kids. We’ve only stayed in campsites though so I can’t help with any hotel suggestions.

The dolomites are stunning but it would be a BEAST of a drive. Annency is gorgeous

Lauterbrunnen is beautiful, lots to do, not too far from Interlaken.
Camping Jungfrau has a lot of accommodation options and the scenery from your front door is amazing.

I would also suggest Annecy (we stayed in the hotel Le Pelican which was a nice 4 star with a rooftop pool, close to the lake). It's such a lovely town, there are good bike paths around the lake and you can go out on boats.

La Clusaz in the Alps is really pretty and there were a lot of activities there. It's not far from Annecy and you could even combine the two places and stay a couple of nights in each.

Morzine is lovely in the summer. We’ve taken the kids a few times. Loads to do and very pretty.

Is either child in love? I have vivid memories of an alpine holiday with a lovelorn teenager whose boyfriend was back home. It was a nightmare!!! 😂

Could you share the name please? Thanks

Quite a trek from Chatel to Austria though.

Thank you for the suggestions.
We don’t mind a long drive to another destination as we can break the drive up with an overnight spot. Austria sounds like a good bet.
I should have said, we would prefer not to stay in France. We’ve had many French Alpine holidays in various resorts, so we’d like to explore somewhere .

@CosmopolitanCocktail we stayed at Bergland Hotel in Seefeld. It’s in the town, but a short 5 min walk to the lake (there are pedalloes, lake swimming, walk around the lake and a restaurant there). The hotel provides all inclusive meals and drinks, has an indoor pool and spa and lovely outdoor terrace too. Gorgeous views of the town/mountains from some of the rooms too. While there we also visited area 47 (loads of fun outdoor activities, outdoor swimming lakes with diving platforms), we went hiking in the nearby mountains, took the scenic rails and also went paragliding. It was a lovely relaxing week and we’d happily go back there.

Thank you!
Do you mind me asking if you drove or flew/hired car?
and if you drove did you stop anywhere there/back to break up journey?

@CosmopolitanCocktail don’t mind sharing as it was a great holiday!
We drove and stopped for a night in Luxembourg (beautiful safe city, free buses in the city, great food), we went to Stuttgart for 2 nights (visited the Sinshiem science museum on the way there and the Porsche museum the next day), then arrived in Seefeld for 7 nights. We then had a 5 night stay in Grindelwald (Switzerland) before 2 nights in Reims on the way back (champagne tour!

I'd third the Austrian Alps if the travel there is doable. We've been twice and it is heavenly. Spa hotels which usually do dinner and breakfast included often with lovely peaceful gardens, and many areas have guest cards that the hotels give you for free bus travel and sometimes more. Hiking routes really well signposted and excellent mountain huts. Lake swimming. We went in June so I don't know how busy it gets in summer but some hotels more geared to families or with more sports.