Decent mid range Greece or Turkey holiday with older teens

[lechatnoir]

We usually do more rural villa type holidays or drive to France but DC (17+20) are desperate for a bit more life & freedom so we've agreed to try a busier resort in Greece or Turkey but I'm a bit nervous about ending up somewhere grotty as we don't have a massive budget (but champagne tastes 😁)

So, any recommendations for a decent hotel or apartment on a complex ideally walking distance of some bars as the DC want to go out on their own a couple of evenings. We want a beach with water-sports and might do a day out sightseeing but otherwise pool/beach by day, dinner & few drinks by night. I'm not convinced our budget will buy us a particularly exciting hotel food option but breakfast included would be nice not essential. Max budget £5k going main summer holidays for 3 adults & a 17 year old & definitely want 2 bedrooms.

I've done a search but all the recommendations on here seem to be higher end but surely not everyone is spending £8/9k for a week holiday. Any recommendations?

We stayed at Aegean Houses Hotel on Kos in 2024, 1 bed apartment which had a double bedroom, lounge with 2 sofa beds & kitchen, would that work? Lovely friendly hotel, which was 10 min walk to the beach and 20 mins into Kos town.
Its been refurbished since we went a looks great

@lechatnoir which month and where are you thinking to travel from? You get your money's worth in Turkey especially if you look at AI options and the service there is another level compared to Greece (talking to the champagne taste here:))

Greece is absolutely lovely and enables Island hopping. I have been to Cyprus and Crete a couple of times and other Greek Islands and always good fun and safe for your children to be out on their own in bars.

Those look exactly the sort of thing we're after @Bigpinkslippers thank you - will save for future use but anything with 2 bedrooms is fully booked. I have contacted them to see if they have 2 x one bedroom but doesn't look likely.

@MJandMini we can go anytime from when school's finish in July (18th/19th?) and just need to be back in time for last weekend in August as DC is going to Reading festival on the Thursday. I don't really know Turkey so will have a proper look there tonight but it's just the bewildering array of hotels and resorts which all sound amazing until you turn up and find it bears no resemblance to the pictures or description (personal experience in corfu) or 99% of the review are rubbish and you need to sift through to find out the truth.

@lechatnoir I would say if you want value for money go all inclusive in Turkey. You could get all inclusive deal and they have high standards there (referring to your champagne taste comment here). However this may not quite align with your children's freedom. Greece would be good for that. Pathos is a popular destination (I am an independent travel agent). I never asked which airport and how long for but for a week you should be able to get good options within your budget.

sorry should say 1 week all inclusive but also decent options for 10 nights - 2 weeks

https://pataraviewpoint.com/

they also do villas.

Eden Roc, Rhodes.
It’s AI with 7 different restaurants. Our kids loved the pools, padel, mini golf, jet skis & boat trips from the beach. Taxi to Rhodes town 15 mins.

£9.5k for 1 week in August 😩

@MJandMiniideally Gatwick but could do Stansted if it’s noticeably cheaper and 1 week (10 days would be amazing but rather 7 days great than 10 days average!) Very happy for you to pm me if you have a specific in mind otherwise thanks for your help and will check out pathos too.

@ColinRobinsonsFartlook lovely but peaceful and near a pretty village would bring my DC out in hives 🤣 We don’t want to be in a party resort but do want a bit of nightlife for them.

Just to follow up with a note of thanks as this has really helped me identify what we should be looking for with our budget & aspirations! Hoping to book today and found a couple of really nice looking modern 2 bed Aparthotels with pool in or near Kos Town both coming in at just under £4k B&B for the week in August inc. cabin bags & transfer which I'm very happy with as it leaves a bit extra for a couple of excursions or extra watersports.

Yikes! We paid £4.5k with easyjet for 4 of us last Aug. It was coming up similar at Xmas. Lord knows why it’s shot up!