First Holiday - Single mum and teen

[SingleMumHolsQ]

Hi everyone,

I thought I’d ask for advice as I’m struggling for ideas and this is new for me. I’ve been a single parent for years and had plenty of good holidays with my DC’s but always with them both and more recently my now adult DC’s partner. They have other plans and work this summer so for the first time it’ll be only me and DD (14).

We both want a sun holiday in Europe but she has two stipulations- water slides and her own room (I snore). Any hotels with water slides look to be really expensive for two single occupancy rooms especially as we’d prefer AI. 2 bed resort apartments seem few and far between.

I’ve looked at Eurocamp to France and that doesn’t seem too bad but ferries cost as much as the rest of the holiday!

We want a pool to relax around and swim, some day trips and good food in July/August. Happy to hire bikes to get around as she’s pretty active.

Is there anything I haven’t thought of, and what holidays did anyone else in our situation book? I’m wondering if I’m missing something obvious. Thank you.

Sofa type bed in living area and one bedroom ?

Sol Katmandu Park & Resort | Katmandu Parks, Mallorca
This one has a water park on site and an all inclusive option. Not far from airport and theres shopping etc right outside if you did want to leave the resort. Mine were similar ages when we were there.

H10 Mediterranean Village | Hotel in Cap Salou | H10 Hotels
Smaller water slides area but if your DD goes to a kids club/teens club or wants to sit in the room theres an adult only roof with jacuzzis. Also an indoor pool in this one and right beside the sea and supermarket.

Duinrell Holland - Holiday park and amusement park

We have here booked for later this year. Gets great reviews.

How about Eurocamp or similar around Lido di Jesolo near Venice? You can fly very cheaply to Venice (Ryanair or easyjet ) Then you take a train or water taxi or both - I forget. But there is a huge range of Eurocamp style places along that coastline, and some have really brilliant waterslide gardens.

You could also do trips out to the islands and a day in Venice if you wanted.

Flights in high season from various places in UK seem to be about £100-150 return and a 2-3 bedroom chalet with sun deck in one of the best waterparks, in high season is between £1,300-1600. Some of the less fancy sites are cheaper (and you can buy day passes to the fancier ones, but it is way more fun to actual stay on the site you like best.) That would be around £2k for a week for both of you. Seems a lot for camping in Europe, but it is high season.

Ibiza Tui blue or Holiday Village in Port des Torrents. Both have access to the (I think) only water park in Ibiza. Beach is fabulous and 2 min walk from the hotels. Love it.

I can't recommend any hotels but could you look for an AI with two rooms/family rooms and a hotel with a more basic pool (which would probably be cheaper) then do a day ot two at a waterpark.

Salou is a good area for teens, waterpark, theme park, inflatables at sea plus you can catch the train to barcelona

Keep in mind that some hotels/holiday companies want a legal adult in every room so even if you booked 2 rooms, you'd be in violation of their policy. For instance, Jet2 won't let you book a room with just a child in it.

So you probably need a 'family room' or as per @Neveranynamesleft , a 1 BR with a sofa bed.

Thanks everyone. Some suggestions are beyond my budget on the dates I’m looking at but I hadn’t considered eurocamp in Venice so will look into that.

Any hotel rooms would need to be interconnected as I don’t want her in her own room without easy access to me anyway. It looks like I can only book a family room.

was a lone parent for years so plenty of experience of this, budget? Turkey, Letoonia and Liberty Fabay (also swim up rooms and water park) both have two beds. Cyprus, Atlantico Mare have a lounge that converts to a bedroom with swim up rooms and a small water slide park. Honestly Turkey is usually cheaper for this kind of set up but if you can ditch the water slides for a bit of sightseeing then the Sun Gardens near Dubrovnik is lovely and they have two beds apartments on site

That's quite demanding for a 14 yo who isn't paying for the holiday. Tell her the budget and let her find the holiday op, maybe that will reset her expectations.

Gran Oasis in Tenerife & Solecito apartments in Majorca have 2 bed apartments. No waterpark on site but both are near waterparks