Holiday ideas for teens who don’t like beaches/heat

[LavenderLxx]

We’re starting to think about summer holiday ideas and would love some inspiration.

Our teens are 16 and 13, and neither of them is particularly keen on a traditional beach/pool holiday where that’s the main focus. They both enjoy exploring — cities, interesting sights, nature, history — anything that feels like there’s something to do rather than just lie around.

That said, our younger one would probably appreciate having access to a pool at some point during the trip — not as the main event, but as a bit of downtime alongside more active days.

We’re looking for destinations that offer plenty to see and experience (culture, scenery, activities, etc.) but that won’t be unbearably hot in the summer holidays (we’d be travelling early August).

Flying from London and we’d likely have around a week.

Has anyone done a trip that struck this balance — interesting and engaging for teens, but with a bit of relaxation built in, and in a climate that’s comfortable in August.

OP hasn’t mentioned any particular budget. And I don’t think £5k on a holiday in the summer is actually classed as being ‘minted’. We’ve done 14 night cruises in an upgraded class with drinks package for around the £5k mark, but beyond that we spent very very little. Teen was entertained pretty much constantly we hardly saw her except on port days. We have amazing food, drink and service for two weeks.

Costa Rica was a massive hit. It’s not boiling hot in the summer. We trekked in a rain forest, zip lined through a rainforest canopy, experienced vibrant markets and towns, did white water rafting, boat safari, saw sloths, had parrots and several kinds of monkeys wild in our villa garden and we felt welcomed at all points. Glorious holiday. We also saved a packet on flights by breaking our journey with a one night stay in Madrid and then flew Madrid to San Jose business class for about the same price as BA direct in economy.

Copenhagen is amazing: Look at a copenhagen card that pretty much gives you access to every attraction and all the (amazing) public transport.

also so many options in the Netherlands.
Look at Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Beekse Bergen, Duinrell, with lots of eurocamp / centre parcs options for staying which could include a fun pool

My DS who is 21 now is similar. He loves Chamonix for walking and cycling, also Annecy. Especially Chamonix.

We also had an amazing week just before he went off to Grande Ecole visiting Normandy, cycling and visiting many of the WW2 museums if yours would be interested in that. Also around La Rochelle, Ile de Re, Marais Poitvin for cycling and interesting places to see.

The two best city breaks we had were Stockholm and Amsterdam but only for a few days so I'm not sure for a longer holiday they would be good.

If the DCs enjoy cycling Brittany and the Velodyssee cycle path is great, as is the Loire valley cycle path (not just now though it is flooded)