Solo mum holiday August - help!! Going round in circles

[thisist]

I want to take my tween son away in August for between 3 and 7 days. I know I’ve left it late but I can’t bloody decide where to go. I’ve been looking for months.

Anyone care to share their absolute best (affordable) holiday with a boy of this age, keeping in mind it will just be me and him and he will need 1-2 interesting things to do each day?

He likes football, food/eating out, pool swimming but not a fan of sea swimming/surfing. He loves interesting sights and places of interest and has plenty of energy for walking and sightseeing.

Open to the UK or abroad.

How about Eurocamp? They are self-catering cabins on campsites across Europe - theres always a good range of activities available for children and lots of others of his age. Plus you can go out to surrounding areas for walks/visits to attractions/towns

Theres loads available but somewhere like Durinell https://www.eurocamp.co.uk/campsites/netherlands/south-holland/duinrell-campsite is within a four drive of Calais (and you get to go through three countries!)

Prices are generally cheaper (and more availability) later in August.

Barcelona, , beach stadium tour culture and 2ish hour flight.

I'd do a city break.

My DD teen has absolutely loved Paris and Vienna.

There's so much to do, we tend to do all the museums and then she is in charge of finding 'viral' food places for us to eat from Tiktok.

We also took her to Siena a few years ago and there's a local municipal swimming place 5 mins away - water slides and lazy rivers etc. Which was a massive hit.

Does he like Lego? If so, Billund in Denmark has the original Legoland, other Lego themed attractions and a big Center Parcs style pool/activity complex - look for Lalandia. Is a couple of miles from the airport. You can also get the bus to other parts of Denmark, eg Aarhus, Denmark's second city is about an hour away. Second half of August will be quieter and cheaper as Danish and other northern European schools have gone back.

Munich.

Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance.

Tell me more about Barcelona? Short flight appeals. Any must dos?

Looks great. I just didn’t know if I’d stand out as a solo mum amongst so many groups of large families and friends. I’ll have another look at this.

Many holidays as a solo mum, at that age they loved Efteling in The Netherlands for theme park type, Luxembourg both city and surroundings as a city type break, sun hol bests I think were Salou and Majorca. Have taken them loads of other places (Italy, France, all over the UK, Turkey, Malta and a few others) so plenty of experience and once you have chosen a country can help a bit :)

I quite fancy Italy or Portugal as a preference as DS has never been to either.

Barcelona is amazing but i'm not sure I'd want to go city sightseeing in August?? We went at October half term and it was warm enough then. I think I'd stick to northern Europe for sightseeing over the summer (particularly the way the temperature is going at the moment!).

I know what you mean! It could be unbearable realistically.

Barcelona
Munich
Rome

My first thought was duinrell.

Really easy to get to and nearby you've got loads of interesting things to do.

National History museum
Windmill museums
Canal boat rides
Leiden market
Hague and amsterdam for day trips

On site there is a theme park and a waterpark.

Easy to get to from the south east? I’m in the north…I would fly. I’ll take a look, thanks!

Would love to visit Rome. Very top of my list but concerned about the temps late August for sightseeing.

Rome is fabulous but we also did it in August and I am still catching my breath, very very hot.

What about a cruise from Southampton? Norwegian fjords is incredible. Loads to do at the ports and normally lots of cool stuff on board too.

It's about a 3hr drive from calais, or you can fly. Public transport is very good, it took us about 40 minutes by train from the airport (Amsterdam).

If you are in the North look at the hull to Rotterdam ferry then the Netherlands if you are willing to drive, mine always loved ferries. At that age they really liked Normandy too, I stayed in aromanches and used the Portsmouth Caen crossing (overnight). A cruise from Southampton can be surprisingly affordable for an inside cabin, I’ve done one with dd and it was brilliant, lots of other child/parents trips I found, no need to book the expensive cruise trips, we just did our own thing using public transport in ports, and if it’s p and o you can take a bit booze on board for your cabin to keep costs down (drinks on board are uk pub prices)

For Duinrell it is easy to get to from the airport. A train and a bus. Would recommend you book direct with the site rather than Eurocamp.

I came here to say this, a bus tour there is brilliant you can get off at the Olympics area and a castle and also see lots of gaudy

I’ve met plenty of single mums at eurocamp or mums travelling just with kids. I would browse their websites and find one within budget of a reasonable price with travel often short stays are reasonable as they fill gaps between bookings. My football loving son ended up playing twice a day at the del Garda site on lake Garda and we did lovely site-seeing and I got to relax. It’s an easy train/ bus or cab from Verona airport.

https://www.eurocamp.co.uk/campsites/italy/lake-garda/camping-del-garda

Take a look at Malta x

Solo mum holidays for years OP I’d be looking to go AI for a rest 🤣. Actually I would have a look at Turkey, some of the hotels have onsite water parks and lots of other activities. You can click on water parks as an option on Tui and Jet2 I think