Which holidays worked for your teens?

[Aramox]

Looking for ideas for next year!

Villa holidays with private pool & good WiFi suit our teens best

I second this ^^

arewedone I love your suggestions. I have a 15,13 and 7 year old, and would love to do some of the active things but the 7 yr old still too little.

Just googled ‘okavango’ - how interesting! I went to school with a Dutch girl who lived in Botswana for a few years, and she also said how beautiful it was. Was it a specifically horse riding holiday?

@sydenhamhillery myself and Dd did take the horse riding option whilst DH and DS didn’t and we still managed an amazing family holiday for 4 . We arranged it through Wilderness Safaris they were fantastic. When we did the self drive to Namibia my Dd was 9 and managed to do the endurance riding through the desert, I think it is possible to tailor the ability.

We have close friends with DCs of a similar age. Large private villa in Greece with pool, with all the teens able to hang out together made them very happy last year.

Going against the grain and if you haven’t got a massive budget I would say an Aparthotel with shared pool and the possibility of meeting other 12-14 year olds and joining in with some mixed aged activities with a beach nearby.

European city break, can go by Eurostar and not fly. Doesn't need to be expensive if you stay in a flat and can use the local supermarket for easy dinner and a packed lunch. We've enjoyed Paris, Amsterdam, Venice and Berlin over the last few years. All members of the family look at guidebook and pick one activity each. Deal is that you don't moan about somebody else's choice or let your knees sag whilst you are there ... We wouldn't be able to afford most of the holidays listed on here but we've tried hard to give our DC some experience of other countries and they're now reasonably confident travellers.

Would highly recommend a cruise. We took DS (13) on our first cruise to Norway this year and he absolutely loved it. Great teen club which caters for 13-17 year olds which runs until 11:00 at night so you can have adult time and they can meet and hang out with new friends in a safe environment.

DS has now said that he doesn't want to go on any other type of holiday now!

Definitely not a villa holiday unless you are going with other families with similarly aged kids. Otherwise they’ll just be on their phones in their rooms and they might as well do that at home. I’d second a cruise, lots are really geared up for families with teens nowadays. They can safely go off by themselves to the cinema, crazy golfing, water slides etc or go to clubs to meet other teens for group activities. Not a cheap option but you don’t necessarily need much spending money whilst on holiday as most things are included.

We went on a cruise this summer with our 11 and 15 years old kids. the 11 year old was young enough to go to the kids clubs. There was a teen hangout and sports area which the 15 year old spent a lot of time in and he made some friends.
There were swimming pools too. and there was also plenty of opportunity for family time at dinner and on excursions.
It was a really good family holiday.

For my teens holidays with friends are what keeps them happy! So we go for something cheaper than normal but pay for their friends too. Centre Parcs, Duinrell etc. Without friends we do trips that are varied so at Easter we did a driving holiday in France which they enjoyed. New York was another good one. I really want to do a cruise again with them but at the moment we are sticking with the friends holidays.

Anywhere we could do activities alongside some vedgeing.

France: kayaking down rivers, castles, mountain walking
Vietnam: boat trips, cooking, historical sites, hiking in National Park
Mauritius: Zip lining , snorkelling, watersports, temples, hiking
UK: canoeing, cycling, history visits, dramatic landscapes , skateparks, festivals
Spain: castles, walking, historical and cultural attractions.

We holiday with Neilson every summer. Proper fun for the whole family

Air b and b or similar in this country. Each teen responsible for dinner one or 2 nights - they choose menu and cook, and choose restaurant other nights. Each person chooses a day activity and everyone does it with no moaning. E.g. train trip, big ticket event (theme park, show, sports event, theatre) or walk , cycle, museum etc...depends on your budget. Glasgow for museums, walking and European cycle racing fantastic laat year - we mixed up a couple of free days walking visiti g museums and geocaching with big day out on the train to the isle of skye and tickets to the cycling. Set a budget! Decent WiFi and space to chill. 4/5 days tops - I would rather 5 great days than a fortnight of mediocre ones.

We had a good time in Finland, had a cabin on a lake, it came with a rowing boat and a canoe, spent lots of time boating / swimming / fishing. And exploring the area, very unspoilt and nice. I'd like to go back one winter when the lake freezes over and there is good skiing.

I always like Center Parcs, as there's something for everyone, and if teens do want to chill on tech, the lodges have WiFi. When I was a teen, I'd go on my laptop when they were doing something I didn't want to do, but then we would all go out for dinner together. It was a compromise, and it worked. I know it's not all that cheap though, and we were lucky to be able to afford it when I was a child.