Where to take a teenager on holiday?

Nosmo_King_2

Our son is now 15 and doesn't want to go on holiday with his parents:eek: Normally we have a beach holiday in Spain/Portugal/Greece in August (Has to be school holidays) Last year he took a friend with him which was fine, however next year this won't be possible, We also feel that he isn't old enough to be left on his own at home just yet (think Kevin & Perry) He is also into physical activities. Has anyone got any suggestions? Normally we book flights and accommodation separately which together come in at around £1500 for the 3 of us.

Cheers

Voyager2002

You could send him off to summer camp with other teenagers while you have a second honeymoon!

Does he learn any foreign languages at school: if so, he might benefit from a camp abroad that combines leisure with language classes. When my son was about 15, I wanted to strengthen his German and sent him to a lakeside camp in Berlin. It turned out to be where the former East German Olympics teams used to train, and so the sports facilities were outstanding. He had a very good time, and even managed to pass his German GCSE.

needaholiday

We took our son to Portugal when he was 14 and he was a bit bored and said he didn't want to come with us again. We told him he had to and the following year we went to Puerto San Miguel in Ibiza (San Miguel Hotel-Thomson) and he had a ball. We have been every year since and he is now 18. Same families go year after year so he has loads of friends there. It's great for kids of all ages and very friendly.
PM me if you want any more info. I have booked easyjet flights next year and a room direct with the hotel.

JanetG

Our son is 14 and we've gone with Canvas Holidays for the last couple of years. On a few of their sites they have an active teen club with various activities running every day apart from Saturday.

http://www.canvasholidays.co.uk/discover-camping/familyextra/activities-teenagers-847-0.aspx

He really enjoys them and has made many friends at them.

Check with them first because the list of sites running the teen club changes every year.

Alikay

We had trouble getting DS2 enthused about family holidays once his older siblings no longer joined us. Anywhere where there were lots of other teenagers wouldn't have done as he was going through that awful phase where they're acutely self-conscious and wouldn't have joined anything by himself anyway! We just chose places with lots of stuff that was interesting for him - in his case aviation and military history (he's in air cadets). He also enjoyed a round of golf with dad, bit of shopping and choosing nice places to eat.

We found that once he knew he was not in danger of meeting anyone he knew whilst with his :oparents:o he actually relaxed and enjoyed himself, and we enjoyed his company as a young adult!

Cities and large established resorts work better for us, and it's deffo worth getting somewhere with free wifi for his laptop so he can slope off and Facebook his mates in the evening while you enjoy a glass of wine!

melb

excuse my ignorance and I know this is off topic but do you need to have anything else to take advantage of free WiFi when you're using a laptop abroad or can you just turn on your laptop and away you go?

Alikay

The hotel or apartment reception gives you an access code which you input when you connect as normal. Same with Starbucks etc: They give you the code if you ask when you get your coffee

melb

but do you need something to plug into your computer to be able to access internet - a dongle is it?

zenmaster

melb wrote: »

excuse my ignorance and I know this is off topic but do you need to have anything else to take advantage of free WiFi when you're using a laptop abroad or can you just turn on your laptop and away you go?

Ignorant is the word. Why can't you just start your own thread? It doesn't cost anything. Very MSE.

OP - tricky situation. Our teenage daughter really didn't join in on our last holiday together (campervanning round Scotland). All she wanted to do was shop. However, she complained like mad when she wasn't invited on the next one. May be different for boys.

We don't really do beach holidays but what about Turkey or Cyprus with some scuba diving and/or paragliding for the lad?

shinyahashimoto

If you go to Salou it has Portaventura Themepark walkable distance- he could spend a few days there. You could also get the train to Barcelona, think it's 90 minutes, even if cities aren't his thing - it's hard to imagine a 15-year old wouldn't like a trip to the Nou Camp?

Oldernotwiser

Book him with PGL (or similar) and enjoy an adult holiday on your own.