Special Post GCSE/A Level Holiday with family

anonmoose

Hi All

I am looking at doing a special family holiday with my teens next year after they finish GCSE and A Level respectively in End June/Beginning July.

I can't decide the best place to go to please everyone.  The older daughter would like Italy, shopping etc or Japan which I assume would be out of budget.  Younger son gets bored shopping, doesn't particularly like hiking but is relatively easy to please.

I had thought about back packing type greek island hopping holiday but I am not sure if it will be too hot beginning July.  I had previously thought we would do new york but I don't think July would be the right time of year.  I also looked at other long haul destinations such as Singapore and Thailand and flights look very expensive at the moment.  Will they come down nearer to the time?  I personally would love Canada but it wouldn't suit either of them.

The only special holiday we have done before was florida which was lovely but wouldn't want to do that again.  We usually do spanish islands, canaries, mallorca etc which are fine but I am looking for something a bit more memorable.

I am looking at 2 weeks holiday possibly a bit more if we can get time off.

Any suggestions for where would be a good place to visit beginning July that is a special holiday to keep 2 teens happy.  

Voyager2002

I was in New York in July once. Hot but dry and comfortable.

Maybe Switzerland with a rail pass (which also includes cable cars and things)? Or the cheap countries of Eastern Europe: Turkey, Georgia and Armenia, as well as Poland and Slovakia?

anonmoose

Thanks Voyager.  I will look at switzerland as hadn't thought of that.  I had thought about eastern europe as I love watching slow travel vlogs and lots of them cover this area.  I shall do some research on those suggestions.

zagfles

How about flying to Milan, stopping there for a bit for shopping etc, then hiring a car and going to Lake Garda. Lake Garda is lovely, loads to do there, watersports, boat trips, paragliding off Monte Baldo if they're thrill seekers. There's a theme park there too. Some really nice drives around other nearby lakes which are excellent for swimming in breathtaking scenery.

anonmoose

That sounds an interesting suggestion zagfles.  Both my kids were competitive swimmers pre covid so both love to be in the water.

CKhalvashi

Voyager2002 said:

I was in New York in July once. Hot but dry and comfortable.

Maybe Switzerland with a rail pass (which also includes cable cars and things)? Or the cheap countries of Eastern Europe: Turkey, Georgia and Armenia, as well as Poland and Slovakia?

Add to this possibly Albania (We stayed in Ksamil a few years ago, flying to Corfu and getting the boat may be easier than Tirana), Lithuania (Vilnius for city, Klaipeda for beach) and Romania (Brasov for mountains, Mamaia for beach).

For Georgia (which is my home country), choose somewhere like Kobuleti or Shekvetili instead of Batumi if you want the beach. It's quite expensive to get to at the moment but super cheap when there. Be aware that Georgia has taken significant numbers of both Ukrainian and Russian nationals seeking protection, so accommodation is likely to be in quite short supply.

Possibly somewhere on Lake Arpi if choosing Armenia would be a good pick. Accommodation is very limited in this area and a car will be a must. You'll be looking at self-connections via either Vilnius or Vienna for Yerevan if you want reasonably budget travel, leave plenty of time. Yerevan itself gets extremely hot.

Poland is also a good choice as there's a lot of history if your son wants but also reasonably cheap shopping. It's also a lot cheaper to get to. If choosing Gdansk, make sure you get to Malbork. Wroclaw is quite appealing as a city also and I personally prefer it to Krakow.

anonmoose

Thank you for that detailed recommendation CKhalvashi sounds like some amazing options there.

I really fancy the idea of Eastern Europe as it is somewhere we haven't explored before and the history and scenery looks amazing in some of these places.

I just need to figure out how much we can fit into 2-3 weeks.

zagfles

Eastern Europe is fab, it's been my go-to destination over the last few years. Cheap, friendly people, loads of history, scenery, stuff to do etc. One of our (ex?) regulars here did a very detailed report on Transylvania which I basically copied and it was excellent https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5735156/transylvania/p1

Somewhere else to consider is Turkey, the blue lagoon at Oludeniz where you can swim with turtles and paraglide off the mountain, Bodrum where you can snorkel and spot Roman architecture remains underwater...loads of trips to all sorts of places at very reasonable prices, it's a very "easy" holiday as you can go with virtually zero planning, just book a package and when there just stroll through the resort where there's be loads of agencies selling trips.

For destination specific advice the tripadvisor forums are really good.

anonmoose

Thanks zagfles great info! I think we have been stuck in a rut of doing the same old for years and there is a big world out there. I have in recent months been watching lots of slow travel vlogs as I intend to do more travel when I retire in about 10yrs. 

Lots of the slow travellers switch areas of non schengen Eastern europe with the schengen areas to stick with the rules and I had no idea some of these places were so incredible before watching these videos.  

I think this is the area to focus on I just need to narrow down where!

Thanks so much for your help.

martindow

If you want to travel around by train there is an astounding bargain in Germany this summer.  You can get tickets for 9 Euros which offer unlimited travel on public transport for a month apart from ICE ( high speed trains like French TGV).  These tickets are for June, July and August.

https://www.bahn.com/en/offers/regional/9-euro-ticket-en

tightauldgit

Loads of great options and it depends on what you and the kids want to do and what your interests in. With 2 weeks + at your disposal that's a great opportunity to do multiple countries - Prague, Vienna, Budapest (Maybe Krakow) would be a nice little run with 3/4 days in each and there should be easy enough transport connections. You could do the Baltic States and even hope over to Helsinki on the ferry from Estonia. 

Croatia is great and there's opportunity to visit Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania and even down into Greece.

Portugal is fast becoming my favourite country and you could certainly spend a great 2 weeks there - maybe split it up into Porto/Lisbon/Algarve?

Can't go far wrong with a tour of Italy, Spain or France either.