Anonymous
05/13/2025 10:57
Subject: Best vacation with teenage sons?
Maldives-if your kids are into water sports, it's the most spectacular place to snorkel or scuba.
Anonymous
05/12/2025 12:00
Subject: Best vacation with teenage sons?
My boys like vacations with some driving. We went to Romania and they had a fantastic time on the Transfagarasian highway. The scenery was amazing and you could stop at these little vendors and buy tons of handmade sausages and cheese. Pretty sure that's an ideal day for teenage boys.
We try to keep the driving to a few hours per day and that is very easy to do in most European countries. I like to do the driving in the mornings, be at whatever cute town by lunch, then see what there is to see. The boys can go off exploring in most European towns/cities with no concerns for safety or getting lost, so if they want to do that, they can.
We try to keep the driving to a few hours per day and that is very easy to do in most European countries. I like to do the driving in the mornings, be at whatever cute town by lunch, then see what there is to see. The boys can go off exploring in most European towns/cities with no concerns for safety or getting lost, so if they want to do that, they can.
Anonymous
05/12/2025 11:30
Subject: Re:Best vacation with teenage sons?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Mine loved:
Croatia (rented house with pool on Brac, sailboat excursions, beaches)
Corsica (see above)
Germany (skiing in winter, driving around and spending time in Berlin in summer, sailing, kayaking, museums, biking)
Alaska (kayaking, ice climbing, whale watching, hiking, white water rafting)
Scotland (Edinburgh then train to Inverness and car through highlands, hiking)
London (museums, historical sites)
Really anything that doesn't involve long hours in a car without a purpose, and they want to stay fairly active. Also they prefer to rent houses or apartments for the space and access to kitchen/food. (they eat a lot and nobody has patience for 3-4 restaurants a day in Europe, that's half the day)
As long as I'm not expected to grocery shop or plan. cook, clean up the meals, then I'm fine with that.
Haha, yeah, I can see your point. (PP here). DH and I like to grocery shop in other countries and buy foods we don't always get here. (markets, wharf, stores) Meals are not a big production and everyone kind of takes turns or makes their own since they all eat more. It's not really more work for me.
Anonymous
05/12/2025 11:29
Subject: Best vacation with teenage sons?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Dude ranch!
Yes this is my suggestion. Go to CM ranch in Wyoming- best week of my life with my sons (single mom here).
We did a dude ranch and it wasn’t our favorite. We found that to do really fun rides, you needed to pass tests and we weren’t able to do that in the time we were there. The kids would ride for a couple hours and then we’re kind of bored with the other activities. We had other vacations we liked better especially for the price.
Yes, it's much better for riders in my experience. When I took my son our entire group was all experienced riders and we had a blast. I could see where it would get a bit old/boring if spending all day walking your horse is what you end up doing. The ranch we went to in Wyoming (https://thehideout.com/) advertises other activities but in reality there was nothing else to do. The one day we wanted to do something else in the afternoon they basically told us to figure it out ourselves.
Anonymous
05/12/2025 11:28
Subject: Re:Best vacation with teenage sons?
Anonymous wrote:Mine loved:
Croatia (rented house with pool on Brac, sailboat excursions, beaches)
Corsica (see above)
Germany (skiing in winter, driving around and spending time in Berlin in summer, sailing, kayaking, museums, biking)
Alaska (kayaking, ice climbing, whale watching, hiking, white water rafting)
Scotland (Edinburgh then train to Inverness and car through highlands, hiking)
London (museums, historical sites)
Really anything that doesn't involve long hours in a car without a purpose, and they want to stay fairly active. Also they prefer to rent houses or apartments for the space and access to kitchen/food. (they eat a lot and nobody has patience for 3-4 restaurants a day in Europe, that's half the day
As long as I'm not expected to grocery shop or plan. cook, clean up the meals, then I'm fine with that.
Anonymous
05/12/2025 11:27
Subject: Best vacation with teenage sons?
I’m gojng to suggest two that I haven’t done but have been eyeing.
Belize — some of the best snorkeling in the world, amazing Mayan ruins that you can climb, can also do jungle tours.
Panama — I’ve heard the tours of the canal are really cool and from there you can go to really great beaches or charter a catamaran to take out around the blas islands.
I think my son would love either of these but am having trouble talking his sister into it.
Belize — some of the best snorkeling in the world, amazing Mayan ruins that you can climb, can also do jungle tours.
Panama — I’ve heard the tours of the canal are really cool and from there you can go to really great beaches or charter a catamaran to take out around the blas islands.
I think my son would love either of these but am having trouble talking his sister into it.
Anonymous
05/12/2025 11:26
Subject: Best vacation with teenage sons?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The most memorable trip we did with our kids was a 10 day trip to California along the Pacific Highway. We started in San Francisco, then drove to Carmel, then to Santa Barbara with a stop at the Hearst Castle and finally Los Angeles and Laguna Beach.
I would do it all over again in a heartbeat!
Carmel is basically heaven on earth! That was my favorite trip as well, absolutely loved it. We stopped in LA as well and did the Getty and the Broad, ate in Koreatown, went to the Santa Monica peer. San Francisco was amazing too. It was a lot of fun for everyone, but my teens' favorite trip was Barcelona and Madrid, by far: they loved the stores, the markets, thrifting, food, scenery and how dynamic everything was in Barcelona especially. I personally hated Barcelona and loved Madrid.
What do active teen boys do on the driving trips? I agree the drive is breathtaking but not a lot to do in Carmel or Santa Monica.
Complain and surf their phones. At least that's what mine do if there is too much driving for just "scenery". I advise against that kind of trip with active teens. Although it seems to work out a bit better if it's one-on-one and you have a rule of no phone. Then you can talk to them. I take mine alone on a graduation trip of their choosing and that's about the only time the car rides seem to be ok. Whole family car trips aren't as easy or fun.
Anonymous
05/12/2025 11:24
Subject: Best vacation with teenage sons?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Dude ranch!
Yes this is my suggestion. Go to CM ranch in Wyoming- best week of my life with my sons (single mom here).
We did a dude ranch and it wasn’t our favorite. We found that to do really fun rides, you needed to pass tests and we weren’t able to do that in the time we were there. The kids would ride for a couple hours and then we’re kind of bored with the other activities. We had other vacations we liked better especially for the price.