Holidaying with Teens

I suppose I am lucky in that my children are happy to do anything. They usually enjoy whatever we do and are generally content whether having a picnic in the garden, going to the beach, visiting museums or taking part in more active pursuits like country walks or archery.

Even with such contented offspring, though, it can be tricky to find holidays and days out that are suitable for them.

This is from the perspective of an English family holidaying in England and Wales. Other than the specific attractions, though, I would think much of it could be applied to other holidays.

Family holidays are for children.

Often, when people think of a family holiday, they think of activities for young children. Holiday parks often have entertainment for adults and for under-12s but rarely anything for teens.

I have two teenagers—one is 18 and one is 13, so while we can enjoy some of the adult entertainment, my 13-year-old is usually too young. When they were small, the age gap was such that one could do certain activities but the other was either too old or too young.

What I have found is to create a bespoke holiday for our family. We begin with finding suitable accommodation and then we look around for different events and activities which we can all enjoy.

Accommodation

Our trouble over the past couple of years has been finding appropriate accommodation for our holiday. With a family of four, you can usually find a hotel room or caravan that will accommodate.

Even if you can find something suitable, it can be very expensive. One oddity that I found was a certain hotel chain only allows two over-16s to a family room yet guests must be over 18 to have a room of their own. This, of course, made things difficult when my eldest was 17. It would have meant that, instead of having four of us in one room, we would have had to pay for two rooms with my partner staying with one child and me with the other. We found a caravan instead!

I will often look on Booking.com or AirBnB where there are some good deals. This year (2018), I discovered a site called SnapTrip. Through that, we found cottages.com. This was a godsend. Not only was it good value two bedroom accommodation but it was also accessible for disabled. This is another issue that we have.

I would certainly recommend looking into some lesser known holiday places, especially if you need to accommodate more than two adults and/or have children over 12. I have lost count of the number of times I've been asked to add my children's ages only to not be able to put it because it only goes up to 12.

Attractions

Events and attractions are often geared either towards adults or towards families with younger children. So it can take a bit of work to find something suitable for teenagers.

As I said at the beginning, mine are not fussy about what we do. Wherever we go, there are always museums to visit. We also like aquariums (but they can get a bit crowded), steam trains, beaches and farms. I do realise, though, that these things might not appeal to the average teenager.

For more active teenagers, some ideas include archery, go-karting or boating. Hoseasons offers Go Active holidays on some of their sites.

During our last holiday, we took a tour of an abandoned prison - HMP Shepton Mallet, and we went to Wookey Hole Caves. My boys and I enjoyed these and found them interesting. I expected Wookey Hole to be more for younger children but there was a mix of ages there.

Unfortunately, those particular places, due to their nature, are not so good for people with physical disabilities.

Family Tickets

Even though we are a family of four, we rarely get to enjoy the offer of a family ticket. Generally, a family ticket will include up to two adults and up to three children. Depending where you visit, the age of a child can be anything from 12 to 19.

I would certainly recommend looking into visiting some smaller or lesser known attractions. Some of them will offer discretionary discounts. For example, when we took the tour of HMP Shepton Mallet, we were only charged for the three adults.

If you have a family membership for English Heritage, always have a look for their sites. Your membership includes children up to 19 years.

Advantages of Holidaying with Teens

Taking a family holiday can, in fact, be quite stressful on parents in some respects. Children complaining about long journeys, not knowing your surroundings, perhaps being limited for choices of food, worrying about children wandering off.

However, there are some advantages of having teenagers rather than younger children. While this does not apply to all of them, many teens have their own 'phones and can safely wander off within certain limits, especially if your holiday is on caravan site or similar. Perhaps not so much if you choose a more remote location or an unfamiliar city.

Teenagers are also usually able to speak to you so, unlike some younger children, can tell you things like when they need to stop for a rest break along the journey.

Furthermore, there will be events and attractions to visit which might not be suitable for younger children. Having teenagers, or having large age gaps, might make some things a little tricky but most teens are able to enjoy entertainment aimed at an adult audience.

My favourite perk of having teens rather than toddlers, though, is being able to find nice places to eat. The majority of pubs and restaurants do allow young children, families, etc. but there is a big difference between a "family" eatery and an eatery where families are welcome.

There are those which specifically cater for young families i.e. will have games, toys, and play areas and will focus on attracting people with young children. Those places tend to attract families whose children run around screaming. So, it is quite a relief to know we are no longer limited to that sort of place. We rarely have to worry about whether we will find somewhere suitable no matter where we visit.

Teens can pretty much look after themselves. They tend not to need so much stuff as younger children, and you can spend longer enjoying the day because they don't tire like little ones do, and they don't take so long to get ready!

Summary

While we are able to now do a lot of things that are intended for adults, we only really have to consider whether they are suitable for a 13 year old and for those with disabilities.

It can take a little bit of searching but there are some lovely places to stay. Depending on your needs, it can be worth calling ahead to check on the facilities on offer.

After having such trouble finding places to stay that suit our needs, I will certainly be using cottages.com again.

If you are able and willing to drive then finding somewhere off the beaten track can work out cheaper and sometimes offer better quality. However, if you do not have access to your own vehicle or do not want to spend too much time driving, you should check out the amenities beforehand. Luckily, I like driving but our last holiday was half an hour drive to the nearest shop.