Relaxing family vacation with teens?

[mom2binsd]

Lake Michigan, either east or west side!

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[smilequeen]

When I think relaxing the beach is the first thing that comes to mind. Which beach depends on budget and possibly location. We are Midwest so Hawaii vs Caribbean is about the same travel time and I prefer those to continental US but there are some great beaches on the East Coast/Florida for relaxing. Michigan is also a good option. We are really thinking of hitting Mackinac for along weekend this summer.

[mommy111]

Europe. All the teenage kids love it. And it’s one of those times where they actually wull
hang out with us

[StantonHyde]

We love Monterey area or San Diego. kayaking, playing in the surf every night, something to do besides the beach every day. Hiking. fun.

[elbert]

Agree with lots of the above. Beach resorts are fun and give the kids places to wander. It’s also nice to see new places together, where everyone is on equal footing (meaning your first time somewhere, too). We’ve incorporated resort-type hotels into Europe trips and that’s a nice balance of exploring plus down time. Some of the alpine villages in Switzerland, Italy, Austria, etc. are great for that. A lot of people think of European vacations as marchs to museums and historic sites, but we’ve embraced limiting that and wandering around to relax and enjoy street performers, small towns and villages, and those wonderful alpine huts that have great food and drink with beautiful views and comfortable seating in the middle of nowhere as you hike!


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[SnuggleBuggles]

I think my kids must be part sloths. They seriously don’t want to go anywhere when on vacation. Can’t even drag them to go play mini golf. Maybe I can get them to the ice cream store, that’s about it. Hiking, wandering around quaint towns, catching beautiful vistas...nope. They declared 2 years ago that only our oceanfront beach house rental qualified as vacation. I’m sure they’d say the same about a beach resort so long as they weren’t expected to do anything. 🤣 Sloths, I tell you.
ETA- I have to define travel as either a trip or vacation. If they know it’s a trip then they’re more amenable to doing stuff. Vacation just gets their hopes up!

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[SnuggleBuggles]

My teen did Europe with school. Loved it but not sure if that was partly because all his friends were there.


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[PunkyBoo]

Kauai! Where did you stay?

We stayed in South shore, in Poipu. We were there over Thanksgiving break and it is less rainy on South side in the winter. I've heard that in the summer you'd want North shore. But we had a car and went all over the island.

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[gatorsmom]

Yep, beaches have been the most relaxing for our family too. We liked doing an all-inclusive in Cancun. There were other things to do (which was important for DH), and the kids still dreaming about throwing themselves into those waves. We went 2 spring breaks in a row to the same beach resort.

The next most relaxing vacation (voted on by our family recently) was the southern countryside in France. We stayed in a small town where the kids and I could walk to the grocery store, a nice deli, a bakery, and 3 excellent restaurants. They loved that they could walk outside to discover stuff. But there were small day trips to see Roman ruins, ornate churches and historical stuff which pleases those of us who like to go out and explore for fun. We went in May/June before the European high tourism season (July & August) and before it got too hot there.

Our kids voted the least relaxing trip was our stays in Paris and Strasbourg. We rented apartments in both and the kids didn’t like the busy streets, noisy traffic and the difficulty getting to the things we wanted to do and see. The youngest two didn’t like the crowded museums and our oldest son wanted to spend hours examining stuff in museums long after the youngest ones were done. The twins’ and DS2’s favorite thing in Paris was running around and racing boats in the large pond at the Luxembourg gardens.

The packing for a beach vacation is easier and more fun too. Much less planning involved. Hth!

[smilequeen]

r.e. Europe for relaxing, look at Greece if that interests you. A lot of beach resorts and Athens can be done in a shorter time than some other European cities. We found that to be our most relaxing European vacation with kids so far. We stayed in Santorini, Chania, Elounda, and Athens.