The Best Vacations for Pre-Teens and Teens

Sporty Vacations

• If your teen or tween enjoys a certain sport, why not build a family vacation around it that everyone can enjoy? Ski slopes offer something for every family member who likes snow, including skiing, snowboarding or having a snowball fight. Those who like the water can find a variety of activities from swimming, surfing, and sailing, to windsurfing, snorkeling or even scuba diving. Cycling tours and hiking can be done statewide or in exotic locations, giving your teen a chance to be active while taking in world culture, foreign languages or even a bit of history.

Theme Parks

• Whether your teen prefers roller coasters or kicking back with Mickey, there are many different kinds of amusement parks nation and world-wide that will keep you all on the edge of your seats. Disneyland and Walt Disney World appeal to kids of all ages. Many Six Flags theme parks have outdoor concerts and entertainment to accompany the screamfest offered by their high octane thrill rides. Universal Studios parks offer movie quality thrills and chills, along with studio tours and peeks into studio back lots. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter brings excitement to tweens and teens, as well as muggle moms and dads. Seaside parks, such as those found at Coney Island, Santa Monica or Santa Cruz offer old-time amusement park fun combined with sun, sand and salty sea breezes.

Big City Slickers

• Large metropolitan cities burst with entertainment and culture. Whether you tour an American cities, such as New York, San Francisco or Chicago, or an overseas city, such as Paris, London or Tokyo, your teen or preteen can bring home lifelong memories. Top quality theater productions, concerts, museum exhibits, live music in the park, city strolls, and people-watching at neighborhood café worthy of a Hopper scene. These are just some of the fun activities that can be enjoyed by families with kids, who instead of fussing in fancy restaurants, enjoy a soufflé or baked brie.

Cruises and Islands

• No need to go all Robinson Crusoe on everyone: These days, more and more tropical resorts are tailoring all-inclusive, luxury vacation packages to kids. Cruises and island hotels cater to your teen or tween's desire to spend time with peers and enjoy freedom from parents, while still having family time. Many destinations offer amenities such as teen-only lounges with dinner, dancing and mocktails. Resorts with spas that offer acne-obliterating facials and the latest mani-pedi, along with swimming pool, water playgrounds with cascading waterfalls and thrilling waterslides can make your teen or tween feel pampered enough to not mind abandoning their computer and video games for a while. They may have so much fun, they won't want to be rescued.

Camping

• Family camping in the wilderness can work if you have the sort of kid who enjoys the outdoors and who won't hyperventilate should you choose a campground without Wi-Fi. While it might be tempting to schedule every minute of your trip with wilderness hikes, fishing trips, and s'more fests, chances are this much family time will feel claustrophobic to an older children, especially a teenager. Provide plenty of downtime for your teen or tween to do his own thing, whether snoozing in the sun or enjoying his iPod. If your family likes to camp, consider allowing your son or daughter to bring a friend along on the trip.