Last updated on January 11th, 2024 at 11:51 am
Just because your kids are getting older doesnât mean you canât still enjoy an awesome family vacation! Follow these tips for traveling with teens and tweens to ensure your entire family has a fun and memorable trip.
Family Vacations with Teens & Tweens
While traveling with teens and tweens can certainly present challenges, there are lots of ways to help make it a whole lot less stressful. I am very lucky to have a 15-year-old son who loves traveling as much as I do, and we get along well both on vacation and at home. Still, the road is never 100% without some bumps.
There are many things Iâve learned over the years that make traveling with teens and tweens a rewarding, peaceful and memorable experience. Here are my top 20 tips to help make your trip enjoyable for everyone in your family!
1. Include Teens in the Planning Process
Itâs a family vacation, so why not include the whole family when it comes to making the plans? Teens have definite likes and dislikes. If you engage them from the start of the vacation planning process â listen to their ideas, have them help research destinations and activities â they will feel empowered and get excited about the trip.
You can also enlist their help in planning the itinerary once you know where you are going. If they have a favorite type of food, let them research local restaurants. If you know you want to visit some museums and there are a lot to choose from, seek out their opinions and let them narrow down the choices. Have them look at the websites for the hotels you are considering, and let them give input on which one looks the nicest or has the best pool.
The more your teen is involved in the planning process, the more vested they will be in having a good time on the trip!
2. Consider Letting Them Bring a Friend
If your teen is an only child or has siblings that are not close in age, consider allowing him to invite a friend! This will give your teen a buddy to talk and have fun with, and take the pressure off you (as the parents) being the only source of company for your teen while on vacation.
This works especially well if you are going on a short weekend getaway or road trip. And they’ll especially love having a friend along if you are visiting a theme park or water park!
3. Let Them Pack Their Own Bags
When my son was younger, I always packed his bag â whether we were going on a week-long vacation or he was simply going to visit his grandparents for the weekend.
Now that he is a teenager, the urge is still there, but I force myself to resist. Letting him pack his own bag not only gives him control of what he wants to wear, it teaches him to be responsible and think ahead. If he only packs shorts and it is 50 degrees at night, oh well. If he forgets a toothbrush, then heâll be going down to the gift shop to buy a new one.
Teens also need to be responsible for their own bags in transit â whether pulling a suitcase through airport security or simply hefting it from the car up to the hotel room, so the amount of stuff they bring needs to be manageable. In short, packing for vacation is a lesson in accountability.
4. Add a Theme Park to Your Itinerary
No matter where you decide to go on your vacation, chances are thereâs a theme park nearby. Teens love theme parks. Even if it is not the focus of your trip, working just one theme park day into the itinerary will give them something awesome to look forward to as the countdown begins.
When we visited Dallas a few years ago over spring break, we planned a day at Six Flags over Texas in Arlington. Even though we live near LA and go to Disneyland all the time, and Six Flags Magic Mountain is also a pretty regular excursion, taking the opportunity to visit a different Six Flags park ended up being the highlight of our trip for my son.
5. Do a Good Deed on Vacation
Vacations are a good opportunity to give back. Doing good for others is an awesome feeling, and a great value to instill upon your children. For this reason, I am a huge fan of volunteer vacations!
But you donât always have to plan your entire trip around volunteering; sometimes just a day or one activity on your itinerary can make a huge difference. If your goal is to leave a positive impact while setting out on new adventures, find a way to volunteer while youâre on your trip. It can be as simple as going to an animal sanctuary and leaving a small donation, or participating in a charity event while visiting a new city.
When we visited the Florida Keys last year, we took a tour of the Turtle Hospital on Marathon Key. The Turtle Hospital is currently caring for 25 sea turtle patients and 18 non-releasable sea turtles. Money raised on their tours supports their work, so it was a win-win for everyone. (Plus, my son loves sea turtles!)
6. Consider a Cruise
The thing that makes cruises great is that there is something for everyone! If you are struggling with where to go that will make everyone happy, consider a cruise. Thereâs endless food, endless fun, things your family can do together, and activities that cater to every different age group. A cruise can be the one of the best family vacations with teens!
Most cruise lines offer a teens-only club, where your teens can meet other kids their own age and do fun activities, or just chill out in the lounge. Carnival Cruise Line has Club O2. Teens can hang out watching movies, listening to music, playing sports and video games, joining karaoke parties, and playing fun games. When you’re traveling with teens, cruises provide the perfect balance of giving teens the chance to be independent, and lots of opportunities for family bonding. It is the perfect vacation!
7. Let Them Pick the Playlist
If your teen is into music, put them in charge of the road trip playlist. Or at least let them pick the radio station. My son and I made the five hour drive to Vegas not too long ago, and letting him stream the music he loved was actually a cool, unexpected bonding experience on the long trip. (Who knew he liked so many of the ’80s metal bands I listened to in high school?!)
8. Pack Healthy Snacks
Teens like to eat. A lot. Do yourself a favor and pack plenty of snacks. It will save you money, and more importantly, it is much easier to just pull some nuts or a granola bar out of your bag than trying to find something healthy to eat on the fly.
9. Go Easy on the Photos
Teens love to take photos, but unless itâs a selfie they usually hate to be in them. I know my son rolls his eyes and ducks away every time I try to take his picture or worse yet, ask him to be in one with me.
So the best advice is, go easy on the pictures! Shoot for quality over quantity. Maybe make a deal: if they promise to smile and pose for one or two photos a day, you wonât bombard them with requests to say cheese everywhere you go. That way, the pictures that you do get are guaranteed to capture a happy, smiling teen, instead of one that will be annoyed throughout the whole trip.
10. Let Them Have Free Time
Traveling with teens is all about enjoying time together as a family, but too much of a good thing can get old for teens who are used to hanging with their friends. Make sure they have a little free time worked into every day so they can do their own thing. Whether it is going to the hotel gym on their own, taking on the challenge of a hotel scavenger hunt, or having some downtime in the hotel room to text with friends or play games online, a little free time will go far.
11. Respect Their Privacy
Your kid may have had no problem running around a hotel room naked when they were little, but teenagers embarrass easily and are very private about their bodies. Give them the respect they need. Donât try to go into the bathroom to brush your teeth while theyâre in the shower, and donât say things that will make them feel self-conscious. In fact, the biggest favor you can do for a teen is leave the room for half an hour and let them take care of their business in peace!
On the same note, understand that even if you donât mind your teen seeing you in your underwear, they might not like it. Get dressed in the bathroom and wear a robe until you get in bed at night if your PJs tend to be on the skimpy side.
12. Offer Them Their Own Sleeping Space
Unless youâre renting a house or Airbnb, your family is probably going to be sharing a hotel room. That typically means the parents get one bed and the kids share the other. If your teen has a younger brother or sister and doesnât want to share, give them the option to sleep on the floor or ask for a rollaway bed. That may sound extreme, but it is a show of respect for their privacy.
Keep in mind, if the younger kid doesnât mind sharing then they should get the regular bed. Thatâs only fair! Most hotels will provide extra blankets and sheets. You can also look for a hotel that has bunk beds or an extra pullout sofa bed in addition to the two queens.
13. Plan on Some Active Activities
Even if your idea of a great vacation is lying on the beach 24/7, teens have energy to burn. Make sure you include some activities that will help everyone stay active and healthy on your vacation.
Now, does that mean you have go zip lining through the jungle or propel down a mountain? No, of course not! Active can mean taking a simple hike, renting bikes or participating in some water sports at a nearby beach.
When we visited San Francisco recently, one of the best things we did was take a bike tour and ride across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito. Not only was it a fun way to see the city and spend time outside, it turned out to be a great workout, too!
14. Choose a Hotel with a Pool
Nothing beats a swim in the hotel pool after a long day of sightseeing or doing things outside in the sun. Your teen will appreciate being able to take a quick swim at the end of the day, or spend time outside at the pool if you have a break in the afternoon. It is nice for them to be able to play in the pool if theyâre still raring to go and you just want to put your feet up on a lounge chair and rest for a little bit. (Bonus point if there’s a server to bring you a margarita!)
15. Choose a Hotel with Free Breakfast
As weâve said before, teens like to eat. When youâre away from home relying on eating out for every meal, the cost of food can add up quickly! Do your budget a favor and book a hotel that offers a complimentary breakfast.
Even if itâs just fruit and some waffles, filling up in the morning until lunchtime will save you a ton of money in the long run.
16. Learn Something New
Teens are naturally curious and enjoy learning â as long as itâs not shoved down their throats. Weave a little history and culture into your trip. They wonât mind being educated if it is under the guise of being fun and interesting. Natural history museums, science museums, aquariums, historical sites, and planetariums are just some of the places you can visit on vacation where the whole family will enjoy learning something new together.
17. Visit a Place They’ve Read About
History comes alive when you visit the place something happened, and the same thing goes for literature. Kids read a lot of books in middle and high school. If you go to a place theyâve read about, that will bring a whole new appreciation for the book to your teen.
A great example is Monterey, California. John Steinbeck is a staple in almost every high school English class. You can read about Cannery Row, but visiting Cannery Row in Monterey will give them a great appreciation for the book, and really bring history alive.
18. Make Sure They Get Plenty of Sleep
Sure, it would be awesome if everyone went to sleep by 10 and got up at 7, but with teenagers that just isnât always realistic! No matter how tired they are, teens (mine at least) will stay up late to watch TV or play on their phones, making an early wake-up call a bad idea.
Sure, sometimes you have to get going first thing if your day is going to be a busy one, but try to keep your morning routine as leisurely as possible. Teens need sleep, so letting them get enough rest is essential for a good vacation. Nobody wants to deal with a cranky teenager!
19. Encourage Them to Be Neat
Sharing a small space â like a hotel room â is tough for anyone. But if your teen is one who likes to leave clothes lying around or toiletries spread out on the counter, it is going to bug everyone on the trip. Encourage your teen to fold their clothes if theyâre going to wear them again, or put them in a laundry bag if theyâre not. Helping to keep the room neat and tidy is a great life lesson in general, and doing it on vacation will be a benefit to everyone!
20. Be Flexible
My final and possibly most important tip is be flexible! As anyone with a teen likely knows, they can be a moody bunch. Donât schedule out every minute of every day when you are traveling with teens. If you keep your plans flexible, everyone in your family will have a good time.
Time goes by quickly and your teens will soon be adults. Youâll always be a family, but family vacations may look very different in the future. Enjoy the time you have together and be flexible and understanding to make sure the memories youâre making will be good ones for everyone!
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