Help,
Need to plan a holiday for next summer with two teens (14 &
18). Budget minded but not cheap! Kids like to hang out at
the beach, go snorkeling, eat out in restaurants (and the
latest music of course). They don't like site seeing, art
galleries and museums. Their parents like everything the
kids do as well as everything they don't. Have been to the
Caribbean and that works but am looking for something
different. Was thinking of Portugal... 1 week in the
Algarve (for the kids) and 1 week touring around (for the
adults). Anyone got any ideas or suggestions? We'd be
departing from Toronto and would like to keep it to the
either the Mediterranean or the Caribbean.
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the Algarve is probably one of the best kept secrets in
today's world. The weather is magnificent beaches are
breathtaking using Albufeira or any large town on the South
Coast as your base you can travel to Spain North Africa
Gibraltar all within a day. However it is better to take
several days. No use running yourself ragged and seeing
nothing. I will cut this short so that you can ask me
specific questions with your reply.Over and out.
T. W.
Thanks for your response Tom. (if you see two back from me
it's because I wrote an initial post and the system
apparently ate it ... I'll try again.)
First, your comments make everything seem very close. Being
a Canuck with kids who like to take road trips, we're quite
used to driving and it doesn't bother us. Do you think we
could set up shop in the Algarve and then do day trips, as
you say to Gibralter and maybe a couple of days in Lisbon,
or would you recommend breaking the stay into 2 components,
one in the Algarve and 1 in Lisbon?
The beaches sound great ... do you know about the prospects
for snorkeling? Is windsurfing good in the area? What other
activities are available to keep the teenagers from getting
bored?
Do you have any comments about driving in Portugal? Even
with our supposed resilience behind the wheel is it
something we should avoid?
Finally, would you know of good accomodations in the
Algarve suitable for families? We're looking into renting a
villa but a good hotel with lots of activities would suit
the kids just a well, especially if it is right on the
beach.
I've got many more questions, but this is getting long-
winded.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Regards
Ricardamundo
Dear Ricardo
Have you thought about Southern africa? If you contact me direct I can assist you further. Visit my website, read Dean's diary, visit my guestboook etc - sure you won't regret it!
www.tradepage.co.za/safari
cheers
Dean
The kids can go disco, diving and dancing. There are some
old cultural things to see like remains from the romans and
earlier cultures. The island is small enough so you can
travel all over in a day. The northwestern side is nice
green with serpentine-roads and fantastic views.
The Algarve is a lot of fun. Believe me - it looks
brilliant in the brochures but the water is FREEZING COLD.
Note how few people are bathing in the photos. I went in
September with my family and we could't stay in the water
without turning blue. We are not wimps but hardy Scot's
and are all scuba divers. My husband actually prefers
snorkelling to diving but it's a known fact that there are
hardly any fish in the Med/Atlantic. The local fish off
the rocks for what few fish are left and they actively
spear fish! The 'BIG ONE' waterpark is great fun if that's
you kind of thing and the grilled sardines and chicken or
prawn piri piri are amazing. Have fun wherever you end up!
We exchanged our home and car with a family in Provence. The
home had a pool, cable tv with American movies and French
subtitles. My 3 boys loved diving from the cliffs near and
in Marseille--lots of teens there. Hanging in the beach town
of Bandol. Cassis was nice too. They liked diving the rocks
in Gorge at Verdon--water and natural rock sllides were
incredible. We went horseback riding in the Camarague and a
great teen kind of hangout place. Picnics and no restaurants
made the trip extremely cheap.. Good luck sandy