Hope this is the right location. . . .

I need suggestions on what to do for a family vacation the middle two weeks of July. I would like to go somewhere off the beaten path and somewhere enjoyable with two young teenagers.

We live on Ontario, Canada, and our thoughts have ranged from going to

o Austria for two weeks (renting a car and traveling around Czech Republic, to Germany), but think that might be too much car time for the kids

o France / Brussels

o Have considered traveling around the NE of the US (MA, NH)

I have lots of Aeroplan miles so travel shouldn't be that much of a problem, so I am welcoming suggestions for a "special vacation" before the kids don't want to travel with the parents any more!

Thanks

What do your kids like doing? Europe in the summertime tends to be expensive, more so with two teenagers. For reference, gasoline in central Europe is (ballpark) $8 (US) per gallon.

How about a family trip down to Argentina? Seeing Iguazu would be really memorable for your kids, plus as it will be winter down there, you could plan a ski trip either in the deep south or at any of the Andes resorts. Beunos Aires is a nice town for tourism as well. Things are quite a bit less expensive down there.

At Austria we have also a lot of hotels, which offer a special program for young teenagers.

Same answer I gave in another thread: Maine!

come stay at my house and I'll stay at yours!
Brussels is fine, its one of the less expenive cities to visit, France always has been pricey, you could try Luxembourg as well as Belguim, Holland is good too,

why not train in europe?

one of my stops next time im in europe >
http://www.larryjkolb.com/ig/ig12.html

This summer, like the last two, we're going to Europe. We've found that going around the US and Canada in a car is very pricey and little bang for the buck. You're going for two weeks so you can budget differently than we did. But if you get a few cheap meals and hotels, it helps if you want to splurge somewhere.

Gas is higher in Europe, but you can rent a diesel and the distances aren't that great. The cost is a wash.

Hotels may or may not be more money depending on the type of place you need to stay to be happy. We were happy with the B&B chain in France and Germany. Spartan, but clean and economical and probably less than the US and Canada.

Our kids liked to picnic and that meant going to the grocery store which was interesting for them to see the different foods. For dining out, we liked to hit the Flunch and Casino Cafeterias. Very, very reasonable.

If you speak another language or even phrases, it impresses the kids to see you use it.

We found France outside of Paris to be quite reasonable for a low key trip. We did a little car camping last year. Not this year, but I think we'll miss it. We just had some hotel points to burn.

Mont Blanc was a family favorite. So was Colmar.

Oddly, we found Europe a reasonable place to shop for kids clothes and casual clothes. We could go to C&A and get clothes as cheaply as the US. Granted, that was at $1.35 to the Euro, but it was so cheap that we didn't bother to get the tax back.

Austria would be a great place to add in a little camping. There was a town we stopped at with a campsite and a city waterpark that was nice. Salzburg was fun with the family.

All I can say is do it!

Too expensive for a family in our experience. It is also very limiting.

Caveat: I'm not very well traveled, just a few trips to Europe and a few trips to South America, so my opinion certainly has less value than most here.

But- Sarajevo is one of the most interesting places I've ever been, and I believe it is worthy of consideration. Very interesting from a cultural/historical standpoint, beautiful, and lovely people. It is also inexpensive and off the beaten path, but not too far off.

+1

Maine is wonderful in summertime. ^

i meant this >
http://www.eurail.com/
http://www.eurail.com/eurail_passes

prices from >
$49 - Country - Select a country! / Travel 3 to 10 days in 2 months
$205 - Regional - Select a region! / Travel 3 to 10 days in 2 months
$305 - Select - 3 to 5 Countries / Travel 5 to 10 days in 2 months
$485 - Global - 20 Countries / Travel 10 days to 3 months

personally, ive done some running place to place, and learned i prefer not to do too much of that. although i also tend to be more interested in "going native" as much as possible, as opposed to sightseeing etc.

He's got two weeks and he can rent a car for much less money and expense and not be stuck waiting for someone else's schedule.

As a young person, the train was very inexpensive and flight was expensive. That's not true in Europe anymore.

Would you call it special? You could have a special vacation there, but I wonder if the teenagers would be that impressed.

Get everyone out of their comfort zone.

I personally would ask the teenagers where they would like to vacation. If you prefer, pick 4 or 5 spots you'd be pleased with and let them choose from the list.

Nothing worse than disinterested/unhappy teens on vacation, so you might as well make it fun for them.

And all you folks who keep recommending Maine...you DO know what's going to happen, don't you? Some things are better left as "best kept secrets', no?

Rather short notice, but Alaska might be worthwhile.

Have they been to the Rockies or the west coast? Fly to Calgary, get a car, do a loop - Calgary - Banff/Jasper - Vancouver - Seattle - Yellowstone/Glacier - Calgary. GREAT itinerary with teens.

Any European family heritage? You might be surprised that the kids would respond positively to a little family tree climbing. Since time is short, get them involved with the pre-trip research.