Neilson holiday with teenagers…

Considering spending a bit (actually a lot) more then usual and booking an active holiday with the fam next summer, possibly one of the last one before the oldest heads off to uni and summer planning gets trickier.

Neilson Croatia, on the face of it, looks pretty good, lots of land and water sports so hopefully  enjoyable for (potentially moody ) teenagers. However, the marketing videos seem to feature small kids, face painting and the like or adults having a sail and a chill and not much in between. Are teenagers the forgotten demographic, Will they be outnumbered 100:1 by younger kids?

suggestions for other locations appreciated as is the singletrack way.

Also consider Mark Warner

Are teenagers the forgotten demographic

Very much not. Clubs for all ages. The teen/hormone club was one of the biggest when I’ve been at a neilson, staffed by some of the most tolerant humans on the planet. Deliberately setup away from the younger kids so the Waynes and Kevins can do their best at being too cool for being looked after but quietly loving it.

Not been to the Croatia club but my sister has and enjoyed it. My usual caveat with these holidays is at the peak of high season it’s bloody hard to take advantage of all the kit as it’s so flipping hot.  Personally, may half term for the win…..Oct half term can also work but is a lot more iffy weatherwise.

Edited to answer post below. The teen clubs are normally staffed by high season uni students and only tend to run in legitimate school holidays.

2nd edit – and from my days as staff not guest, the teen clubs at these sort of things can become remortgage inducing if you don’t keep a handle on it. Fizzy drinks, crisps and ice creams at club prices on mum and dad’s room number plus maybe a paid trip away and maybe extra waterskiing. Ouch.

Been on a few Neilsons, we tend ot go late season – October. Generally quite a child free week, but a couple of times we have accidentally gone during Scottish half term plus a few sciving families.

The older kids seemed to have a good time doing the “adult” activities. If they are happy doing that, and happy in the company of their siblings, parents and possibly other teenagers.

Organised “kid” activities I think would be limited to the younger ones.

I might get corrected by anyone who has been in full school holiday season.

We did a flotilla with neilson way back

The first week was shore based while they trained my wife

They had 2 levels of kids club

The kidy one was tame. Just a bit of kayaking etc. My daughter was 4 and my son 6 and it worked well

The next level up cost more but looked great. Proper water sports. Lots of smiling faces. Lunch out kitty got that group was a further expense

Looks like things have changed a bit. But I’d be suprised if it wasn’t good. I thought they were a great company

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We hear children can get bored easily but we’ve never seen it ourselves! Our inclusive narrow age-band kids’ clubs for ages 2-17 are run by an experienced team who’ll keep them entertained for hours. For the tiny tots (2-3 years), we’ve got Sea Turtles and Sea Urchins. Ages 4-9 years can join the fun with Sea Badgers, Surfbusters, and Sharksters. While the adventure continues for those aged 10-15 years with Stingrays, Surf Squad, and Wave Riders. And for the teens (16-17 years), it’s all about TAG – our exclusive club just for them.

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My lad went with a mate’s family last summer (16yrs) to Rhodes Mark Warner. They had a great time with the water sports, but they were after a bit more night life than was available on the campus. They ended up cabbing and bussing out to the bigger local town for clubs and bars in the evenings. Timing key to make sure enough youth are on campus there (so immediately post A’s might be too soon for it to be full of teens)

This summer we took the lad and some of his mates (they paid own flights and a share of the rental) to a villa in Kalkan, and we were in the middle of the town so they could walk to the clubs in the evnings, lots of other British teens (lots of brits not something i would usually call an advantage on holiday) and watersports at various beachclubs during the day. We have also done something similar in Nerja in Spain.

We are not sure we’ll have him with us next year as they are all desperate to do their own thing post As, and they are all talking about Shagaluf. Mrs Epic not enamoured of that idea!

Plenty of teenagers at the croatia one a few weeks ago.

I will say that the croatia neilson doesn’t have that good mountain biking.  Lots of road to get to the limited trails.  Oddly the mountains right near the place don’t have any trails.  Was a real shame,  we discussed with the guides and they just said it isn’t a short they do much there

We’ve been to Croatia and it is beautiful, especially the national park (has an entrance fee, you can climb there – spectacular). Wind is not consistent at Croatia so better for none sail water sports, good enough for beginners but not the more advanced sailors. Tennis was good, gym superb and the classes were a good variety. The local village is about 15 min walk away and make sure you go to Ante restaurant for dinner, I cannot rate the food there highly enough. My mouth is watering at the thought of it !

We tend to go out of school holidays but when we have seen teenagers around they are doing their own thing, using all the available kit and generally having a great time. They are most definitely not the forgotten demographic. If your kids are after a club scene on a night then probably not Neilsons or even Mark Warner as they are more about the day time activities then getting out on the lash at night and their locations reflect this.

Messini has better wind conditions but nothing walkable to it apart from 3 very average tavernas, the town is a short taxi away. Food in the resort on a none inclusive night was excellent though.

Levante is a bit different as half the resort is Playitas so there’s Danes, Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish guests as well as Neilsons. Booking on classes can be a bit of a pain (you can only book from 8am onwards), biking was OK, tennis and classes were great and the wind was much better than at Croatia

Vounaki is much smaller than the 3 above but does have a village close by. Sardinia we’ve not been to.

We’ve been on a few Neilsons so ask away …….

Just done our 1st Neilson beach trip to Alana in Croatia. Had great time there. Ours were 11 and 13 and had a great time. Nice atmosphere and the team looking after us seemed happy and to enjoy their roles.

The club ages are quite tight in ages so don’t get too much of an age difference which seems to work. We saw lots of the teens groups hanging out together during the day and evening too. The activities seems to flex depending to a degree on what the kids wanted to do! They appeared to be enjoying themselves (unless a parent made an appearance)

Numbers will vary depending on the week. We did 11 nights and the 1st week was very pleasant with lots of availability etc but the 2nd week was very busy and the eldest club number went from about 18 kids to north of 40. He had found some friends already and they hung around together and had a great time.

Agree re biking at Croatia. Mostly just fire roads but still enjoyed it especially the e-bike ride that did 1100 m climbing in 15 km before turning back.

Both of mine would do it again as would my wife and I.