ok.. this is not a lecture but the first things to considder

lets go through a few things..

1] see the minimum age to purchase/consume alcahol

2]find a company that will give them good travel insurance [but remember if drunk the policy will be invalid, so will it be if injured whilst partaking in dangorous sports the riding/driving of scooters/mopeds/dune buggies, UNLESS you declair your intention to the insurers

3] find an airline/tour operator willing to accept children unacompanid [and yes under uk law anyone under 18 is a child and cannot purchase or lead a holiday group so 1 will need to be over 18 to lead]

4] many resorts are now rebelling agaist the drunk brit abroad [a couple of years back i was in Laganas {the party capital of Zakynthos} the police picked up 15 british students and took them to the airport and re-patriated them to the uk ..they had been on the island 48hrs and would have been charged by the airlines at FULL rates for their return tickets]

5] many hotels will ask for a wad of cash up front as soon as they arrive to cover possible damage

TenerifeLover69 wrote:

A place where they can get drunk/trashed

I'd be scared whoopsless if my 15 yr old was already planning the above for 2 years time. Tell him to watch a few episodes of Sun Sea and A&E and he may, hopefully, change his mind

to be fair glynis i added the trashed bit just so people got the idead of clubbing.I accept its growing up and if you stop them doing this they will be worse in the future.

I presume that your group of lads are aware that some of what they intend to do, despite it being part of their 'coming of age', may actually be contrary to the law of the land of the country they visit.

I cannot in good conscience offer you or them any advice on this topic.

No lecture from me, but have you thought about your post?? Why does clubbing have to equal trashed??? As a parent I would be ashamed to put a post like this on a forum.

I will admit its wrong but its my first post having never been on here before, any way to edit it?

There is an edit button on your post - perhaps you should use it, because you are not on the right type of forum for the advice you seem to looking for (and yes, I am a parent of a 17 and 20 year old just in case you think I am a bit of a fuddy duddy!) I just don't really understand why you would use ask that type of question on a forum you are new to, to be honest.

The question has been asked sevearl times over the years on HT. It has already been pointed out that at least one must be 18 years or older. You as a parent will also be required to give written permission to travel. It is also possible that you may have to accept liability for their behaviour.

From past tales here on HT there is also the problem of people falling out or changing their minds. It is important that everyone is aware of the financial consequences should that happen. The lead name would be liable for any charges should that happen. The lead name is the only person who the tour operator will talk to.

Without wishing to be a spoilsport there is a lot more to it than a group of boys or girls deciding they want to go on holiday.

Your sons account would be blocked as there is a minimum age for membership of HT. In some ways that is also a good thing - more sense if their parents post asking questions. At least you can be fully aware of any pit falls - with any luck the kids might actually listen to you - although don't count on them taking notice.

1. Members of HolidayTruths.co.uk must be aged 18 years or over
This is regrettable, but necessary to protect the privacy and security of children, who have been known to post messages in the past which are not in their best interests. This is inline with UK contractual laws.

fwh

A lot of places now are also wary of accepting largish groups of same sex bookings - ie a group of lads, or girls together as they have been known to disrupt other people in the hotel when returning after a drinking session.

Looking at that list of age limits, it doesn't leave too many choices given the age of the group.

Germany, Italy, Portugal and Cyprus are probably the best bet as the first 3 start at 16 with Cyprus being 17yrs to drink legally.

There's a couple of Scandinavian countries there too but could be expensive.

Ayia Napa club prices are very expensive but the bars around the Square are open till past 2am.

However, going off past holidays we've taken I would say Portugal may be a good place as I recall prices of food and drink was always a little lower than mainland Spain and the islands. Italy was expensive but I haven't been to Germany for many years.

If there is any hint of trouble in Ayia Napa, the hotels and police are very quick off the mark as it got a bad reputation a few years ago and they clamp down heavily.

You may know them all personally but having worked in travel for many years in UK before moving to Cyprus, I've had to listen to parents sobbing their hearts out on the phone when they find out their kids have either been arrested or threatened with being thrown out of accommodation if they didn't pay for the damage they had caused. I personally know of 2 incidents where guests were locked up in Nicosia prison for 28 days (1 for damages and the other for falsely making out they had lost a camera whilst on an excursion). The camera was found in their accommodation when the 2 guests were separated for questioning. The High Commission got involved but they still had to serve their sentence!

Given the fact your son's account on here was already closed because he was under age only confirms that more attention needs to be paid to the small print :-)

Good luck but I reckon your hair will be grey by the time they return

Shell
Limassol, Cyprus

No lecture and an non-judgemental post from me, as I am around 15,16,17,and 18 year olds all the time and dont see why they shouldn't holiday abroad.

If they are still in business, it seems well known amongst this age group (or maybe this age groups parents that are in the know) that a company called Olympic Holidays will book age 16 plus on to package holidays, whereas most tour operators its 18 plus.

I suggest they get an olymic holiday brochure and start by looking through that, they do most of the usual suspects that this age group would like ie.. Greece, Cyprus and Turkey.

Otherwise it will have to be Easyjet ( I booked a 17 year old onto any easyjet flight last year to travel unaccompanied) and booking a hotel direct.

As a package holiday will be covered by the package tour regultions they will probably be better off with Olympic. Just make sure they get decent travel insurance.

Oh the joys . My son (18) and his mates are at this moment getting together to discuss their lads holiday . It will be their 2nd but my sons first ( he was forced to come with us last year ). Dont get me wrong he has every intention of getting 2 holidays this year .

Ayia Napa is the chosen destination and they will all be 18 by the time they go .Guess who they think is going to sort it all out for them . Yours truely. apparently they have all been told how good I am at booking holidays . I took a peep into this world last night although I have no intention of making the booking & dont want him as lead name either but I do want the best for my son .
Thomas cook seem to have a "clubbing " section but you can only put in up to 9 adults on line . This may be 18-30 but not sure who own's that now . From what I gather though the choice is mostly apartments, all companies seem to offer the same ones that are totally given up to groups of lads/girls who will be plastered everynight , jumping in the pool at 4am and not rising before mid afternoon. Ok I was young once and I can accept that . Most of them will be bordering dumps but clean & basic at best . I think this is the way they need to go in all honesty .

http://www.sunshine.co.uk holidays also seem to offer what they are looking for at a much better price and indeed my friends son has used them but that is DIY and in the case of my pricing last night, flights put together with Easyjet. Whilst I would have no hestiation with that if it was for our family holiday I'm not sure I would be happy with my son and his mates booking a DIY . No flexibility if changes need to be made . A couple of lads drop out etc but at least with a Thomas cook they will .

Dont want to hijack this topic but if anyone can give me any advice on Ayia Napa for a group of lads or pitfalls to watch for I'd be grateful.

lyn

LOL sorry Lyn a bit , but I would think the main pitalls are STD's & alcohol poisioning. Go on you know you really want to do all the organising, planning and booking of it deep down. Oh and then worrying yourself silly as to if they will like it.

Can you imagine the blame I will get when they all arrive at some dump with mould growing everywhere & vomit stains on the bed covers or it is as boring as hell but has good reviews.

It will be a case of Thanks but no Thanks . I'll give them a list of suggestions which is what I did last night along with a big star against the one with the best reviews . What one did they choose . The one with bad reviews (The pambo magic )but had two pools , one of them for all night use called the "porn pool" (and boy does that one seem to see some action ), music playing until 6am & 2 mins from the clubs . Party all the way.

You are making me feel very old. Apparently it is called 'Napa' you mustn't say the Aiya bit only tip I have really. Seems v. popular with the 16+ crowd. HAve you looked at the Olympic brochure/site ? Might help a bit if you think they would be safer on a package - by safer I mean if the company goes belly up, getting replacement flights repatriated etc. Would imagine that would be a nightmare for teens to re-arrange from abroad for themselves. Although I can't see Easy going bust.

http://www.olympicholidays.com

No I havnt looked at olympic chris. Thanks will take a peek tonight . Need to get the enthusiasm up again .

It's more the flexiblity that's worrying me Chris . You know what they are like at changing their minds or suddenly deciding they hav'nt the money , although all seemed to go well last year despite me pouring negativity all over it .

I am not going to lecture anyone over the ins and outs of a bunch of under age lads going on the lash in Cyprus, Tenerife or in Shagaluf. I was that age once and I know exactly how it is. I also have a son approaching 19 and a step daughter almost 22..and although they used to come with us to places like Egypt ( reluctantly) their interest was in places like Pasha and various other bars.

I think the original poster (which is probably the same lad, just logged in as his dad to keep the account!) could look at Napa, PDLA Tenerife), San Antonio in Ibiza or Magaluf. As a parent, are you not in the least bit worried who will take responsibility for your under aged lads when one of them is lying in a gutter vomitting?

For simplicity...they could even tour all the bars in Benidorm...

As well as Napa, Albuferia in the Algarve might be OK. It has a 'strip' with loads of bars and clubs, they will need to go in July or August for it to be lively though.

Could be cheap to go there as it's close, flights to Faro are plentyful and cheap and they will probably be able to get a couple of one bedroomed apartments cheap if there are 6 of them, with three in each, or some 2 bed apartments sleep six and then they can all be together. That will leave more money for going out of an evening.

I think Vals idea of Benidorm is good as well, but mentioned to an 18 year old and I think that age group perceive it as for older people/families, which is a shame as I reckon they could have a good time there.

I'm not sure why folk are saying this is the wrong forum to be asking this question on we have had similar before. I think it's a good idea to let your hair down a bit before you go to University for 3 years.

Who said it was the wrong forum? Of course it's not the wrong forum to ask about holidays for teens - the initial question was where to go to get drunk/trashed, and the post has has now been edited to request more (in my opinion) appropriate information: nothing wrong with that.

We did get together as a group of parents and discussed the problems and agreed that as they are sensible, intelligent lads that arent going just to get drunk, but for a good and fun, relaxing holiday with the option of getting drunk. We had a nephew that went Magaluf at 17 and the bars didnt seem to care about his age, so i think my son thinks it would be the same for them, but we did say that may not be the case.