Skateboarding
Your Tony Hawk wannabe teens will love The Ramp at Club Med Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. The giant skateboard ramp, just for teens, will have them getting air, popping, and doing Ollies and 360 Flips, or they can just lounge in the teen lounge, where parents and little brothers and sisters are not allowed. But the Dominican Republic offers plenty more teen-friendly fun, such as zip lining in the jungle, body surfing the ocean waves and getting up close and personal with sharks at the island's Ocean World Marine and Water Park.
DJ'ing
For the kids who constantly blare their stereos, adjust the bass in the car radio until the car bounces, and wear headphones practically 24/7, they'll love special programs like DJ booths and scratch studios for them to get their groove on. Ritz Carlton's Palm Beach, Florida, location features a DJ booth, as well as a production studio for budding film makers, while Beaches Resort's Scratch DJ Academy has teens loving the Turks & Caicos, which also features Liquid teen dance club for parent-less dance parties.
Camping (Without the Folks)
As the one thing teens seem to want most is to get away from us, some resorts are organizing teen overnights (also giving us a break from our mopey teens!) For the ultimate in family fun with teens, a dude ranch gets the entire family together for horseback riding, fishing, and other excursions. But when the kids want to escape their uncool moms and pops, they can join Triangle C Dude Ranch's teen program, which provides teen cowboy classes, disco nights and overnight camping or mountain biking trips for your fearless hotshots.
Swimming with Dolphins
No matter how cool your teen may be, there isn't a single teen who won't be smiling and giggling like a 6-year-old when swimming one on one with playful porpoises. At the mega-family-friendly Atlantis Resort complex in the Bahamas (nearly two dozen pools and water parks!), it's the dolphin encounter program that teens will remember most. The resort's teen CRUSH Club, spa treatments and rock climbing center won't hurt, either.
Mountaineering Adventures
For your adventurous, outdoor-loving teens, enroll them in the Monday through Thursday High Adventure Experience Camp for zip lining, waterfall climbs, gorge crossing across a (scary) bridge, and rock climbing. Not enough? Smugglers Notch understands that fickle teens don't even like to hang out with younger teens, so they split their teen activities and clubs into 13 to 15 and 16 and up, with special times and events to include preteens 11 to 13 in some activities. Activities include high and low rope adventure course, climbing walls, survival challenges, mountain boarding, and kayaking.
Acrobatics
Even if your sulky teen has long outgrown the circus, he or she will still love the chance to fly through the air with the greatest of ease, flipping and bouncing, as they enjoy the Club Med Sandpiper's Flying Trapeze and Circus School in Florida. Kids will learn on the ground before they hop on the trampolines and learn to "leap," "lay out" and "return" during aerial acrobatic sessions, included with the stay. Another plus for staying at Club Med? The spa features teen services to pamper your princesses.
Surf Lessons
If your kids are interested in hanging 10, there isn't a better place than Hawaii's North Shore. A number of Hawaiian resorts offer connections to surf schools, with lessons held right on their beaches, including Turtle Bay Resort, which features the Hans Hedemann Surf School for beginners to advanced. Group, semi-private and private lessons are available for kids 13 and up. Teens may even let you drag them to Disney World Resorts and pretend to smile at Disney's Typhoon Lagoon Water Park, which also offers surfing lessons.
SCUBA Diving
Adventurous teens will love teen-only diving excursions at island resorts in the Caribbean. At Franklyn D. Resort in Jamaica (ultra family-friendly with nannies and kids programs for infants, toddlers, school-aged kids, and pre-teens, as well as teens) your kids can learn to scuba dive and getaway on a teen scuba trip to the Cayman Trench through a collaboration with S.C.U.B.A. Jamaica. The resort also provides teen snorkeling trips, kayaking races, bike tours, basketball tournament, a disco, a teen game room, and other supervised outings.
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