Great Britain will absolutely work. I second all the suggestions/comments about Scotland and would add a few days in the Borders and Northumberland (someone already mentioned Alnwick Castle) if they like castles, the coast and military history -- you're swimming in history wherever you turn there. If you are driving into Scotland you can easily visit Hadrian's Wall on you way to the Borders.

Edinburgh has a VERY different feel from the big cities you visited before-it might be more appealing to them. But you could certainly skip cities altogether and have a great time.

Scotland or Portugal. Our kids loved both and there is so much more to see than you realize!

We did something very similar to Marsha's trip when the boys were 10, 13, and 15 - and the boys loved it. We rented a car and slowly made our way up to Scotland, then took the train back to London from Edinburgh which was really fun. We also took a train down to the navy museum at Portsmouth, which I would highly recommend. Here's the website:http://www.historicdockyard.co.uk/
The have the Victory, the Warrior, and another ship whose name I can't remember, great exhibits, plus you can do a boat tour of the harbor and see current Navy ships. Or at least you could....

These are the itineraries we took our two teenaged boys on: Munich/Rome; Paris/Normandy; Florence/Montalcino/Venice and Madrid/Seville/Malaga/Barce-lona. Each trip was 10-14 days and each provided some time for them to veg out, sit at a pool, etc as well as the sight seeing, museums, art, churches, etc. We started when they were 12 and 14; last trip they were 16 and 18.

teenage boys? Overnight ferries, hydrofoils, mountains, canyons, deserts, tropical gardens, active volcanoes, castles, sea, beaches, ghost towns, caves, night life, fishing, scuba, snorkling, sailing, cliff diving, temples, ancient ruins, cable cars, amazing architecture, medieval villages, godfather villages, breath taking views, FOOD!! festivals, trains, islands, hiking, archaeological museums ... that's just off the top of my head. Our kids LOVE Sicily!

Thanks, everyone. I was so happy to log on and find so many thoughtful responses and ideas. It sounds like an England/Scotland trip would be perfect, and I'm also going to look at a Germany/Switzerland option, then meet with the family. I think both would fit the bill nicely and it would be interesting to check out our Scottish, English and German roots. Did anyone actually spend the night in a castle in either of these places? Also, I'm wondering why no one mentioned Ireland. Last, would you recommend the English/Scottish itinerary in August for the weather and festivals, or do you think that all of the Europeans vacationing at that time will mean bigger crowds? Again, thanks for so much information.

August in Edinburgh is a VERY special case. The festivals/tattoo are amazing. But they are also the very busiest time of year in the city. The population of Edinburgh literally doubles during August. It isn't A festival - it is several festivals plus the International Military Tattoo. So - Edinburgh is not just crowded in August - it is <b>CROWDED</b>

So - if you do plan on visiting Edinburgh in August you need to plan very early - to both book your accommodations and to get you Tattoo tickets. Tickets go on sale early in the year and sell out quickly.

So - IF you can get organized and firm up your dates early on you can have a GREAT time in Edinburgh in August. But if you don't plan on attending the festivals/Tattoo - then you'll do better to travel inn June or July.

The rest of Scotland will not be anywhere as crowded as Edinburgh - but August is the busiest month just about month everywhere in Europe.

We took our sons (15 &amp; 20) to Scotland and York for one week (along with 2 other weeks in England and France) and they enjoyed Scotland. We stayed in an apartment in Edinburgh (Apartment By Castle) and then took day trips to St. Andrews (ran on the beach like Chariots of Fire), Stirling (Braveheart) and Duone Castle (Monty Python movie). They really enjoyed all the history and castles. We used a BritRail pass. The train ride from Edinburgh to York is beautiful--right along the coast. If we had had more time I would have done Glasgow or gone further north.

Which area in Germany? There are zillions of castle hotels in Germany, many of them really spectacular. Please specify the area - maybe the region from where your ancestors came. Each region in Germany is attractive and has castles.

Rileypenny,

You asked why no one recommended Ireland, I definitely do!

My family with 3 teenaged boys travelled in France, England, and Ireland in June of 2007. My boys loved our trip and were fascinated by all of the different areas.

The castles and prehistoric sites in Ireland and England were a big hit. They also really enjoyed the Cabinet War Rooms Museum in London that others talked about.

I posted trip report that you can scan to see what they liked. Here is the link: http://tinyurl.com/2y98ky.
the first part of our trip was Paris, Normandy and Mont St. Michel. The Ireland/England part begins with the entry of June 21st (entered 9/9/2007). I'm sorry, I haven't quite finished the final few days in London. One day when work/life slows down a little, I hope to get back to it and finish for my own sense of accomplishment.

We stayed at Langley Castle (www.langleycastle.com) near Hadrian's Wall. The boys loved it!

Yes, Edinburgh is great, Pitlorchy is lovely, can they Fish? Flying fishing is a great adventure. There are several WAR museums in Scotland, you can check our all the festival and other musuems at www.myweekin.net. Another consideration if you want to return to France is the Loire Valley, particularly if you like to cycle and fish but a big part of the Loire if chateau hopping so you might be a 'wee' bit tired of that. Of course you could always have an Australian Adventure? I'm from Sydney and well its a young person's town with way too much to do and mention here

Obviously in Europe any country will offer you castles, medieval villages and history not least military history. Many also offer beaches. Britain has the WEATHER as a big possibly negative factor (it's so unreliable and summers can be a washout, literally).
I'd go along with Germany +/- Austria and also Spain and Portugal. We've done quite a bit of all these with our son (now 15) over the years. He's also keen on history, all kinds of buildings (civil engineer in the making?) and also cities, but NOT art mueums)
Or what about somewhere not quite as obvious: the Baltic region. Adds a whole new chunk of history too, from the Hanseatic League through Imperial Russia to the USSR. We were there summer 2006 and spent 2 days each in Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga and then a week in Stockholm (overnight ferry there from Riga). There's plenty more to add to that sketch itinerary if you want to cut down time in cities (and/or it is possible to add St Petersburg). Weather was fantastic too.
That same year we spent Easter week in Amsterdam (+ Delft and Leiden) and that was also a big hit. However no spectacular scenery on offer in either of those trips (I also tend to think hill-country and mountains are what make for that). For that as an element of it, Germany/Austria or Spain/Portugal (though southern Spain can get very hot in the summer, away from the coast).

I would seconf the UK as a choice - As far a castles and Military sites are concerned, Even a relatively small area like Southern/South Eastern England would keep you busy for weeks.

Off the top of my head you could do large numbers of Castles (Dover, Rochester, Portchester = just to mention the more &quot;warlike&quot; ones rather than the &quot;Fortified homes of Arundal, Hever. Leeds etc).

The Imperial war museum in London is stunning. The Royal Navy museum at Portsmouth (including the Mary Rose and HMS Victory) is a very good day trip in itself - and if that did not satisfy the museum urge, the Submarine museum, D-Day museum and Royal Marine Museum are all within a couple of miles as well.

If you are in the UK in Summer, most weekends will have several military pagents or exhibitions - usually under the auspices of English Heritage or the Sealed Knot.