All parents know the pain of trying to plan a vacation for teenagers.

These underage members of the family often present a problem when it comes to trying to choose where to go for a group vacation.

Planning a trip to Jamaica can be the perfect solution because an island vacation has something for every family member to enjoy.

An island vacation can offer many options for fun, even for grandma and grandpa to boisterous seven-year-olds and yes, even that tricky set that seems to be 13 going on 30.

Your trip to Jamaica with your ‘almost adults’ will be well worth it.


Accommodations that meet their needs

If your teens travel with tech, most all-inclusive hotels and villas maintain facilities that cater to families such as Wi-Fi as part of the package.

This eliminates the possible mutiny you would face from cutting them off from that crucial connection to the world of social media and instant messaging with friends from miles away.

Don’t worry, there are also many things to ensure that their messages to friends back home are all about what an amazing time they are having, yes, even though they’re with (gasp!) their PARENTS.

Thrilling land and sea activities for teens

Most hotels offer a lot of fun activities from getting SCUBA certified and exploring the world under the Caribbean Sea to learning how to limbo in the light of a bonfire after enjoying a beach buffet with delicious, authentic Jamaican dishes.

Across the island, adventure-filled excursions abound, like off-the-beaten-path, customized experiences such as visiting a Rasta Village and hiking to a remote waterfall with a company like Vibzen Tours, or racing through the Blue Mountains with Irie Racing on their very own dirt bike.

A great rush of adrenaline can be had through ziplining at YS Falls on the south coast or ATV tours at Chukka locations islandwide, where a GoPro is strapped onto a helmet and your teens will have cool footage to post to social media.

This will certainly make their friends back home turn green with envy all while having a mud-covered, amazing time filled with laughter.

Shopping in Jamaica

We don’t think you’ll have to convince the girls to go shopping while in Jamaica but even teenage boys will be into hitting the stores as long as they get access to some pretty cool souvenirs.

Rasta-colored everything can be found across the island and special items like Usain Bolt’s line of merchandise inside his Tracks and Records restaurants.

After-dark teen activities in Jamaica

Put the little ones to bed and take your ‘almost adults’ out for the evening to dance in the sand or on the cliffs to some wicked Dancehall and Reggae tunes.

In Jamaica, many outdoor beach bars have live music and delicious, tropical cocktails without any alcohol.

Take your adolescents on a trip to remember in Jamaica and next year you’ll probably hear the strangest of things, your teenager asking you: “Mom, when can we all go back to Jamaica?”