Teen Tested Vacation Spots

Parents of hard-to-please, moody teens take heart. There really are family-friendly resorts and cruises where mom and dad can co-exist with their independence-craving, alternative-minded, sports-crazed kids. As the mother of a teenage boy, I have crash-tested several of these spots.

Smugglers’ Notch Resort, Smugglers' Notch, Vt.

Last summer I took my 16-year-old Alex and his friend to Smugglers’ Notch Resort, about an hour from Burlington. They seemed to enjoy their summer stay: from 10 a.m. to midnight, I never saw the boys, except the time—all right, times—when I spied from behind trees. (Since this was Vermont, there were plenty of tree-hiding opportunities!)

During the day, the teens were engaged in outdoor pursuits like rock climbing, hiking, dodge ball, swimming, golf and kayaking. They’d then hit the condo for a quick shower and “hello” and run off to meet their new friends for dinner before heading to the Outer Limits Teen Center, Smuggs’ no-parents-allowed club for teens 16 and older.

• Teens enjoy a sporting game of ultimate frisbee in the quad at Smugglers' Notch.
• Courtesy of Smugglers' Notch Resort

The beauty of Outer Limits is that it is flexible with just enough unstructured activities. Alex and his friends enjoyed playing video games on the Xbox 360, surfing the Web (there are several computers in the club) and watching peers perform Karaoke while hanging out on the couch. The free popcorn machine was a hit, too. Tweens and younger teens hang at Teen Alley, a similar club setting geared for kids 13- to 15-years old, although 11- and 12-year-olds are welcome from 5-8 p.m. daily.

Even fate loves Smuggs. While packing up the car to leave on our last morning, Alex came running up the mountain, begging me to stay another five or so hours while he and his friend took one last kayaking trip (violins, please). “Absolutely not,” I said, noting that we had an eight-hour drive home to Long Island, N.Y. While Alex presented his case, I noticed that the car’s front passenger tire was completely flat. You guessed it, the boys got to kayak, and we got home at midnight.

• Located in the heart of Vermont's Green Mountains, Smugglers' Notch offers several activities for teens.
• Courtesy of Smugglers' Notch Resort

If you purchase a vacation package, plenty of activities to fill your days are included in the base price. However, sports clinics and special outdoor excursions (of which there are plenty) will incur extra charges. And rest assured that all excursions and activities, including “hanging” at the Outer Limits Club, are supervised by “cool” counselors. Still, it was comforting to know that the boys were always reachable by cell phone.

Smugglers’ Notch Resort, 4323 Vermont Route 108 South, Smugglers’ Notch, VT 05464, tel. 800-419-4615, www.smuggs.com. Vacation packages start at $732 for three nights in June for a family of three, and increase with each passing month. Winter packages start at $1,565 and include lift tickets and free ski or snowboard lessons.