Planning your first family adventure holiday can be a daunting experience, you’re anxious to get everything right for the whole family. Adventure holidays are a great way to have fun as a family, try new experiences and to test your families active boundaries.
There are a few different types of family adventure holidays you could go for and choosing the right one to suit your family as a whole is the first starting point, when you know what you’re looking for then it then makes it easier to research destinations and costs.
The different type of holidays by type are:
Multi Activity Holidays – Which generally include a wide range of activities on offer such as kayaking, canoeing, bike rides, walks, farm visits, rafting, surfing, paddle boarding, camp fires and canyoning. If you’re all up for this type of holiday then there will be activities to suit everyone.
Wildlife Family Holidays – Heading off into the bush on a safari or go searching for sea turtles and frogs and spot whales and wild elephants. Holidays like this are likely to be combined with cultural experiences and easy activities.
Walking Family Holidays – Whether it’s energetic teenagers who are happy being out on the trail most of the day or slightly littler legs that enjoy a few hour or half day walks there is a holiday right for your family. Family walking holidays which are organised with great child-orientated leaders make the walks much more fun for little ones and before you know it they’ve walked miles!
Centre-based Family Holidays – These types of holidays are great for those that like to focus activities where they’re sleeping, similar to places like Centre Parcs, but in a more exotic location!
From the choices above and have a discussion with your family you’ll be able to choose which type of family adventure holiday is going to be right for you. Also quite often you’ll find that most holidays are flexible and if you don’t fancy taking part in an activity one day then you just don’t and can chill by the pool for the day!
Quite often in these types of trips you’ll be joining like-minded families who will be doing the same activities with you. If you prefer you can normally arrange a private group holiday but it may cost more to do so.
So you’ve chosen your type of holiday, now the next part is deciding where to go!
There are a few excellent tour companies who offer family friendly holidays alongside their more adventurous packages and so they are great at picking out the right activities and the best places to find them.
You will find that a lot of holidays are available in Europe and so close to the UK and keeping flying times down and are an excellent choice if maybe time is restricted to taking a holiday in the half-term.
But you’ll also find a choice of holidays that will take you to Africa, Canada and Costa Rica which brings a whole new dynamic approach to introducing your children to different cultures and food, but of course this will likely mean an increase in cost.
So with all the above in mind I’ve selected a couple of holidays which fit into each of those categories to give you an idea of what’s out there, to keep things simple I’ve decided to stick with holidays from the same company so you have a starting point.
Multi Activity Holidays
When I think of multi activity holidays I’m immediately drawn to places in the Alps and in particular Chamonix. Chamonix is the perfect all year round resort when in winter you have a great skiing and in the summer you get to see a completely different side to it and enjoy different types of activities and a warm temperature.
A typical week in Chamonix on a planned adventure holiday can look something like this:
Day 1 – Walk to the Valley of the Bears and the Swiss border.
Day 2 – Take the Aiguille du Midi cable 3800m, afternoon optional rafting or hydrospeeding.
Day 3 – Balcony walk from top of the Flegere to Plan Praz. Mont Blanc Panorama walk.
Day 4 – Canyoning or rock climbing. Afternoon free for optional biking or luge or swimming.
Day 5 – Start of the 2 day trek on the Tour de Mont Blanc. Walk from Les Houches cable car to Miage Refuge (1560m).
Day 6 – Descend from Le Truc (1720m) to Les Contamines Adventure Park (optional). Return to Argentiere.
Prices for 2018 and in the summer holidays are currently at £1,045 per person and is land only, so you’ll need to arrange your flights or transport on top of this.
Wildlife family holidays
When you think of wildlife and adventure, to me it screams safari, so where else is better than South Africa! Here you could potentially see the Big Five (Lion, Elephant, Rhino, Leopard and Cape Buffalo).
A typical 2 week safari adventure in South Africa can look something like this:
Day 1 – See the famous Blyde River and experience your first game drive at Moholoholo Reserve.
Day 2 – Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre. Drive to Kruger National Park.
Day 3 – Two game drives in Kruger National Park to see Big Five.
Day 4 – Morning game drive in Kruger. Transfer to Hlane game reserve in Swaziland.
Day 5 – Optional game walk. Transfer to Mantega a traditional Swazi village.
Day 6 – Transfer to the St Lucia wetlands on the coast.
Day 7 – Morning boat tour and afternoon crocodile farm visit.
Day 8 – Optional guided tour of Zulu village. Transfer to Natal north coast.
Day 9 – Free day at beach. Option to visit UShaka Marine World in Durban.
Day 10 – Drive to the Drakensberg. Exploration walk.
Day 11 – Full day walk in North Drakensberg. Optional adventure park, mountain biking or quad biking.
(The additional days will be spent travelling to and from South Africa)
Prices do vary depending on time of year you go but will be around £2,375 – £2,955 per person and include flights.
Walking Family Holidays
Sometimes walking with children can be frustrating especially if they get bored easy or their legs get tired, so it’s important to pick a trip that gets them excited to begin with. Treasure hunting in Madeira sounds perfect!
A typical week in Madeira would look something like this:
Day 1 – Walk along the stunning peninsula Sao Lourenco in search for your first geocache, swimming.
Day 2 – Walk along the levada and through tunnels with dripping moss to seek the geocache. Try basket weaving in the afternoon.
Day 3 – Short walk through the forest navigating to the geocache. Afternoon relaxing and swimming.
Day 4 – Walk to the highest point in Madeira – Pico Ruivo (1862m). Cook some classic dishes with the chef in the evening in Funchal.
Day 5 – Explore Funchal, Monte Palace Tropical Gardens and an exciting toboggan ride through the streets!
Day 6 – Morning dolphin and whale watching. Free afternoon for some optional Stand Up Paddle boarding (SUP)
Prices for 2018 in the summer holidays are currently £645 for a child and £795 for adults, this is land only.
Centre-based Family Holidays
Choosing a centre-based holiday is a really great beginners option, it gives you the sense of security and routine which some children really welcome, it’s worth picking somewhere where there isn’t much travelling involved each day. Slovenia is great upcoming destination and it’s relatively cheap too!
A typical week in Slovenia would look something like this:
Day 1 – Morning walk to Martulk waterfalls, lunch at Ingo mountain hut. Afternoon free, Aqua Park option.
Day 2 – Cycle ride along purpose built tracks, picnic lunch enroute. Afternoon tobogganing (!).
Day 3 – Visit Bled and its famous lake. High ropes adventure course or Vintgar Gorge. Afternoon free in Bled.
Day 4 – Free day in Kranjska Gora. Optional cave visit, bike hire, or swimming at Aqua Park.
Day 5 – Full day excursion to Bovec, including the Vrisc Pass (1611m). Optional rafting on the Soca River.
Day 6 – Morning rock climbing session for beginners or experienced. Afternoon free for optional activities,
Price for 2018 seem to be quite stable no matter when you go and are £645 for children and £695 for adults, land only.
So that’s your brief look into the family adventure holiday scene, I hope after reading you’re inspired to have a look further into booking an adventure with your family next time and open up some exciting new boundaries!
