16 of the best family adventure holidays
All-inclusives and easy beach holidays are all well and good, but sometimes everyone needs a proper adventure. The kind of memory-making trip that will make children gasp and squeal, and give parents moments to cherish forever. A trip involving jaw-dropping landscapes and cultures or creatures to learn about and admire.
If you're into wildlife, then Kenya, Borneo or Costa Rica might be the answer. For unforgettable scenery, how about a US national park, Jordan, or Canada? New Zealand is brilliant for road trips, while the Scottish coast provides a UK option for the activity-mad. Whatever your gang's age, stage and budget, there's excitement waiting for you on one of these brilliant family adventure holidays.
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Egypt is central to the idea of adventure in many children's films, cartoons and books, and it's also an incredibly accessible, budget-friendly destination for families. You can't go wrong with a tour of the Pyramids and Sphinx, plus Cairo is home to the blockbuster Grand Egyptian Museum (don't miss the scary room of mummies) and Khan el-Khalili bazaar — which for big kids may seem familiar from the Indiana Jones films. For parents, the relaxing bit of this Encounters Travel tour is the Nile cruise aboard a traditional felucca sailboat, absorbing Aswan, the Valley of the Kings and Luxor, while other child-centric adventures include a visit to a local school and sleeper train rides from Cairo to Aswan and Luxor to Cairo.
• Discover more of the world's best family holidays
Price ££
Parents will fall for the all-American views at Yellowstone, one of the most spectacular national parks in the US. This Intrepid Travel tour will please younger family members with a trip to Old Faithful, the geyser that can spray up to 32,000 litres of boiling water into the air. On a visit to neighbouring Grand Teton National Park, highlights include pristine lakes and the meandering Snake River, as well as the chance to see wildlife including moose, beavers and bears. Back in Yellowstone, your pack will go wolf tracking, armed with high-power binoculars to enable you to see all the wildlife from a comfortable distance.
• Best national parks in the US• Best cities to visit in the US
Price £££
Sharing 97 per cent of our DNA, orangutans are homo sapiens' flame-haired cousins — and there's nowhere better to see them than on the Asian island of Borneo. The Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, within the 40 sq km Kabili-Sepilok Forest Reserve, allows visitors to see the primates in their natural environment and learn about the work to return orphaned or injured animals to the wild. No one-trick wonder, this trip with Exodus Adventure Travels also includes a stay in a local homestead with the Dusun people, witnessing their traditional dances and perhaps playing football on the village pitch. Round off your travels by snorkelling amid colourful fish and coral in Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park.
• Read our full guide to the world's best adventure holidays• Best safari and beach holidays
Price ££
Fast emerging as the most family-friendly destination in Central America and a pioneer of eco and adventure travel, Costa Rica has something for everyone. As well as offering exceptional wildlife — particularly in the cloud forests of Monteverde — it's a good pick for an activity holiday. You can go ziplining through the canopies of the jungle, riding in the nearby hills, or paddleboarding and kayaking at Lake Arenal. This Intrepid Travel tour finishes up with some time on the rich coast that gives the country its name — at Manuel Antonio tropical vegetation meets perfect beaches, where you can take a surf lesson or just flop onto the sand.
• Best places to see wildlife in Costa Rica• Best places to visit in Costa Rica
Price £
Emerging from a narrow canyon into the elaborate ruins of a lost Nabataean kingdom in Jordan is a moment of drama that will make families into the stars of their own action-adventure film. On this Exodus tour you will stay overnight in a Bedouin camp in the deserts of Wadi Rum — a dead ringer for Mars — wild camp amid rocky mountains and take an optional trek that ascends to the top of Burdah bridge. After visiting the ruins of the house where Lawrence of Arabia is said to have lived, the tour finishes in the Unesco world heritage site of Petra, home tothe iconic Al-Khazneh treasury and Ad Deir monastery, whose grand façades were carved from the rock and featured in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
• The ultimate guide to Jordan's Dead Sea: everything you need to know
Price £
Every day provides a new adventure on this multi-activity holiday in the Spanish Pyrenees. Families on this Explore! tour will be based at the same hotel all week, so time saved on packing and repacking can be spent hiking and picnicking among the peaks of Aiguestortes National Park and off-road mountain biking in the Montgarri Valley. The highlights of the trip are the white-knuckle watersports — although the Noguera Pallaresa river is one of Europe's safest, it still a thrilling place to ride a raft, especially over the notorious 'washing machine' rapid. Adrenaline junkies needn't stop there, as canyoning and abseiling are also on offer. Teenagers will get the most out of this trip, although it's suitable for children as young as seven.
Price £
If 'no thanks' is often the response you get when suggesting a walk to your brood, then try elevating your pitch. Mention the fact that this route involves glaciers, a white-knuckle col traverse between France and Switzerland and an overnight stay in a forgotten mountain refuge, and you are likely to get a different response. UTracks offers a Mont Blanc family guided hike from Italy that covers high Alpine ground, allowing you to eyeball the tongue-shaped Prè de Bar glacier and experience the biodiverse Aiguilles Rouges Nature Reserve. There's also no quicker way to get your kids on the move than to tell them that there's hot chocolate, pizza and ice cream along the route.
Utracks.com
• See our full guide to walking holidays
Price £££
Charles Darwin's discoveries in this Pacific archipelago helped him to formulate his game-changing theory of evolution, and a trip to the islands is part family holiday, part science field trip. The human footprint here is minimal and consequently the Galapagos are spectacularly biodiverse, home to everything from sea lions to giant tortoises, iguanas to blue-footed boobies. The islands belong to Ecuador, and you'd be mad to come all this way without seeing more of this mercifully compact country; Journey Latin America's Ecuador Andes and Galapagos Islands hop also includes a visit to an indigenous market and gallery, as well as a stay at a mountain lodge in the Andes.
journeylatinamerica.com
• Best cruises in the Galapagos
Price £
Staying up past bedtime is virtually guaranteed in the village of Levi, where the photogenic wooden cabins come with a partial glass roof to maximise chances of sighting the aurora borealis. But even if the northern lights don't put on a show, no-one will come home from Finland disappointed because there are so many other memorable experiences up for grabs. Guests on a Father Christmas & Aurora Hunting trip with Activities Abroad can enjoy a husky safari, a snowmobile adventure and a reindeer sleigh ride — and you needn't fork out on multiple sets of thermals and salopettes: cold-weather clothing is provided for the whole family.
activitiesabroad.com
• Discover our full guide to Finland• Best northern lights tours
Price £££
Anyone who's ever enjoyed a David Attenborough documentary has a family safari on their bucket list and the Masai Mara in Kenya is a pretty unbeatable destination for one. A huge expanse of grassland, this is the African savannah of your mind's eye, where gigantic herds of wildebeest and zebra roam across the famous reserve and beyond. Far and Wild's Kenya Family Safari Adventure provides a stay in the traditionally styled tents of Little Governors Campand guided morning and evening drives to search for the Big Five in an open-sided jeep. A two-for-one trip, this itinerary also takes in northern Kenya's Saruni Samburu, a lodge carved into the rock face with endless views and a great range of wildlife and cultural experiences.
farandwild.travel
• Explore our full guide to safari holidays• Best Kenya safaris
Price ££
Providing the pastoral greens of the Shire and the epic mountains of Mordor, the landscapes of New Zealand are central characters in the Lord of the Rings film franchise and they do not disappoint in real life. The relentless beauty means you will immediately forgive the 24 hours it took you to get here — but stay for two weeks, minimum, to do the country justice. On Cox & Kings' Grand New Zealand Drive you'll motor from top to tail, beginning with beachside swims in the subtropical Bay of Islands and ending with a scenic train journey through the Southern Alps — exploring everything from rainforests to hot springs in between.
coxandkings.co.uk
• Best things to do in New Zealand
Price £££
Topping the charts of child-pleasing global cuisines, Italy is the country that brought us ice cream, pizza and pasta. You'll try all of the above — and learn how to make the latter — on Audley's Classic Italian Adventure, which visits Venice, Florence and Rome. Instead of full days of sightseeing, this trip features ample downtime and is tailored to engage the interests of younger travellers — a day trip to a museum or a private tour of the Colosseum will be complemented by more interactive family activities, such as a mask-making workshop in Venice or a ride around Rome on the back of a vintage Vespa.
audleytravel.com
• Best things to do in Rome• Best villas in Italy with a pool
Price £
You don't need to travel to the ends of the earth to have a proper adventure holiday — the Highlands are quite far enough. Wilderness Scotland has a guided four-day Sea Kayaking Holiday that begins in a sheltered bay on the mountainous west coast, and is suitable for absolute beginners as well as pro paddlers. Moving quietly through the water in either a double or single sea kayak, you'll stand a good chance of spotting marine wildlife such as otters and dolphins. As your skills improve, you can explore sea lochs and venture south to the atmospheric ruins of Castle Tioram, which sits on a tidal island.
wildernessscotland.com
• Best hotels in the Highlands• Best road trips in Scotland
Price £££
A trip to Churchill, in Manitoba, Canada, the polar bear capital of the world, delivers an exceptional wildlife experience best observed during a ride on a mighty tundra buggy. As gleamingly white as the surrounding snowy plains, these custom-built all-terrain vehicles allow visitors to safely observe Canada's mighty predator during the short October-November viewing season. Wildlife Trails' good-value Churchill Polar Bear Tour by Air includes three such tours and you'll also spend a separate day with an expert nature guide, searching for other well-camouflaged creatures including Arctic foxes, snowy owls and ptarmigans.
wildlifetrails.co.uk
• Best things to do in Canada• Explore our full guide to Canada
Price ££
Children are prone to moaning when dragged along to a sight of historical interest, but no one is unmoved by the Taj Mahal. This stop in Agra is easily combined with other destinations in India's Golden Triangle. KE Adventure's Tigers and Temples of Rajasthan family trip ensures cultural insights are well-balanced with family adventures. You'll see old Delhi from the back of a rickshaw and spend two days in Jaipur, including visits to a local school and a Bollywood film. Breaking free from India's frenetic cities, there are also two tiger-spotting drives in Ranthambore National Park — home to real-life Shere Khans.
keadventure.com
• Read our full guide to India• The best cities to visit in India
Additional reporting by Richard Mellor
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Daily Mail
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