where to go for an adventurous summer holiday??

[HannahSE23]

Hi I was wondering if you could help. I've only ever been able to afford camping holidays before but I've got a tiny bit of inheritance money and I wanted to take the kids (12 and 10) somewhere special this summer for a bit of an adventure. Friends have suggested Costa Rica, Canada, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Japan but I wasn't sure about the weather in the summer hols. We'd like somewhere warm, fun, exciting, out of Europe and I have a budget of ?4k. Any suggestions?

Thanks so much!

[Saffron]

I have friends in Sri Lanka. Happy to put you in touch directly for more local knowledge... They own and run this lovely place: http://www.kikilihouse.com

[yeknomyeknom]

A true family adventure: let the kids research and find out about different countries and get them to choose.

[EDmummy]

If you can stretch to 3 or 4 weeks I?d suggest European road trip! Or maybe out of your budget - safari in Tanzania or Botswana.

[Carbonara]

Malaysia, Penang http://www.penang.ws/penang-attractions/beach.htm#

[pilsbury]

First off, congrats, what an excellent way to spend an unexpected windfall, you will make memories for the rest of your life :)

Some thoughts -

Canada and Japan - I've been to both (pre kids) and I imagine that might be tricky to do on ?4k (i'm assuming there's 3 or 4 of you to pay for including flights). Jetlag in Japan is a bit of a killer, but your kids should be old enough to cope... Canada is a beautiful country and you'd get great weather over our summer-time...

Costa rica - Haven't been to, but heard its amazing, not crazy pricey and some great outdoor experiences for older kids like yours (safari-type things, surfing, zip-wires)

Sri Lanka and Cambodia - In general you can get a lot more value for your ? in Asia. I haven't been to SL with kids, but know people who have and say its fab and the locals are great with kids. Cambodia I haven't been to (its on my list!), but we did take our then 2.5 and 4.5 year old to vietnam nearly 2 years ago and had an amazing trip - so easy to travel around on the train, locals amazingly helpful and friendly. see my trip report here - http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,1596858,1877573#msg-1877573 Another place to consider for fairly easy but still off beaten track, would be thailand...

In general, i'd advise you to consider a) the weather in each place (simple google search), b) what vaccs you'd need and be willing to take (my two are pretty much vaccinated against everything now, but i know that not everyone agrees with that, and i'd certainly not want them to have to take malaria tablets at this young age, c) the accommodation - as our family has grown we've found that airbnbs not only offer greater value (no more squeezing 4 of you in to one tiny hotel room, you can get a 2 bed flat/house usually for cheaper!), more flexibility (have breakfast when you want, stay in the house/flat all day if you want to!) and a more personalised experience (the host often lives nearby and can give you great reccs of what to do), and d) the flight/time difference - assuming you're going for 2 weeks, do you really want somewhere with an 9 hour time difference (i.e. japan), when you're going to spend at least 2 days at start/after your hols trying to vaguely get on the right time schedule / if its a long flight, can you get a night flight to/from london to try and maximise your time there...

Hope that helps, might be a bit rambly, so shout if questions! we've just got back from 3 weeks in brazil with our 4.5 and 6.5 year old and i really heartily recommend adventurous holidays with kids!

[HannahSE23]

Thank you all for the PMs and replies! Really helpful and much food for thought. Thanks for the flight difference and vaccination tips Pilsbury. I hadn't given that much consideration. More research required!

[nickysydenham]

How about a cycling holiday - check out Brighton company Freedom Treks. I've done Dutch barge and bike trip with kids, and 4 day Italy trip with husband only. You can either book with them direct (lots of countries and Asia too). Or see if you can follow their ideas by booking independently. We are going to do this for a 4 night trip to Germany in May. Your kids are at a perfect age, and it is so brill having an active holiday with all the arrangements and itineraries sorted for you....

[Sqiggles]

We have done quite a few adventurous trips with our kids. You need to watch the weather in the summer holidays - I am not sure it is a good time for Sri Lanka or Costa Rica, for example (we had a great holiday in both, but at Christmas). The west coast of Canada is amazing - Vancouver and Vancouver island. Bears, whales, kayaking .....and a very cool city. Africa too - safari is very expensive, and actually a bit boring for most kids for more than a day or two, but Victoria falls, South Africa etc. And the US too - California, San Francisco, Yosemite, drive down highway 1, LA, Grand Canyon.....

But don't dismiss Europe - if you travel long haul you will use up quite a bit of your budget on flights. Look at some of the family adventure holiday companies for suggestions of cool adventures you can have in Europe. Sicily, for example - volcanos, greek and roman ruins, beaches and pasta! Tour around in a car, or for a real adventure use public transport.

[bobby's bear]

We went to Sri Lanka last August with our then 4 and 6 year olds and totally loved it.

It was tropical and exciting but still easy travelling and the food was amazing.

On the whole the weather was great, we saw a little rain but the majority of the time it was hot and sunny.

However even booking the flights 9 months in advance we paid over ?3k for the four of us to fly direct (might be cheaper if you are happy to stop over en route) which eats a lot of your budget.

[Growlybear]

How about Egypt? There is so much to see and do in Luxor, and it's an easy day trip from there to see the pyramids in Cairo. I can't think of many more exciting places you could take a 12 year old than inside one of the pyramids.

[flocker spotter]

I would not recommend Egypt in August. We did the Red Sea in August once and it was far too hot. Temperatures well pushing 50 degrees during the day and it only dropped to 37 degrees at night.

[Growlybear]

I completely disagree. We've been to Egypt five times in July and August, including Abu Simbel, and although it was very hot, because of the extremely low humidity, we have always found it very bearable. I find 45 degrees in Egypt far more pleasant than 30 degrees in somewhere such as Greece or Thailand where humidity is much higher.

[HannahSE23]

Thanks again everyone! Sri Lanka, Canada and Cambodia now coming out on top. Also considering Europe to make the budget stretch further... thanks Sqiggles... thought ?4k was loads but now realise it doesn?t go far!!

[HannahSE23]

Hello again,

Thanks for all your posts and PMs. We have now decided on Cambodia in October.

Has anyone been? Could you recommend a good itinerary for children? We'd like to go to Phnom Penh, Angkor (Siem Reap) and end up at a lovely beach. If there are any other ideas and suggestions I'd be really grateful.

Also any tips on visas, flights, travel vaccinations would be great.

Thanks so much!

[Dodo1]

Hi

We are taking the kids to do The Golden Triangle in India this Summer.

So they will get to see Jodhpur (the pink city), Jaipur (the blue city) and Agra- which of course has The Taj Mahal!

So if you haven't booked- think again.

[Sue]

Dodo1, if you have time to make a slight detour (if memory serves it isn't that far from Jaipur), Jaisalmer is a fantastic place and you can also do a camel trek into the desert from there.

[telemum]

We've done Cambodia with kids (they were 6 and 8 at the time). Angkor Wat is fab obviously, and do see Phare, in Phnom Penh, which is a Cirque de Soleil type thing. The Killing Fields is sobering but worth seeing, and we also took a boat to Battambang, where not much goes on. Lovely, lovely place to spend time with children.

I'll link to our travel blog here in case it's helpful.

https://packingitallin.wordpress.com/category/phnom-penh/

[HannahSE23]

Wow telemum what a wonderful trip! I'm very jealous of all the places you've been to. Thanks for the info on Cambodia, too. Very useful.

[yeknomyeknom]

Why don?t you avoid flying and go on an awesome interail trip instead? So much adventure to be had getting on and off wherever you fancy.