Family adventure holidays

The range of family adventure holidays has broadened dramatically and you can now offer your kids all manner of potentially life-changing experiences. Even those with very young children are now catered for, or there are tailor-made teen adventures.

Adventure holidays are a great way of tackling destinations and/or activities you’re wary of doing alone. They can also be a means of linking holidays with educational themes and the National Curriculum, and discovering cultures not easily accessible on mainstream holidays. But they may not be right for families who don’t like being tied down to schedules and arrangements made by others.

Accommodation isn’t luxurious but is clean, comfortable and often characterful: you might stay on a farm, a wild campsite or a train. Sometimes you’ll stay and eat with native families, giving you insight into other ways of life as well as the knowledge that you’re helping sustain local communities.

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PGL Adventure Holidays

PGL Family Active Holidays

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PGL Family Active Holidays
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1) Best adventure family holidays for families with a wide range of child ages
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2) Best adventure family holidays for families with toddlers
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3) Best adventure family holidays for families with tweens and teens
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4) Best adventure family holidays for families with young children
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Tips

First, ask yourselves if you’re the kind of family who enjoys sharing company for a week or two – most adventure-holiday operators take small groups of 15–20, hence 3–5 families.

Consider whether your children of an age when they can adapt to a new schedule – and one that may differ from one day to the next. If you have young children who still nap, have rigid mealtimes and/or are very limited in what they eat, you may find this kind of holiday too stressful.

Think about whether your family is fit enough for the kind of holiday you’re planning. Though itineraries for family adventure holidays are less taxing than adult holidays, there’ll still probably be a reasonable amount of walking and excursions, often in conditions hotter than they’re used to.

Research your destination before booking – if lots of innoculations are required, or the region is malarial, you need to plan ahead (and may even want to look elsewhere if travelling with younger kids). See our Health & Safety page for more information.

Check with your operator if other families have booked on a given trip, to find out if your children will be with other kids of around the same age (especially if you’re travelling with one child).

Before you arrive, prepare yourself for culture shock and for the need for time to adjust to your new surroundings. Warn your kids that locals may take a strong interest in them but that this is normally a friendly interest.