Travel Tips Overview

• Tip of the Month
• Family holiday ideas
  • Bank holidays
  • Half term holidays
  • Easter holidays
  • Christmas holidays
  • Stuck?
• What sort of trip
  • Camping and holiday park tips
  • City break tips for families
  • Family adventure holiday tips
  • Family skiing holiday tips
  • Greener family holidays
  • Long haul
• Before you book
  • Who to book with
  • Childcare
  • Hotels or self-catering
  • Taking toddlers or teens
  • How much will it cost?
  • Saving money
  • One parent families
• Before you go
  • Healthy and safe
    • Sun safe
  • Passports and visas
  • What to take
• On the go
  • Getting there
  • Songs and games
• Further reading
  • Books and guides
  • Helping other families
  • News
  • Sites we like for family holidays and travel

Stuck? Unusual family holiday ideas

So you're struggling. You know you want to take a family holiday somewhere, you're just not quite sure where.

You've looked through our destinations and you still aren't exactly sure. You know you want the Costa but you're less keen on del Sol. You fancy the mountains but can't decide between Atlas, Grampians or Himalayas.

So here are a few starters for ten. A few hors d'oeuvres to wet the palate.

Yes, they're a little out of the ordinary. But they are real holidays that we've arranged for real families, who've then had a truly extraordinary time.

Whether your children are toddlers, waddlers or even teenage idlers, here's just a few ideas where you can take the family for something that little bit different.

Europe

• Take the bigger kids white water rafting on the Coruh River in Turkey.

• Take your teenagers on a city break to Bilbao – they'll love the Guggenheim.

• Take the ferry to Norway and stay in a real log cabin.

• Take lessons in Spanish on a language course in the Pyrenees. It's homework made fun away from home.

• Take your long-johns to Sweden, stay in the Icehotel and watch the Northern Lights.

• Take the afternoon off work, and climb Snowdon. It's only a four hour climb, and there's a train that will take you back down again (sort of Dylan Thomas the Tank Engine), so it's definitely possible for an afternoon in the summer holidays, if the weather is good enough. If you don't live close enough to drive there in an afternoon, there is plenty of scope for staying nearby overnight.

Further away

• Take to the hills in Morocco and climb Mount Toubkal. It's not too tough for older ones and it's a completely different culture just three hours' flight away.

• Take a cruise to Alaska to spot whales and dolphins. Cruising is fun for the under 15s as well as the over 50s!

• Take a Thai cookery course in Bangkok and combine it with a beautiful beach holiday.

• Take some time with the children before they leave home and spend the whole of the holidays driving coast to coast in the USA. It's ideal for that final family holiday before they have kids of their own and only want you to go on holiday with them to babysit.

• Take your binoculars and spot tigers from the back of an elephant in Nepal.

• Take a diving course in the Maldives. If your kids are strong swimmers they can learn to dive from as young as eight.

• Take the Trans Siberian railway from Moscow – Beijing. The longest train journey in the world is fun for the more adventurous family. You'll get to spend lots of time together, as the journey takes 7 days, not including the stops on the way. You'll also meet some very interesting people. This is Thomas the Tank Engine on acid!

• Take a tour of a favela in Rio.

• Take your boots and learn to ride like a cowboy in Montana. Many ranches accept children of all ages.

• Take three months off work, and head around the world. Round the world tickets are remarkably good value, and allow you to go anywhere you like. If you have the time to do a trip like this, take a look through the destinations you like the sound of, call us and we'll put everything together for you.

For even more inspiration, take a look at our tips for family camping and holiday parks, family city breaks, family adventure holidays, family skiing trips and long haul holidays.

Why not take a look at our What sort of trip guides, which include a favourite of the month, favourite destinations and favourite travel providers, to help you make up your minds; family activity holidays, family adventure holidays, family beach holidays, family camping and holiday parks, family cruise holidays, family cycling holidays, luxury family holidays, family skiing holidays, UK family holidays and our selection of family favourites pages.