In the past decade, new family-friendly tours have opened up a whole world of possibilities to suit every age group and interest. Booking an organised trip means you’re able to up your holiday ambitions, knowing you’ve got the support of an operator behind you — whether those ambitions stretch to once-in-a-lifetime adventure tours or simply making the most of a short break. Lots of them are tailor-made, allowing you to focus on quality time with the children and reconnecting as a family rather than the tedious business of sorting out travel arrangements. Group tours are a great option, too — you and your little ones are likely to make firm friends with the other families on the trip. Be sure to check what’s included in the tour before booking; costs can swiftly mount if you’re travelling as a group, even with child discounts.
Video: The Times’ Adrian Phillips takes an escorted tour in Tenerife with G Adventures
Times Travel has partnered with Tourhub to bring our readers a wide selection of escorted tours from trusted travel partners. Here, we’ve selected the very best tours for families. For a bigger selection, visit Tourhub.
Main photo: The Ultimate Kenya Family Adventure at Kichwa Tembo (Beyond.com)
1. Sri Lanka family adventure, Original Travel
If you’d like to sneak in some education without the children realising, Original Travel’s Sri Lanka tour is going to hit the mark. Your brood will learn about local culture, history and wildlife during the 13-day family trip, with entertaining local guides pitching stories at their level. They can train to become Young Rangers at a national park (while spotting leopards and sloth bears); pick and taste tea at a plantation in the hills; try some traditional Sri Lankan dancing; and give surfing a go. There’s plenty of free time, too, so you can strike out on your own adventures or just chill by the pool. Flights, transport, guiding, activities and B&B accommodation are included in the rates.
Group size private tour
Price ££
originaltravel.co.uk
2. Ultimate Kenya family adventure, andBeyond
Get a taste of things to come on the first day of this ten-night Kenya tour with a stay at Nairobi’s Giraffe Manor, where a giraffe is likely to stick its head through a dining room window as you have breakfast. From there, you’ll visit an elephant orphanage, take a camel safari through a wildlife conservatory, learn some Swahili with Maasai guides and glide over the plains in a hot-air balloon. All the while, your children will be learning about conservation and local communities. The family fun concludes at a private villa on the Kenyan coast.
Group size private tour
Price £££
andbeyond.com
Riding camels at Wadi Rum
3. Petra & Wadi Rum adventure, Exodus
As a family adventure holiday goes, this 12-day small group itinerary through Jordan from tour operators Exodus will keep all age groups happy. Parents will enjoy the historical and cultural elements of the trip, and visit Unesco-listed sites including the extraordinary city of Petra. Children (and adults) will enjoy the pure fantasy served up each day — watching a gladiator show, camping out in the desert, eating dinner cooked on the fire, bobbing about in the Dead Sea and snorkelling in the Red Sea. The trip is for children aged nine and up, and is fully inclusive, with international flights covered.
Group size 8-20
Price £
• The best things to do in Jordan
4. Borneo Family Adventure, Wild Frontiers
Family holidays will never be the same after you go on Wild Frontier’s 12-day tailor-made trip to the island of Borneo. There’s an emphasis on local immersion throughout, meaning your children might plant rice and learn to cook in a village farm stay, tour a sun bear conservation centre with its founder, and spend time in tiny fishing villages deep in the jungle. Of course, you can’t come to Borneo and not search for its legendary wildlife, and there are plenty of opportunities to look for orangutans, pygmy elephants and proboscis monkeys. The holiday ends on the beach, with three days at a resort on Gaya Island.
Group size private tour
Price ££
wildfrontierstravel.com
• When is the best time to visit Borneo?
5. Summer Pyrenees family holiday with teenagers, Intrepid Travel
Keeping teenagers happy and entertained on holiday can be a full-time occupation. Intrepid Travel has the answer; their expertly guided tour through Andorra’s Pyrenees is crammed with such a diverse range of activities, they won’t even have time to look at their phones. Staying in a single base over the seven-night trip, you’ll venture out into the mountains each day. Here, you can trek over peaks, mountain-bike around lakeside trails and go white-water rafting down the Noguera River. There’s a free day, too, with suggestions to try ziplining or canyoning. The trip is aimed at teenagers though all children over ten are welcome.
Group size 2–16
Price £
Seljalandsfoss waterfall in Iceland (Getty Images)
6. Iceland family journey: Geysers, glaciers, and fjords, G Adventures
Iceland is a country that seems conjured out of a myth and any visit is guaranteed to fire young imaginations. G Adventures has partnered with National Geographic Expeditions to create this itinerary, featuring unique experiences specifically designed to create lasting family memories. Over the course of a week in Iceland, you’ll take a boat trip to spot whales and dolphins; dip into natural hot springs; have a picnic by one of Iceland’s largest waterfalls; journey through a tunnel made from lava; go horse-riding; and sail out to an island to see nesting puffins. You have two “chief experience officers” on hand throughout the trip who can organise activities during your free time and sort out logistics.
Group size 18-20
Price £££
Spider monkey on the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica (Getty Images)
7. Costa Rica Family Fun, Scott Dunn
Family adventures don’t get much bigger than Scott Dunn’s 13-night Costa Rica trip. After a day recovering from the flight in capital San Juan, you’ll dive straight in, arriving at your luxury jungle lodge after a 90-minute journey down the Pacuare River on a raft. From here, you’ve got access to treetop canopy walks, ziplining, horse-riding and canyoning. The focus switches to wildlife at the next stop on the Osa Peninsula, with guided nature walks through the jungle, before returning to further adrenaline-pumping activities at the Arenal volcano. This spot is considered the adventure capital of Costa Rica and options include quad-biking and rappelling down waterfalls. There’s the chance to recover at the end with a few days on the beach.
Group size private tour
Price £££
scottdunn.com
• Discover more Costa Rica tours
Banje Beach by the old town of Dubrovnik (Getty Images)
8. Family Dubrovnik and Croatian Islands adventure, Explore
Water babies will be kept very happy indeed on Explore’s Croatia tour — there’s barely a moment spent away from the sea. Most of your time on this week-long escape is spent on the island of Lopud, an hour’s ferry ride away from Dubrovnik. On the latter, you’ll kayak between islets and into grottos, play games on the beach, cliff dive, snorkel and stand-up paddleboard — there’s even time for some good old-fashioned swimming. Away from the water, you’ll cycle around the island of Sipian and take a guided tour of the beautiful walled city of Dubrovnik, and there’s a free day to spend as you wish. Note that flights aren’t included in the package.
Group size 4-20
Price £
Halong Bay in Vietnam (Getty Images)
9. Best of Vietnam for teenagers, On the Go
This packed itinerary of Vietnam sees you joining other like-minded families (minimum age 12) on a tour that’ll take you the length of the country, from Hanoi in the north to Ho Chi Minh City in the south. In between, you’ll spend the night on a junk boat on Unesco-listed Halong Bay, tour the imperial city of Hue, take sleeper train and rickshaw rides and cycle through farmland and rice paddies in the country’s rural heartland. You can also join a bamboo-craft workshop, cooking lesson and tai chi session. Keep money spare for guiding tips and entrance fees and book your own international flights.
Group size 4–18
Price £
onthegotours.com
A tiger on the prowl in Kanhah, India (Getty Images)
10. In search of tiger, Abercrombie & Kent
Proper Jungle Book adventures await on Abercrombie & Kent’s ten-night tour through northern India. With time spent in three of the county’s finest national parks, you’ve a good chance of spotting your target: the elusive tiger. Expect to head out on game drives each day, accompanied by an expert guide and tracker, who’ll point out swamp deer, leopard and wild dogs, too, if you’re lucky. Returning to your safari lodge or tented camp at night and falling asleep to the sounds of the parks’ nocturnal wildlife waking up is all part of the magic. Flights into Mumbai and out of Delhi are included; you could add on a couple of days to visit the Taj Mahal from the latter.
Group size
Price £££
abercrombiekent.co.uk
Siberian huskies pull the dog sled through the snow in Lapland (Getty Images)
11. Northern lights adventure, Families Worldwide
Your children will feel like bona fide polar explorers once they’ve spent a week in Arctic Finland in the depths of winter — there aren’t many holidays from which you return having learnt to build an igloo, lasso a reindeer and mush a team of huskies. These are just some of the daytime activities, with snowshoeing, ice-fishing and cross-country skiing included as well. You’ve got seven nights’ worth of opportunities to spot the northern lights, too, stepping out of your cosy log cabin to gaze hopefully upwards, watching for that first grey-green wisp to steak across the sky. Activities, meals and accommodation are included; you’ll need to make your own way to local airport Kuusamo.
Group size Two to four families
Price ££
familiesworldwide.co.uk
• Discover more northern lights tours
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