Plan the year
See these destinations at their best by planning your family fun by season. Try tulips in spring, pick summer fruits in the UK, dive in the autumn and embrace winter snow
Spring Tulips in the Netherlands
With the new Eurostar connection
to Amsterdam from St Pancras, you can all be enjoying boterkoek
(butter cake) in the Dutch capital in under four hours. Keukenhof –
the world’s largest flower festival – runs from March to May each
year. This trip with NH Hotels starts in Amsterdam and includes a
night’s stay and day at the festival, 20 minutes’ south.
Travel Details
From £72pp, including dinner, B&B, transport and festival entry. nhhotels.com
Spring Coasteering in Scotland
Sure, it might not be as warm as
other parts of Europe, but the Isle of Skye is a playground for outdoor
pursuits. Its craggy crevices make for superb coasteering: jumping
from rock to water with an expert guide. Don your wetsuit and
traverse the Cuillin Ridge while taking leaps of faith as you gorge walk
and rock-climb, before a hearty lunch and gallons of hot chocolate.
If the sun’s being particularly generous, you can even go for a swim.
Travel Details
Family activity day from £225 (family of four). skyeadventure.co.uk
Spring Family fitness in Portugal
‘Wellness’ is a buzzword for
2018, so why not embrace it as a group? Pine Cliffs Resort near
Vilamoura has picked up countless awards for its family offering and
has a number of complimentary experiences such as yoga and
meditation, where you can find zen together. The kids’ club activities
including zorbing, football camp and aquaball are superb, too.
Travel Details
Doubles from £86 per night (kids under 12 go free). pinecliffs.com
Spring Learn Spanish on the ground
The easiest way to learn a
language is to immerse yourself in the culture of the country. With
this week-long trip to Granada you’ll take trips to the market, the
multi-faceted Alhambra fortress and work together in a fun, situation-
based, problem-solving environment that works for groups of all
ages. You’ll know your zumo naranja from your café con leche in
no time.
Travel Details
Seven nights from £963pp (adult) / £750pp (child) including self-catered accommodation and tuition. spanishforfamilies.com
Summer Water sports in Greece
With its staccato coastline, its
myriad islands and shallow pools, Greece makes the ideal base
to learn wakeboarding, windsurfing and sailing, and to improve
on swimming skills. Mark Warner offers superb tuition from
beginner to advanced level, where kids will leave a holiday with
a new skill.
Travel Details
Seven nights full-board at Lemnos Beach Resort from £2,900 (for a family of four), including flights. markwarner.co.uk
Summer Fruit-picking in Surrey
Showing little ones first-hand where
their food comes from is the best way to educate them about
seasonality and to prove how easy it can be to eat local produce.
Crockford Bridge Farm is open every day from May and invites
families to come and pick their own berries, with farmers available
to answer any questions your children may have.
Travel Details
Entry is free, berries from £4.25/kg. crockfordbridgefarm.co.uk
Summer Adventure in Slovenia
Children of eight and over can enjoy
a week of active fun in the intriguing mountains of Slovenia. They’ll
love hiking the Julian Alps, swinging through the trees on a zip
line, crossing high rope bridges, exploring caves, off-road cycling
through flowery meadows, and coastal sea kayaking.
Travel Details
Eight days from £1,299pp (adult) / £1,249pp (child). familiesworldwide.co.uk
Summer Ranching in the States
Home to five national parks, a
whopping 43 state parks and seven national monuments, Utah
provides the perfect stetson-toting base for an authentic cowboy
or cowgirl experience. Summer at this elevated spot sees excellent
temperatures, and on-ranch activities in Antimony include fishing,
hiking, tubing and sheet shooting. For more experienced riders,
there are cattle drives where the whole family can join in the fun.
Travel Details
Four nights from £1,628pp, full board. americanroundup.com
Autumn Camel trekking in Morocco
Make like a nomad, get the
hump and explore North Africa’s deserts on the hoof. It’s a great
way to enjoy authentic Arabic culture as kids over ten will become
firm friends with the guys steering their steeds, who’ll introduce them
to the Berber ‘Blue Men’ of the Sahara. The Tizi n’Tichka pass,
backed by the Atlas range, is one road trip where they won’t need
entertaining.
Travel Details
Eight days camping from £445pp. intrepidtravel.com
Autumn Go diving in Egypt
The Red Sea offers some of the best
conditions in which to learn to dive. There are gentle currents,
visibility is excellent and dives can be tailored to include snorkelling,
so the family can swim as a pack. Children aged eight can take
the PADI Bubblemaker course, which goes 2m below the surface,
ten-year-olds can leave with a Junior Scuba Diver certificate and
over 15s can do the Open Water Course.
Travel Details
Seven nights from £1,580pp, including flights. originaldiving.com
Autumn Scrambling in the Lake District
This part of Cumbria
comes to life in the autumn. Ghylls, narrow mountain streams create
natural pathways that anyone aged six and above can scramble,
climb and crawl through. There are a range of routes available,
though our pick would be the Esk Gorge: a labyrinth of tight ravines
and mini-drops that are guaranteed to get the adrenaline pumping.
Travel Details
One day from £35pp. ghyllscrambling.co.uk
Autumn Explore India's golden triangle
With its bustling markets,
magnificent monuments and colonial past, Delhi and its surrounds
have something for all ages. Agra’s mystical Taj Mahal will make a
memory of a lifetime, while there’s plenty to see in the rest of
Rajasthan, such as the Pink City of Jaipur. G Adventures runs an
eight-day tour that ticks off everything you’ll want to see. Be sure to
try street-food gulab jamun; kids and adults will fall for this doughnut-
like, syrup-soaked snack.
Travel Details
From £549pp. gadventures.co.uk
Winter Sledging with huskies in Sweden
Mush your team of
huskies through the remote forests of Jukkasjärvi as you explore
one of the most isolated landscapes on Earth: Swedish Lapland.
Kids of eight and over can flit between sled and snowmobile,
sleeping in cosy lodges before ending with a night in the original
Icehotel. Snowman building optional, but recommended.
Travel Details
Three nights from £1,811pp, including meals. discovertheworld.co.uk
Winter See the Northern lights in Finland
This dramatically
beautiful Scandi country is often overlooked as a place to see the
Aurora Borealis, but you have just as good a chance of spotting
the celestial phenomenon here as you do in its neighbours. It’s
better value, too, and Auroral activity arrives on up to 200 nights
a year.
Travel Details
Three nights in Wilderness Hotel Muotka Sodankylä from £1,335pp, including flights and most meals. theaurorazone.com
Winter Hit the slopes in France
Val Thorens in the Tarentaise Valley is the highest ski resort in Europe and, as such, offers some superb snow. At the top of the Funitel Peclet lift, you’ll also find Europe’s longest toboggan run – an epic 6km. Stay with White Mountain Chalets in friendly Saint Martin de Belleville, where your in-house chef will whip up top-notch dinners paired with excellent wines and breakfasts for champions.
Travel Details
Winter See snow monkeys in Japan
The Japanese macaque is
native to northern Japan and is the most northerly living non-
human primate on the planet. They’re super-cute, friendly, and
spend their days slipping in and out of onsen (thermal spas) and
scavenging for food.
Travel Details
Eight-day tour across the Japanese Alps,starting in Tokyo and ending in Kyoto, from £4,450pp, including flights, activities, accommodation and most meals. exsus.com
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