18 essential tips for backpacking through Southeast Asia with kids

Vang Vieng in Laos is a paradise, filled with adventure, natural wonders and a relaxed vibe. Photo / Chris Stead

Are you a parent with a penchant for travel? Do you often wonder how you can combine global experiences with the rigmarole of tots, teens or tweens? Follow these essential tips for a family adventure in Southeast Asia and everything will go (semi) smoothly, writes Chris Stead

I just did something brave. I jumped on a plane to Bali with no return ticket, five backpacks and a family in tow. My partner, and our three children aged 12, 10 and 7.

Some nine weeks later, we arrived back home in one piece, tanned and world-wise. Levelled-up. We’d visited seven countries, caught nine planes, survived 17 border crossings and spent multiple nights on trains, boats, and under 30 different roofs.

It was awesome and I hope to inspire you to do the same, but it wasn’t always thrilling adventures and widened perspectives. Travelling with young kids is tough.

Before we left, a veteran of such adventures had some advice that only made sense on reflection. “The thing,“ they’d warned, “about taking your kids to the other side of the world is - they’re still your kids.”

Now I understand, and I’ve learned so much more. I encourage you to be brave, too, and to take a leap of faith. Here are the essential tips you need to know.

Organise a TukTuk to get you to Angkor Wat for sunrise, and you’ll appreciate this Ancient Wonder of the World all the more. Photo / Chris Stead

Accommodation

When deciding between places to stay, there are four “features” we found worked best. Especially when staying for more than one night.

• Avoid studios and look for stays with at least one bedroom, but ideally two. If kids and adults can have their own space, especially come sleep time, it does wonders for family harmony.
• Pools add tremendous value and not just because of Southeast Asia’s sweltering heat. It also allows for easy child entertainment without having to pay extra or actively participate. This gives parents freedom to clock off mentally, or organise future plans in relative peace.
• Most days will be highly active, or involve early checkouts and long transfers. Booking accommodation with breakfast ensures everyone can fill their stomach without fuss, making the coming hours much easier. Plus, the kids love a buffet!
• Prioritise the above three points over location. Being central, in say the “old town”, is nice on paper, but is often loud and lacking in space or amenities. It’s not worth the payoff. Especially as Grab (read: Uber) is so cheap.

Night markets are always a treat, with cheap yummy food and a party atmosphere that gives every evening meaning.  Photo / Chris Stead

Exploring

There’s no shortage of incredible sites to visit in Southeast Asia. We visited wonders like Angkor Wat (Cambodia), Gunung Kawi (Indonesia) and Mount Fansipan (Vietnam) to spectacular natural vistas like Vang Vieng (Laos) and Ha Long Bay (Vietnam).

There’s so many mind-blowing cities like Singapore and Ho Chi Minh. Theme parks like Legoland (Malaysia) and Andamanda (Thailand), and harrowing sites like the Killing Fields (Cambodia), Hanoi Hilton and Phu Quoc Prison (Vietnam) - how do you navigate such things best with kids?

• Don’t overpack your day. As adults, we want to make the most of each destination, but this doesn’t work for kids. By the third temple or museum, the energy and fun will be gone. Pick one or two things for a day that you can experience early, before spending the hottest part of the day at a pool. Then explore again when the night is cooler.
• Learning all about Angkor Wat or Quoc Tu Giam (Imperial Academy, Hanoi) on a guided tour may intrigue adults and feel like an important education for your kids, but it will ultimately be a waste of money. You’re better off exploring at your family’s pace. While important to see these sites, they should be in the minority. Instead, do visceral experiences like rafting, biking, or theme parks. Try hands-on cultural experiences like cooking classes, farm stays, dances, and markets.
• I love walking through destinations. You learn so much more about a place when you navigate on foot. But it doesn’t work with kids in the heat, day after day. Avoid long walks! Get Grabs.
• Don’t overthink food. Whenever you say, “We’ll just get there first” or “It’s cheaper elsewhere”, you’re on a path to doom. When the grumblings for food begin, just take the hint. A great option is a smoothie if you’re in between meals. They are everywhere in Southeast Asia. Plus, they are refreshing, cheap and have plenty of energy-boosting ingredients in them. Don’t be nervous about street food, either. We ate everything and anything, and nobody got food poisoning.
• Kids love to shop and the markets of Southeast Asia fascinate the munchkins. Make a market a destination, not an afterthought. Night markets are particularly awesome for the atmosphere, cheap food and local stalls. Give the kids a budget and let them haggle.
• Wandering in a new country is scary and daunting for tired kids. Have a plan and show them what it is on a map. We found exploring went much better if the kids were actively involved with, and understood, the day’s movements. Just stick to whatever you’ll say you’ll do.
• There’s no shortage of historical sites in Southeast Asia that are confronting, even if they offer a valuable perspective. Pay attention to age-warnings and give them a taste of human history without the visually intense proof of it.
• Doing things as a family is always the goal, but not always wise. Look for opportunities to divide and conquer with your partner. For example, in Sa Pa (Vietnam), my wife and daughter went for a massage while I took the boys on a walk to a food market. This separation saved a day that was spiralling into disaster.

The walk down to Cat Cat village in Sa Pa, Vietnam, produces some spectacular views of the mountains. Photo / Chris Stead

Logistics - Itinerary and packing tips

Now for the boring bit: logistics. There’s plenty of fun to be had at each destination, but getting there is a toil. Here are a few itinerary and packing tips to help ease the pain.

• In most locations, you’ll need to access only 10 per cent of what’s in your backpack, so why pull out 100 per cent? Invest in some zip-up bags that compartmentalise your backpacks. Put undies in one. Socks in another. Keep swimming, toiletries and medical supplies in outer pockets. This makes unpacking and packing much easier.
• We had five main backpacks, which shrunk in size down the ages to match the individual’s strength. But everyone also had a daypack. This gave the kids some ownership of a “space” for colouring books, diaries, souvenirs, snacks and so forth. This system worked well.
• We took the option of breaking up periods of “roughing it” - as in lots of transfers, low-quality accommodation and active days - with luxury resorts. So, we might spend 10 days on the road, then four days living it up near a pool. This kept everyone fresh and provided a light at the end of the tunnel during tough times.
• Make sure you have a small screen for each child like an old phone or Kindle. There’s a lot of waiting around for transfers, at airports and in hotel lobbies. I hate screen time as much as the next parent, but they’re doing a lot of active adventuring, and at times, they need a mental pacifier.
• Southeast Asian people love kids. They will put in the effort to make you feel happy and will engage with your children. All our worries about safety proved unfounded, from the big cities to remote villages.
• If you’re thinking, “I’ll get some work done”, then you’re kidding yourself. Backpacking is incredibly fun, but exhausting and at the end of every day, you’re as likely to pass out as “finish off this email”. Let work go. The world will wait.