Your first mistake was letting them watch The Lion King. Photo / Getty Images
Your first mistake was letting them watch The Lion King. Photo / Getty Images
If you weren’t related, you probably wouldn’t be on holiday together.
There’s a lot of pressure on family travel. Incorporating many different interests, age ranges and expectations, planning weeks together abroad is not done without trepidation. Or, inevitably, flack from other family members.
Have you considered adopting a guide?
A guided holiday can be the best way to keep your travelling tribe on the rails.
The art of a multi-generational guided holiday is not only being able to find common ground between family members but allowing some leeway for different interests and paces of travel.
We’ve picked some of the destinations and top family tours which only get better with a guide.
Go Walkabout
Australia’s open country offers adventure for all ages. Reliable weather, unforgettable scenery and - if required - miles of outback to tire out even the most hyperactive of offspring. Australian Walking holidays has a collection of graded overnight hikes and cycles.
Catered and sheltered in prefabricated camps, the holidays break down Australia’s wilder places into manageable days. Many of which are optional. From Larapinta’s Red Centre to cycling through the rainforests of Magnetic Island, there are options for guided tours with meals and accommodation provided.
Some stretches can be pretty strenuous and the minimum age is 8. But with shuttles and optional days between, your guide will get everyone to camp by the end of the day.
6 days Larapinta Family Adventure in Comfort from Alice Springs or 8 days Rainforest and Magnetic Island from Townsville. Minimum age 8. Flights additional.
At any age, Japan is a destination that dazzles and sets your mind alight with questions. Even if you’ve visited before, the language and culture barrier can be substantial.
With Japan having only recently reopened to travellers in October last year, it’s likely you’re a bit rusty on tea ceremony etiquette for 7-year-olds.
Getting some help on the ground is a must.
There’s been a whole raft of new guided tours aimed at family groups wanting to explore Japan. Intrepid Travel offers a guided family holiday from ancient Kyoto to futuristic Tokyo. The minimum age is 5, but there are plenty of activities, including calligraphy and riding the Hakone Ropeway cable car.
To make the most of your time travelling Honshu and to gain some family-friendly recommendations, a guided itinerary is the perfect way to take in the Home Islands.
12 days, Tokyo to Kyoto. Max group size 16. Minimum age 5. International flights additional.
At any age, Japan is a family destination that dazzles. Photo / Getty Images
France en famille
A family trip to Europe, sans assistance? No thanks.
France is the perfect setting for a “grand vacance” with all the family. But there’s so much more to be unlocked if you check out of the motel d’autoroute that you accidentally booked for the family and go with a professional guide.
G Adventures has crafted a family-friendly trip through the cultural highlights of a tour de classiques.
From Paris and the gardens of Giverny to the battlegrounds of Normandy, Northern France has something to appeal to the most bloodthirsty of 10-year-olds - and demanding of gourmands.
The Family catered tour includes private transport and meals - from crepes to cordon bleu.
It also includes a child-friendly private tour of the Palace of Versailles, with full permission to pull faces in the hall of mirrors.
Home of the free, family travel destination of the brave. The United States has a lot of appeal and easy connectivity from Aotearoa. Yes, there’s a common language (sort of), which makes travel easier. Still, finding a suitable itinerary for all the family is hard without help on the ground.
Intrepid Travel gives families the option of seeing the real Wild West of Wyoming. Spending a week in Yellowstone National Park and Grand Tetons, you’ll be following in the footsteps of cowboys. The guided tour allows families to explore the “Great Outdoors” in safety while getting to know more of the wildlife, including bears, beyond their grizzly reputation. There’s even a day spent tracking wolves.
The whole family will be at home on the range and staying at a cowboy ranch will be something the kids will remember for years. Best parents in the West.
6 days from Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Max group size 12. Minimum age 5. Flights additional.
Adopting a tour guide may be the best move for a family adventure holiday. Photo / Timon Studler, Unsplash
Family Safari
Your first mistake was to let them watch The Lion King.
A family trip to the savannah is no walk in the park. However, if you’re determined to see Kruger game reserve with the kids, there are a lot of family-friendly options that will provide private transfers and safari experiences aimed at all ages.
Explore’s 13-day itinerary of South Africa goes beyond the big game parks. Venturing into Eswatini / Swaziland with a stay in a traditional Zulu village, there is also an option of a guided visit to Soweto for a tour of apartheid history and the life of Nelson Mandela.
There are also family-friendly optional excursions picked by the Explore tour leader, including an evening hippo cruise in St Lucia Wetlands.
13 days Johannesburg to Durban. Minimum age is 7, although the average age of children is 13. International flights additional.
Thailand’s beachy coast makes it a popular fly-and-flop destination. Few families brave a trip beyond the beaches of Phuket, which is a shame.
There are far more memorable experiences to be found on a guided tour of Thailand.
G Adventures runs a 12-day family adventure tour that traverses the country, going as far north as the mountain temples of Chiang Mai. Fourteen-year-olds will love visiting the giant Buddha of Wat Pho over another beach day.
Using vetted family-friendly accommodation and transport, there are optional inclusions and the opportunity to spend the night on a sleeper train on a visit to the River Kwai.
There is an excellent balance of activities for all ages. And plenty of opportunity for family members who would actually rather like to lie at the beach.
12 days from Bangkok, Minimum age 6. International flights additional.
