Anyone been on an adventurous holiday with small kids?

[meladeso]

We're thinking of doing a proper adventure abroad with the kids next summer holidays.

Probably 5 weeks. They will be 7 and 3.5.

Thinking of south east Asia - Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand (DH has been so have some knowledge/know what to expect), and think am going to research South America (neither of us have been and do worry a bit that it's too unsafe?).
Other options we've talked about are northern Scandinavia / Iceland, or Africa (we know SA).

Don't want to do mainland /obvious Europe as whilst we'd love it (the adults) we'd like the kids to experience something more different to home.

Anyone ever done anything like this and share any suggestions/tips?

I would like to visit a few places, maybe one a week, but not more than that as the thought of constant travel with littles and suitcases makes me feel exhausted before we start.

TIA.

We went to Vietnam when dd was 5 (and ds 8). They enjoyed it and I would recommend it. That was in 2016 and one thing to be aware of is that they got a lot of attention - they see lots of westerners but not many children. It depended on where we were (villages much more so than cities) but it was not unusual to get 25-30 requests for a photo a day. DD found it uncomfortable to start with then decided it was like being famous and became a little diva!! Also the humidity is tremendous - we went in August and it was rarely under ‘feels like’ 45. You do get used to it but it means you need try and be up and about early and then try and have regular stops in air conditionned places. We went through the ‘family adventure company’ - so an organised tour with the 3 other families from around the globe. It helped that they had ready made playmates to help with journeys etc. Also although an organised tour wouldn’t normally have been our thing, it meant that the guide (also specially selected with kids in mind) did all the logistics and so there was no queuing for tickets or anything like that, which would have been unbearable in the heat. Neither of mine are particularly adventurous food wise but they did ok - lots of chicken and rice, and it’s not hard to find pizzas and more western food as well. Again, having a guide who knew where the best (but also ‘kid friendly’ if he could see they were flagging) places were helped. That tour has a minimum age of 5 which I think is probably right.

Some of my most perfect childhood memories are from visiting Kenya, Namibia and Egypt between 8 and 14. We always completely avoided anything "touristy" and hired our own jeep etc, and that was with a single mother. Go for it.

I follow Mamalina on instagram, she has children of a similar age to yours and had travelled in Asia, Central America and Europe with them. Lots of practical tips! Here is a link to her blog on travelling Asia with young children http://www.mamalina.co/travelling-to-the-far-east-with-kids/
Her focus at the moment is greener Christmas so you may have to hunt about her blog for more travel bits. I'm yet to take the plunge to go, hoping to do a few shorter trips to Europe with dc (6, 4 & 1) first and build up from there

Thanks for the replies! Just out running errands and will read properly when we get back.