AIBU to ask for ideas? family adventure holidays

[Thingsthatgo]

So, as a family (dd 5yo and ds 8yo, dh and myself) we often struggle to find holidays that suit us all.
Ds has recently been moaning that his life has ‘no real adventure’. He’d like to go on an adventure for our next holiday, and I quite like the idea. However, he is not really the adventuring type. He’s loves to read about adventure, but he is not sporty or outdoorsy. I asked him what sort of adventure he’d like, and he said ‘well there are parts of Suriname that haven’t been discovered yet, I’d like to be an explorer’.
So, my AIBU is, can anyone recommend a holiday, that feels adventurous, but isn’t too demanding physically, isn’t dangerous and is family friendly?
I’m not worrying about cost at this point, we don’t have an unlimited budget, but I’m just at the ideas bit at the moment.

Cruise somewhere and explore lots of different locations with the safety of going back to your ship when you need to. Plus the ships often have excellent child care facilities if you need them.
We did the longest zip line over water in the Caribbean, swam with sting Rays in Gran Caymen (kids too). To name but a few.

Road trip in an RV is my dream.

Japan? Few days in the city then out to the forest?

The Alps in summer are great.
Loads of different activities to try - walking, biking, SUP on lakes, outdoor swimming, high ropes courses, summer sledging.....

Costa Rica. Loads of outdoor stuff, zipwires, volcanoes, beaches and wildlife, but pretty safe and with decent medical care if required.

You can do trekking style adventure holidays where you can take young children.

www.intrepidtravel.com/uk/morocco/morocco-family-holiday-123659

Trek into the Atlas Mountains and stay with a Berber family overnight plus Marrakech.

Morocco is satisfyingly exotic while being safe and not far

Activities abroad are a great family holiday company and their website might give you some inspiration. We've done a holiday in Sweden with them including snow mobiling, snow shoeing, ice fishing, Northern lights and a night in the ice Hotel. Not cheap but amazing, and v well organised

Have you done much travelling? Somewhere with a wildly different culture is likely to feel very adventurous.

If you like beaches and the sun somewhere like Thailand or Sri Lanka where you can combine staying at a family friendly beach resort with snorkelling, jungle trekking, boat trips etc will feel a million miles from your usual life.

Any holiday which revolves around an activity will feed that sense of adventure so I second the idea of a cruise or even staying in a houseboat. A safari is always going to feel adventurous, look at organised tours and trips in Kenya or South Africa which are family friendly. Even skiing will give that sense of adventure.

I think your DP needs to be more realistic about what he wants though - he’s hardly going to be able to explore Suriname with two kids in tow. Family friendly, affordable holidays won’t involve much going off the beaten track unless you’re very experienced travellers with some local knowledge; any holiday will have to be centred around reputable resorts and tours guides etc if you’re bringing young kids along.

Curacao would be lovely with kids. Beaches and could be low-key but there’s a mountain to climb, aloe farm, blow holes, snorkelling, Little Curacao island with a shipwreck on it as a daytrip, etc. I went with DH only but we spent the whole week thinking our DC would have loved it.

Because it’s not as well known as other Caribbean countries it’s not as pricey. And yet perfectly safe, you don’t have to be holed up in a gated resort paying for pricey excursions. We just hired a car and explored the island.

we drove down through France to the German Alps last Summer and back through Germany, Belgium and Holland

we did swimming in Lake Constance, trips to various places, including up The Zugspitze where they did sledging - in August!

Kids said it was the best holiday ever - stopped in France and Germany in a few hotels and Eurocamped for a week

Morocco is satisfyingly exotic while being safe and not far

Safe? Two Scandinavian hikers were murdered by beheading in the Atlas Mountains last December.

Arctic circle - Svalbard, Greenland ?

@nononever Yes they were. But by jihadis and they weren't in a tour group.

On that basis, London should be avoided at all costs

Join cubs/scouts

Campervan

Sea or wild swimming

Geocaching

Go ape

These are all brilliant! Thank you. We haven’t had particularly adventurous holidays before, this is a new thing from DS (not DH).
We have stayed on a houseboat, and lots of wild camping in the U.K. We have also visited the Alps in the summer.
I like the idea of the artic circle, that would be amazing, and Curacao sounds like the sort of thing that DS had in mind. I shall do some research. Thank you 😊

We really enjoyed our trip to New Zealand. We rented a camper van and drove around to loads of different places. It’s definitely I rely one of my favorite holidays ever.

www.familyadventureholidays.com/

There is actually a holiday company called Family Adventure Holidays although I’m not sure how many would be suitable for 5 year olds. I also like a holiday company called Responsible Travel who have a diverse range of options off the beaten track. I was looking at a family friendly trip to Finland with some hiking, kayaking, bear watching etc staying in a wooden cabin in the woods. I also liked that they featured more unusual parts of familiar countries so in the mountains of Spain for example. ( with a choice of activities like white water rafting, biking etc) Their aim is to promote travel with a low environmental impact so you can feel better about that aspect too.

I'm sorry OP, but the disconnect between your description of your DH as 'not sporty or outdoorsy' and his thought process of quite fancying exploring the undiscovered parts of Suriname (with two kids in tow!) made me

I agree with other posters, either try a normal holiday in a more exotic location for a feeling of excitement, or book a holiday that is based around activities (e.g. I've been on a Nielson one which was really good, but there are lots of different companies dependent on budget/area, etc). but has a kids club and opt-in for activities!

And make him get involved in the organising, so that when whatever it is doesn't live up to his, um, unrealistic lofty ideals he isn't blaming you!

My DS wants the adventure, not my DH!

My DS is 8 years old, he has no idea what it would really be like to explore Suriname, but has lofty ideas of being Indiana Jones! I like the idea of an faux adventurous holiday I suppose, to give him a taster, without any actual danger.

I think you need to be really careful about his expectations. If you already go wild camping, and that doesn’t feel like “real adventure” then how are lots of perfectly laid on activities going to cut it? I mean, they’d be great fun... but I’ve been on things like family tours in the Atlas, but adventure it is not. It’s spoiled tourists (and I’m one of them!) being air condition bussed from one fun activity to another.

I’d bottom out what he means by real adventure. Because if it’s cutting his way through untouched tropical rainforests, then a zipwire is not the same thing!

I also recommend Morocco. You can visit the Sahara desert, dpo a hot air balloon ride and the souks in Marrakesh are very adventurous!

There are plenty of holiday companies that cater for family adventures. I like G Adventures or search on TourRader.com for ideas.

You haven't said a budget so unsure how much you're willing to spend but a cruise would be amazing and they cater so well for children.

If he wants to experience being brave and adventurous... I’d send him on his own to a PGL centre. My daughter went when she was 8 - she’s done all sorts of holiday trips, kayaking, biking, skiing, zipwires, camel riding, diving, bush craft sessions... nothing has made her feel more scared (and then more brave) than being left all on her own 10 miles from home at PGL!

let's be honest, unless you know what you are doing - and it sounds like you aren't very experienced - a 5 yo and an 8 yo are far too young for a "real" adventure