Where would you recommend for DP's 40th?

[TwinklyLightsForXmas]

Hi. I want to book us a special family holiday for my DP's 40th. It'll be me, him and DS who will be 6.5 at the time. All our holidays so far have been in Europe so I'm thinking further afield. The criteria are:

• has to be in the summer hols (he is a teacher)
• has to have stuff for DS to do (I.e. not a long city break)
• has to be warmish (I hate going on holiday when it's cold 🥶)

Other than that, I'm open to suggestions so where would you take your DP for a special holiday? Thanks in advance

What would DS like? My DDs liked pools and beaches at that age. We went to lovely hotels on Caribbean Islands. Hired a car and explored a bit. We liked the BVIs because you can get ferries to other Islands for a day out.

When they were a bit older we did safari holidays. I’ve no doubt others will say Costa Rica. It will rain though. However it’s a good adventure destination.

We tended to want holidays where our children could meet others so activities were done with them. Not every child wants to do this, but ours did. We also enjoyed a cruise in Alaska but it might not be warm enough for you! Boston and Cape Cod was also popular and we went whale watching. Boston is very good for children.

Zanzibar?? Haven't been but a friend has and said it was life changing.

Not for a 6 year old!

What is your budget op?

California.

I’d be aware that it’s hurricane season in the Caribbean over the summer but there are Island like Barbados that are less prone I think. Plenty of people go with no issue but it’s just something that you might want to look into a bit.

Canada - Vancouver, whistler and Victoria- although it was 14 degrees in Vancouver in July when I was there a few years ago so not warm!
Borneo - personally prefer Sarawak to Sabah - could combine with Singapore for zoo and universal - it's hot and humid all year round, but not sure how wet in the summer
Central Vietnam is dry - hoi An and Hue - but may not be sufficiently interesting for a 6 year old - could combine with HK for Disney and ocean park. HK will be hot and humid then which can be debilitating.
Further afield - northern part of WA is dry then and not to bad re jet lag as same time zone as HK - so fly to HK then 7 hours to Perth - but think you can now fly non-stop to Perth - 17 hours? My kids loved northern WA - camel rides, crocodiles, exploring the Kimberley and the weather was great - hot and not humid.

You would be unlucky to get s hurricane right at the start of the summer holidays. September is worse!

Do you mean like 2005 when they had 2 major ones in July?

Of the places I've been the most suitable are:

Queensland is my favourite place but heck of a flight but Great Barrier Reef around Port Douglas/ Cairns - we went on Seastar, cuddle a koala - Wildlife Habitat PD, tree kangaroos - we stayed at Lumholtz Lodge where lady cares for them and you can see them (one jumped on me!) and you can feed possums, wallabies, bettong etc. Also saw cassowary - 6 foot tall birds in wild. Beautiful weather around 27C everyday. Rainforest in Daintree were can see crocodiles and go ziplining and horseriding on beach. You fly via Sydney if go with BA so can do speedboat, Harbour Bridge Climb etc there but weather isn't great there - 15C to 20C in August so wouldn't hang around. Book multi flight with BA if doing this - our internal flights were almost free when did that - no idea how that works. Our flights were around £1100 each for London to Sydney then Sydney to Cairns and return, rest of costs similar to UK. Super friendly, almost everyone said welcome to Australia to us. Magnetic Island looks amazing too and has rock wallabies and koalas in wild and horseriding on beach and sea. Would happily live there.

Cape Town - see penguins, big 5 at Aquila, Table Mountain etc, whale watching (did that in Oz too) but take a lot of care with safety and weather will be quite average there so may not be the heat you are seeking.

Costa Rica is great, though more for teens. Rainforest, active volcanoes, white water rafting, ziplines (some seriously high ones a few hundred metres up - my 10 year old DS loved these but he's ASD with no sense of danger so many adults screaming and him just fine!). I wouldn't let a 6 year old on the ziplines though, again white water rafting not sure as its pretty wild there. Lots of lovely animals there - we saw racoons, coati, sloths, monkeys, toucans, etc. Would say to enjoy it all you need to be 10 plus so they can do everything and remember it though may still work. 11 hour flight. Weather was 27C to 30C each day with about an hour of rain each day always late afternoon.

We also don't go to Carribean then as its hurricane season but lots of people do. With a 6 year old though I would actually go closer to home maybe Azores to see dolphins / whales or Scandinavia to see animals in the wild like bears / moose / reindeer / beavers and some canoeing / gentle white water rafting but temps only around 20-22C.

F we are in the same boat and can't decide

Vancouver with a trip into the Rockies.