Where would you go? Borneo or somewhere else?

[Brownbreadandbiscuits]

Looking for recommendations for a family holiday that can combine a bit of luxury and a bit of adventure that is suitable for young children and is outside Europe for next summer please.

Have two children, who will be 6 and 3 then. And we’ll have to go in the school holidays.

We mostly have done driving holidays with them so far in various parts of Europe, which we’ve enjoyed.

But comtemplating somewhere further next year. Was thinking about Borneo and would love views on what it’s like for young children. or any other suggestions? I’d love to take them to Costa Rica (been before) but think they are still too young for the hikes etc. I’d like a holiday where we could go and stay in a few different places, rather than just one hotel.

In a prior life, we travelled a lot, including a lot of backpacking so we’re not precious. But I also love a nice hotel.

I'm not sure I would have been brave enough to do Borneo with kids so little. What about Japan? Lots of things to do for everyone.

If Easter time then maybe Thailand or Japan. I wouldn't do Japan in August unless completely unavoidable. We did a Phuket trip when the kids were 3 and probably just turned 6, mostly chill time with the paternal grandparents who live in Australia, but with a couple of tripscaround the island. You could easily do Bangkok as well though for added culture. I have been to Borneo but not with kids, I think the kids would enjoy many aspects of Borneo though like the orangutan sanctuaries. We're the kind of parents though that took a 1 and 3 year old to Indonesia and were wandering round Borobudur at 7am to try and beat the heat! Borneo is definitely a big step up from driving to Europe though.

Thank you. I almost said in my op, but Thailand’s not really an option. We travelled around some of it pre-kids (Bangkok, Chiangmai, Phuket, phi phi, Khanchanaburi etc) and my husband wasn’t a fan.

We’ve taken the eldest to Korea before and loved that, but the youngest has never been to Asia. And the longest flight she’s been on is 11 hours.

I would love to go to Japan but we’re looking to go in the summer. And it feels like a trip that would be better suited to older kids (although they would love the bullet train!). My eldest is interested in nature and was fascinated by orangutans at one point, plus I saw some nice hotels in Borneo recommended for families, which made me think about there as an option. @itstrue wondering why you think Japan would be easier than Borneo?

We are planning Malaysia for 2026 but not Borneo (this time anyway).
3 nights in Kuala Lumpar, train to Penang and stay there for 5 nights, fly to Langkawi and then rent a car for 5-6 nights on the island. Langkawi has mangroves and boat trips and rainforest but has activities such as the Sky bridge and night markets. Kids will both be 11 when we go.

I’d recommend chatting to the staff at Selective Asia. They are very good at putting together family friendly holidays in the far east and st suggesting activities for kids etc. How about Vietnam?

I'd second the selective Asia recommendation and have used them before. Even if you just use their website and have a chat, extremely knowledgeable and the staff I spoke to had kids, so got it!

Thanks very much all. Have never used a travel agent before - always DIYd our trips - but will take a look. @ihateexcel your trip sounds great!

Borneo with a three years old? Vietnam would be a lot better.
For all our out-the-beaten tracks holidays, we all got our Hepatitis A vaccine. One less thing to worry about in regions where Hep A is endemic. You need two doses six months apart , so you have time before the Summer.

you need to check weather in Langkawi -

I would avoid taking DC that young on a long haul flight. A 3-year-old is too young to care where they go on holiday and I definitely wouldn't be dragging them all the way to Borneo. Somewhere closer to home with a zoo and a water park would be much more appropriate. We did Costa Rica earlier this year with teens and it was still a big trip. There is A LOT of walking, as you note, so save that for when your DC are at least 10+ if you want to do the wildlife hikes. Personally, I'd look for something fun in Europe - somewhere with a kids pool, a great playground, a nearby zoo and water park.

I went to Borneo this summer and it was wonderful though 3 and 6 are very young. Its fine in Borneo its the travel there.

Sepilok is good if you do go - orangutans and sun bears and rainforest discovery centre. Would also recommend kinabatagan river, we stayed at Last Frontier Boutique Resort though that has 600 steps but has orangutans in the ground and daily boat trips. The issue is its two flights over and if you want to go on elsewhere after its generally another flight. I went with my DD but she was 18. A lot of people also go to Gaya Island but that is a third flight, looks wonderful though.

We did Costa Rica when ours where 9 and 10 and worked really well then. Though 3 and 6 is on the young side as they wouldn't be allowed on the ziplines.

Within Europe we did arola bears in Finland for brown bears in the wild, canoeing etc but it is on the Russian border and needed car hire to combine with other places.

Azores is nice and can island hop in the summer but not really luxury hotels on a lot of the islands and wildlife is dolphins etc but beautiful scenery and hot springs.

Have you considered Singapore? There is tons of child friendly stuff - zoo/night safari/bird park. Numerous water parks. You could hop over to Sentosa for Universal
Studios or across to Malaysia for Legoland.

A huge hit with DS was the ArtScience Museum.

@Cormoran yes, need to figure out where we are going in case we’ll need vaccines. Why do you say Vietnam would be better than Borneo? My plan would just be to go to Malaysian Borneo, if we did go.

@cheezncrackers my husband and I will have a big event to celebrate in 2025, which is why we were thinking of more of a celebratory holiday that included an interesting, more exotic destination. Want the kids to enjoy it too obviously.

We took them both long haul a few months back and both were brilliant on the planes, but I take your point that it could go either way. Glad you enjoyed Costa Rica. I was there pre-kids and thought it was prefect for (older) families.

@Penguinsn sounds like a great trip. Sepilok sounds amazing.

We have spent a lot of time in the nordics over the years, including a pretty big trip in the arctic circle in Finland and Sweden at one point, although this was all pre-kids. I regularly say we should go back and my eldest really wants to see the northern lights and arctic foxes, but it will not be hot enough to make my husband happy!

will look with Azores.

@MooseBeTimeForSnow I’ve heard good things about Singapore for families, but it’s never majorly appealed to me. Will do some more reading about it.

& we wonder why the planet is fucked...

in case helpful, some of my favourite countries I have been include: El Salvador, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Brazil (although have only been to Rio, Pantanal, southern bits of Brazil), Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Italy (particularly Umbria, but love it all and it’s probably been one of the countries I’ve most visited), Slovenia, Switzerland, France, Australia and Korea. Also loved California. And have a very soft spot for Sweden, especially Stockholm.

I’ve never been to Austria or Montenegro, but would like to. Ditto Jordan, Georgia, Zambia, South Africa and Japan (although several of those would not be sensible choices right not).

Airline emissions currently account for 2.5 per cent of global emissions. I agree we will need to address it, but right now I think the priority should be on tackling emissions in energy, road transport and in our homes - where we have readily available solutions that if rolled out swiftly could take down a much higher percentage of emissions quickly. And that is what we need to do in order to have the best chance of limiting temps to well below 2C in line with the Paris agreement. (And we need to address methane, because that will buy us time).

That being said, as I mentioned nearly all our holidays since the children were born were driving holidays. We have an EV. I get public transport to work, as does my husband. We walk to school. We do a lot of work to address climate change. If I can use a different form of transport than flying to get somewhere I will do my best to opt for that option. And I am supportive of higher prices for flights, especially for business travellers and frequent fliers, to help fund research into solutions to address emissions.

While I’ve travelled a lot, many of these trips involved multiple countries. Although there was sometimes a flight there and back, I largely travelled in and between countries on buses or trains (or in our EV).