Adventurous family holidays off the beaten track

[Cornwallian]

Do people have recommendations for adventure holidays off the beaten track (or as off as you can get nowadays within a two week holiday!).

Holidays we have loved of this type include:

• travelling the length of Vietnam, using sleeper trains and local transport, spending time on boats through the Mekong delta, cycling through villages and generally getting a real feel for the place
• trekking in the Atlas Mountains
• Northern Norway in mid winter doing cross country skiing and searching for the northern lights, ice fishing etc

The kids are older now so we could be more adventurous but need ideas.

Turkey? You could travel all over. My most adventurous holidays I wouldn’t take children on, places too unsettled/potential to go wrong.

rideworldwide is one of the big riding companies, they do two week treks etc (and shorter ones of course!).

I haven’t tried them as kids too young at the moment but the kayak companies in Scandinavia look good, you hire the kayaks and tents etc and self guide or they whizz on ahead and drop stuff off at each island.

Zambia into Namibia would be a good one in a 4wd with roof tents but given there are a lot of you you might need two cars!

I've been to a lot of the stans although 10+ years ago. Uzbekistan would be the easiest to visit, but it depends whether that sort of historical type thing appeals to your kids.

I haven't been to Kazahstan which I think is also relatively easy, but perhaps less to do and more expensive.

Kyrgyzstan is a bit harder to visit as it is mountainous and quite rural making getting around more challenging. It would really depend on how you plan to go - if on an organised tour perhaps you won't have any logistical issues and you can simply enjoy the mountains. Every village has some dedicated tourist lodging that meets a certain (basic) standard and has an English menu, so you can stay with locals and really experience the country. On the flip side, I remember arriving in a town at about 6pm and trying to find somewhere to eat. The market had closed, so nothing was available. I had almost given up when some random man came up to me and said in broken English "I hear you are hungry. Come. My wife will cook". It was a great experience and shows the hospitality of the region (which is incredible), but it was also hard - three hours of sitting and chatting before the food arriving. Overall, I would say it was doable for a family if you take some taxis and have a relaxed itinerary. You initially mentioned trekking though and I would be inclined to go to Nepal as a starter for that. Maybe an organised trek would be doable, but there are very few facilities in the mountains. I just did a couple of nights in a yurt rather than a trek.

A more wild option would be to travel from Dushanbe (Tajikistan) to Bishkek along the Pamir highway. This is a pretty special trip if you like mountains, but Tajikistan is even more rural and difficult to get around than Kyrgyzstan, so you would need some patient kids. The Pamir Highway was probably one of the most memorable trips I have done, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it unless you have a lot of travel experience.

Other places that you might want to consider: Jordan for a quick trip, Zambia/Malawi if you want to use public transport, Peru for some Incas and jungle, Brazil (although quite big if you only have two weeks), Mexico (pretty straight forward), Cost Rica, Malaysia (easy to get around), Philippines (this has far fewer tourists than the rest of SE Asia - would love to take the kids to Sagada along with a number of other places), Kerala in India and Sir Lanka.

I'd like to try Bhutan.
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Indonesia (as long as you mostly avoid Bali) is a great option with kids that age - diving, hiking, yoga, temples, volcanoes. Food is great and inexpensive (outside of Bali tourist hell).

Jordan as a PP has suggested - lots of variety from Jerash to the Dead Sea to Petra to Aqaba.

Mexico-Belize-Guatemala is a more expensive but similarly adventurous option, or even just Guatemala on its own! Costa Rica is INSANELY expensive. Priced up a roughing it trip for just myself there and nearly choked on how much it was going to be.

We have travelled a fair few times with families world wide. I’d look at some of their trips. We have found they are very good at finding things the kids enjoy.

I've been to Uzbekistan, this was pre-kids, probably 2009. We had to pay some local travel agency to sort out invitations for our visa, I found them online somewhere and they sorted our overnight train tickets to Khiva too. We had a day in Tashkent then overnight train to Khiva which was pretty basic in second class, first class sells out really quickly. We had a day in Khiva and the next day we hired a car and driver to take us to the forts out in the desert. Then we took a long distance taxi to Bukhara, that was a complete nightmare, but I think they now have a train which would make the journey infinitely better. Bukhara was very pretty. Then took a train to Samarkand, which was also lovely, plenty to see there and finally ended up back in Tashkent to fly home. At that time home was Sydney so we flew Asiana to Seoul, not sure best route from Europe. There were not many others on the tourist trail at that time.

These sound amazing!

Thank you all so much for all these incredible ideas. I love so many of them and would need years now to fund all our holiday dreams.

I am tempted next by Central Asia and then maybe Colombia or Belize/Honduras. I also like the suggestions of Jordan and the Philippines. Namibia looks amazing too but I need to research that more as I am not sure how easy it is to feel off the beaten rack rather than on the same route and in the same lodges as everyone.

Captivity strip in Namibia is more off the beaten track (tbh we preferred it to Etosha). We spent a morning in one reserve and only saw 1 other car. Easy to combine with Vic Falls for mad stuff like bungee jumping etc if that appeals or with Chobe or Zambezi in Zambia/Zimbabwe.
We are going to Belize this year but a higher standard of accommodation (i.e. actusl hotels) than we usually do as it's a retirement celebration.

Many many years ago we did a Red Dot Tours holiday in Sri Lanka and absolutely loved it. Would suit and be within budget.

What month of the year for Vietnam?
As for the Mekong Delta, do an overnight cruise on Mekong rivers through provinces or just do boating in each province you visit?

Just back from a South African safari. Sorry if I've missed it but how old are your kids? If older than 10 it's an incredible experience.

I’ve been to Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan: walking, lakes, exploring Almaty- nothing too strenuous. We booked everything ourselves.
China is great for an adventure holiday, but as pp mentioned it can be bit challenging if you don’t speak any mandarin. I have travelled along the Silk Road eg Kashgar, Turpan and along the Karakoram Highway to lake karakul and the scenery is stunning but the Chinese tend to be reluctant to have foreign tourists travelling around Xinjiang province.

When we went to Borneo admittedly pre child we climbed kota Kinabalu, it was a two day excursion and you summited as the sun rose. There was a Malaysian school group doing it.

@Cornwallian please can I ask about your vietnam trip. £20k sounds a lot more than we are budgeting for using local transport and not on a tour. Would you mind sharing a rough breakdown of proportion on accommodation, flights and activities. Thank you

Lots of great ideas here!

We had a great self-drive holiday in Costa Rica, and hiring a rental property in the rainforest away from the hotels etc felt really off the beaten track.

Our next holiday is Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa, I'm not sure this one will be entirely off the beaten track, but it will be adventurous, with the Okavango Delta as a highlight.

Have you looked at Explore Worldwide? That would give you some ideas, even if you don’t go with them.

Iron Curtain trail? https://en.eurovelo.com/

South Africa! Cape Town to Plett (garden route) hop on hop off bazz bus. You could explore beaches and mountains as well as horseback riding safari and caves. So much to do!

We did a wonderful Vietnam trip for half that including premium economy flights. Was about £10k all in for 4 adults in August. Not meant to be the best for weather but it was fine

How about interrailing? We booked a flight to Romania and a Eurostar home for two weeks later. No plan, just went wherever we fancied each day and slowly worked out way north west. The kids loved it, especially as they got to be involved in where we went.

We also did Korea and Japan, which the kids loved and felt like a proper adventure for them.

Sri Lanka was wonderful, full of adventure for our family.
Food was great, people very friendly and cheap too!

We (family of 4) also did a wonderful holiday in Vietnam in April for way less than £20k. All flights (including internal flights), hotels and tours came in at around £9k. We flew economy, but Qatar air (which we loved) and stayed at some pretty fancy hotels. Food and transport is v v cheap once you are there. Could def have come in cheaper if we had wanted.