Where to go for a real adventure with teens?

[Chocguzel]

We need an Easter destination for next year. Somewhere with lots to see and do that feels really different.

Places we have loved before include:

• Vietnam - the kids adored cycling around the Mekong Delta, a street food tour by Vespa in Saigon and kayaking in Halong Bay. Some parts were too touristy though (I’m looking at you Hoi An)
• Morocco - we hiked the Atlas Mountains, loved running down the sand dunes of the Sahara and enjoyed the chaos of Marrakech.
• Botswana - safari was a hit, especially searching for hippos my canoe, but there was more time in cars between safaris than the kids really wanted.
• Oman - again they loved the desert but also hiking to deserted swimming Wadis. They loved the old forts and market towns too.
• Silk Route - we camped in yurts in the mountains of Krygistan which was stunning and they loved the history and ancient sites of Samarkand plus the chaotic bazaars. Another highlight was meeting people on the old sleeper trains.

So where next? It has to be a good Easter destination ideally with a mix of outdoor adventure in nature and interesting towns/cities.

Sorry OP… canoeing looking for Hippos? Say what now?

Er that aside - genuinely curious about the US travel bit even tho I know you said you wouldn’t comment, but could I ask have general European citizens travelling on a regular ESTA for a holiday had any hassle at Immigration? I have previous work visas on file FOR working short stints in the US but going to New York in Q4 for a weekend. Naysayers have me terrified to waste money on flights (which still wont stop me trying).

Easter will be expensive in Japan as it’s likely to be cherry blossom season somewhere. However weather is great.
The flights were expensive at Easter but everything else, including hotels b and b and airbnb was very reasonable ( easter '24 anyway!)

What about Cambodia? Have been several times es with my dc - exploring markets in siem Reap, Vespa rides in PPenh, sunset at Angkor Wat…
Laos?
Malaysian Borneo?

I tend to look at Audley 'best time to travel' and then look at companies such as Stubborn Mule, Families Worldwide, Audley and Steppes Travel for inspiration. We have booked with them all over the years and depends on what we are doing as to who we use.

I like to travel when the weather is at least obliging. At easter we tend to ski, but I have South Korea, Bhutan, and BVI's on my to do list at that time of year.

We have travelled a lot with our kids and my top places for adventure and/or variety Peru, Indonesia, Costa rica and Namibia. I also loved Iceland but think it's a bit of nomansland in terms of timing. We went in August and it was brilliant, but still the odd miserable day weather wise.

I do think that the time of year matters as some places are great in August, but you'd not want to go in April and vice versa. I wouldn't waste a trip going too out of season.

I think you'll find that the holiday threads are where those people that spend money on travel tend to congregate. It's nice to exchange ideas! Perhaps stop reading if it upsets you so much...

Just to add as it's still one of our favourite trips.

With Peru we found the variety was the thing the kids loved. We did a food and cooking tour in Lima, then visited the main square and had a mini city break.

Then into the jungle and onboard a small boat into the amazon basin. We stayed in a research station and it was like sleeping in the jungle as there were no walls! The treking and canoe rides were stunning and the wildlife just amazing.

We then did some adventure sports and cycling, white water rafting, before treking to machu picchu and lots of inca history.

Then we caught the train through the moutains to Lake Titicaca and did a homestay. It was 18 days in total though and none stop.

Honestly, it was an amazing trip.

I’m really not a US visa expert. As I say it’s been harder for colleagues who were seemingly granted ESTAs after submitting professional documentation to explain travel to banned countries. I also have an A2 US visa for work but work warned us all recently that ppl have been detained at the border for travelling on work visas when mainly on holiday so to be extra careful about that. Sorry not to be more helpful.

Thanks. I’m going to look at these companies today. We have used Stubborn Mule before and Holiday Architects but I’m interested to compare the others.

I love the idea of Cambodia some day. Laos too. But our Vietnam trip was relatively recent so I’d like to do something a bit different before returning to that region.