6 week summer trip with 8 and 10 year old

[Absolutenonsense]

Inspired by another thread about 5 months travelling with primary age children - if you had a decent budget so money wasn’t really an issue, where would you spend 6 weeks in July and august with a 8 and 10 year old? How would you balance the time? I’m imagining a mix of middle-budget accommodation with a bit of higher end stuff. I guess somewhere further afield than Europe would be a good place to start ! (We are UK based) Also thinking a mix of culture, active stuff like hiking/sailing etc, and relaxation. Decent weather but ideally not roasting . Has anyone done this? I wonder if we’ll get sick of each other! The 10 year old tends to want to come home from any holiday after about 10 days but maybe it’s because we’ve always stayed in the same place and it gets boring….

edited to amend children’s ages

Sorry, I can already see I’ve used slightly different ages in the title and post! Just trying to be discrete so as not to be identifiable

Malaysia would work really well. It’s very family-friendly and there’s a fantastic mix of cities, wildlife and beaches. Temperatures aren’t stupidly high and July is in the dry season.
I’d do a few nights in Kuala Lumpur, 10 days in Borneo, a few days in Cameron Highlands, a week on Penang and a week in Langkawi. Not quite 6 weeks but almost.

Great suggestion, thank you so much. Did you do this trip yourself in one go or were you based more locally and did a few trips? Did you have children wuth you? Thanks again!

Someone I know did similar but with 4 weeks in Malaysia and two weeks in Japan. She planned it herself but you could use a travel agent to save you time.

South Africa? Beach initially, might be whale watching season, Ostrich farm, hiking in the Drakensberg mountains, safari which is really special if you can splash out a bit. No jet lag too. It’s winter time but still 20 + degrees and sunny. The ‘Garden route’ is a good introductory itinerary.

Or Florida- yes Disneyland is a bit tacky but undeniably great fun for this age (and , suprisingly, adults too). Animal Kingdom is great. We liked Universal too with the Harry Potter stuff., two great water parks and we travelled around Florida visiting the swamps, alligator reserves, swam with manatees, watched huge rays in the water, visited the Space Kennedy Centre and Miami is fun. The beaches are beautiful in places like Anna Maria Island and kids love collecting the amazing shells. This can be combined with a Caribbean or Mexican trip but is enough on its own really. Lots of accommodation choices in all price ranges. It will be hot and humid and it’s hurricane season but there might not be any although you could expect heavy showers then the sun comes out. If you have 6 weeks, you can really slow the pace down as there is so much to see and do.

We also enjoyed a stint with dc in Jordan - combined the Dead Sea, Petra, Amman, Jerash and the Red Sea coast for beach time. Will be hot though. Maybe 6 weeks might be too much.

Also winter time in Australia but still warm on the Gold Coast and Darwin. You could stop off in Malaysia or Singapore.

Japan seems to be popular too, I’m hoping to go soon. I know lots of people who have been - kids love all the city lights and ‘strange’ shops, robot cafes, bullet trains and Manga stuff. Safe and easy to travel around. Will also be humid.

Iceland, Norway and the Scandi countries - amazing Fjords, boat trips, geysers and volcanic landscapes, thermal outdoor pools, midnight sun. There are some lovely beaches in Denmark. Should be fair to good weather although Norway is unpredictable. Not too far away and most people speak great English so easy travelling.

Vietnam and Cambodia? Bali? Sri Lanka? There are some families on Instagram who are doing extended travelling with their young kids. The Roaming Rascals are one family and That World Travel Family is a Mum travelling with 3 kids solo. You'll find some great ideas from them.

Really helpful suggestions, thanks so much everyone . I feel like things can start to get a bit more adventurous, now the children are getting older…

I did Borneo on my gap year and have done KL, Penang and Cameron Highlands with the dc. Transport between these places is so straightforward

Inter-railing through Europe? I've not done it but read travel blogs with kids that have. Sounds great and something is like to do with mine. Overnight trains and different countries.

I took my boys to Kuala Lumpur and none of us particularly enjoyed it but didn't go other places. We do love Thailand though. Bangkok, islands, beaches and the highlands.
Or my mum loves South Africa. Cape Town, beaches, safari.
I also had a great time when I was younger going to Florida visiting Disney, nasa then driving down to Key West.
I've lived in Australia too so would recommend it. Sydney, Ayres rock, Brisbane, barrier reef, daintree forest up near Cairns.
Lots of amazing places in the world you could take them.

Central America - Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Costa Rica would be top of my list.

This sounds great. I personally love the idea of a version of 'summer in the Hamptons' that rich Americans do, hiring a beach house somewhere and having a care-free summer. Sadly I don't think it would suit my eldest DD(9) to travel around. She loves various things from home that we couldn't take with us. My DS(7) would be fine as long as he had plenty of downtime and activities with him.

lots more great ideas, thank so much you! I’m wondering whether maybe I should wait til they’re teenagers, if they’ll be happier with being away from home for so long….

I love this idea too (as well as the more adventurous ones). I’d want the children to find playmates though or I think they’d be bored, so not sure how to make this happen! I think I’d need buddies too or would get bored

I’ve done two fours week trips with my children: Malaysian Borneo, Brunei and Hong Kong and second trip was Hoi An, Hue, Hanoi, Luang Prabang, Bangkok and then Hong Kong.
First trip involved long houses, rainforest walks, kayaking, orang utans etc, second one was more temples, history, Vespa trips and some pool time.
Hong Kong is always great for a few days: Ocean Park, Disney, Star Ferry, museums, cable car and also temples!
my children were 13 and 7 for the first trip.

My eldest also gets a bit homesick after about 10 days of any trip.

If I were doing a month long trip I would build in a “home from home” section in the middle - rent an apartment, stay put for 5/6 days, pootle about and have meals at “home” rather than sightseeing and restaurants.

But tbh, even with that, I just don’t think my DC would enjoy a really long stint travelling. They like a holiday but would want to see their friends and their own bed.

@Absolutenonsense we are doing something like this this summer. We are spending 10 days in the UK (to see family and friends, some shopping, and London sightseeing), then we are off to Portugal for 7 days (Lisbon, cascais, sintra), then a road trip around the south of the US for 2 weeks - New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Memphis, Tennessee and then off to the Bahamas for 2 weeks at a resort for some sun and relaxation. We have 3 kids 12, 10 and 9 and used to travel and they love the summer.

I've done two long trips both around 5 weeks.

The first was Niagara falls, East coast of America, and Florida. I did enjoy it but America isn't the most relaxing country .

The second was Cambodia and Vietnam which was busy but amazing. My favourite ever holiday and hopefully one day I'll return for a visit.

Thank you for the reply! Were these trips with children and, if so, what ages were they and did they like it?

Personally although these trips sound fun I wouldn’t take the children away from their home and friends for the whole holiday. They will miss out on playdates, time spent at home, etc. I’d do a balance.

@Readytohealnow - I think it really depends on the children. Mine do “play dates” during the year. Also where we live the school holidays are 11 weeks and most parents work so they send their kids to camps and only have them at home for 2 weeks where they go on holiday themselves. So there is no one really around as a rule. And my kids love love love to travel. So they are happy to be away for most of the time. This year we are staying put for a week before we go and my middle child asked why? 🤣. It’s really for me to sort the house a bit nothing else. My point is it’s not one size fits all - some would hate what we do but honesty we live for holidays so it suits us. I hate staycations - it means everyone is home and I’m constantly picking up things and tidying up and can’t relax. Not for me. We have home time during term time and that’s enough for us. But I get not everyone loves to travel as much as we do.

My daughter was 10 when we went to Canada/America and 12 when we went to Cambodia and Vietnam.
She loved both. She was always keen to learn and was happy as long as she could get some swimming in during the holidays. That just meant a little more planning when it came to picking hotels.
Not all our hotels had pools but most did at least have a splash pool so she could let her down regularly.