Summer 2026 - 6 week family trip

[thinkfast]

We’re planning an extended 6 week adventure next summer me, DH, DS (who will be 14) and DD (who will be 11), as I qualify for a sabbatical from work.
Originally, I thought of Thailand as DH and I spent 2 summers there in university holidays many years ago, but I’m now not sure. It seems to have got a lot more expensive and crowded.
We have a budget of around £1k per week plus flights, but could stretch this if needed.
As a family, we are moderately active, but not very sporty or adventurous, and we are hoping to stay in mid- range accommodation mainly.
We’d like a mix of sightseeing and pool/beach.
Any suggestions of destinations (or reassurance that Thailand fits the bill) would be gratefully accepted!

You wouldn’t be able to do a lot of adventure in Thailand in summer due to the heat. I’d suggest North Vietnam: Hanoi, Sapa, Halong Bay, Ninh Binh and Mai Chau

No idea about the budget but what about fly into Bangkok and out of Singapore?
Use booking.com to get an idea of accomodation prices.
£1k a week is £150 a day - can you keep accomodation to £50-£80 a night max? Eating out is cheap. Then money for activities.
Or fly into Jakarta and out of Bali instead? Indonesia is cheaper.
Or similar ideas in South / Central America? Costa Rica isn't cheap but 2 weeks there would be enough and then travel further south where it is cheaper too. Public transport is very reasonable.

I wonder if 3 weeks in Vietnam, then 3 weeks in Thai islands would work. I understand Thai beaches are better then Vietnamese….

Yes you’re right about the Thai beaches!

I did Northern Thailand (lived there in the 80/90s) , Vietnam (hadn’t been for 40 years) and Borneo where I had never been .. all really fabulous - but the river eco tour at https://www.bilitrainforestlodge.com/ and https://www.audleytravel.com/borneo/accommodation/tabin-wildlife-reserve

Our shone everything else for genuine empathy and ‘walking the walk’ rather than just talking the talk’ wrt eco tourism and the ability to experience the animals in their natural environment.

Someone just suggested 2 weeks in Sri Lanka followed by 4 weeks in Thailand, which I’m very tempted by…

Greek Islands

This sounds amazing. Phuket islands are in rainy season but still nice in the summer (although weather may impact boat excursions so could be a dealbreaker), Koh samui is fine I think?

You could spend some time on Chiang Mai, it’s supposed to be laidback but still easy for travelling with kids, lots of day trips from there and much more affordable than the islands.

Do look into Malaysia, amazing places down the East coast. Weather in the summer is great and again, much more affordable.

We went to Malaysia 20 years ago and except for Kuala Lumpur, we didn’t enjoy it very much. The beaches weren’t as good as Thailand, the food wasn’t as good, we had some stuff nicked from the beach and the people weren’t very friendly.

I've been to the places being suggested and recently with kids - out of the options you've posted a mix of Sri Lanka and Thailand would get my vote

Need to be careful about weather though

Indonesia. Cheap and the weather is best in summer. I’d probably skip Bali as it sounds very heavily touristed. With 6 weeks you could get to some of the more remote parts which have amazing diving/snorkelling and wildlife

In other bits of SE Asia you’ll have to be careful with which areas you visit to avoid the rain and even then, it may be overcast and humid