BIG holiday with 5 & 8 yr olds?

[Tansy878]

We have a once in a lifetime opportunity in between selling our old house, changing schools and relocating across the country, to go on a once in a lifetime holiday.

Our daughters are 5 and 8.

We love outdoorsy stuff, beaches, animals, adventures.

can anyone suggest places/itineraries for an incredible family holiday? We’ll have 3-4 weeks.

New Zealand & Australia maybe? I would have loved to go touring round the USA but in light of the politics there it feels riskier now :(

Has anyone got any ideas? Where would you take small kids?

What time of year will your trip be? We did Queensland with our children at a similar age and it was great. The Daintree rainforest and crocodile safaris can tick off the animals, Sunshine Coast has lovely beaches. Magnetic island was also lovely. I’d do a couple of weeks there and maybe 1 or so around Sydney?

January probably, so not a huge amount of notice!

Queensland sounds amazing I will google it

Any more ideas folks?

First thought is safari!

My first thought was also safari, we hope to do one with our son sometime around those ages. When I researched South Africa (admittedly many years ago), I think our winter was one of the best times of year to visit. A road trip along the Garden Route in SA could be great.

Or how do you all feel about the cold? Lapland would be amazing, and in January it would be cheaper as you wouldn’t be doing all the Christmas related stuff.

We did South Africa late Jan (before kids) and it was incredible

You really need to work with the time of year.

Australia will be hot in January, but you could have a road trip down the east coast that would be full of beaches and animals and fun, and very easy travelling.

Thailand or Bali would be more exotic but not very difficult, again so much to see that would tick your boxes.

I wouldn't discount the US - what you see in the news is a far cry from what you'd see as a tourist. Whilst it would be winter over there you could do a West Coast trip and into the Grand Canyon.

Queensland/Australia is exceptionally hot in January and accommodation (especially coastal) is very expensive and very booked up as it’s the key holiday season. It wouldn’t be my pick.

I second South Africa, also look into Namibia.

I would do an organised kid-friendly tour somewhere like Borneo.

Sri Lanka. Get a driver. Elephants, beaches, amazing food and lovely people. We did it with our kids at a similar age- it was brilliant. We did Kandy, train thorough the tea plantations to Ella, drive to Yala (safari), stayed in Unawatuna (monkeys in the trees if our guest house)for beach (or similar) near Galle. There’s also whale watching and turtle conservation. Best holiday ever. Get them hard back books and they can make scrap books as they go. We have one for each of our boys- we have drawings, tickets, leaves, stories even sand stuck on! We did it on a tiny budget - it was brilliant. Kids were 8, 5 and 3.

Sri Lanka sounds amazing!

This was one of the places we stayed https://waterfalls-guesthouse-ella.com

The people who owned it were so lovely. We stayed in a mixture of hotels and guesthouses.