Where to take kids on ‘adventurous’ holiday

[Ajhgs]

We have 1.5 more years left before my eldest starts school. We’d like to do a 2-3 week trip with her and her brother somewhere with a mixture of beach and animals, they’ll be nearly 4 and 18 months at the time. Looking for somewhere long haul, semi adventurous but also safe and ideally with no need for travel jabs. Happy to travel to a few places within a country. Any recommendations?

Costa Rica? It was a while ago now but we went there with Global Family Adventures (had a 4yo) and had a great experience.

We're going to Reunion. It's a french island in the Indian Ocean so part of the EU but long haul. You can swim with dolphins, see sea turtles etc. Great for wildlife and beaches. You can fly direct from Paris.

My kids are bigger now, but I have fond memories of our trip to Indonesia (Java and Bali) with a 3.5 year old and a 1 year old. I really enjoyed pottering round the temples, Borobudur is amazing, and inland Bali has some lovely spots too, we had some down time at the end in Sanur. The only animals I recall seeing were monkeys, but you could try and tie in the Komodo dragons somehow. I can't recall vaccine requirements, but I suspect they had Hep A and typhoid before we travelled. Sri Lanka has fab elephants and nice beaches, but I suspect vaccines are recommended. It also has some fab sightseeing not animal related. Definitely a destination worth consideration. Singapore and Taiwan are Asian options that I imagine don't require any jabs, I've not been to Taiwan, but it looks cool, and I'm always happy to spend a few days in Singapore. Neither all that strong on the animal front. Singapore has a fab night zoo, but not sure that is what you are looking for. It's also somewhere you'd need to combine with another destination, you can't fill 3 weeks in Singapore.

Iceland

Sri Lanka, check latest advice but was told just to take mosquito bite precautions but no jabs last time I went. Small so you can travel easily, even include a safari in the national park though we did a half day boat safari which was excellent for seeing animals (crocs, monkeys, snakes, lizards, sleeping bats, plus loads of birds) lots of elephants, saw some working elephants playing on the beach in the surf with their handler looking on. Everyone is so friendly too

We did an epic trip when the kids were 5, 2 and 4 months.
Only the 5 year old remembers anything.
The bit of ours that would fit your criteria is Singapore and up into Malaysia by train. Cities, hill stations, Taman Negara, Perhentian Islands (or skip Singapore and do 3 weeks in Malaysia).
Choose where you want to go as adults and make it child friendly.
Someone else suggested Costa Rica - I'd save that for teenage years. Lots of fun stuff to do with older kids and very compatible with UK summer holidays.

Indonesia and Sri Lanka sound like great options, thanks everyone for your input

I've just been to Sri Lanka with my wider family including 6 kids under 5 and it was great. No jabs required but there were mosquitos. Beaches and food were amazing, people were really friendly and seemed to really like kids. Some of the older kids did the elephant safari, we also went to a turtle hatchery and to a beach where turtles come right into the shallows which the kids loved. Also lots of wildlife generally, saw wild monkeys, peacocks, mongeese, lots of birds and squirrels

The uk has a long list of possible vaccinations for Sri Lanka. Depends where you are going. Plus it says your standard uk vaccinations including MMR should be up to date. This should be done in good time. For children it’s very important.

Wish I'd done this. Depends on your budget but I would recomment doing a tour then end with a bit of downtime/ beach time. Something like G-Adventures and Galapagos Islands or even part of a world cruise - you can get off and be adventurous in many places or stay on with pools and babysitting and great food/ entertainment. You can book allsorts through Get Travelish.

We've just done South African with a 2 year old and a 4 year old and it was fabulous, not sure if it's too unadventurous though. We're trying Thailand next year. I actually holidays with lots to do and see easier (and much more fun) than European AI type holidays where you're stuck in a hotel. When they were tiny, city breaks were great (not just because I could strap them in a buggy and do whatever we'd have done before kids...) Sri Lanka sounds amazing and I'm going to add it to the list, I'm desparate to take the kids to India but want to wait until they're a bit older and more robust so Sri Lanka might give me a bit of 'India-lite' vibes.

South Africa.