Ideas for a family adventure/ nature holiday on a £12,000 budget

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We are a family of 5 with three kids 10,11,13.

We usually camp in the UK, with a few short euro city breaks. Even pre kids we didn't travel much.

I've just had £12000 inheritance that I want to spend on a 'big' holiday but having never done it I don't know where to start!

I want to go for 2.5 or 3 weeks. No all inclusive, and I certainly don't want luxury but not exactly backpacking either. I was thinking 3 or 4 destinations, hopefully not too much self catering (good value restaurants etc therefore important), nature, activities.

I'm not instantly drawn to SE Asia, it appears too touristy for me, definately want to avoid gap year party people. Equally i don't want remote!

My dream destination is Costa Rica and I thought it was a no brainer, but actually it looks like my budget wont stretch 😥

Can anyone help me please?

We have always used local travel agents for our big trips, i.e. Hong Kong/Mainland China, Sri Lanka, India and Vietnam/Cambodia thus far, and we have a personalised itinerary, stay in 4/5* hotels, have a private guide/driver, etc. We can afford that level of luxury because we use travel agents based in those countries. There’s no way we could have the same type of trip booking through a UK-based travel agent. We save a fortune.

We went to Belize last year. It was brilliant, especially the snorkelling. We chose it over Costa Rica because it has Mayan sites as well as wildlife. We stayed 4 places Cayo region - wildlife and ruins, Ambergris Caye, Lamanai and Placencia

As someone who believes that you don't need to go to the other side of the world for a 'big' holiday, nor is doing that necessarily more worthy or interesting, what about Iceland?

In 2.5/3 weeks, you'd be able to drive all around the island, which is very quiet/remote and untouristy once you get out of Reykjavik and see all the massive water falls, volcanic landscapes and loads of other interesting things. Not sure about the wildlife, but I'm sure there's something that's interesting.

Good time of year to go for long hours of daylight, fairly acceptable weather and everything except the northern lights really.

Yes it's expensive while you're there, but so are a lot of the other places suggested, in particular North America. Plus your flights would be a lot less than going long haul, leaving nearly all your budget for the actual holiday.

We did Borneo last year and loved it. If you want to do it some accomodation gets booked up 12 months out so think ahead.

we did 3 nights KL, then 5 nights crossing Borneo Borneo - orangatangs, sunbears and river lodge stay. Plus staying on tea plantation. finished with 3 nights on the beach and 2 nights Singapore on way home. We had private driver and guide for the 5 night section.

one thing to be aware of is that turtle island is on FCO no go list so we skipped that.

Great idea!!

Agree with this. S E Asia is well travelled but many backpackers also aren't looking for lairy parties, they're looking for cheap travel and peaceful, beautiful places. Don't write it off!

West coast of USA is awesome. Dont miss Lake Tahoe on the journey - lots of fun things to do there; we rented a house (with a bear fence around it!) on the lake. Kayaking, Squaw Valley Winter Olympics site with a swimming pool on top of the mountain (!), water tubing, great food. Absolutely loved it. Day trips to Virginia City, mustang horses, etc

Following! Great thread thanks OP.

Haven’t done it as a family - or recently - but Thailand could tick boxes. We did Bangkok, Ayutthaya for temples, Khao Yai for jungle, and Koh Samet for beach. Wasn’t overly touristy.

Iceland is my favourite country in the world. Stunning, and we're back for the third time this summer. But it's not really a wildlife holiday if that's a big draw for the kids. Geology, yes. Sea birds. And you can go out to sea to spot orcas and whales, and there are thousands of Icelandic ponies and trekking is fun (they do a whole different gait which is a hoot if any of them are riders). But it's above the tree line so being an animal there is hard! There are some Arctic foxes but they're elusive, and the main area to spot them is the western fjords which is difficult to get to.

We've done Borneo and California road trip, very different holidays but Borneo is way better IMO. The distances in California are huge and there is a lot of driving involved. The coast is cooler than you might expect and often covered in mist. Borneo on the other hand is tropical, with incredible wildlife, ancient rainforests, beautiful beaches.

@countrygirl99and @stinkingbishop I really like the look of Belize but I am put off by the fact that school summer holidays don’t seem to be the best time to go, and by the need to change planes (most likely in the US) to get there.

When did you go and what route please? Easter is very tricky for us for the next few years as kids have A levels and GCSEs.

We went July - was fine. About 30 degrees, sticky in the jungle but bearable. Make sure you have insurance which covers hurricanes! We flew via Atlanta and had a stopover on the way back, which we enjoyed. Didn't like giving Trump Tourist dollars but hey. Very short flight down to Belize from there.

We went in May via Houston but I believe Air Canada now have a route via Montreal which is a bit quicker - Houston had an overnight layover on the way out. Our DC are adults now so we aren't tied to school holidays. The weather considerations would apply to Costa Rica as well.
We've done Sri Lanka in August and that was brilliant.
Also second Iceland (but self catering!). We did whale watching at Husavik and Olafsvik and saw loads of sea birds, not sure on puffin timings though as we went in June.
Namibia is easy Africa and you can vary with scenery and activities as well as wildlife so good with DC who may get bored. We did a self drive with a mix of camping and lodges. A lot of the campsites were attached to hotels so you have the restaurants etc but less £. Some of the campsite pitches had their own loos and showers.

Costa Rica should be doable on that budget if you shop around for flight options. We spent around 8.5k last year for a family of 4 for 2 weeks with car hire and 3 different locations. It was an amazing holiday.

Malaysia - including Borneo - my favourite trip so far. I booked quite late and was travelling solo (so more expensive than if you get organised in advance) and I spent approx. £2.5k all in all, for 16 days.

Flight to KL, 2 nights there (5 star hotel for £100 a night, room slept 4). Up to Penang for 3 nights, then on to Borneo. I spent 2 nights in Kota Kinabalu, did a cultural village tour and one full day of snorkelling. After that flew to Sandakan and spent 4 days doing a Kinabatangan river safari. Spotted all big 5 including Pygmy elephants in the wild! Then another 2 nights in KL before my flight home.

Never met loud backpacking party people. If I could do it again I would probably drop Penang and spend more time on Borneo - perhaps a few nights on the Sarawak side as well as Sabah.

Mainland Malaysia, internal flights and KK was very easy to organise, I then used a local tour company for Borneo that took care of everything from landing at Sandakan to my return flight to KL. We stayed in beautiful, small resorts run by locals, all food and boat trips included. It all ran seamlessly, we also did a couple of very easy night jungle walks, visited the orangutan and sun bear sanctuaries… Accommodation was basic but clean and comfortable (no air con in some places though), sometimes with swimming pools. Very family oriented, at each resort there were maybe between 10-15 families staying at any given time. Each group and its guide was made up for 3-4 families and maybe a couple of solo travellers. No rowdiness, Malaysia is a Muslim country so less alcohol available than other places.

Thank you so very much for the details. This sounds wonderful.