Long haul family holiday ideas for late October with young children

[ProfessionalPirate]

Sorry if this has been done to death already, but can anyone recommend a long haul holiday destination for end 2 weeks of October with kids ages 4.5 and 8? I’ve ruled out so many places we’d love to visit SE Asia, Sri Lanka, Caribbean etc for weather reasons, unless anyone can correct me on that? Looking at Mauritius (we’ve been before but it was years ago pre-children) but the flights are working out very expensive. Haven’t ruled it out but wondered if there might be some other options that I have overlooked? TIA

Oman

Somewhere there are no mosquitoes and other flying insects/snakes/poisonous creatures etc. that can cause illness or worse, and where hygiene levels are high, and food is prepared properly, where I don't need vaccinations or other precautions. Where that is I don't know, but someone else might.

DEET often doesn't work. I won't go anywhere now where I'll be bitten so that's me stuck unless I go out of season for the blighters. And that includes Europe!

Thank you @hellospring26 , sorry I should have mentioned in the OP Middle East is off the table for us.

Mozzies are a bit hard to predict sometimes aren’t they? We went to Malaysia a few years back and spent a week deep in the jungle, night-time hikes etc and didn’t get a single bite. Then we moved about 30miles to a high end Beach resort and got eaten alive! Was really expecting it to be the other way around! Luckily I don’t react badly to mozzie bites.

Definitely want good food hygiene levels though! I’ve been put off Egypt for this reason (and their appalling animal welfare standards). Although only time I ever got food poisoning abroad was in South Africa funnily enough where you’d expect the standards to be pretty reasonable!

@ProfessionalPirate Ha, agree about Egypt! I was on a Nile Cruise (superb) and overnight train from Cairo to Aswan etc. and while it was fabulous to see the place, food prep really wasn't ahem, up to my standards lol. In fact I was the only member of the group who didn't get the trots and worse because I vehemently stuck to bread, pastries oranges bananas and bottled water. Nothing cooked went past my lips. Atrocious hygiene standards but I'm generalising I'm sure it's not like that all over, but I wasn't prepared to take the chance!

Loads to do here and the weather will be gorgeous https://australiassouthwest.com/destinations/busselton/

The safest beaches in the world.

I would love to visit Australia but never considered it for a 2 week trip, but now you can get a direct flight into Perth it’s much more accessible of course. Just had a quick look on Skyscanner though and I can’t see any available flights for October. Will investigate.

Are you specifically looking for a beech holiday? We went to Disneyland (and surrounding areas) in October and really enjoyed it. The climate in California is actually great then (at least weather wise, less keen on the political climate these days).

The Qantas flight is not really shorter than via the Middle East - Emirates, Qatar and Etihad. The trade off is time in the ground when changing flights and that’s not always very long.

However, Qantas only leaves from LHR. Emirates flies from half a dozen UK airports. I don’t know about the others. Add in the time it takes you to get to LHR vs LGW or others and your options may open.

Japan and Korea and some parts of China have nice weather in late October, around mid 20s in the day. It'll also be the end of the monsoon season in SE Asia, not sure why you've ruled it out? I think it can be a bit erratic in Australia at that time, sudden storms etc.

Japan is fabulous around that time of year! I am biased as DH from there so we go almost annually but I would say it's ideal for young kids. Travelling there with DD a pleasure. No issues with insects, heat etc either.

Not just beach no, we like a bit of beach time but need other things going on too or a split stay with a city break would be great. However we did Florida last October so looking for some more variation from the US this year. Would love to visit California though. Also got Boston / cape cod in mind for another trip.

It’s only because I keep googling places I like the sound of and it keeps telling me October is a bad time to go! Obviously it’s a big area so I’m sure some places will be better than others but I’m not sure where I should be looking?! I priced up going back to the same place we went to in Malaysia combined with a stay in Singapore (not usually a big fan of repeat holidays but we did really love this one), but then discovered that October is the highest rainfall month of the year 😩

Desperate to go to Japan, and I’ve heard it’s a good time of year to go. My only concern was that it would be a pretty epic holiday to organise at such relative short notice (we’d want to travel around quite a bit). Maybe I’m being too defeatist though!

In my experience it's pretty much impossible to cram in EVERYTHING there is to see in Japan into one trip! However you can definitely see a great deal in 2 weeks if you're savvy with your itinerary. Internal flights are super frequent and cheap, and the shinkansen is so fast you can get around the country in no time. Your kids sound like the perfect ages to get a lot out of it too.

We’ve been to Langkawi in October half term and the weather was great- bit of rain but not too much despite it being end of the rainy season. I think worldwide the rainy seasons aren’t that easy to predict any more. Just come back from 2 weeks somewhere that’s expected to have rain every afternoon in July/ August. It rained a total of one time and that was at 3 in the morning.
i know you said not the Middle East but like a PP can really recommend Oman.

Mauritius did look good for October when I was looking.

We did South Vietnam last october, weather was fine, bit of rain in the afternoon but overall the weather was fine!

We have been to Morocco, Oman, Jordan, And Egypt at that time, but we only have a single week.

Before kids we went to China and now I’d like to go to Argentina.

Northern Thailand is fine in Oct. 'October in Chiang Mai is a pleasant shoulder month as the rainy monsoon season winds down and transitions into the cooler, drier months' Its also not the burning off season.

I know not long haul, but DH and I spent 2 weeks in Sicily in oct one year (not half term). We use trains and coaches to get around which were clean, cheap and on time. We could have hired a car, but we weren't sure about parking in Catania and Palermo and really didnt need one.

We travel to Asia alot. In my experience Oct is absolutely fine - the months you want to avoid are Aug and Sep (very hot, humid, rainy and miserable).

If you're keen on Japan go for it! 2 weeks is good enough for a highlights of Tokyo and Kyoto itinerary. The weather will be pleasantly cool as it transits into autumn. My children loved japan from a young age, and I too find it easy with kids.