TOP 20
Wanderlust ADVENTURES
Dreaming of a lifechanging family holiday? Here are 20 amazing ideas just to get you started, writes Carla Grossetti.
Swim with extra buoyancy in the Dead Sea
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Floating belly up in the Dead Sea off Jordan is one of the ultimate ways to unwind. Join visitors from around the world who wade into the water, crunching their way along sharp salt crystals before taking the plunge in the lowest hypersaline lake in the world. Both adults and children (who are old enough to swim) will love the feeling of buoyancy while admiring the desert landscape and backing board of blue sky. Note: this is not a splash pool; if you get the salty water in your eyes it burns.
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06. Ride the world’s longest zipline rollercoaster on Australia’s Central Coast
Walk along the Great Wall of China
The TreeTop Crazy Rider is a fairly extreme way to take in a view. Billed as the longest zipline rollercoaster in the world, the TreeTop Crazy Rider sends thrill-seekers zigging and zagging around the trees while attached to a one-kilometre-long cable. It’s one of the star family travel attractions at Treetop Adventure Park, which is located in Ourimbah State Forest on the New South Wales Central Coast. While participants must weigh more than 40 kilograms to ride the zipline, there are obstacle courses on offer for tiny tots aged as young as three.
The Great Wall of China is a marvel of military engineering, built by successive dynasties between 220 BC to 1644 AD as defensive cordons to protect China’s kingdoms from marauding tribes. Children will be captivated by the wall, which is made up of multiple structures of stone, brick, tamped earth and wood, and runs along mountain passes and ridges like the spine of a slumbering giant. Walking a section of the wall – which snakes more than 6352 kilometres from Shanhai Pass in the east to Lop Nur in the west – is a great way to bring ancient history lessons to life.
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Spend a night in a castle in Great Britain
Take a family cruise around the South Pacific
See giant tortoises in the Galapagos
It’s not every night you get to tuck your children into a fourposter bed in a medieval castle behind thick sandstone walls. Take an after-hours tour of Warwick Castle, which brings to life the stories of medieval knights, Norman mottes and more, before climbing the 55-step spiral staircase to your room, which overlooks wooded grounds designed by Capability Brown. BYO tiara.
Travelling on the high seas at around 21 knots a day is truly a different pace of travel for most families. Parents on board the cruise vessels can awaken the gypsy gene in their children by easing them into a foreign culture while they are still in their comfort zone. In addition to all the action on board – from strobe-lit dance classes to waterslides – the family-oriented ships offer shore excursions designed to teach children about different cultures.
While armchair travellers might prefer to Google Street View the Galapagos Islands – yes, it’s a thing – adventurous families who want to follow in Darwin’s footsteps can explore the islands made famous by the scientist. Here, children are encouraged to channel their inner Attenborough to get up close to the Galapagos tortoise and spot sea lions, frigate birds and land iguanas.
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Have a white Christmas in Canada
IMAGE: JAMES.KAISER
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Go rafting in the Grand Canyon
Visit LegoLand in Denmark
Rafting the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon is at the top of travellers’ bucket lists around the globe. In fact, the experience is so popular that wait lists for the hot spot extend at least 12 months in advance. Outdoorsy families with children over the age of eight will love the experience of rafting down the Colorado River, which carved its course through the contours of the canyon about six million years ago. Best time to go is in summer, when the swirling currents are not too strong.
Make it hot chocolates all round at Legoland Discovery Centre in Billund, Denmark, where the tiny building blocks are so much more than just constructive toys for children. Whether you’re a master model builder or you prefer to freeform with the colourful itty-bitty bricks, Legoland is about inspiring both children and adults to cut loose with their imagination and construct the Lego creations of their dreams. Lego House is the newest attraction at the company’s flagship theme park.
Christmas in Australia is always sans snowflakes. But if all your children want for Christmas is sleighbells and snow, why not whisk them away to Whistler for its annual Santa Day? There’s no hidden Claus: the first 100 skiers or boarders to hit the slopes dressed like Santa will receive a free lift ticket to use for the day at the Whistler Blackcomb Resort, located in the mountains of British Columbia. Winnipeg in Manitoba also knows how to celebrate the Christmas season with its annual Santa Claus Parade.
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Visit Gaudi’s enchanting Park Güell in Barcelona
Camp out in the desert of Wadi Rum in Jordan
Park Güell is one of artist Gaudi’s major works. Located in Barcelona, the fantastical sprawling garden – much of which is free to the public – is a garish collision of art and architecture with flowing lines, eclectic art and lurid mosaics. Gaudi’s enchanting Barcelona masterpiece was created in 1900 and bought for use as a public park in 1922. Children marvel at the monumental precinct comprising an iconic blue-and-white spire, Hansel-and-Gretel gatehouses, and a forest of columns, which appear as if they have been pulled straight out of a twisted fairy tale.
After exploring the Lost City of Petra, spend your first trip to Jordan with the family in a Bedouin desert camp in the Wadi Rum under a sky blanketed with stars. Bunkering down for the night in one of the tents surrounded by the desert’s stone rock formations will give your children a taste of the nomadic life enjoyed by the Bedouin, who historically inhabited desert regions in the Middle East and North Africa. Watch Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade for inspiration.
Take a self-drive RV trip around Yellowstone National Park
Enjoy an elephant encounter in Sri Lanka
Introduce your children to the great outdoors with a selfdrive camping trip through Yellowstone National Park in an RV (recreational vehicle). This is truly Yogi Bear territory. Break up the trip through America’s first National Park with a spot of wildlife watching, some white-water rafting, and a hike to a waterfall. Children will be spellbound by the dramatic landscapes, bubbling geysers and hot pools.
In addition to spending quality family time together, having an encounter with elephants in Sri Lanka will help improve children’s knowledge about endangered species. Lonely Planet included a safari tour of the Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage in its recently published Travel with Children book because the elephants roam free and the bathing sessions for the baby elephants are hugely popular with kids.
12. 10. Meet Mickey Mouse in Disneyland Walt Disney wanted everyone who stepped through the gates of Disneyland to feel like a child. More than 60 years since the magical park opened in Anaheim, California, Disney’s dream has come true, with the theme park considered to be one of the world’s most successful tourist attractions. From the smell of fairy floss – which permeates the air – to the soundtrack of children squealing as they encounter characters such as Snow White and Mickey Mouse, Disneyland delivers on thrills for everyone, not just diehard Disney fanatics. For families who travel
Take a history lesson at the Museum of Natural History in New York The Museum of Natural History in New York City has been captivating the minds of children and adults for close to 150 years. Little ones love the interactive exhibits at the museum, which is dedicated to everything from education to conservation. Highlights of the museum include a frozen tissue lab, rooms filled with fossils and the high-ceiling hall of dinosaurs.
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17. Make like an Egyptian Children obsessed with Horrible Histories will thrill at seeing the replica of Tutankhamun’s tomb and its treasures located in Egypt’s Valley of Kings. In addition to seeing some of the world’s most impressive pyramids and monuments, the whole family can geek out at the Egyptian Museum, ride a camel around the parched earth, and be captured by the immensity and wonder of the Pharaonic times.
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16. Experience Iguazú Falls Argentina is full of breathtaking landscapes that will impress nature-loving families – Iguazú Falls is one of them. Located on the border of the Argentine province of Misiones and the Brazilian state of Parana, the jaw-dropping natural wonder includes hundreds of cascading waterfalls that stretch for nearly three kilometres. Don’t bother posting an Instagram story; it won’t do justice to the falls, which are surrounded by northern subtropical forest.
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Enjoy an Go volcano unforgettable boarding in skiing adventure Nicaragua in Switzerland The Cerra Negro Volcano near Switzerland is like a mecca for mountain lovers. Bundle up your little ones for a ride on the world’s first revolving cable car up Mt Titlis where you can stay overnight in an igloo and warm your cockles in a spa. Views from the cable car also improve as you ascend to the Schilthorn, home of the interactive Bond World 007. Those with competent skiers in tow should head to Murren, which offers views of the jagged silhouettes of Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau, which form part of the Swiss Alps.
the village of Malpaisillo, Nicaragua, is the most active cinder cone volcano in the world. And what better way for families with older children to appreciate this geographical wonder than while whizzing down its vertical face on wooden sleds? After hiking up to the top of the 650-metre-high cone, don your orange safety suit and slide or surf your way down the mountain of volcanic pebbles. Adventurous teens will enjoy this adrenaline-fuelled adventure, which is not for the faint-hearted.
20. Snorkel at the Great Barrier Reef Encourage your children to appreciate the coral gardens of the Great Barrier Reef in Tropical North Queensland. The marine life off the coast of Cairns is abundant, making the act of Finding Nemo a cinch. Whether viewing the underwater scenes in a snorkel and mask or a glass-bottom boat, your brood will be transfixed with the watery adventure.
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