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Ask our expert: adventure holidays
Our family travel expert has her flabber gasted by a reader's request for exciting breaks for four young kids under 10
Dear Emma, I have four children, twins aged three, a six-year-old boy and girl aged nine. I’d like to go away with them on an adventurous holiday. I don’t want to fly for more than four or five hours and would like to go somewhere safe, where they won’t all get ill, but where we’ll have a taste of the exotic – and there will be plenty to keep us amused. My children are keen to learn about new people and places and to experience something other than kids clubs – they love craft, animals and even enjoy going around stately homes in the UK. My budget isn’t bottomless, so please don’t recommend anywhere too expensive. Many thanks. Nicola Huggett, Herts
Family travel expert, Emma Mahony responds: Dear Nicola, are you mad? An adventurous holiday with four children under 10? Isn’t life one continuous adventure with those ages anyway? Maybe you are all craving a change of scene, and perhaps you and your husband deserve an exotic break, but the stress of taking four children far, far away makes me want to reach for the Nurofen packet now. There is a good reason why British bucket-and-spade holidays are so popular with parents of tinies - they are the happiest compromise.
At the most, why don’t you consider a short hop to Ireland or France, with the twins strapped firmly into their car seats? Even the heat and siestas of southern Europe and “relaxing” by the pool is “more work, different location” with three-year-old twins in tow (and you won’t even have your evenings to sip wine and recuperate as they pull on your clothes at midnight).
Expense-wise, travelling somewhere exotic will cost. For example, The Adventure Company offers “infant” breaks to Egypt or Jordan, from £729 per child and £799 per adult: £4,500 for a week for a family of six. With your children’s ages, the expense versus enjoyment ratio won’t work out.
Give it a couple more civilising years, and you can start to plan holidays with a wow factor. Until then, there is a lot to be said for encouraging that interest in animals with a cottage on a farm or finding a house for a week in the grounds of a stately home through English Heritage or a National Trust property near a beach or fortress. They may not be exotic, but there are plenty of adventures to be had. Just think Julian, Dick, Anne and George, and Timmy the Dog. These are their famous five years.
Got a question about family travel? Email our trio of experts at yoursay@timesonline.co.uk - Chloe Bryan-Brown takes care of questions for the 0-6 year olds, Emma Mahony handles the 7-12 age group and Jane Owen the teenage and single mother groups
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Any chance of highlighting these competitions so that they are easy to find?
Thanks
Deidre Shannon, Hillsborough, Northern Ireland
Disagree entirely with Emma Mahony . You can have a good holiday with kids that age, in fact depending where you pick they can make it more interesting. Plus if they don't want to fly more than a few hours I don't think they're going to enjoy being stuck in the car for much longer.
First thing is to go where people like kids, that is south. I think Spain, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Greece or Turkey could be good choices. For example Northern Spain (Costa Verde) or the Pyrenees which are less crowded than the southern costas; the mountains of Slovenia; Dalmatia..
Of course Spain, Italy and even Slovenia and Greece are not as cheap as before. From that point of view maybe Romania or Bulgaria might be worth looking at.
You don't say whether you will be accompanied by another adult, which might simplify matters. Anyway, go for it, forget the naysayers.
k, Bruxelles, Belgium