A vacation isn’t just a chance to discover someplace new, it’s an opportunity to bring your extended family together for some long overdue quality time. Nothing builds family bonds quite like taking an adventure, together!
A few things make for an excellent multigenerational family trip. Number one is a destination or experience that makes it easy to be all together for most of the trip. In other words, you don’t want a vacation that family members are all experiencing in silos—someone trots off to a museum, another takes a day trip—because that defeats the purpose of taking the journey together!
Another consideration? A travel experience where you don’t have to feel like you’re constantly pulling out your wallet and doing mathematical equations to figure out how to split costs with your family members. That’s why packaged trips, where you’ve paid for most or all parts of the trip upfront, work well for multi-generational family getaways.
With that in mind, here are three ideas for family escapes that allow you to effortlessly indulge your curiosity, all together:
1. A safari to Kenya and Tanzania
I often send my first-time safari clients to Kenya and Tanzania, home to the Serengeti. These are classic safari destinations that give you bountiful opportunities to spy incredible wildlife. Your days will consist of game drives deep into the bush, and meals spent together back at your safari lodge.
A safari like this works well for a multigenerational family because it’s do-able for the young and old, and everyone in between. Children will be thrilled to spot animals that they’ve only ever seen in picture books, while older relatives who might have mobility issues won’t get left behind—they just have to get in the 4×4 to join the fun! Plus, a safari definitely fosters plenty of together time. No one is going to want to skip out on the daily game drives, and communal meals and sundowners (aka “cocktail hour” in the bush) keep family members from wandering off and doing their own thing. There’s also a sense of a shared mission: you all have the same goal of seeing as many animals as possible each day!
2. An ancestral journey
Curious about your family ties? Did you grow up hearing stories about the family “homeland”? Then a journey that takes you back to your ancestral home would be a great fit—especially if you shared it with family members who could revel in the discoveries with you.
For example, I recently designed an ancestral tour for a Sicilian grandmother and her five daughters and daughters-in-law that took them to the villages their Italian family immigrated from, for an extra-meaningful journey of a lifetime. Ancestral trips like this often take place in rural locations, where it’s easy to keep the family group all together in a country villa, bnb, or boutique hotel.
3. A chartered Galapagos cruise
An expedition cruise to the Galapagos is a bucket-list item for many adventurous travelers—it’s a unique chance to swim up close with marine wildlife, trek across volcanic islands, and spy species you can’t find anywhere else on earth. And if you can russell up just 15 family members to take the journey with you, you can essentially make your Galapagos cruise a fully private affair!
Yep, many Galapagos cruise vessels hold just 16 passengers (they have to be small to easily navigate around the islands and not disturb the delicate ecosystem). The small ship size makes it relatively easy for a multigenerational family to charter the entire ship just for themselves. That means massive amounts of quality together time. Plus, like a safari, a cruise like this works well for the littlest and oldest family members alike. Mobility-challenged family members get to partake in the sailing adventure, while easily skipping the activities that would be too taxing—like swimming with sea turtles.
Ready to make your own multigenerational family escape? Let Curioso Travel design it for you—complete our trip inquiry form to start planning today.
