Family Adventure Vacations

Family Adventure Vacations - If you have always been into adventure and wonder, "can we enjoy adventure vacations with kids?" Families can now take all kinds of adventure vacations. Everything from whitewater rafting to driving cattle to Hot air Ballooning can now be done as a family!

Family adventure vacations can mean different things to each family. The great trip your brother talks about, the outstanding resort your neighbors visited, the exotic journey you read about in the travel magazine, may or may not be right for your family.

So let's get started planning your family vacation adventures: First when I say family "adventure" vacation what do you think of?

• Walking or hiking exploration
• Cowhand/dude ranch or western vacation
• Resorts with waterslides, kids camps, horseback riding, golf
• Dog sledding
• Windsurfing
• White water rafting
• Fishing
• Hot Air balloon rides
• Bicycle adventure
• Mountain adventure, with skiing, or sledding
• Riding the biggest roller coaster in the Unites States

The definition of "Adventure" is a physically challenging activity in an outside environment! Keep in mind physically challenging activity can be very different to each family member.

In planning Family adventure vacations begin by looking at your youngest child and work your way up through the family. Consider what each person?s needs and abilities are to see if you can blend them into a fun adventure. Physical needs always are first consideration when choosing an adventure vacation.

If you are worried about safety the best rule is to be COMPLETELY honest about yours and each family member's abilities and fears. NEVER lie to a guide, outfitter or tour leader just because it sounds cool or fun, your life or a family member's life is at stake if you mislead your guide about your abilities.

If you are a novice at adventure vacationing and have all the questions of "What if we don?t like it?" or "What if the kids can't handle it?" Or perhaps you feel your kids are too young or the age range of your family is small children to teenagers. Then you have a several choices:

Family Adventure Vacation Options

To choose the right Adventure Travel Company can be a trick. Be sure not to sign on with a group that "welcomes only well behaved children", that is not a family friendly outfitter or company.

Children in family adventure vacations can be very unpredictable! Trying new things pushing the edge of their fears and getting tired can cause unknown results in some children and expecting them to always be well behaved is not a realistic expectation for any vacation experience!

Interview the travel company or outfitter yourself and ask questions like:

• How long have you been in business?
• What is the experience of the leader?
• What type of food, lodging, and facilities are there available on this trip?
• How many adults and children will be on the trip?
• What are the best ages for the trip?
• Is there planned down time or do we have to participate in all activities?
• What support is there along the way incase you need to stop early?

2. You can go with a ranch or resort type concept. With either the resorts or ranches you return to the same room every night. Most family adventure vacations involving ranches offer swimming pools, hiking, horseback riding, separate cabins, and some type of child care for kids 3 and under.

Resorts offer a great variety for a family vacation adventure. Most resorts have several swimming pools, some even offer on-site water parks, golfing, tennis, horseback riding, kid camp activities during the day, a lot of resorts can arrange babysitting, river rafting trips for a portion or all of your family.

Ranches and Resorts are a great way to relax, allowing you to pick and choose the days and adventure activities each family member wants to try. For a great resort vacation try the Hilton Hotel resorts.

3. RV rental can be a great way to try camping and adventure all at once. With a RV you get a kitchen you can supply with all of your families' favorite foods, sleeping areas, bathroom and dining all to your liking. You can even bring along favorite board games, TV, game boys, Nintendo system etc. (for rainy days if you like!)

What a way to enjoy so many great vacation places in the United States! You could pick any number of Theme parks; ranches even resorts like Disney World have on-site accommodations for RV families with Swimming pools.

Having an RV allows some of the comforts of home but you still can go hiking or rafting during the daytime and have great campfires at night!

A couple of other great options are the Alaska Highway cruises offering an RV and cruise package combination with Holland America Lines or Lake Powell Resorts & marinas offering a RV and houseboat combination package. For Alaska Cruises use this site: Alaska Cruises.

Just think you could have a new family adventure vacation every year!

4) You can have family adventure vacations in theme parks. The United States is filled with great theme parks all offering you family adventure vacations. You have Disneyland, Disney World, all the six flags parks throughout the US, Water parks and Sea World parks. Most major airlines offer air, hotel and entry into the theme parks as part of the package deals!

Realistic expectations, planning and not packing too much into each day will always help make any family adventure vacations a success.

Additional sources for family adventure vacations online links:

Active Adventure Travel Guide

Access thousands of mountain biking trails with maps. Try it free!

Antarctica Vacations

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We would like to encourage you to try a family adventure vacation. The shared experience of a family adventure strengthens family ties and brings a new kind of family closeness.

More great vacation information besides family adventure vacations back at the home page.