The New Age of Family Travel: Connecting Kids to the World
If you are looking for a roundup of the best kids’ clubs, this is not it. The new age of family travel is not about distractions but about discovery. It’s about curiosity as compass, and the chance to teach your children—by living it—that the world is wide, diverse, and worth caring for. Families are no longer only chasing convenience; they are seeking journeys that connect generations, where days are filled with wonder and nights carry the calm of shared memory.
This approach to travel invites children to step outside their screens and into ecosystems, cultures, and landscapes that challenge and inspire them. It’s about hands in the soil, paddles in rivers, footprints in sand, and eyes wide at skies untouched by city lights. It’s about learning the value of food, wildlife, and water firsthand, and understanding that every journey leaves a footprint. Parents and children alike move at the pace of curiosity, discovering not only the places they visit but also each other, sharing meals, adventures, and stories that linger long after the journey ends.
Travel becomes both a classroom and a sanctuary, a way of raising children in dialogue with the planet. Every hike, every farm visit, every night under stars becomes a lesson in stewardship, wonder, and connection. In this new age, family travel is not just about the destination—it’s about shaping perspectives, sparking imagination, and creating a shared sense of responsibility for the world they will inherit.
Wild Coast Tented Lodge, Sri Lanka
Photo by Wild Coast Tented Lodge
Adventure in the Wild
Wild Coast Tented Lodge in Sri Lanka places families at the meeting point of jungle and ocean. Dome-shaped tents curve into the landscape, and days unfold with leopard safaris in Yala National Park or kayaking along untouched shores. The thrill lies not just in the wildlife but in the scale of nature itself—a vast canvas where children see what it means to live wild. Here, they learn that adventure is not just about thrill but about connection—with land, animals, and each other.
Best age: 7+ years—when children are old enough to join safaris, embrace the unpredictability of the wild, and soak in the drama of the jungle.
Minos Beach Art Hotel, Crete
Water, Play, and Wonder
For younger travelers, water is always the first call. At Minos Beach Art Hotel in Crete, calm lagoons and sandy coves create a safe playground where children can paddle, swim, and discover the sea at their own pace. The gentleness of the Mediterranean turns the shoreline into a classroom of shells, small fish, and tide pools.
Best age: 3–10 years—ideal for early swimmers and curious wanderers.
Photo by Minos Beach Art Hotel
Soneva Kiri, Thailand
Photos by Richard Waite, Herbert Ypma
Photos by Richard Waite, paul raeside
In Thailand, Soneva Kiri’s villas come with private pools and jungle seclusion, but it’s The Den—a bamboo wonderland suspended in the treetops—that turns play into a journey of imagination. Here, kids become explorers, artists, and storytellers in a space designed to awaken curiosity and independence.
Best age: 5–12 years—when imagination runs wild and play becomes its own form of discovery.
Art Villas Costa Rica
Photo by Art Villas + Formafatal, Refuel works, ARCHWERK.cz, BoysPlayNice
Costa Rica’s Art Villas raises the stakes with a 100-foot waterslide, trampoline, and rainforest playground, where laughter blends with the sound of toucans and cicadas. The experience is both exhilarating and raw, requiring a mix of courage and coordination.
Best age: 8+ years—children who are ready for bigger thrills and the adventure of the tropics.
*Images by Innit Lombok, Willem Keuppens
*Images by Innit Lombok, Willem Keuppens
Further east, Innit Lombok in Indonesia takes beachfront living to a new level for families: sleek villas spill directly onto soft sand, with gentle waves perfect for children, communal kitchens where meals become rituals, and days that swing between snorkeling, paddleboarding, and family feasts beneath the stars.
Best age: All ages—toddlers to teens, as the calm waters and community spirit adapt easily to every stage of family travel.
Babylonstoren, South Africa
Roots and Culture
Travel becomes deeper when children can see the roots of place and culture. At Babylonstoren in South Africa’s Cape Winelands, gardens turn into open-air classrooms where kids harvest their own food, learn about regenerative farming, and taste straight from the soil. Here, farming isn’t abstract—it’s hands in the dirt, fruits plucked warm from the sun, and a direct link between land and table.
Best age: 5–12 years—when curiosity about food and nature can be transformed into lifelong understanding.
Photos by Babylonstoren
Photos by Babylonstoren
In England, The Newt brings history and horticulture to life with orchards, mazes, a bee observatory, and centuries-old gardens where families wander, learn, and picnic among wildflowers. Days become a rhythm of exploration and play, with history woven subtly into each step.
Best age: 4–12 years—the sweet spot for turning a garden into an adventure without it feeling like a lesson.
Mount Congreve Gardens, Ireland
Photos by Mount Congreve Gardens
Photos by Mount Congreve Gardens
In Ireland, Mount Congreve Gardens offers miles of floral walks where children follow scents and colors through landscapes shaped by centuries of care. Each path reveals a new palette, and each season reshapes the grounds, teaching patience and the cycles of life.
Best age: All ages—strollers roll easily along paths, older children wander freely, and teens find space for reflection.
In Portugal, Areias do Seixo invites families into a soulful rhythm of firelit dinners, organic gardens, and storytelling by the dunes—where sustainability meets magic and children learn that beauty can also be responsibility. The atmosphere is less resort, more retreat, offering time for stillness as much as play.
Best age: 6+ years—when children can grasp stories, participate in rituals, and connect the dots between ecology and imagination.
Areias do Seixo, Portugal
Photos by Areias do Seixo
Photos by Areias do Seixo
Across the ocean in the Philippines, Nay Palad Hideaway turns family life into barefoot rituals—meals shared under palm roofs, paddling across turquoise lagoons, and weaving into island traditions. Here, days are less scheduled and more felt, with each moment tuned to island rhythms.
Best age: All ages—toddlers nap in hammocks, kids paddle in lagoons, and teens absorb island life with ease.
Nay Palad Hideaway
Photo by Nay Palad
Photo by Nay Palad
This is the shift: family travel not as a checklist of kid-friendly amenities, but as a deeper form of exploration—immersive, intentional, regenerative. Journeys where the next generation doesn’t just see the world, but begins to understand their place in it.
