Extreme holiday destinations you need family travel insurance!

For those that have been following our recent series of blog posts, our travel insurance team has been compiling some amazing top things to do lists for various holiday and travel escapes. This time around they’ve put together something a little more edgy for family travel ideas, but with an adventurous spin that gives a more tangible connection to our highly competitive family travel insurance cover! So, what are the family holiday destinations you’ll want to ensure you have family travel insurance for?

Crocodile diving in Australia

If you have teenagers then this unique holiday diving experience might just be for you, in Crocosaurus Cove Darwin they have Australia’s only crocodile diving experience. Hop into the “cage of death” for a face-to-face encounter with a huge saltwater crocodile. The closest experience to swimming with a dinosaur you’ll get, the croc dive puts you in the water with a predator and with 3 tonnes of chomping power! Safety briefings and waivers must be signed, and participants must be aged over 15. Take a look at the Crocosaurus Cove website for all the information and booking details.

Skydiving in New Zealand

New Zealand is renown for it’s sky diving, but did you know children as young as 6 are able to experience a tandem skydive? You can take to the air as a family and jump from up to 9000 ft, higher if you have an older family! There are various places you can book your dive from around New Zealand, NZone being one of the bigger operators, they’ve been around over 30 years and have racked up over 350,000 jumps. Skydiving is an amazing way to enhance your travels around New Zealand giving you a unique experience and perspective over their beautiful landscape.

World’s fastest rollercoaster in Abu Dhabi

Ever wanted to experience 150 miles per hour in relative safety? You and your family can jump aboard the Ferrari powered rollercoaster on your travels in Abu Dhabi, the Formula Rossa, the world’s fastest rollercoaster! Accelerating up to 150 mph in 4.9 seconds, it’s certainly not for the feint hearted. As with most of these extreme activities the Formula Rossa roller-coaster has a height restriction of 140cm (approximate height of a 10 year old), so as long as your kids wear their tallest shoes you should be good!

Family adventures in Borneo

If you’re more about exploring the wild than getting an adrenaline hit then Borneo might be for you and your family, with a wealth of wildlife and family friendly hotel resorts you can’t go far wrong with budding nature lovers. You can explore by foot, 4X4, boat or plane and see everything from the native wildlife including bearded pigs, orangutans, sun bears, and probosci’s monkeys. You can also stay with a native tribe (ex-head-hunters!) in one of their longhouses or in a purpose-built rainforest lodge. Worth noting if you are exploring on foot, then mosquito repellent and leach socks are highly recommended.. probably a couple of good reasons for family travel insurance!

Explore the real the wild west!

It wasn’t so long ago western cinema was all the rage, with a few modern-day western films slipping through the net into the mainstream. Nowadays you can live the cowboy dream by taking part in your own western adventure. You can experience everything from ranches to cattle drives and wagon trains. With a variety of ranches and cowboy travel adventure packages, you and your family will embrace the wild west and be immersed in cowboy culture in no time. It’s not all campouts and wrangling steers, you can also go white water rafting, learn horsemanship, and even have couples escapes should you fancy escaping the family for a while. Take a look at the American Roundup website for ideas and booking information.

Discover ancient cities in Peru

Peru is a destination often frequented by backpackers, but it’s also on offer for family travel experiences. Trek through the Andean Peaks, taste the local cuisines, or visit cultural highlights like Machu Picchu which is situated at high altitude, to quote international traveller Karl Pilkington “They didn’t tell you that, do they. Come see the wonder, and suffocate to death.”. The Inca Trail is a well known tourist destination, it takes approximately four days to complete or you can do a cut down version to see the best bits of the hike made up of both the Amazon jungle and Andes Mountains.

Mountain climbing in Switzerland

Championed by accomplished climber Leo Houlding climbing mountains in Switzerland has been proven to be at least a possibility for a family holiday. In summer of 2020 Leo and his family made up of himself, his wife, and their two children scaled Piz Badile on the Swiss-Italian border. The mountain is 3,308m high and proved to be an enjoyable experience for everyone involved including their 3-year-old son Jackson. They did the trip in 4 days rather than 2 to make the adventure a little easier on the little legs! You can get a taste of your own mini family mountain adventure with mountains in the UK including Snowdon in Wales, Ben A’an in Trossachs, and Cat Bells in Cumbria. The best place to look for UK family mountain climbing is the National Trust website: nationaltrust.org.uk alternatively you can get training for you and your family from Mountain Training in Wales, www.mountain-training.org. Alternatively, you could always check out our guide to budget-friendly ski resorts.

We hope we’ve given you some food for thought with our more adventurous guide to family travel destinations for your next holiday. If you want to explore somewhere a little more relaxed make sure you check out our other travel guides, but if you’re game for a little adventure make sure you tag us on your Instagram, we’d love to see where you and your family have escaped to… just don’t forget the family’s travel insurance!