Family Activity Holiday ideas in Europe

When it comes to family holidays, trying to find something that suits everyone can be tricky, but if you are a fairly active family at home then a good starting point is looking at holiday destinations and the different activities that are on offer and go from there.  If you manage to cover everyone’s wishes then it should make for a great holiday!

To help you on your way, here’s a couple of great family activity holiday ideas in Europe:

Head to the mountains in France

For the older and a child with a head for heights, try completing a Via Ferrata.  There are many dotted around but look for an appropriate one suited for a child.  A Via Ferrata is a great and safe way to introduce children to rock climbing and scrambling in a controlled environment.

Via Ferrata mostly consist of rope assisted walks and moderate to easy climbs which do not require any special climbing skills, giving everyone an opportunity of all fitness levels to move through spectacularly exposed alpine scenery with a minimal of equipment.

For the perfect activity holiday in France, you’re best suited to stick around the Alps to give you the best variation in activities, choosing from resorts like Morzine, Tignes and Val D’Isere.

Other activities you’re likely to find here are mountain biking, paddle boarding, kayaking, rafting and mountain boarding.  Generally, every possible  activity you could think of is likely to be found in the Alps!

Canoeing and Camping in Sweden

If your children are keen to stick with one activity and can go the distance, then canoeing and camping in Sweden is a good (and cheap) thing to do in the summer time.  Taken at a speed that suits everyone, canoeing is a quiet and peaceful experience and with the excitement of wild-camping on the riverbanks should be enough to ignite the Bear Grylls in all of you!

Hiking

Hiking can be done anywhere you like, just find the trail that you’d like to take and plan your adventure from there.  You could opt for a long-distance hike if your children can manage a good amount of miles per day and can break up the trail into manageable chunks then the Tour Du Mont Blanc is certainly an option or even The West Highland Way.

If you have children that aren’t perhaps too keen on walking great distances, then basing yourself in an area which has many different trails, circular routes is your best bet.  Somewhere which offers varying degrees of landscape to keep children interested, somewhere like Tyrol in Austria would be perfect!

Mix adventure with some downtime

When all is said and done, occasionally you need to have some days of your holiday where you’re keeping things minimal and more relaxing, saving your energy for the bigger activities you have planned perhaps.  A good option here is to base yourself on a coastline where you’ve got plenty of water sports to choose from, maybe some hiking trails but with the opportunity to chill on the beach for an afternoon reading a book or building sandcastles.

The key here would be to pick somewhere that isn’t overrun with water sports as these will dominate your time but to choose somewhere a little less known perhaps but with the option of walking to the next beach to take part in windsurfing or jet skiing.

If you want to stick in the mountains but still want some downtime, then a good choice would be to pick a resort which has a swimming pool to sit around or even maybe a spa.

Try somewhere different

Europe is home to many exciting destinations, so it’s great idea to try and explore some of the quieter locations like Slovenia or Slovakia. Both countries are on the rise to tourists and are adventurers delight!

Slovenia for example is home to the Julian Alps where you can explore on foot or on bike.  You can go kayaking or canoeing and try your hand at paddle boarding on Lake Bled.  They even have their own summer toboggan which kids and adults would love!

Slovenia even boasts one of Europe’s longest zip lines if you’re feeling brave enough.

Being a lesser known tourist destination, prices are reasonable too.

Stay in the UK

You don’t need to travel overseas to find great activities for families, places like Snowdonia, the Lake District and Scotland will provide you with all you need.

Snowdonia for example has so much to offer the whole family and with unpredictable weather you can even find adventures inside like the Bounce Below or Zip World Caverns.

There’s also a natural playground to be had in the Snowdonia mountain range, if feeling unsure on your map reading skills or want to stick with lots of other people then climbing Snowdon is a definite must.  As long as the weather holds, the routes are easy to follow and it’s a great day out.  Plan to leave early (say 8/9am) and you’ve got the whole day ahead of you to take it as slowly as you need.

But if you’re feeling a little more adventurous and your children are on board for a small bit of scrambling then heading to the Glyder range is a great option and generally there’s a few people about too.

If you’ve got older children then try one of the Zip World ziplines, Titan found Llechwedd slate quarry in Blaenau Ffestiniog is a great starting point as you can race one another and are in a seated position.  You get to race 3 times totalling up to 8000m.

The Lake District also has loads of family activities on offer and if you base yourself in the Keswick area you’re in close proximity to everything.

If you fancy a water activity then you can try your hand at canoeing or sailing in your very own Swallows and Amazons sailing boat from the movie based at the Glenridding Sailing Centre on Ullswater.

If you prefer to canoe then Ullswater has lots of small islands where you can paddle to and get off to explore or just take in the spectacular scenery that surrounds it.

Glenridding is also the starting point for many great hikes, with Helvellyn being one of the options or keeping it a little gentler you can simply hike around the many trails that line Ullswater.   A great option here is to find one of the ports that’s dotted around the lake and catch the famous Ullswater Steamer back to the start.

When it comes to family adventures the world really is your oyster, but you can almost guarantee that you’ll find all you need in Europe!