New Backroads Family Destinations
Backroads, a favorite active adventure experience for our families, just announced a variety of new tours and destinations for next year, including several family options. Their new international and multi-sport tours include one in Vietnam and another in the Czech Republic & Austria…very diverse, but equally exciting destinations. Their 7-night Vietnam tour, available with a group departure from December 21-28, 2024 (or other times as a private tour), includes biking, hiking, and kayaking. A fun and engaging way to explore the country from Halong Bay to the Mekong Delta. This tour starts in Hanoi and ends in Can Tho near Ho Chi Minh City with premier hotel stays and overnight on a luxury ship sailing Halong and Lan Ha Bays. This exciting and culturally rich trip is best suited for ages 9+ who can bike on their own. An ideal winter break getaway! The 6-night tour from Prague to Vienna also includes hiking, biking, and rafting as your family discovers the heart and rich history of Central Europe. This tour offers casual hotel stays with scheduled dates in July and early August 2024. Children ages 7+ can bike on their own on this trip. Ages 16+ can e-bike on both tours. Book early for the best availability!
New Disney Destinations
In other Disney news, Adventures by Disney is adding land tours to Colombia and Canada’s Atlantic Coast in 2024, it’s first in these destinations. The eight-day Colombia: Bogota, the Coffee Region, Cocora Valley, and Cartagena itinerary will take your family on a journey to explore the inspirations behind the Disney animated film Encanto. This exciting and varied tour includes a privately guided tour of Bogota, a visit to a coffee-growing farm, an arepa-making class, snorkeling in the Rosario Islands, and more. Their eight-day Canada’s Maritimes of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island itinerary provides a cultural and adventurous experience of the region’s rivers, beaches, ocean coasts, gulfs, and surrounding landscapes. Highlights include a visit to a maple syrup farm in Nova Scotia, exploring the historical Wood Island Lighthouse, and learning about indigenous Mi’kmaq Peoples during a visit to the Millbrook Cultural Heritage Centre. Other fun adventures include horseback riding, kayaking, and other outdoor activities at the Bay of Fundy.
Summer Soccer Camp in Portugal
The Quinta do Lago resort development, located on Portugal’s Algarve, has announced a new lineup of soccer camps for spring and summer 2023. A family vacation and summer camp all in one! What a great way for your children to learn new soccer skills side by side with their European counterparts. England’s international players and soccer heroes Joe Cole, Joleon Lescott, and Gareth Barry will be on-site teaching young players all about dribbling to shooting and the dynamic of organized matches. There will be four dates available which will include three-hour daily sessions over one week. Your children will receive a full uniform (kit) including a shirt, shorts, and socks, as well as a medal on completion of the course. The camps will take place at Quinta do Lago’s amazing multi-sports hub, The Campus, which is ideal for training, recovery, and rehabilitation. The resort development also showcases a variety of watersports, bike rentals, several restaurants, a fitness center with classes, several golf courses, pools, and more. Choose from a perfect variety of family-friendly hotel accommodations at the Martinhal, Magnolia, and Conrad Resorts. Each hotel showcases large family rooms and offers its own promotions to entice you to stay. Your family can explore the adjacent Ria Formosa Natural Park, quaint Algarve towns, and more. And the resort is only 30 minutes from the Faro airport.
Mini Escape from Capella
Our favorite part of booking travel is having our families experience and learn about local cultures. The luxury hotel chain, Capella Hotels and Resorts, is on the same mission and even have Culturists on staff! They now offer unique experiences called Mini Escapes that are available at their hotels in Bangkok, Hanoi, Singapore, and Ubud in Bali. The programs were designed to allow your family to connect and immerse in the culture of each destination. For example, in Ubud where Capella offers an amazing tented camp resort in the middle of a forest, your family can enjoy a kite building workshop or learn how to cook a traditional Balinese meal from a local family. While in Hanoi at Capella’s art nouveau masterpiece hotel, your family can visit with one of the local village’s artisans to learn more about the country’s long history and ceramic-making heritage. A ceramic craftsman will demonstrate every step of the process and then your family gets a turn to make your own plates which will be fired and brought back to the hotel. Another experience in Hanoi is Vietnamese lacquer painting from one of the city’s most famous masters. Mini Escape packages are available that the include your room, some meals and other benefits and vary by resort. Capella recently opened their first hotel outside of Asia in Sydney, Australia and we look forward to seeing what experiences their Culturists design! Six more new resorts are in the works with 2024 and 2025 openings.
Family Time in London
The Cadogan Hotel in London is offering an interesting Family Time package. Your rate includes luxury accommodations, 50 percent off your second room for children up to age 16 in the same room category, daily breakfast, entrance to the Chelsea Physic Garden, and use of the tennis courts in Cadogan Place Gardens. A two-night minimum stay is required. The boutique-style Cadogan showcases 54 spacious rooms and suites. It is located in an Edwardian townhouse in Knightsbridge and is part of Belmond Hotels and Resorts. There is also a restaurant, gym, and garden. There is even a Sleep Concierge to help you get the best night’s rest. On the top floor of the hotel, your extended family can book a seven-bedroom private residence with gorgeous city and garden views, a furnished balcony, a living room, a grand dining area, a kitchenette, 7 ½ bathrooms, and nearly 4,200 sq. ft. Note that the family-friendly Chelsea Physic Garden was established in 1673 and is actually London’s oldest botanical garden with 5,000 different medicinal, herbal, edible, and useful plants!
Iguazu Adventure
Iguazu Falls is an amazing experience for families visiting either Argentina or Brazil. Both sides make up the largest waterfall system in the world composed of 275 separate cascades! To explore the falls, our families enjoy staying at Belmond’s Hotel das Cataratas, a hacienda-style resort that sits right beside the falls and is the only hotel inside Iguassu National Park. This luxury hotel offers 187 rooms and suites, a heated pool, a children’s pool, spa, gym and tennis along with guided nature walks before the park opens. Other family-friendly adventures and natures experiences abound. The hotel’s Family Time package includes:
- Luxury accommodation
- 30% discount on a second room or suite
- Daily breakfast
- One garden picnic
- One guided morning walking tour of the falls before the park opens to other visitors
Christmas Around the World
We hope your family had a wonderful holiday! Christmas may be celebrated around the world, but not everyone celebrates the same way. Different countries and cultures incorporate many unique traditions that make the holiday special. Whether your family plans spent the holiday at home or abroad, it is always fun to learn about traditions celebrated by other cultures. Whenever Family lets us discover some unique Christmas traditions that we wanted to share:
Greece has a long-standing tradition known as karavaki, or Christmas Boat. Literally translated to mean “little ship,” this tradition embraces the practice of decorating sailing and fishing boats with lights for the holiday. While modern Greeks decorate their homes with lighted Christmas trees for the season, it was once commonplace to use a lighted ship model as the centerpiece of holiday decorations. In recent years, this practice made a comeback with lighted ships often seen in restaurants and shops during the season, especially on the islands where the tradition seems to have originated.
In Guatemala, a unique Christmas tradition occurs well before Christmas Day. Each year on the evening of December 7, residents in this South American country participate in something called La Quema del Diablo, or Burning of the Devil. As the sun sets, Guatemalans don devil disguises and gather around bonfires to light effigies of the devil, often made from pinatas. The celebration, which dates back to the 17th century, seeks to cleanse bad spirits and fortunes as the new year approaches.
Iceland celebrates Christmas with 13 Yule Lads, a family of mountain trolls who visit once a year to teach children to be good. On Christmas Eve, Icelandic children leave a pair of shoes on the windowsill to await a visit from the trolls. In the morning, they find out if they’ve been naughty or nice by the presents left for them, either sweet treats if they’ve been good or something foul, like rotten potatoes, if they’ve been bad.
JW in the Masai Mara
JW Marriott is planning to launch its first luxury safari lodge in Kenya in 2023. The JW Marriott Masai Mara Lodge will feature 20 guest tents, including one presidential tent and two interconnecting family tents, all with private terraces overlooking the River Talek. Your family will experience breathtaking vistas, abundant wildlife, and endless plains along with game drives, cultural activities, and more. Facilities for an authentic and relaxing safari experience will include a restaurant, lounge bar, spa, gym, studio, garden, and an outdoor deck with fire pits. Conservation of the land and its inhabitants is the core of the camp’s values. As a result, a majority of people employed at the property will belong to the local Masai community. This will be the only luxury lodge within the Mara National Reserve. JW will launch numerous other properties around the world next year including in Madrid, Tampa, Goa, Dallas, Chennai, Munich, and Nairobi.
Free Trains in Spain
If you’re planning to travel in Spain soon, you’re in luck! A new program will allow you to receive free train tickets for journeys throughout Spain until at least the end of 2023. The new initiative recently launched on Spain’s commuter trains (within 30 miles of Madrid or Barcelona) and medium-distance train journeys (under 190 miles) operated by the country’s rail line Renfe. It does not apply to Renfe’s high-speed AVE trains that connect destinations like Madrid and Barcelona. But it is great for all the trains available for day trips (like Segovia and Toledo from Madrid) or traveling around Andalucia (for example from Seville to Cordoba or Cadiz). Note that the free train tickets only apply to multi-journey tickets and not single tickets. You can get a rail pass via the rail line’s app or at railway stations with a deposit of 10-20€. At the same time, metro fares in Barcelona have been reduced by up to 50%, also until the end of the year. A 10-trip, multi-use bus and metro ticket that covers most of the city will cost only €7.95!
Slovenia Awaits
Looking for a new European country to explore? Look no further than Slovenia known as one of the safest countries in the world with gorgeous mountains, lakes, wine regions, and seaside towns for plenty of cultural activities, culinary experiences, and outdoor adventures. Sixty percent of the country is actually covered by forest and 1/3 is protected land. The country showcases 10,000 caves and 260 waterfalls! Through the end of the year, your family can enjoy a Family Package at Kempinski Palace Portoroz Istria which overlooks the Adriatic Sea. Enjoy two connecting Superior rooms with a 50% discount on your second room along with breakfast, and free parking. This palatial property has an indoor and outdoor pool, gym, spa, beach club, and several dining options.
