5 places off the beaten track I'd love to visit with my kids

The world is full of adventures and fantastic places to visit, and once I start cruising the internet or just browsing travel guides, I often find so many destinations I'd love to go with my kids. Here are 5 of those destinations that are a little bit off the beaten path:


1. Vietnam
I recently listened to a radio program about people going on bicycle-holidays in Vietnam, and it sounded like a lot of fun and definitely not like any generic, packaged vacation. If you Google "Vietnam beaches", you will also see that this country has some spectacular seaside destinations to visit. On top of that, there's a lot of history and culture to explore, including several beautiful pagodas.

Lonely Planet and Travel And Leisure have some great articles about Vietnam if you want to dream about going there too!


2. The Galapagos Islands
These very remote islands off the coast of South America (the islands are part of Ecuador), are famous for the tortoises of course, but also for other wildlife, like seals and birds. Going here would definitely be an adventure off the beaten path for my kids and the whole family. It would make for an amazing trip, with lots of time spent in the outdoors, hiking and watching the local animals.

Galapagos Travel has some straight-forward tips and information about traveling to the islands with kids.


3. Namibia
I definitely want to travel to Africa with my kids one day, and Namibia has some amazing places to visit. Top of the list would be Etosha National Park where you can see lions, zebras, elephants, rhinos and all sorts of other wildlife. Namibia's coastline has some beaches, but eve though this is a tropical location, the water is the Atlantic Ocean so it's apparently not all that warm. However, there are places where you can see seals, whales, dolphins, and flamingos, so it still sounds like a fantastic place to visit.

Travel for kids and MotorhomeRoadTrip.com have some good articles about Namibia.


4. Peru
Peru, and South America in general, is a part of the world I would love to explore with the kids. Macchu Picchu is on my bucket list, and the Andes seem like such an amazing place to see and visit. From what I've read, visiting Peru with small children might be challenging, but also worth it if you come prepared (and if your kids are ready for it of course).

Frommer's has some good information about places to go in Peru if you're traveling with kids. Helen from Ciao Bambino has a great blog post at Lonely Planet about traveling to Peru with kids as well.


5. Haida Gwaii
This destination is a lot closer to home for me than the other places on my list. Haida Gwaii (formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands), is a group of islands of the coast of British Columbia. These islands are a place with a lot of history and culture, a lot of it connected to the local Haida people. There's also a lot of nature and wildlife to see and experience: both on land and on the ocean.

I'd love to take the kids here to experience some Haida culture, including the local food, go ocean-fishing, hiking, beachcombin, kayaking, biking and maybe even surfing. The GoHaidaGwaii website has a lot of travel information for the islands.