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Who doesn’t like a bucket list? I’m guilty! Can’t resist reading a “list of things to do before I die”! And since we travel with our kids, I absolutely wanted to have our own family travel bucket list!
We took the time to sit together and listen to each other’s ultimate bucket list ideas. And we came up with our top 50 family adventures. Trips and experiences we want to do with our kids before they grow up. These are just a part of all our ideas, but we have to start somewhere!
Some ideas might be easy to fulfil, others are far more out of reach. But one step at a time, I am convinced we will achieve (almost) all the items on our family travel bucket list!
The list will be updated constantly. Every time we can check an item on our list, we’ll add a picture and link to our family adventure article.
Some amazing travel ideas with kids we forgot? Feel free to leave us a comment and maybe we can add it to our family travel bucket list!
Our Family Travel Bucket List
1. Watch an erupting volcano in Guatemala or Hawaii
2. Swim with whales in Tonga
3. Explore Uluru in Australia and learn about the Aboriginals
In 2018, we did a road trip for 3 months in Australia. During our epic journey through the outback on the Stuart Highway from Darwin to Adelaide, we stopped for 3 days at Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.
Read more: Stuart Highway: an epic outback adventure
Everything about this place exceeded our expectations! There is something special about the area. If you come here, take your time to explore the area. Do the base walk, learn about the indigenous culture, indulge yourself in the magic, …
Uluru certainly deserves its place on any family travel bucket list!
Read more: Travel Diary: Stuart Highway and Uluru
Check different tours and activities around Uluru here.
4. Buy a converted bus and road trip from Alaska to Mexico
5. See the Northern Light
6. Visit the Faroe Islands
7. Road trip with an original Kombi campervan
8. Take one of the great railways, such as the Transmongolien Express, the Amtrak railway across the USA or the Old Ghan railway
9. Visit Jerusalem
During our second visit to Israel in 2017, we had the chance to explore Jerusalem. It was everything we hoped for!
Jerusalem breaths history and religion and the kids learned a lot on the subject. But we also enjoyed the vibrant streets, colourful markets and lovely restaurants and bars.
Check different tours and activities in Jerusalem here.
10. Stay at Giraffe Manor
11. Experience Dia de Los Muertos in Mexico
12. Learn how to surf
During our stay in Australia in 2018, we got our first surfing experience. It had been on our list for a long time and finally, we got the chance to try it out, at Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast of Australia, of all places!
Together with Go Ride a Wave we took a beginners family surfing lesson. Boy did we have fun! If you have never done this, we can highly recommend it! Should be on every family travel bucket list!
Read more: Our first family surfing lesson with Go Ride a Wave
13. Explore Yellowstone National Park
14. Visit Machu Picchu in Peru
15. Travel through Italy with an original Vespa
16. Island hop between the Greek Islands
17. Take a cruise to an exotic location
18. Volunteer as a family at a wildlife conservation centre
19. Go camel trekking in the Sahara and spend the night under the stars with the Berbers in the desert.
20. Sail to the Galapagos Islands and discover the wildlife
21. Spend a night in an overwater bungalow in an exotic location such as the Maldives, Fiji or Bora Bora
22. Watch gorillas in their natural habitat
23. Spot wildlife in Borneo
In 2018, we visited Malaysian Borneo and spotted lots of wildlife in Bako National Park and during our 3D/2N Kinabatangan River experience. We spotted the orangutan, proboscis monkey, saltwater crocodile and many more!
The kids absolutely love this family adventure. We can highly recommend Borneo with kids for your next family trip!
Read more: other articles about Malaysia and Borneo
Check different tours and activities in Borneo here.
24. Road trip through Iceland
25. Visit the Great Wall near Beijing
26. Do a horse trekking in Mongolia
27. Trek to the Mount Everest base camp and stay overnight
28. Explore the temples of Angkor in Cambodia
In 2008, we already visited Angkor as a couple. The kids, however, didn’t have the chance to see these amazing temples. So we definitely want to go back.
29. See the Taj Mahal by sunset
30. Discover the Amazon rainforest
31. Float in the Dead Sea
Friends of ours lived in Israel for a few years, and we got to visit them two times. During both our trips, we drove to the Dead Sea to explore this strange environment.
Floating in the Dead Sea is a special experience, it deserves its spot on this family travel bucket list. The mud baths afterwards were lots of fun as well.
I have to be honest though, you have to be careful with young kids. They can’t have the water in their eyes and if they have any little wounds, that will hurt!
Our youngest had a lot of mosquito bites (scratched open) and these bites started to hurt a lot when she entered the salty water. But in the end, she did have a lot of fun! So if you have the chance, definitely come over here!
Check different tours and activities around the Dead Sea here.
32. Visit Tibet
33. Stay on a ranch in the USA or Australia
34. Dive the Great Barrier Reef
35. Drive from Chicago to LA alongside the old Route 66, or what’s left of it.
Route 66 can’t be missed on any travel bucket list. We didn’t drive all the way down from Chicago to LA, but we did do a part of the legendary Route 66 with our 11-month old daughter in 2011.
The part we did was promising, so we’ll have to come back with our daughters to do the whole route.
36. Visit New England in the fall
37. Visit Harry Potter at Universal Studios
38. See the cherry blossoms in Japan
39. Do a family safari in Africa
40. Road trip through Australia with our own 4WD with rooftop tent or bus
Going to Australia had been a dream for quite a while. Doing so with our own jeep or bus even more! So when we landed in Darwin in 2018, ready for a 3-month road trip, we were very excited to buy our own jeep with a rooftop tent.
Although it didn’t all go according to plan (we had a car break down and were stuck for three weeks in Katherine), we loved our time in Australia and can’t wait to go back to Australia. This time we want to buy ourselves a Toyota Coaster and explore Western Australia and the tropical North End. To be continued…
Read more: All of our articles about Australia
41. Visit Lapland during Christmas or wintertime
42. Explore Antarctica
43. Experience dog sledding in one of the Scandinavian countries, Iceland or Alaska
44. Travel along the Silk Road through Uzbekistan and Kazachstan
45. Do a road trip through New Zealand
New Zealand is about as far as we can go from our home country Belgium and had been on our family travel bucket list for a long time. So we were very happy to explore the North and South Island of New Zealand for 5 weeks in total in 2019.
It has been one of our most interesting and amazing trips ever! On the South Island, nature is simply breathtaking. On the North Island, we learned a lot about volcanos, thermal activity and geysers. And of course, we tried to find a Kiwi!
Read more: Our articles about New Zealand
46. Take a cruise through Halong Bay in Vietnam
47. Rent our own island for a couple of days
48. Fly a hot air balloon through Cappadocia in Turkey or Bagan in Myanmar
49. Walk on Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia
50. Island hop in Hawaii
Other articles you may like:
The ultimate guide to family travel on a budget
How to improve your family vacation pictures: 25 tips
The best family travel planning resources and inspiration
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#44 Is one of our dreams, probably just the two of us?