Get ready to leave the world behind and partake an adventure that blends hiking and hang out with the people you love most. Loading up the overnight pack, away from crowds and leaving your car far behind, carry everything you need on your back.
While hauling everything on your back may seem challenging at first, just a bit of preparations and these expert tips, will help you plan a family backpacking trip.
To have a flourishing and joyous backpacking trip with your family, follow these steps:
- Choose easy and exciting destination
- Get essential gear and clothing
- Plan for Food, sight-seeing and stay
Choose an exciting destination
The key is to pick a place that is exciting, matches your skill set, and fits within your budget and time constraints. If the hike is too hard, it can make for a miserable experience. If it’s too easy, then you simply have more time to explore the area around your camp.
If you are a nature lover then choose amongst those places which can take you towards the immense beauty of nature. If you love the wildlife,thenyou can choose national parks and so on. Make sure that the place you finalize has something for everyone in your family.
But here don’t miss to keep a track of weather you are travelling in. It could dilute the essence of your journey. The weather and the destination must be inspiring enough to let you explore the place. And also don’t forget that if you are travelling to a new place be sure to carry maps and popular routes to it along with you.
To decide how to reach at your spot is also equally important as an extended journey in start of a trip could spoil your mood. So be sure to choose your travel type and time.
Get essential gear and clothing
Once you are through with the place you are visiting, you can move a step ahead to settle on what all to carry along with you. You need to be extensively decisive here. Pack less but don’t leave out the essentials- that’s the whole point of backpacking.
Clothes and apparels should be based on the weather of the place to visit. Be sure to pack Comfortable and stretchy outfits. Ease of movement and comfort will contribute to a pleasant trip.
Carry along your cameras, maps, diary and pen, cooking essentials, water bottles, toiletries, footwear, sunglasses, Id proofs, medicines or first aid kit and other such items which you use daily for your routine. What to pack, what not to pack can be mind-boggling. So sit back, relax and jot down all your requirements.
Read also: what should you pack for a backpacking holiday
Lighter-weight gear might not give you all comforts, but it will allow you to move faster and more comfortably. Once your entire kit is assembled, think about what you can easily do without, or which items can do double duty, and pare down to the essentials.
Plan for Food, sight-seeing and stay
Planning your meals for trip is all about packing enough calories to fuel your high-output days without adding a ton of extra weight in your pack. Take enough water all throughout the journey. Organize your sight-seeing in such a way that your routine meal timings are not disturbed as this could affect your health.
Try to take on healthy breakfast before start of your day tour as it will pump you up for sight-seeing and other activities.
And yes, before starting your journey to a new place hire a local guide to get the best of the spot and know the history of it. At times we miss the key points of the place due to lack of knowledge, so it’s better to have a local guide. Moreover, the kids in the family will be kept entertained by the new and exciting information they receive.
Last but not the least, stay!! Although you are not going to spent much of your time inside the rooms (unless you choose a trip for relaxation) it is equally important to take enough rest to keep you charged up for the next day. The property you choose must have basic amenities like food, water, electricity, internet connectivity and so on.
Some of our favorite destinations
When it comes to family backpacking, there are some places that one just cannot miss!
Australia
Being one of the safest places in the world, it is ideal for a family backpacking trip. Needless to say, the beautiful country/continent has a vast range of activities and places that will be of interest to every family member. You can take the kids to see kangaroos and get them koala hugs at the Australian Zoo. Australia is also home to amazing theme parks to the families that love thrill and adventures!
For more quality family time, you can book a cruise to witness the Great Barrier Reef and enjoy a beach day together! You may also indulge into water activities like snorkeling and scuba diving. Of course, there are more mainstream places like the Sydney Opera house and Sydney Harbor Bridge which can all be seen in a day.
Bali, Indonesia
If your family loves the beach and you are backpacking on a budget, Bali will do you justice! The accommodations, the food, drinks, travel and everything else you need for an awesome trip is cheap! You can just relax on the beach, or indulge into a wide range of activities. The Bali Safari and Marine park is home to Rhinos, Zebras, and even lions, etc. that your kids will definitely enjoy observing.
The thrill seekers can go river-rafting or take surf lessons. And then there are places like 3D art museum, DMZ, that fascinates the kids and the adults alike with realistic 3D paintings.
Cinque Terre, Italy
Now enlisted as the UNESCO World Heritage website, Cinque Terre is comprised of five coastal villages; Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso. Taking a family trip here can be a great mix of hiking, fine dining, picturesque views and fun for the kids. These villages are connected together by a walking trail, waterways and trains. You can swap between the three ways to travel to these beautiful villages and make the whole vacation fun and adventurous.
There is an added benefit of the availability of authentic gelato and cappuccino at every other rest stop, which will keep you motivated and your kids, happy! You can take your kids to visit the Gambatesa Mining Museum which has deep caves and even a picnic spot, small auditorium for teaching the historical significance of the place, and a bar for the adults. You will get to hike amongst chestnut and olive trees before you reach Riomaggiore, where you can stay at a sea-side hotel. You can also enjoy wine-tasting and take cooking classes with your kids where they’ll learn to make simple yet authentic Italian food.
Final Word
Organizing all this before initiating a trip may seem off-putting. However, for a fuss-free quality time with your family, it is essential that you do plan out the trip effectively. It’ll pay off later on the trip, I promise!
Authors Bio
Yogi and Suchna believe in taking the road less travelled and stumbling upon some hidden gems along the way! For over a decade, they’ve mapped their way across various continents, sniffed out unusual routes, discovered new flavours and stayed at quirky hostels. TheBackpackerCo is their expression of soul travel. You can catch up with them at TheBackpackerCo – Backpacking Through Western Europe.