Family travel four ways: March Break itineraries that really do have something for everyone

Striking a balance between fun for the children and fun for the grown-ups is vital for an enjoyable family vacation. Here are four ways to find the sweet spot and have an excellent time together

ROAD TRIPS

This classic family trip is a great way to explore locations both close to your home turf, or further afield, and is a lot more pleasurable for parents thanks to iPads and other personal entertainment devices (or, go old-school and try doing it electronics free if you have a strong enough mental constitution).

What’s key is ensuring that you build in enough stops where kids can run around and do super fun stuff around the stops you want to make to art museums and craft-breweries etc.

Get your kids to help plan the itinerary by showing videos and tourism guides before you go, or if you have older kids ask them to find stuff online that they’d like to do on your chosen route. Get the whole family invested in the trip before you get in the car.

Suggested trip:

A drive through Quebec. Fly into historic Quebec City, and check out the excellent Musées de la Civilization, the polar bears, stingray touch-tank, and fish at the Aquarium de Québec. Ride the open-top Le Bus Rouge to see everything without having to navigate the city’s one-way systems. The high-energy free circus performances every night at the L’Agora du Vieux-Port are superb.

From here, drive east through the pretty Charlevoix region, making Baie-Saint-Paul your base for a couple of days. Roam the grounds of Musée maritime de Charlevoix and climb onto the ships to explore the cabins, and the meticulously restored 19th century watermill at the Boulangerie Meunerie La Rémy, then eat your way through the glorious cheeses made at farm/ museum Laterie Carlievoix. Bed down at Auberge La Muse, a sweet Victorian Inn on the main drag at, which is next door to Le Saint Pub, a microbrewery and restaurant where both the food and beer are fantastic.



Catch the ferry over to Rivière-du-Loup from Saint-Siméon, but before you cross stop at the sweet Poterie de Port-au-Persil for a pottery lesson. Once in Rivière-du-Loup, go out whale-watching on the St Lawrence River with Croisières AML.

Overnight at Hotel Universel, which has a good-sized pool with waterslide, and nice adults only Nordik Spa area you can escape to. CafeL’Innocent is a good kid-friendly place to go for dinner, and the lamb crepes are amazing.

Drive west to beautiful Kamouraska and gorge yourself at the traditional German bakery Boulangerie Niemand  and stock up on treats at La Fée Gourmande chocolate factory. Stay on the south side of the St. Lawrence River for the longest drive of the trip from here to Montreal (just under four hours).

Here, wander the cool Mile End eating St Viateur bagels hot out of the oven at and shopping in neat boutiques. Head to the Olympic Park area where you can have close encounters with animals at the Biodôme, explore the Botanical Gardens, and Insectarium.

On the drive back to Quebec City, stop for one last decadent French lunch on the sunny patios of Le Castel de Prés in Trois-Rivieres.

CRUISING 

If you want to do very little on your vacation, and only really have to interact with your kids at mealtimes and in the evenings, then a cruise could be the best idea ever. (Make up for not seeing your kids on the shore excursions, and lessen any potential guilt that way.)

Many cruise lines cater so well to children that your kids may actually resent being forced to leave the services offered to them in order to spend time with you (it happened to me). Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth has night nurseries where nannies take care of babies from six to 23 months so you can kick back every night, as well as various day programs. Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas and Oasis of the Seas have a surf simulator, teen casino, and DJ Academy where teens from 15-17 can learn to scratch and spin vinyl).

If you have older kids, Cruises are a great way to visit multiple places and get a taste of culture (on a European river cruise for example) or just to go somewhere really amazing and unique (such as Myanmar or Alaska) but have everything taken care of for you so there’s very little stress involved.

Suggested trip
Disney Cruises 7-Night Mediterranean Cruise from Barcelona takes you around Italy (Florence! Pisa! Naples!) and the swankiest bits of France (Cannes! Nice! Monte Carlo!). While onboard the Disney Magic, there’s plenty to keep everyone happy as you move from character breakfasts to Broadway style shows in the evenings.

Article Source: http://news.nationalpost.com/life/travel/family-travel-four-ways-march-break-itineraries-that-really-do-have-something-for-everyone?__lsa=d1c3-60bf