Traveling with Teens
Courtesy Ahipara Luxury Travel
24 Foolproof Family Getaways
The Challenge
What do you do with kids who hate being distracted from their digital toys?
The Solution
Whether North Island or South Island, New Zealand has the high-adrenaline adventures to pry kids’ eyes away from their electronics and get them to see that family time can be fun. Nothing will get their attention like a big Maori pōwhiri welcome at Blake House, including warriors wielding ceremonial weapons. At this luxury wilderness retreat in the heart of a 16,000-acre North Island estate, parents can sleep in the main lodge while teens spend the night in the tented Safari Camp, although everyone’s days are spent together outdoors (64-7-384-2080; from $740 per person, all-inclusive). On the South Island, Queenstown is the hub for extreme sports, including bungee jumping, jetboating, and white-water rafting. The Heritage Apartments have three bedrooms, so everyone can have some alone time (64-3-450-1500; $350 per night). For real-cool-parent cred, take them on a chopper flight with Ahipara Luxury Travel over the glacier-scoured mountains and valleys of Fjordland National Park, whose landscapes starred in The Lord of the Rings trilogy (64-3-447-3558; flights from $1,000).
The Tip
New Zealand’s summer (November through March) is ideal, but New Year’s fills up quickly.
You Might Also Consider
Northern Thailand’s Anantara Golden Triangle Resort & Spa has an on-site elephant camp where guests learn to “drive” these intelligent behemoths with a series of gentle commands, then clamber atop their necks for a trek through the bamboo forest and to help their mahouts bathe them along the riverbank. Off-site options include longtail boat rides on the Mekong River and hill tribe handicrafts and food (local specialties like stir-fried crickets are sure to thrill even the most jaded) at Chiang Rai’s sprawling Night Market (66-53-784-084; doubles from $1,200).