Road trips
UK family road trip ideas: complete guide & tips
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Family road trip, anyone? Whether your kids are toddlers or teens, it’s easy to make the journey with children (or even road trip with a newborn!). Whatever your family is into, you’re sure to find a road trip that suits everyone, visiting attractions as varied as theme parks, beaches or national parks all on one trip. Here are our top ten family road trips in the UK, plus our top tips on keeping kids busy and entertained on the road.
We’ve included a variety of road trip lengths so you can find one that suits your family holiday, and also included trips to suit younger kids and teens. Be sure to check out ourtop UK family holiday destinations too!
Family road trip ideas in the UK
The Jurassic Coast
Total distance: 90 miles
Recommended duration: 5 days
One of the most kid-friendly destinations in Britain, the Jurassic Coast is the stretch of coastline running from Exmouth in East Devon to Studland Bay in Dorset. It was the first natural UNESCO World Heritage Site in England and spans a history of over 185 million years, so you’ll certainly find plenty to keep you entertained.
Kids will love sandcastle building and fossil hunting at Lyme Regis and Charmouth, while teens should enjoy a sailing session at Weymouth or showing off their selfie skills at breathtaking Durdle Door. You could also detour to Dorchester for an afternoon to visit the fab Dinosaur Museum.
Hire a Devon campervan to get started.
(For road-tripping further, drive on from Exmouth to the English Riviera and Torbay, stopping off at the beaches and seaside towns of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham as well as the spectacular nature reserve of Dawlish Warren.Exmouth to Brixham is 44 miles.)
Motorhome, campervan and caravan hire in South West England
Cornwall
Total distance: 171 miles
Recommended duration: 7 days
Beautiful Cornwall is another very child-friendly destination in the UK, packed with family-friendly attractions including theme parks, wide golden beaches, zoos, aquariums and the world-famous Eden Project and Lost Gardens of Heligan.
Our recommended Cornwall road trip starts in St Austell, following the south and west Cornish coasts to arrive in northern Cornwall at Newquay. From Newquay, drive inland via Weybridge to King Arthur legend at Tintagel Castle, then back to St Austell via a detour to Bodmin Moor. Or start anywhere along the route you like – ourvans for hire in Cornwall cover a wide range of styles.
You could of course make this an epic southwest England road trip by combining it with the Jurassic Coast trip above! We reckon about two weeks is perfect.
Not sure where to set up camp? Discover the best family campsites in Cornwall!
Snowdonia and North Wales
Total distance: 230 miles
Recommended duration: 7 days
Wales’s first designated national park is an awesome option for family road trips, particularly for teens and older kids. You can opt to spend some of this week-long road trip on an active adventure in Snowdonia before travelling on to North Wales; or spend a day or two in Snowdonia then the rest of the week on the North Wales coast and the Isle of Anglesey.
Our trip starts to the south of Snowdonia National Park at Aberdyfi, to travel straight through the centre of the park and arrive on the North Wales coast at Conwy. A direct Aberdyfi to Conwy route is about 72 miles, but there are heaps of detours depending on your tastes! Recommended Snowdonia destinations include Blaenau Ffestiniog, Lake Bala and mighty Snowdon itself – take the mountain railway to the top of the summit.
Motorhome, campervan and caravan hire in Wales
North Yorkshire loop
Total distance: 257 miles
Recommended duration: 10 days
Home to dales, moors, magnificent coastline, two national parks, heaps of hiking trails and lots of family-friendly attractions, North Yorkshire is a perfect destination for a family road trip. Our designed route takes in Durham too, allowing for time in the Yorkshire Dales National Park and North Yorkshire Moors National Park.
You can also fit in a sightseeing day in York for the Jorvik Viking Museum, and four or five days around Scarborough, Whitby and other North Yorkshire seaside spots. Browse ourYorkshire vans for hire to start planning your trip.
If you’d like to bolt another few days onto this trip, head north from Whitby to beautiful Northumberland and Northumberland National Park.
Dumfries and Galloway
Total distance: 150 miles
Recommended duration: 3-5 days
Scotland’s south-western region is especially ideal for family holidays with smaller kids, with popular attractions like the Cream O' Galloway Ice Cream centre, Mabie Farm Park and the Cocobean Company to explore. But there’s no shortage of things to see and do for older kids either: try active days based around the Dalbeattie 7stanes mountain biking centre or Galloway Forest Centre, taking teens shopping in Dumfries, or spending the day at Rockcliffe or Southerness beaches.
Our leisurely route starts in the little town of Annan just above the Solway Firth, eight miles from the English border (or you could start further south at Carlisle). From there, head north to sightsee in Dumfries, south to Rockcliffe and Southerness, and west towards Gatehouse of Fleet, Newton Stewart and Galloway Forest Park.
Make this a longer trip by driving north from Galloway Forest Park to Ayr, then east to Glasgow and Edinburgh. Or make your way to Stranraer and get the ferry to Northern Ireland!
Motorhome, campervan and caravan hire in Scotland
East England coast
Total distance: 208 miles
Recommended duration: 7 days
This trip is easily adapted according to the ages of your kids – younger children will love our suggested route that focuses on Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk coastline and seaside towns, while teenagers will probably prefer inland detours for urban days at Colchester or Norwich.
Hire aLondon orEssex van to set off from the Essex coast via Mersea Island or Clacton-on-Sea. Drive either along the coast from Clacton, via Walton-on-the-Naze and Harwich, or inland via Colchester. Then it’s on to Suffolk for Felixstowe and Lowestoft, then to the Norfolk coast and Great Yarmouth, Cromer, Hunstanton and the North Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Prefer to focus on one county? Get inspiration from ourfamily camping in Norfolk blog.
Cross-country Wales
Total distance: 560 miles
Recommended duration: 2 weeks
This family road trip is truly epic! We’ve designed it to take in as much of Wales as possible, using a circular route from and back to Cardiff. Take a couple of weeks for it if you can, but the trip is easily adaptable if you only have a week or even a few days: build your trip by region, like the Gower Peninsula, Pembrokeshire, Snowdonia or the Brecon Beacons.
The many highlights of this lengthy Wales adventure include Cardiff, Swansea, St Davids and Aberystwyth; the Cardigan coast, Gower Peninsula and Pembrokeshire Coast National Park; the Isle of Anglesey and Holyhead; the North Wales coast at Rhyl and Conwy; the lovely market towns of Wrexham and Hay-on-Wye… and both the country’s other national parks – Snowdonia and the Brecon Beacons.
Here’s where tohire a van in Wales.
The Antrim coast/Causeway Coastal Route
Total distance: 90 miles
Recommended duration: 5 days
Portrush, Portstewart, Ballycastle, Giant’s Causeway… take Northern Ireland’s Causeway Coastal Route from Belfast to see some of the most spectacular scenery in the country. Kids will love a day at Portrush for the beach and Barry’s Amusements; adults can sneak in a day at the Royal Portrush Golf Club; and all ages should enjoy the adventurous crossing of the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge.
Hire a van in Belfast and spend a day in the city before driving north to the beach at Whitehead and staying for the night nearby. Then drive through the Antrim glens and along the coast to Ballycastle and its Blue Flag beach, with the Giant’s Causeway, Portrush and Portstewart making up the rest of your trip.
Scottish Highlands and Highlands islands
Total distance: 295 miles
Recommended duration: 7 days
Our second Scotland family road trip uses a cross-country trip to arrive at some of the most beautiful landscapes in the country – the Scottish Highlands and the Isle of Skye. The Highlands and Islands are fabulous options for island hopping if you have a bit longer; our trip also takes in the small Highlands islands Eigg and Muck.
This road trip visits famous Scottish destinations like Loch Ness, Loch Lomond, the Cairngorms National Park, Culloden and Inverness, which will definitely provide enough options to amuse even the fussiest family member! VisitScotland’s suggested Highland Tourist Route starts off in Aberdeen so you can reach the Highlands from the other end of the country, as well as spend time in the Cairngorms, the UK’s biggest national park. Our route also starts inAberdeen, driving 124 miles to Inverness via the Cairngorms, then continues to the Isle of Skye.
NW England and the Lake District
Total distance: 205 miles
Recommended duration: 10 days
Although we recommend this trip for older kids/teens, northwest England and the Lake District still has loads to do for younger children – Blackpool, Southport Pleasure Beach, Chester Zoo and The World of Beatrix Potter Attraction are all sure to be hits. For everyone else, try rambling around the Lakes and the Forest of Bowland, mooching around beaches like Morecambe Bay, or taking teenagers to city sightseeing/football-watching days in Manchester and Liverpool.
You can start anywhere along this route, but we’ve begun in Chester as that also gives the option of a few days in North Wales first. Our itinerary goes north to Blackpool via Liverpool and/or Manchester, then to Lancaster and Morecambe with an optional detour east to the Forest of Bowland. Make for Kendal and Keswick after that, to have plenty of time in the Lake District.
Leeds and Yorkshire are great options if you want to extend your trip: driving to Leeds via the Yorkshire Dales National Park, then from Leeds to York, Scarborough and the North Yorkshire coast, adds another 200 miles to the trip.
Easy ideas to keep kids busy on the road
So you’ve decided on your road trip, studied your route and hired your van. Nows the time to think about another aspect of a family road trip – keeping the kids entertained between destinations!
Many people see this as one of the more challenging aspects of road tripping with kids, but it doesn’t have to be. Try the activities below to keep your kids busy.
Red car blue car
One of the simplest and still one of the most effective! Get the kids to count how many red cars and blue cars they see on the journey – the whole family can count both colours together, or you can allocate a colour to each child.
I Spy
Another classic. The normal format of the game is that players take it in turns to “spy” an object beginning with a particular letter, but you can adapt it to objects of a particular colour if playing with younger kids. We recommend making a rule that any object included must be visible in the van and not five miles back on the road!
I Spy bingo
This one needs a little preparation, but will keep kids entertained for ages – especially if you make one of the bingo items more obscure! You’ll need a sturdy piece of card and a marker or crayon for each player, plus a ruler and pen to draw a 3x3 or 5x5 grid on each card. Fill each square of the grid with “bingo” items – things the kids are likely to see from the windows of the van; you could include road signs, car types/colours, farm animals, pets, clothes colours… even something random like a person eating ice cream! Kids cross off each item as they spot it, winning when they’ve crossed off all items.
Variation: each player can shout “bingo” when they’ve filled a line of the card.
Books
Colouring books, sticker books, storybooks and novels are all perfect for keeping kids quiet if they’re in the mood to sit still for a bit. If not, captivate them with an audiobook sure to grab their attention, such as Stephen Fry’s readings of the Harry Potter books. Roald Dahl audiobooks are usually a hit too.
Use the Overdrive app to download free audiobooks (and ebooks) from your local library service using your library card number.
Singalongs
Loudly singing songs will certainly keep young kids entertained, although parents may not last too long with the noise… Download tracks in advance to have them ready to listen, or let older kids suggest their latest favourite hits.
Pack goodie bags
Stock up at a pound shop or other discount shop before your trip to prepare a goodie/surprise bag for each child for each day of the trip. Each bag can have three or four toys, games, colouring books etc, with enough novelty each day to keep boredom at bay.
Ourfamily road trip planning blog has plenty of additional ideas on keeping kids busy on the road, including suggestions for packing activity bags and toy boxes for each child before you set off. Travelling with a toddler? OurHow to road trip with a toddler is packed with tips and advice.
Plan your family road trip today
Which one of our 10 road trips will you try? It’s easy to arrange road trips of all types with Camplify – whatever your budget, you’ll find something to suit among our manyvans for hire in the UK.
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