Do exotic trips with kids through Peru require additional planning? Of course. You need to take into account elevation, climate change, and time zone changes. It might not seem like much, but remember that all those elements will hit you at once. This is a shock for adults very often, so for kids it can be an even bigger challenge. You need to prepare for it, especially if you travel with your children. Slowly, with diversity and interesting places. Kids hate boredom and won’t enjoy history and guide stories for hours on end. In order to give them as much knowledge as possible you need to inspire them. But how? We have a few tips below.
Peru is a country where there are a lot of things happening. You can talk about Peru for hours, and show people many different places for hours on end. But the things that interest adults, will not always be attractive to younger ones. A different approach is needed here to make your trips enjoyable for the whole family. A little sightseeing time, accommodation type, distances, amount of historical information or early mornings are all important factors to take into consideration…
Exotic trips with children
How to make the kids happy on your vacation in Peru
When we plan trips with kids we focus on details surrounding security and safety. Mainly in regards to climate change and elevation. Plans need to be constructed in a way that allows for acclimatization and are slower in general.
Apart from that, for an adult getting up early is not a problem, but for some kids this might be show stopper. We will give you more time for sleep and start our activities a little later. Of course those are personal preferences and we will adjust plans based on discussions with parents.
We are planning a maximum number of attractions each day. Kids require diversity and variability. Some parents love listening to history for hours, but with the kids we need to limit the amount of information, so they are not bored.
What do we need in this case? Games, interactive attractions where children can make things, try, guess or play an explorer role. Very often you need to give them extra time to try out presented activities. Of course everything is connected with sightseeing, so the kids can absorb knowledge connected with the visited places.
Activities that require movement are very important with children. That is why we have in included many trekking options from 1 to 4 hours (for kids most of the trails are downhill). We are selecting the ones with interesting landscapes, ruins and attractions worth to seeing, touching, and feeling.
In the search of petroglyphs in Arequipa region
Quarry work is hard. Young travelers need to learn it by themselves.
Guides working with our family groups are well trained to work with children and in most cases have their own kids as well. For them it is much easier to work with younger ones, because they have an understanding of their needs.
Cultural integrity is another important factor for children. If family is willing to get to know Peruvian realities, and leave the beaten trail, we have multiple options that allow for that.
We show how local transportation works, and we spend time in Andean villages and stay in local houses. In such places you can get to know as much as possible about daily life which is slightly different than the lives of the people in the cities. There is also the opportunity for interacting with local kids which speak different languages. Children don’t seem to mind language barriers, and will quickly be playing together. One of our key elements to our packages is visits to the local schools. Not only to meet with the kids, give them presents, but also to allow our young travelers to learn and play with local children in order to get to know rules and customs of Peruvian people.
And what about parents? They can compare the education system with the one from their country. These kind of common lessons are great experience not only for tourist, but also for local kids. We are cooperating with the local schools that do not normally benefit from the tourism business, so that these communities can benefit as well. These experiences are authentic, and well intentioned.
Polish and Peruvian kids together in classroom, Cusco, Peru
Vacation with kids in Peru and lesson at local school in Cusco
Our youngest clients teach local kids English
Children like trekking in Andes, even for 2 – 3 hours per day. Very often they are less tired than their parents. It is great fun for them, because trekking in Peru contains many ruins. There are unique landscapes for them to enjoy and lot of things happening on the trail…
What else …
Accommodation at a local families houses in the Andes or in the Lake Titicaca area. Cooking Peruvian meals with locals in their homes. These are experiences which allow you to look at the world from a different perspective. It is beautiful lesson full of emotions, allowing for an integration of two different worlds.
Cooking Pachamanca in Andean village in Peru
On the trail in Cusco region
For our youngest clients we also have many additional gadgets, all of them with an educational element. They work very well on the trails and during car trips in Peru. They allow kids to learn history, geography, and information about places on our tours. Thanks to that the kids are not bored in the car, train or plane and come back home with unique gifts. 😊
The youngest travelers need more diversity, variability, and more time for resting. They also need history to be presented in a different way. It needs to be interesting, original, and interactive. We focus on all of those elements while preparing vacations for families with kids in old Incan country. We have our unique way to present the world to them. We are trying to show the reality of Peruvian life and we are happy to be able to share that with our customers.
