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our FAMILY TOURS

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Family vacation, Heritage tour ... or both?

Every family's vacation needs are different - tell us yours and we'll customize the mix:

Family Vacation...

Simply want to relax, enjoy life and each other's company? Why not in the fascinating setting of your ancestral land and culture? We'll set up intimate experiences of the old country's culture, people and landscapes. Charming family-friendly hotels, top authentic cuisine, and the most important sights included. And above all, tons of time for family fun and sharing. (Our idea of vacation)

Heritage Tour...

Interested in learning more about your family heritage? With a little basic information (e.g ancestors' names and villages), we can build an itinerary specific to your family’s history in the region. The more detailed your information, the more specifics we can include: visits to villages where ancestors where born, where they lived, and were laid to rest; research and archival visits with local genealogists; even meetings with distant relatives. Just tell us how much heritage is enough – and how much time to reserve for pure vacation.

Both...!

Most tours we create are some combination of heritage tour and vacation. It's a matter of emphasis, which you decide and we realize. Contact us to talk about your family's tour.

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Who can come?

We tailor trips for families of all shapes and sizes, so include whoever you want along:

  • Just Mom, Dad and the kids
  • Mom, Dad, the kids, and the grandparents – a multigenerational group
  • Grandparents with their grandchildren – an intergenerational group
  • Your adult siblings with their families
  • EVERYONE! - a real family reunion.
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Special occasions for a heritage vacation

Looking an excuse for a special family vacation? We've taken families back to their ancestral lands for:

  • Family reunions
  • Family anniversaries
  • Christmas vacation
  • A grandparents/grandkids "get to know each" retreat
  • A graduation present
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A Typical Day

Although each day is a brand new adventure, we've worked out a “typical day” plan that promotes positive family dynamics and a happy experience for all. This includes time together and time apart each day. On trips that focus on family heritage, time-together is about "heritage lite" activities. Time-apart for adults is then filled by more serious research or cultural activities, while the younger generation enjoys a "pure" vacation.

Lunchs are normally casual events for the whole family, often with our local friends.

Sightseeing and free time. At convenient moments, we’ll include any must-see local attractions – do tell us about anything you absolutely can’t miss – and some unstructured time-off for relaxing, reflecting, regenerating.

Dinner is a family event, a moment to share the day’s experiences and reflections and simply be a family on holiday. Earlier seatings and kid-friendly menus are always available.

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Accommodation

We strike a balance between settling in for as long as possible and being close to the places we're exploring. Unpacking once is ideal, but we also don’t want you in a coach for hours each day. Two hotels over the week is typical.

We seek out intimate family-friendly hotels, often run by local families, which embody the character of the local culture (see Hotels). You’ll typically have middle category rooms in 4 or 5 Star and the best rooms in any simpler hotels. Where possible, we reserve adjoining rooms for your kids.

Children under 3 normally sleep in a cot in their parents’ room and we can often organize a third bed for under-12’s. Children over 12 typically share rooms with siblings or cousins.

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Trip Guides and Chaperones

Unless your group is tiny or includes no children under 16, we like to put two of our guides on your trip – in addition to any local experts or friends of ours who step in once in a while. With two guides, we can offer “time-together, time-apart”; it also allows greater flexibility for different movements and interests.

One guide is the genealogy specialist, while the other is the children’s best friend and chaperone. The chaperone is specially trained and experienced with children and supervises and entertains them during their time-apart.

With toddlers on board, we often recruit a trained local nanny to make it more of a vacation for all.

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How to book a Terrestra Family Heritage Tour

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