Once you’ve decided where you’re going and who you’re going with, and sorted out accommodations and flights, it’s time to start thinking about fun things to do on vacation.
Trip activities depend on plenty of different factors. Is everyone you’re traveling with athletic enough to handle an intensive 8-hour hike? Does everyone know how to swim and feel comfortable being near the water? Do all the youngsters in the group meet height/weight requirements for certain activities?
Fun things to do on vacation can primarily be broken down by type of trip, and within the type of trip, the destination will ultimately guide your activity choices. Here are a few suggestions for group trip activities based on where you’re going and who you’re going with.
Fun things to do on vacation based on your trip type
Friends trip
Friend trips are often the easiest to come up with an activity list as the group frequently shares similar interests. This is where voting can come in handy to get an honest idea of what everyone finds enticing. Research a handful of activities, excursions, or outings at your destination and use Troupe to allow group members to vote on their favorites.
Friend trips are actually one of our favorite types of vacations to plan in an activity-centric way. If everyone in the group skis (or is okay being a lounge bunny) mountain cabin vacations offer plenty of fun things to do on vacation with friends.
Otherwise, all-inclusive resorts – in places like Mexico and the Caribbean – take all the guesswork out of dealing with shared budgets on group trips. In addition, these resorts will often have activities like paddle boarding, beach volleyball, and more included in the price. Additional activities, like excursions, parasailing, or jet skiing, are also easily organized through the resorts for an additional fee.
Fun things to do on vacation with friends:
- Skiing/snowboarding
- Hiking
- All-inclusive resorts
- Excursions
- Boat tours
- Wine-tasting or brewery tours
Discover our favorite girls weekend ideas
Multi-generational family trips
Multi-generational family trips can pose some of the hardest situations to come up with ideas for fun things to do on vacation that grandparents will enjoy as much as the grandkids. Regardless of the destination, some of the best activities for multi-generational groups are good, old-fashioned games like charades. Especially if you’re renting a big house or cabin for everyone to stay together, it’s often worth bringing your favorite board games from home on multi-generational family trips.
Beach vacations are great for trips with multiple generations since there are no age restrictions on enjoying some time lounging on the sand or swimming in the sea.
More fun things to do on vacation for multi-generational family trips:
- Pool time
- Easy hikes
- Board games
- Charades
- Cooking together
Families (with young kids)
Families with young kids naturally plan their destinations around the activities available to the specific ages of their little ones. Buy beyond Ski School or the Kiddie Pool at the resort, what are some lesser-thought of activities while you’re spending more time than usual together on vacation?
Similarly to multi-generational family trips, it’s often worth bringing some of your family’s favorite board games or card games from home to play while on your time away. Part of the fun of planning a family vacation once your kids are a bit older can be to research activities at your destination as a family and let them help choose what you see and do while you’re there. Parents will often be surprised at some of the activities that interest their kids.
More fun things to do on vacation for families with young kids:
- City walks (give your kids their own disposable cameras to capture their favorite things through their own lens)
- Family sandcastle building competitions
- Boardgames/card games
Coworkers
Traveling with coworkers is a unique situation. Not only is this frequently a group travel situation that spans multiple ages and personality types, but it’s also often focused on bonding activities, especially if coworkers are new or they don’t always share an office. Team building activities are often the focus of coworker trips.
Fun things to do on team building vacations:
- Escape Rooms
- Bowling
- Minigolf
- Nights out or daytime drinking activities (beer bikes/brewery tours/wineries)
- Cooking classes
Couples’ Trips
Couples’ trips (with multiple couples) offer a great opportunity to travel with your significant other and still make a “friends” trip out of it. These trips are the perfect way to spend quality time with the other friends in your life that are coupled up, without worrying about “third wheel” dynamics.
When it comes to fun things to do on vacation for couples’ trips, it frequently depends on how close you already are to the other couples. For a group that knows each other well to begin with, most of the activities for friend trips are equally as enjoyable when done as a group of couples, like renting a cabin in the mountains and making a ski trip out of it. Otherwise, international destinations to places like Paris or London, give you plenty of opportunity for dining out and exploring the sites of a new place with new-ish friends.
Some more activities to consider on couples’ trips include:
- Museum visits
- Spa days
- International cooking classes
- Wine tastings
- Trivia nights
- Camping
- Dance classes
Ready to start planning your dream vacation? No matter who you’re traveling with, Troupe makes it easy to plan group travel. Suggest possible dates, destinations, and accommodations to the group, and then everyone can vote on their favorites. Then, share flight information, links to tour groups, notes on where to eat, and everything else!
Check out Troupe’s group trip planner app to learn more.