With holidaymakers increasingly looking for holidays the offer more than just lying on the beach, activity holidays are becoming more popular each year, particularly with active families. The following article gives some information and ideas on how families can most effectively find their ideal activity holiday.

Research in the UK (and this seems to be also true of many other countries) consistently shows that as time goes by and holidaymakers become more and more experienced in overseas travel, they are starting to look for holidays the offer them something slightly more than just lying on the beach or lying by the pool.

As the majority of potential holidaymakers now use the Internet to research their holiday purchase and gain ideas for what sort of holiday might suit them, they are becoming aware of the breadth of activity holidays choices open to them and are more energetically investigating them.

Some key questions need to be answered at the start of the researching and choosing process:

1. What balance does the family want to strike between "relaxation" and "full on" activity?

2. Being realistic, what constraints are placed on the type of holiday your family can enjoy by the ages and physical capabilities of the children?

3. Are there any specific activities or sports that members of the family have set her heart on participating in whilst on holiday?

4. What balance does the family want to strike between being "sociable" on holiday and having their own space?

Once these questions have been answered the next task is to start researching options.

Roughly 80% of people now booking a holiday carry out research on the Internet and this is the obvious place to start but another good source of ideas is to read some of the specialist magazines to cater for the particular activity all sport that you and your family are most interested in. These magazines (for obvious reasons) attract very targeted advertisers and they can be a good source of ideas for potential holiday companies to use.

Although the most common starting point for researching travel on the Internet (and this is no surprise to anybody!) is Google, there are some excellent sources of unbiased information and reviews on sites such as Holiday Watchdog (holidaywatchdog.com) and Trip Advisor (tripadvisor.com). Holiday Watchdog offer opinions from people who have actually stayed in the different properties but Trip Advisor is the best known for independent opinions.

Categories of family activity holiday to worth considering:

The type of family activity holiday that is going to meet the requirements of any particular family will, to a great extent, be dictated by the ages of the children in the family.

With children under about five years old it is definitely worth considering what are generally referred to as "beach club holidays". These are resort based holidays with excellent child-care facilities for all ages of children from very small baby's right up to older teenagers.

Most tour operators, and certainly the bigger ones, make sure that the children's clubs are all staffed by highly professional and qualified teams and that the activities undertaken over the course of a holiday keep the children busy and having a great time. The advantage of these types of holidays is that it frees adults up to take full advantage of the activities on offer which usually include dinghy sailing, day yacht sailing, mountain biking, tennis or simply socialising and lying by the pool. One thing to consider though is that these beach club holidays are often quite sociable, particularly at meal times and around the bar and this may not suit everyone.

Another type of family activity holiday worth considering would be something that includes more "exotic" travel such as an organised family tour to Egypt taking in the Pyramids and major temples and also including a felucca cruise on the Nile. This type of family activity holiday can be said to truly "broaden the mind" and is available in any number of countries including holidays in South America and Europe.

Taking a family on holiday is expensive at any time but where families have to book their holidays during high season in school holidays then top prices usually have to be paid. Having said this, if you are flexible with your destination and departure dates and you are prepared to wait until the last minute then bargains can be found. It is often well worth telephoning the sales departments of the holiday company that interests you to see what they have left - you might get a pleasant surprise!

Sam Turnbull is a Director of Just Active, which brings a range of family activity holidays to everyone.