Travelling Times: Our Top Places to visit in 2014

 

[caption id="attachment_904" align="aligncenter" width="940"] On holiday in Tenerife[/caption]

Welcome to the second annual Family Travel Times Travel Awards! Once again, we have been lucky enough to visit some brilliant places, but which ones were our favourites? Welcome to the 2014 award ceremony and our top places to visit...

Best Day Out

Jess says: I definitely think that the "Art of the Brick" LEGO exhibition was our best day out this year. The exhibition, which is travelling worldwide, is composed of over 85 LEGO sculptures and all of them are fantastic. These sculptures ranged from 3D paintings such as The Kiss and The Scream to a giant dinosaur, and from the solar system to the Venus de Milo! We had a brilliant time looking at the sculptures, watching videos and even had a chance to create our own sculptures at the end!

Alternatively, Burghley house in Lincolnshire is a brilliant place to visit - we visited it over the summer and had a wonderful time. The house, which was built by William Cecil (Lord Burghley) is extremely impressive both inside and outside, as we found out when following the Beastly Boring Burghley tour. This tour was probably the best tour aimed at kids I've been to, and it was full of interesting facts. Afterwards, we loads of fun exploring the gardens, which consisted of a maze, Poseidon’s Grotto, sculptures and lots of fountains to run into.

Robert says:  The alligator tours in Florida was my favourite day out in 2014. It's not every day you get to see real life alligators and hold one too! It was a brilliant experience and I learnt many things like how to tell a crocodile from an alligator or how to spot if it is a male or female. I absolutely loved it and could do it again and again.

Brian (dad) says: I loved my visit to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. I particularly enjoyed the Rocket Garden, seeing the Space Shuttle Atlantis up close, hearing a veteran astronaut giving a talk, and walking underneath the enormous Saturn V rocket.

Best Overall Holiday

Robert says: My favourite holiday of the year was when dad and I went to Florida as I won a competition to go to Space Camp. Everything was great, from the inventive and exciting activities of space camp to the wonderful warm weather - not mentioning the cups and cups of free drinks. I loved learning all about space at Kennedy Space Center and the rides at Universal Studios were brilliant too.

Sarah says: For me, Austria was a perfect holiday. We all tried something different - cycling - and enjoyed the food, the scenery and the many things to do. I was genuinely overwhelmed by how beautiful it was and don't think it gets better than riding alongside Lake Wolfgang with the wind in my hair. It was magnificent.

Best in London

Robert says: We have been to some truly amazing things in London this year and my favourite has got to be ClueQuest. We had one hour to find a way to get out of a locked room. Everything was a clue from books to bottles, playing cards to tables. It was so fun and exciting but a bit stressful when we only had a few minutes left. It was an amazing day out that really pushed our minds to the limit.

Best View 

Jess says: The views at the top of the Schafbergbahn in Saint Wolfgang, Austria have to be the best I've ever seen. The summit of the mountain was 1,783m high and there were 360º beautiful views over the lakes Wolfgangsee, Irrsee, Mondsee and Fuschlsee. It truly was phenomenal.

[caption id="attachment_903" align="aligncenter" width="940"] The waves in Tenerife were captivating[/caption]

Sarah says: Obviously I loved the views in Austria, but I could also have watched the waves crashing onto the shore near our apartment in San Miguel, Tenerife, for hours. There were hardly any people around and we just sat and enjoyed the spectacle. They were just so dramatic, such an illustration of nature, that they were incredibly special. We have just come back from Tenerife - posts to come...

Best Place to Stay

[caption id="attachment_513" align="aligncenter" width="940"] Outside the House of Correction[/caption]

Jess says: The House of Correction in Folkingham, Lincolnshire was probably my favourite place to have ever stayed, and I would love to go back. The house belongs to the Landmark Trust and is built on the site of a big medieval castle. The house was a small prison for minor offenders and was initially built in 1611, but replaced in 1808 and enlarged in 1825. It was then closed in 1878. It is absolutely magnificent and only one family can stay at a time, making the experience even more special.

Best Ride

Robert says: I have been to two amazing parks this year which have both been full to the top with amazing attractions, so it was very hard to pick the winner for best ride. Instead I decided to pick three! The first is from Universal Studios in Florida and is the fast paced, scary indoor roller coaster Return of the Mummy. Most of the ride is in pitch black so it added extra suspense as you didn't know when there was going to be a drop. The first time I went on it I was scared out of my skin when we plummeted down into the red steaming smoke.



The next two winners of this category are from Siam Park, the Water Kingdom in Tenerife (post coming soon). Everything there was wonderful but I decided my first pick would be the Mekong Rapids that dad and I went on four times throughout the day. After a long tiring walk up hundreds of stairs we got to a small pool of water where inside we climbed into a yellow dinghy and then zoomed off down the tunnel. It was so fast and very wet. Dad was screaming like a baby the first time as there were so many drops. I loved the next ride, the Kinnaree the scariest ride we went on, but dad definitely didn't. However, it was still loads of fun. Of all the rides we went on this had the biggest drops and at some points we felt like we were going to go upside down. The ride was so cleverly made and I loved it but I don't think the guy next to me who was swearing the whole time did though.

Best Beach

Jess says: We travelled to Tenerife over Christmas, and the weather was lovely and the beaches superb. Although we had a lovely time at Los Cristianos, my favourite was the Playa del Bobo in Adeje. Not only was the sand lovely and soft, but the waves were brilliant and it was perfect for swimming and paddling. It wasn't too busy and was the perfect spot for a walk. There was also a delicious ice cream store nearby!

Best Educational Day Out

[caption id="attachment_171" align="aligncenter" width="504"] The actors at the Drake Fun Day[/caption]

Robert says: As we have been learning about World War II at school as a class we went to the Churchill War Cabinets and Churchill Museum. The audio tours were very detailed and informative. I learnt a lot about where the prime Minister of England stayed during WWII. I preferred the Churchill museum to the war cabinets as it was much more interactive. There was a table that told you what event happened on your birthday during the war, I got to hold Winston Churchill's teddy bears from when he was younger (they were so cute) and I even got to use a typewriter. It was a very interesting and fun day out.

Jess says: We also thought that the Drake Fun Day atop the Golden Hinde II (a replica of the ship which Sir Francis Drake used to sail all round the world) was fantastic. We played games and learned facts from the Captain and his strange assistant, Fart - this was lots of fun and very interesting! The event was two hours long and consisted of firing guns, learning a code and exploring the ship. I would recommend it to children aged 6+.

Best Hidden Gem

[caption id="attachment_151" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Robert at Groombridge Place's Mystic Pool[/caption]

Sarah says: Groombridge was gorgeous - and a surprise! We had gone to Kent for the weekend to visit Hever Castle where Anne Bolyen had lived, and as a Tudor aficionado, that was intended to be the main event. However, we decided we should visit another "attraction" too and that turned out to be Groombridge. We were so pleased we went as it was perfect for families, with gorgeous grounds and in particular many hidden treasures inside the woods. We'd highly recommend it.

Best Food

Robert says: For me the best food in 2014 came from VegFest, the big market where all the food was vegan. I had so many tasters of all the sweets, crackers, dips and drinks and I even had a go at using an electrical massage machine. I ate stuff that I had never seen before like bread crisps and I had salt and vinegar flavoured bread. Everyone was so nice and insisted that I should have more - how could I resist? It was a delicious day and I'll be coming back for more next year.

Thanks for reading Family Travel Times this year and enjoy 2015!

Read our Travelling Times awards for 2013 and let us know your favourites too!

 

A wonderful trip to Lake Wolfgang in Austria, part 2 (including Salzburg!)

[caption id="attachment_610" align="aligncenter" width="940"] There were great views of the city from the top of the Fortress[/caption]

We had a brilliant time on holiday in Austria, near Lake Wolfgang (the Wolfgangsee) as you may have seen from Jessica's first post last week. Here she tells you about the rest of our terrific stay - including a trip to Sound of Music heaven...

Over to Jess:

Our wonderful holiday continued with a trip to Salzburg on Thursday

Today, we visited Salzburg, and were very lucky to have a tour around the city by Michaela our amazing guide. She took us to churches, statues and locations from where The Sound of Music was filmed.

[caption id="attachment_601" align="aligncenter" width="940"] These steps are in the Sound of Music - they're where the children sing "Do, ray, me"[/caption]

I especially liked walking through the pretty square where part of “Do Ray Me” was sung and you can see some Sound of Music references in our video!

[kad_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ivzOAzN7FY" width=460 height=325 ]

Salzburg is full of stunning Baroque architecture, and we loved looking at all the incredible buildings, especially all of the churches. There are lots of religious places to see in the city, but my favourite was the church where Mozart was baptised. It was absolutely beautiful, and the walls had lovely black and white decorations.

[caption id="attachment_608" align="aligncenter" width="940"] Mozart was baptised at the beautiful Salzburg Cathedral[/caption]

Mozart lived in Salzburg, and his presence was everywhere. Salzburg is the home of Mozart chocolates which (happily) were in almost every shop, while you can also visit his old house and see a statue of him.

[caption id="attachment_603" align="aligncenter" width="940"] This is where Mozart lived in Salzburg[/caption]

Michaela told us lots of facts about Salzburg, which I was fascinated by. I never knew that Salzburg used to be an independent country but was annexed to the Austrian Empire in 1816, or that Salzburg means “salt castle”. This name is because of all the salt mining done nearby. We also bought some delicious things to eat...

[caption id="attachment_599" align="aligncenter" width="940"] I was lucky enough to find a huge doughnut pretzl in the Salzburg market.[/caption]

After this, our family took the cable car up to the fortress, which had lovely views over the city and was also full of history.

Next, we took the bus to the lovely palace of Hellbrunn, built in the 17th century, and which has lovely grounds and even boasts the pavilion where the song “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” was filmed for The Sound of Music.

[caption id="attachment_600" align="aligncenter" width="768"] You may recognise this pavilion from the Sound of Music[/caption]

Instead of exploring the rooms, we opted to go to the trick fountains, which we all loved. My brother got absolutely soaked.

Hundreds of years ago, the Archbishop loved inviting friends to his palace, but always tried to liven up their visits. By placing surprising fountains around the gardens, he would shock them and get them soaking wet!

[caption id="attachment_604" align="aligncenter" width="768"] Robert was soaking after a tour of the water gardens at Hellbrun[/caption]

We got to walk around, sit on chairs and watch shows which ultimately left us covered with water! One example was when we were watching a show with small figures powered by water. Before starting, our guide told us to watch the cannons. Once the show had finished, we were quite confused - no water had come out the cannons! Just ask we started to walk away, water started to spew out from the steps behind us, giving us a shock…

Friday

[caption id="attachment_607" align="aligncenter" width="940"] The water was so green and so clear[/caption]

On Friday, we went cycling again. First of all, we went to tobogganing centre in Strobl, passing a clear blue lake with people swimming in it on the way. It was gorgeous, and I thought it was amazing how unpolluted it was! In London, a lake like that would be brown and full of rubbish!

[caption id="attachment_609" align="aligncenter" width="940"] The tobogganing was lots of fun[/caption]

The tobogganing was lots of fun, and Rob especially loved it. You went up really high before sliding down the hill very quickly, and half of the time you were practically riding on the wall. Each go took a very long time as going up the hill took aages. There were two different ways you could go down; one was short and fast, and one was longer and slightly slower. You also got to control how fast you went by pulling a lever on the board you were riding on.

Next, we cycled 14k to St. Gilgen at the top of the Wolfgangsee, which looked sublime. It was another hot day, and we quenched our thirst with lemonade and a really bitter lemon drink that everyone hated but me!

[caption id="attachment_605" align="aligncenter" width="940"] This swing in St Gilgen has a beautiful backdrop![/caption]

After a brilliant pizza, we took a look around the shops, got cream cakes from a bakery and took a ferry back to Strobl.

Saturday

Today we had a short cycle in the direction of Bad Ischl, passing beautiful mountains, trees and waterfalls on the way. The weather was not lovely, but an erdbeer torte in a cafe back in Strobl more than made up for it…

So that was our fabulous holiday for the summer. Even though we spent a lot of time running, swimming and cycling, I still felt really relaxed and refreshed throughout the week, which is something that does not normally happen to me. The holiday was very different to others I have been on, and is definitely one of my favourites. Funnily enough, I had never been cycling for longer than half an hour before, but the holiday really helped me to improve my confidence, and there were not too many parts of the journeys that were uphill.

[caption id="attachment_598" align="aligncenter" width="940"] We loved our cycling experience by Lake Wolfgang[/caption]

I would 100 percent recommend this holiday to anyone - there seemed to be something for the whole family and I honestly cannot think of anything bad about it! The sights were incredible, the food was fantastic and there was loads to see and do. I wish that we could go back next year!

Disclosure: our tour around Salzburg with Michaela Muhr, a licensed guide, was complimentary and you can book your tour via the Salzburg Experience website. All the views and opinions about the tour and the city are our own.

Disclosure: we were offered a discounted media rate for a Headwater cycling holiday to Austria. However, all our views are entirely our own.

For August departures this year, Headwater would have charged: £1038 for an adult self drive including Eurotunnel (child under 12 sharing £599), £1238 for an adult flying with with BA from Gatwick-Salzburg (child £819) and £1029 for an adult tour only (child £619). This is for half-board accommodation, including transfers, plus the bikes!

This week we're part of the Sunday Traveler (or traveller as we would write in the UK!) where you can link up and read about travels around the world. It's hosted by by the lovely Sarah-Jane at Chase the Donkey!