The best Easter holiday destinations for a family break

In need of a lit­tle sun and some seri­ous­ly trop­i­cal vibes? Then one of the best East­er hol­i­day des­ti­na­tions has to be the gor­geous island of Jamaica. Car­ni­val in Jamaica is a heady explo­sion of cos­tumes, music, food and fun, and it’s a bril­liant expe­ri­ence for the whole fam­i­ly. Chil­dren will love the glitz and glam­our of the fes­ti­val, and the music is great for tiny dancers! Make sure you try some tra­di­tion­al East­er foods while you’re there – East­er buns with cheese, fried sprat and steamed snap­per with okra should all be top of your must-eat list. After all that cel­e­brat­ing, you’ll be in need of a gor­geous place to relax in – and hap­pi­ly the Love Home Swap com­mu­ni­ty has come up with trumps with a stun­ning array of prop­er­ties! Take a look at the bustling mar­ket town of Ocho Rios to find a num­ber of homes with pools.

Stel­len­bosch in South Africa is a great spot for an East­er get­away with the kids. With amaz­ing vine­yards and stun­ning scenery – plus a love­ly tem­per­a­ture of around 24 degrees for sight­see­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties – there’s much to be said for a spring break in the region. This incred­i­ble blog (which lists an impres­sive 21 sug­ges­tions for the best East­er hol­i­day des­ti­na­tions) reveals that many wine estates arrange spe­cial East­er activ­i­ties for the whole fam­i­ly. Which sounds noth­ing short of heav­en­ly! Make sure you arrange a home exchange some­where cen­tral – our mem­bers have some love­ly home swaps in the Stel­len­bosch region – then round off your trip with a week (or three!) in Cape Town. We’ve got a lot of beau­ti­ful prop­er­ties in the region, so you’ve got lots of options to look into.

For many, the ulti­mate East­er hol­i­day des­ti­na­tion is a city break – and San Fran­cis­co and New York are cur­rent­ly sit­ting at the top of our must-see list. New York hosts an amaz­ing annu­al East­er parade – this is usu­al­ly planned for East­er Day, and it’s a par­tic­u­lar­ly fam­i­ly-friend­ly event as every­one is encour­aged to make, dec­o­rate and wear the most extrav­a­gant East­er bon­nets! If you’ve only got a few days here, then this 5‑day itin­er­ary devised by trav­el-enthu­si­asts Earth Trekkers is full of great ideas. 

San Fran­cis­co is anoth­er city where East­er is big news. And just like New York, it’s the per­fect city break for any time of the year. There’s a lot to see and do, but this 4‑day itin­er­ary from ToSome­Place­New is pret­ty excep­tion­al – just make sure you fol­low their advice, and book the key attrac­tions in advance, so that you’re not wast­ing time in queues! If you’re trav­el­ling with chil­dren, then make sure you set aside some time to take part in the myr­i­ad of fam­i­ly-friend­ly activ­i­ties that pop up through­out the city. There are loads of East­er egg hunts to take part in, while the East­er Bun­ny makes reg­u­lar guest appearances. 

If you’re look­ing for sun­shine and sun­bathing weath­er — plus more white sand beach­es than your kids will actu­al­ly know what to do with — then head to the far north of Queens­land. But for a real­ly spec­tac­u­lar East­er trip with the fam­i­ly, then con­sid­er a vis­it to either Syd­ney or Mel­bourne, both which are par­tic­u­lar­ly mag­i­cal over the East­er peri­od. With­out the intense heat of the sum­mer, you can eas­i­ly lose sev­er­al days tak­ing in the big sights. If you’re in Syd­ney, make sure you set aside some time to mooch through the lanes of The Rocks – and if you’re eschew­ing meat on Good Fri­day, then treat your­self to the most amaz­ing fish dish­es at one of the many restau­rants or cafes at Syd­ney Fish Mar­ket. And if you’re in Mel­bourne for an East­er fam­i­ly break? Then you sim­ply have to check out TimeOut’s com­pre­hen­sive list of fun things to do with the kids.

East­er is a great time to get away for a last-minute ski break. The most snow-sure con­di­tions in North Amer­i­ca can be found at Whistler, and let’s not for­get that the ski sea­son in Europe goes on for a long time, as long as you don’t mind a bit of alti­tude. The best high resorts for East­er ski­ing undoubt­ed­ly fea­ture Les Deux Alpes and Tignes in France, Sölden in Aus­tria and Cervinia in Italy – while beau­ti­ful Switzer­land offers up Zer­matt and Saas Fee – and these resorts are just the tip of the ice­berg (ter­ri­ble pun intend­ed!) This round-up from Sno is full of great ideas on where to go.

Of course, if you’re not a ski­er or snow­board­er but your fam­i­ly are keen to hit the snow, then there’s usu­al­ly plen­ty of activ­i­ties for non-skiers too. This trav­el blog is a great exam­ple of how ski resorts such as Les Deux Alpes are per­fect­ly set-up for those who need a break from the pistes – and if you’re stay­ing in a gor­geous home swap prop­er­ty, then it’s entire­ly pos­si­ble that you might just enjoy a few days of peace and qui­et while the fam­i­ly burn off some energy! 

East­er is a high­light in the Chris­t­ian cal­en­dar, so many loca­tions real­ly come to life with street parades and pro­ces­sions. This is a great oppor­tu­ni­ty to gen­tly intro­duce your chil­dren to the reli­gious aspect of East­er (regard­less of whether or not you cel­e­brate it your­self) so rather than pin­point­ing just one option for a spir­i­tu­al expe­ri­ence, we thought we’d high­light a few glo­ri­ous options! 

• Venice is huge­ly pop­u­lar – stay at one of these ide­al­ly locat­ed homes, and con­sid­er going to one of the East­er Sun­day mass­es. San Marco’s Basil­i­ca is a huge draw for thou­sands of peo­ple, but it can get crowd­ed. If your kids need a lit­tle reward for man­ag­ing to stay qui­et dur­ing the ser­vice, make sure you swing by Vizio Vir­tu Cioc­co­la­te­ria which is undoubt­ed­ly the best choco­late shop in Venice.
• Rome in Italy is under­stand­ably deeply appeal­ing for many look­ing for an idyl­lic East­er fam­i­ly break. Our mem­bers have many stun­ning homes in the city, so you’ll be spoilt for choice with loca­tions and options.
• For a tra­di­tion­al cel­e­bra­tion that has been hap­pen­ing since the 16^th Cen­tu­ry, head to Seville in Spain. Here you’ll find 50,000 peo­ple tak­ing part in 58 pro­ces­sions – plus an amaz­ing selec­tion of gor­geous prop­er­ties to retreat home to.
• For a less­er-vis­it­ed spot, head to Antigua in Guatemala and feast your eyes on the Sem­ana San­ta (Holy Week) cel­e­bra­tions in which the streets are trans­formed with elab­o­rate car­pets (oth­er­wise known as alfom­bras) of coloured saw­dust and flower petals. With the pro­ces­sions occur­ring over a num­ber of days, it’s worth bas­ing your­self in the heart of the action. To get an idea of the excite­ment in the lead up to the event, and the time that goes into mak­ing the alfom­bras, take a look at this fas­ci­nat­ing blog by A Girl And Her Pass­port.