Family hiking: Choose fun hiking!

Bram, Product Manager at Quechua and a father, shares his tips for organising a fun hike for youngsters and grown-ups. It's time for a fun hike! This type of hike is synonymous with a recreational and educational adventure in the heart of nature, perfect for discovering the trails. It’s the ideal way for the whole family to get some fresh air!

By explaining to your children that the walk will lead to them seeing a waterfall, a lake or to them eating a lovely picnic, or that it will enable them to discover animals, you should convince even the most reluctant little ones.

As you progress along your route, take a break to look at the scenery and tell each other anecdotes to make the walk more captivating. Depending on the age of your children, you can also incorporate different activities to break up the walk. A simple walk can turn into a great adventure, full of discoveries and surprises.

Whether it’s discovering a hidden lake at the end of the path or spotting animal tracks along the way, every step becomes a game. With these tips, a family hike becomes a great opportunity to get together and enjoy nature to the full!

For your little ones, it’s essential to give meaning to their family outing. If you turn the walk into a "mission" to be accomplished, they’ll be all the more enthusiastic about the idea of setting off on accessible trails. Tourist offices can be your best allies as many offer family-friendly itineraries, including orienteering routes that are accessible all year round. Using these maps, your children will have to find the indicated landmarks and progress step by step. At each stage, you can reward them with chocolates or points that, when accumulated, give access to a bigger reward.

If your mountain hike doesn’t have a specific orienteering course, you can use the markings along the way. This type of activity helps them to find their bearings in space and become the real guides on the trail! At this age, they love to do what grown-ups do, so don’t hesitate to suggest that they carry a small rucksack containing a snack and a water bottle. And why not find a treasure at the foot of a tree or by the side of a lake.

In terms of distance, a walk of 3 to 6 kilometres, with very little change in altitude, is ideal for a start. This will give your children a taste for walking without getting discouraged, while they discover the wonders of nature at their own pace.

You can suggest that your youngest children keep a walking diary in the form of a herbarium. It’s a fun and educational way of introducing them to flora and their environment. Everyone can have a notebook in which to collect flowers, leaves or seeds along the trails. Slip a book on mountain plants into your rucksack and you’ll be able to identify the specimens you come across along the way, whether by a lake, at the foot of a tree, or in the middle of the mountains.

During your picnic or on the way home, you can annotate the notebook together: name of the species, date and place of collection, as well as observations about the environment. This journal will become a real logbook, to be filled in as you go along and make new discoveries on your next family outing.

As with the younger members of the family, it’s best to choose a route with a low gradient, so that you can enjoy the walk to the full. A distance of between 7 and 12 kilometres, whether in the mountains or on paths close to a natural site, is perfect for combining discovery, pleasure and exploration of the surrounding countryside. Spending time together as a family in the great outdoors will give everyone a better understanding and appreciation of the places they visit, while exploring accessible paths.