Which Asian country is easiest with children?

Five things decide that. Driving hours, the biggest predictor of a difficult family trip. Heat, meaning not the forecast but two in the afternoon with no shade, when the youngest has stopped walking. Food, meaning something plain and safe every day without a negotiation at every meal. Medical access, meaning how far you are at any point from a hospital that could handle a broken arm competently. And flight legs, because every internal flight costs most of a day and two airport experiences.

The ranking

The ranking alone is misleading, so here is the detail. Nepal at nine is not a bad family destination. It is a demanding one, and for the right family the best trip on this list.

1. Japan

First by a considerable margin, and what we recommend without hesitation for a family’s first trip to Asia.

The rail network removes the transfer problem entirely. Tokyo to Kyoto is two and a quarter hours in a comfortable seat with a table. Nobody is strapped into a van on a mountain road, and luggage forwarding means your cases travel between hotels on their own while you move with a day bag.

Food is the second reason. Japanese children eat rice, noodles, grilled chicken, egg, fruit and bread, all of it available in every convenience store and station. A fussy eater is not a problem here. Medical care is excellent and everywhere, and the country is exceptionally safe: children here travel on trains and walk to school alone from a young age, and the environment is built with that assumption.

The caveats are small. Hotel rooms are small and rooms that take four need booking early, July and August are hot and humid, and there is a lot of walking. See our twelve-day family route.

2. South Korea

Everything that makes Japan easy is true here to a slightly lesser degree, plus one advantage: the country is smaller, so the journeys are shorter still. Seoul to Busan is two and a half hours by rail and that is the length of the country. Cities are safe, clean and superbly served by public transport, medical care is very good, and there is a strong culture of family-friendly public space.

Food is where Korea sits behind Japan. Much of it is chilli-based and children who dislike spice find a narrower menu, though rice, egg dishes, grilled meat, dumplings and fried chicken cover most of it. Summer humidity is significant. See our Korea hub.

3. Thailand

The most experienced family destination in Asia, and it shows. Family rooms and kids’ clubs as standard, resorts set up for children, staff who are genuinely good with them, and forty years of practice. Food is easy: rice, noodles, grilled chicken, fruit, and any kitchen will make something without chilli if asked.

What holds Thailand at three is the heat, which is constant and has no off season, and the fact that a typical trip needs one internal flight to reach a beach. Neither is serious. The classic shape, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, one beach, works extremely well. Our family route sets it out.

4. Vietnam

Wonderful with children, with one structural problem: the country is over a thousand miles long and the three regions are far apart. A north-to-south trip needs two internal flights, and the drives within regions, particularly in the northern mountains, are long and winding.

Everything else is in its favour. Vietnamese food is one of the easiest cuisines in Asia for children: pho, rice, spring rolls, grilled pork, baguettes and remarkable fruit. The people are exceptionally warm with children, hotels are good value and family rooms are widely available. Medical care is good in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, thinner in the north. Our Hanoi office is why we recommend Vietnam to families with confidence, because the ground support is ours. The family route is here.

5. Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka should be easier than it is. Small, with beaches, elephants, a train children love and manageable food. What holds it back is road speed: distances that look like an hour take three, because the roads are narrow, busy and slow, and the Colombo to Kandy to Ella to south coast loop is a lot of hours in a van on bends. Car sickness is a frequent issue here.

The fix works: fewer bases, longer stays, the train instead of the road where possible, two nights minimum everywhere and three on the coast. The wildlife is the argument for Sri Lanka. Seeing elephants in the wild at close range in an afternoon is not something Japan or Korea can offer. Our family route is built around the drive-time problem.

6. Cambodia

Logistically straightforward. Siem Reap and Phnom Penh are the two bases, the drives are manageable, and Angkor genuinely interests children, particularly Ta Prohm with the trees growing through it and Bayon with its faces.

Two things put it at six. The heat is serious, above 95°F (35°C) for much of the year, and Angkor at midday is no place for a seven-year-old, so we build in early mornings and long afternoon pool breaks. And medical access outside the two main cities is limited. Cambodia also carries a weight to think about with older children: the recent history is present at the sites, and how far you go into it is a decision to make before you arrive rather than in front of an exhibit. Our family route is ten days for a reason.

7. The Philippines

A strange one, because on the ground it is easy and getting between places is hard. Filipinos are as good with children as anyone in Asia, English is widely spoken, and at a beach it is among the best family destinations anywhere.

The problem is the archipelago. Every island change costs most of a day and usually a flight through Manila or Cebu, so a family wanting three islands in two weeks has signed up for three transfer days. The good version is two bases of at least four nights, ferry-connected if possible. Medical care is good in Manila and Cebu and limited on small islands, which matters for a remote resort. Our family route uses two bases only.

8. India

Eighth, and one of the best trips a family can take, which is exactly why a ranking about ease is a limited tool.

The difficulties are honest. Drives of five and six hours between the Rajasthan cities. Heat from April to June well above 105°F (40°C), which is unsafe for small children. A street environment that some children find overwhelming rather than fascinating. And stomach upsets, more likely than anywhere else here, which need managing with bottled water, hot food and no compromises.

Against that: a private car and driver throughout, which is normal in India and gives you control you do not have elsewhere; hotels that are spectacular at a price that would be ordinary in Europe; and a warmth towards children that families remember for the rest of their lives. Medical care in Delhi, Mumbai and Jaipur is excellent. Our view, from our Delhi office: India works well from about eight and up, and is hard work under six. The family route is here.

9. Nepal

Ninth, and the country we would most enthusiastically recommend to the right family. Nepal has the mildest climate on this list, which nobody expects, and children love the Kathmandu valley: the temples, the monkeys, the courtyards, the kites.

What puts it at the bottom is everything else. The road journeys are long, rough and tiring. The internal flights are weather-dependent and cancel. Medical facilities outside Kathmandu are limited. And the headline activity, trekking, is what to be most careful about: altitude affects children as much as adults and they are worse at reporting how they feel.

The good family version exists and it is not the one in the brochures. Kathmandu valley, a short low walk in the Pokhara hills, and Chitwan for the rhinos, seen from a jeep. No high passes, nothing above about 10,000 feet (3,000 m), and a rest day between each. Our family route is built exactly that way.

The rules we apply regardless of country

• One move every three nights, maximum, rather than the two and a half we use for adults.
• Nothing over four hours in a vehicle in a day. Where a leg is longer, we split it.
• A pool, or water, every third day. Not indulgence: it is what makes the temple mornings possible.
• The afternoon is theirs. Sights before eleven, then a long break. Every country here is hot enough for that to matter.
• Family rooms booked early. In Japan and Korea especially, rooms that sleep four are a small share of the stock.
• Tell us the ages at the first email. A trip for a four-year-old and one for a fourteen-year-old share almost nothing.

Plan this trip

Tell us the ages of your children and the fortnight you have, and we will say which of these nine fits and which we would steer you away from. Free first proposal, no obligation.

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Keep reading

• Japan with children, 12 days
• Thailand with children, 12 days
• Vietnam with children, 12 days
• Sri Lanka with children, 12 days
• Monsoon in Asia, which countries it ruins

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