MASAI MARA Kenya

From The Lion King to Big Cat Diary, every child loves wild Africa. Here, cheetahs preen on the plains, leopards skulk in the trees, hyenas lope across the horizon at dusk - and nothing widens young eyes like being in the thick of a lion hunt on a night drive in the Mara. The Big Cat Diary team use Governors’ Camp as a base, and it’s well attuned to families, with early meals, baby-sitting and kind guides who’ll share Masai stories and the secrets of tracking. Audley Travel (01993 838500, www.audleytravel.com ) has a sevennight family safari at Governors’ Camp for £3,300pp, (under12s £2,200pp)

MUSEE D’ORSAY Paris

Yes, the Eiffel Tower is gob-smacking for kids - especially when approached via the Trocadéro at dusk, when it becomes a 1,000ft metallic Christmas tree, dripping and sparkling with lights. But there’s a different thrill to be had at the Musée d’Orsay, where the greatest hits of European art, so familiar from school books, hurtle into luxuriant life: Monet’s lilies, Degas’ dancers, Van Gogh’s starlit skies. The gallery is much more rewarding for children than the labyrinthine Louvre, and its shop has a kids’ corner, with Seurat dot-to-dot and a picture-book guide to the masterpieces. Admission £8 (under18s free); www.musee-orsay.fr . Citadines Paris Louvre (0800 376 3898, www.citadines.com ) has apartments sleeping four from £156 per night. Eurostar (0870 518 6186, www.eurostar.com ) has returns from £59 (£50 for under12s)

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GIANT’S CAUSEWAY Ulster

Whether you tell them it was created by splintering volcanic lava or the local ogre Finn Mac-Cool in a feat of crazy paving, one thing is clear: to a child’s eye, the Giant’s Causeway is barmy. Its 38,000 hexagonal columns make an exciting seaside assault course, suitably loaded with legends. Youngsters will want to scramble into the Wishing Chair, clamber up onto the Giant’s Boot and play 3-D hopscotch along the shore. Nearby, further exhilaration awaits: the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, where you can dare your offspring to wobble across a 100ft chasm of foaming surf. Admission free, parking £5; www.giantscausewaycentre.com . Imagine Ireland (01756 707720, www.imagineireland.com ) has three nights in a cottage sleeping four at Bushmills from £225, excluding flights

STATUE OF LIBERTY New York

For children, the original green goddess is three experiences in one. There’s Lady Liberty herself, of course, a pop-culture icon, and there’s the boat ride to get there, redolent of the journey 12m immigrants made to reach America, with the aaah-inducing panorama of Lower Manhattan as a backdrop. But what kids especially love is the museum at Ellis Island, where an activity trail for 7-to 12-year-olds invites them to role-play being an arriving alien: fill out the manifest, take the mental exam. Pass, and they’re made “junior park rangers”. Admission, including ferry, costs £8 (children aged 4-12 £3.40); www.statuecruises.com . Bon Voyage (0800 316 0194, www.bon-voyage.co.uk ) has three nights at Radio City Apartments in Manhattan, from £1,756 for four

POMPEII Italy

If you’re a preteen, a trip to Pompeii isn’t history, it’s time travel. Just ask Doctor Who - he flew there in a recent episode, confirming the site’s cool credentials. The enthralling thing for youngsters is the surreal mundanity of the ruined city: the graffiti scrawled beside shop doorways and the street-kerb “thermapolia”, where they can pretend to dish out 1st-century fast food. There are giggles to be had from the frescoed “menus” in the red-light district, and gasps from the contorted casts of corpses, frozen for ever in ash. Admission £9 (under18s free); www2.pompeiisites.org . An eight-day In the Shadow of Vesuvius family adventure for four starts at £3,780 with Explore (0844 499 0901, www.explore.co.uk )

PORTMEIRION Wales

It may seem kitsch to jaded parental eyes, but to kids Portmeirion is a life-size Lilliput, packed with fantastical tricks and surprises, painted in ice-cream pastels and cast away on a sylvan headland by the seaside. Exploring the village feels like a scavenger hunt: can they find the sheet-metal mermaids, the 5ft golden buddha or the watchtower coated in cockleshells? Afterwards, send them on a yomp through the grounds, to stumble on the dogs’ graveyard and the wendy-house lighthouse - without a light. Admission £7 (children aged 5-16 £3.50); www.portmeirion-village.com . Three nights at Dwyfach Cottages start at £135 for four (01766 810208, www.premiercottages.com )

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