Best destinations for kids – As chosen by one

Hello, I’m Emmie. I'm eight years old and I’m from Sydney, Australia. I’ve been travelling full-time with my mum for two years and I am having so much fun. The best parts about travelling are that I get to spend lots of time with my mum and see the world - I’ve made friends with kids from other countries, spotted wild animals and explored jungles, mountains, beaches and cities. I’m really excited to share with you some of my favourite places for kids to visit. I hope you get to visit them too:

Shanghai Disneyland and Zhangjaijie, China

I love Shanghai Disneyland because it’s super fun for kids and it’s like every other Disneyland but it has more sophisticated rides like Tron! It’s also really, really big with lots of gardens and the biggest fireworks I’ve ever seen. If you go here you can also spend time in other parts of China, which is one of my favourite countries.

I saw the glass walkway in Zhangjaijie in a video and I asked mum if we could go there. I’m so happy she said yes because it was so much fun. It hugs the mountain high above the ground, and you take the worlds biggest cable car to get there. You have to wear booties so your shoes don't scratch the grass and you can see all the way down to the ground. Some people are really scared and cry and hold onto the sides of the mountain.

There’s lots to do up there - like chairlifts, a train, hiking tracks and the Avatar shards - and there’s a glass elevator like Willy Wonka’s that goes up the side of the mountain. I also love Chinese food like green beans and dumplings, and there are lots of other part of China that I love too, like camping on the Great Wall of China and bamboo rafting in Yangshuo.

The Maldives

In the Maldives they have beautiful beaches and no plastic pollution in the water. You can stay at fancy resorts and have your own swimming pool. They have really good breakfasts with lots of food, and the kids clubs have craft and banana boat rides too. I liked flying on the seaplanes where the pilots don’t wear any shoes and you can watch them at the controls.

Lady Elliot Island, Australia

Lady Elliott Island is one of my most favourite places in the world. You can go free diving whenever you want and you can swim with the turtles and the sharks in the lagoon. We swam with lots of hungry mantas when we were there and the girls who work there taught me lots about sharks, plastic pollution, turtles and caring for the environment.

Hiriketiya and the train from Kandy to Ella, Sri Lanka

Hiriketiya is one of the best places you can take your kids. I love the beach and the palm trees and surfing lessons with Madu. If you go there definitely get lessons from him at Madu Surf School.

The bread man has a little red van and plays music as he drives around the dirt roads. If you catch him you can buy yummy bread for 50c.  You can also walk over the hill to Dickwella Beach for a swim too if Hiriketiya is too crowded.

I love the blue train because you can hang your legs out the sides and sit in the doorways. The long grass whips your feet and the sun shines on your face, and men sell peanuts and samosas wrapped in their kids’ old homework pages.

Melaka and Borneo, Malaysia

Melaka has super fun trishaws decorated in stuffed toys and flashing lights. The drivers pedal you around and they play loud music you can sing along to. One of our favourite songs on the trishaws is Baby Shark. We went to the Melaka Alive pirate show, went up the top of the spinning tower, ate lots of pork, chicken, coconut shakes and ice cream. We also went on a river cruise and saw lots of street art. I also love Kuala Lumpur, Penang and basically anywhere and everywhere in Malaysia.

I love Borneo because it has everything! We saw wild pygmy elephants, proboscis monkeys, orangutans and crocodiles. We went on ziplines, and river safaris and ate food with tribes in their longhouses, and we snorkeled with so many fish and turtles in the most beautiful blue water around Semporna. The biggest flower the world, the rafflesia, is in Borneo and you can climb Mt Kinabalu. I also love Mulu - you can see millions of bats fly out of the Clearwater Cave in a giant ribbon to eat mosquitos,  and you can see insects in the rainforest that are as big as your hand.

Paris, France

I love the Eiffel Tower because I have always wanted to see it for myself and climb up it, and Paris has the best bread and croissants I’ve ever tasted. I loved all the parks - there are so many and they have boats to sail and lots of things to play on. The Monet gallery at the Musee de L’Orangerie was my favourite, oh and Picasso too, and we saw an amazing Barbie exhibition. We had fun walking down the streets and catching the bus. We walked so much and mum had red wine. It was so much fun.

The Philippines

The best waterfalls are in the Philippines. They have rope swings and the water is a beautiful green colour. We went on the best snorkel trips in Coron, we swam at deserted islands and snorkeled over old shipwrecks and in a salt water lagoon inside an extinct volcano. We saw so many fish and turtles and drank coconuts every day. It was so much fun catching the ferries around too.

Hoi An, Vietnam

We lived in Hoi An and I went to school there. Mum doubled me on the back of her bike to school every day and after school we got nutella crepes (with extra nutella) and went to the beach for dinner. We ate lots of fresh food like pancakes filled with vegetables and herbs and we rode our bikes through the rice paddies and sneaked into the resort swimming pools.

Elephant Valley Project, Cambodia

I loved visiting the elephants here because they are wild and the tourists don’t touch them or wash them or anything like that. You get to help by doing volunteer work and you get to go into the jungle and see the elephants foraging in their natural habitat. We spent time with Sambo who is recovering from bad injuries to her feet from giving tourists rides for 40 years on the Phnom Penh riverfront in scorching heat and with hardly any food. I loved seeing that she was rescued and was having a happy life.

Chiang Mai and Bangkok, Thailand

In Chiang Mai we went to the elephant Poopoopaper park and some cool backpackers taught me to slackline. The temples there are so beautiful and we loved seeing the monks and giving them alms in the mornings. You catch red trucks called sonthaew around and can go to resort pools like the Shangri-La for the day when it is really hot. In Bangkok we saw a really fun Ladyboy show, we went to temples and Kidzania and the flower markets. We ate so much street food. It’s really, really good and the tuk tuts put their music on really loud at night time.

Travelling is the best fun you can have with your parents. Mum and I really love it. Have you been to any of these places? You can let me know on Instagram or Facebook at @mumpacktravel.

Emmie and her mum Evie have been travelling together since leaving Sydney in February 2016, with one backpack, a whole heap of excitement and an annual Cover-More travel insurance policy. Follow our adventures on Instagram and Facebook.

The views, opinions and positions expressed by the author and those providing comments are theirs alone, and are meant as travel inspiration only. They do not reflect the opinions of Cover-More Insurance. You should always read the PDS available from your travel insurance provider to understand the limits, exclusions and conditions of your policy and to ensure any activities you undertake are covered by your policy.