Easy: Mayapur, Bakkhali, Digha, Shantiniketan
Good roads, proper hotels, doctors within reach, and nothing that needs climbing or a boat crossing.
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Planning a family trip with children and elderly parents
A family trip goes wrong for the same reason every time: too many places in too few days. With a toddler or a seventy year old in the car, five hours of driving is a full day, not half of one. Here is how we plan these trips, and which places make it easy.
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The short version
- Suits
- Families with small children, elderly parents, or both
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What to fit in
Fine with care: Sundarban, Bishnupur, Baranti, Dooars
Doable if you take an extra day, keep the day short, and accept that some walking or a boat is part of it.
Hard: Mousuni, Bamni falls, Susunia top, Sandakphu
Tents, long step climbs, no hospital nearby. We will say so rather than sell you the trip.
Choosing the vehicle
Four adults and a child are comfortable in a sedan for short trips, but for anything over three hours take an MUV so nobody sits with a bag on their lap. Six to seven people with luggage means a bigger MUV or a Tempo Traveller. For elderly parents, ask for a vehicle that is easy to get in and out of, and tell us if a walking stick or a wheelchair is coming so the driver plans the parking and the stops.
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What we tell people before they go
Small things that decide whether the day is good or tiring.
Two places a day, not five. The trip everyone remembers is the slow one.
A break every two hours, at a place with a clean toilet. Tell the driver at the start that this is the plan.
Carry your own medicines, ORS and a small first aid kit. Chemists in these belts close early.
Road distances and drive times here are checked on road routing data and then widened for real traffic. Timings, ferry hours and entry rules change with the season, so ask us the day before you go and we will tell you what the road is like that week.
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Cars for this trip
These are the trips on our list that match this guide. Pickup is from your gate.
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We pick up from these areas
A day trip works best when the car reaches you early, from your own side of town.
questions
Questions about Planning a family trip with children and elderly parents
Which trip is best for a first holiday with a small child?
Mayapur or Bakkhali. Both are short drives from our belt, have proper hotels, and there is nothing you have to climb or cross.
Can you give a car with a driver who is used to elderly passengers?
Yes. Tell us when you book that elderly parents are travelling and we send a driver who drives slower, stops when asked and helps with the bags.
not sure yet? send the date anyway. If we cannot do it, we will say so.
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Read next
want a car for it
Tell us the date and we plan the day
Send the date and how many people are going. We tell you which car fits, when the car should start, and the full price in writing before you decide.