Eastern Time
On a 10-night family vacation to Black Tomato, visit Japan’s key sites and dive into local folklore. In Tokyo, you’ll watch sumo matches and meet wrestlers, learn martial arts from sensei, and visit areas like Akihabara, known for its manga stores. The bullet train will take you to Kyoto, where you’ll learn about the city’s traditions, from ryokans (hosted by Akemi Nishimura, the landlady of Hiragia Ryokan above) to making ramen. From £13,750 per person, B&B including guides and transfers, excluding international flights. blacktomato.com
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Greek summer
Close to the pretty town of Rethymno, along one of Crete’s longest sandy beaches, Crete Palace is a well-established family resort – one of the first to open in 1989 under the umbrella of Greek hotel group Grecotel. It opens for the summer season on May 15 after a redesign and with a new aqua park. It ticks all the boxes for island seclusion, with multiple pools, its own beach, seven restaurants and a spa, plus plenty of activities and experiences for kids like horse-riding. Rooms from £173, B&B. grecotel.com
Fjord Ranger
Original Travel’s once-in-a-lifetime, 14-night island-hopping journey through the fjords of northern Norway begins in Tromsø, a city more than 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle, and ends in Nusfjord at the tip of Lofoten (below). You can spend your days whale watching, learn how to catch your dinner on fishing trips, swimming and paddleboarding from the beaches, or kayaking past peaks and traditional fishing settlements built over the water. You’ll experience the daily rhythms of rural Nordic life on this adventure, coming into contact with local people whose families have worked on these shores for centuries and witnessing the changes over time in the fishing tradition – once Norway’s main industry. From £5,215 per person for a family of four, B&B, including car hire, guided tours and return flights. originaltravel.co.uk
