Summer 2012: Active family adventures

Boating for beginners: Wilderness Scotland offers activity holidays in the Highlands

Ride the rapids of the spectacular Tara Canyon in Montenegro on an adventure holiday that also features hiking along the Bay of Kotor.

Explore Montenegro (020-7118 1002; montenegroholidays.com), which launched this spring, is offering seven nights from £609 per person, based on two adults and two children travelling, including flights with Montenegro Airlines from Gatwick to Tivat, car hire, and a two-bedroom apartment with shared pool. Rafting trips cost €95 (£76) per person and are suitable for over-sevens.

Pretty Adrasan Bay is the base for a new Active Turkey holiday from Families Worldwide (0845 051 4567; familiesworldwide.co.uk), with three summer holiday departures. Sea kayaking, a boat trip, and gorge walking provide the action in a packed programme that also takes in the Lycian Way. The cost is £499 per adult and £479 per child, including seven nights' B&B, two lunches, all transportation and the services of a tour leader. Return flights to Antalya cost from £262 with easyJet (0843 104 5000; easyjet.com) from Gatwick, £369 with Thomson (0871 231 4787; thomson.com) from Gatwick and £286 with Monarch (08719 40 50 40; monarch.co.uk) from Manchester.

There's plenty of action on home soil, too. The new Ultimate Scottish Highlands adventure from Wilderness Scotland (01479 420020; wildernessscotland.com), in the Cairngorms National Park, features canoeing, biking and river-tubing, as well as a night-time forest safari and the chance to learn bushcraft skills. The six-night holiday, with two available summer holiday start dates, costs £795 per adult and £745 per child, including hotel accommodation and one night's camping, most meals, activities and equipment.

Preseli Venture Pembrokeshire (01348 837709; preseliventure.co.uk) in Wales has a new calendar of family friendly activities ready for summer. Its Action and Relax package in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park includes kite-boarding on Newgale beach, as well as coasteering and kayaking, with evenings spent around a campfire.

The five-day breaks, from 30 July to 3 August and 13-17 August, cost £469 for adults and £369 for under-16s, and include four nights' lodge accommodation, all meals, activities and equipment.