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Soaring across the Adriatic Ocean by speedboat, my Boomer mum squeals in delight as she accidentally grips onto my recently developed, Millennial motherhood-induced belly rolls for extra anchorage.
My eight-year-old is there with us, with freshly bloodied knees and elbows from an impromptu Parkour move-gone-wrong on Our Lady of the Rocks island, standing in a superman pose as the wind whips his hair. My Gen Z brother, who I’ve not been on holiday with in 20 years, watches on with tears in his eyes, overcome by the beauty of the looming Montenegrin mountains drawing closer as we glide into Boka Bay. My Gen X partner rests his arm gently on his shoulders.
There are no younger or older generations left in our family; this is the full spread, and our first attempt at multi-generational travel.
‘Multi-gen Megatrips’, where family members across multiple generations holiday together, have been named as one of 2025’s biggest travel trends. It’s an experience which could (when done right) strengthen family bonds, heal rocky relationships and create the opportunity to learn from each other.
This is something which is a vital aspect of culture in many parts of the world, where a multi-generational lifestyle, not just short breaks, is the norm.
Multigenerational living is on the rise
Data collected by Pew found that more than 70 per cent of young adults, ages 18 to 34, live with their parents in Italy, Croatia, Greece, Serbia, and Portugal..
In Scandinavian countries, the US and the UK, where my family is from, we seem to have removed ourselves from the value of this kind of living. Single-generation ‘nuclear families’ are by far the most common living situation, and the choice to live with parents and grandparents is often seen as a failure.
Since the pandemic, however, things have started to change, with reports in 2020 finding that 1.8 million households in Britain suddenly contained two or more adult generations, an increase of 38 per cent in 10 years.
When faced with uncertainty, perhaps the importance of family becomes clearer. But living in a multi-generational household isn’t for everyone. I’m fairly confident I couldn’t live with my mother, and I’m sure she’s not keen to share a house with me either. We like our space.
For us, the multi-generational travel trend offers a more palatable, bite-sized way to reap some of the benefits, even in families like ours, where a little distance day-to-day is preferred.
The right destination for everyone
Choosing the right destination is key to making a multi-generational trip work. There’s got to be something for everyone – kids clubs or child-friendly activities, a vibrant nightlife and great bars for the teens and twenty-somethings, a luxury spa, pool and beach for tired parents, and accessible adventures for more mature members of your party.
As it turns out, our choice of Montenegro, one of the world’s most recently outed bucket-list destinations, ticks all the boxes.
Arriving at our first location, Perast, just a 15-minute drive (or, as we discovered, speedboat ride) from Kotor Bay and Old Town, the expansive mountain and views that created a surreal enclave around this small town and its surrounding bays turned out to be enough to delight anyone of any age.
We chose to stay at the Heritage Grand Perast by Rixos hotel, a renovated palace that overlooks the Adriatic Sea, so that everyone in our group could make the most of the area’s only outside seafront pool and the strip’s best restaurant. Relaxing in this beautiful place and treating my son to an ice cream every couple of hours kept everyone busy for the first two days, but by the third, it was time to find something to do.
Experiencing Montenegro beyond the tourist hotspots
Rather than making our own itinerary, we put our trust in Untravelled Paths – a tour agency that excels in providing authentic, local experiences. A speedboat ride to discover abandoned submarine tunnels and take us over to Kotor Bay was a thrill for everyone. We explored the famous Kotor Old Town, but we found it was the experiences outside of tourist hotspots that really brought us all together.
Our Montenegrin guide, Ilija, brought us to the house of Susannah – a mother, wife and lifelong Montenegrin citizen – who opened up her home to us for an evening of cookery lessons, traditional cuisine, family stories and hours of fun and laughter on her leafy balcony. We tucked into a traditional polenta and fish stew, and had a few too many glasses of her homemade wine and liquors, including the explosive, plum-flavoured Montenegrin tipple Rakija.
This wasn’t a luxury dining experience; it was a family affair. A crochety old cat joined us, Susannah’s son came by for a while, and her house was a lived-in, well-loved home.
As the rain pattered down and thunder rolled in behind the mountain backdrop, we all felt ourselves bursting with love for each other, and the true essence of Montenegro – something, Susannah tells us, most people miss, hidden behind the veil of newly developed panache.
A place with a wild Balkan soul, a heartfelt focus on family, magic and majesty that the people here are, understandably, very proud and protective of.
Spending time together while you still have the chance
In Budva, my brother found his nightlife fix. Here you’ve got all the bars and nightclubs you need for a great night out. In fact, there was a huge concert on while we were there, which he stayed out late for, while the rest of us got a taxi back to our villa.
Here, we chose to make our home-from-home Villa Amika in the countryside of Blizikuće, a short drive from bustling Budva and scenic Sveti Stefan. Having our own space and our own pool was a much better option than staying in a hotel, allowing us to come together for most of the day and retreat to our rooms when a little separation was needed.
As a home educating mother, I wanted the focus of my son’s holiday to be educational in some way, so with Ilija as our faithful guide, we planned to visit a Šćepanović Honey Farm. It’s near Kolašin, in the mountains; historic monasteries and one of the last remaining primaeval rainforests in Europe – Biogradska Gora National Park.
My mum, now in her 60s, didn’t feel the need for so much trekking around, so she enjoyed some downtime lounging by the pool. My brother kept my son entertained much of the time (isn’t that what uncles are for?), and even taught him to swim by the end of the holiday – something that will no doubt be a life-long memory and bond they will share forever.
Unlike when we’re travelling in our ‘nuclear family’ set up, my partner and I even managed to get some much-needed peace and quiet, with the help of our built-in babysitters.
I can see why the multi-generational travel trend has become so popular. With careful planning, no one felt bored or unthought of; no one had to take part in activities they didn’t fancy, and the only disagreements we had were about where we should eat, but that was easily overcome.
Instead, by the end of 10 days living in each other’s pockets, we all felt closer, with new memories made and even some old wounds healed. It’s something I’d love to try to make happen once a year from now on, because if you’re lucky enough to have an extended family you love, like I am, there’s nothing more important than spending quality time together while we still have the chance.
