Summer time is here and its a time for a perfect vacation with family and friends, a time for special bonding.
The connections and memories formed during such family adventure make for stories that will last for generations. Children who are still in their formative years learn a lot from visiting new environment and interacting with people from different backgrounds.
Many parents will love to embark on family adventure and spend quality time with their kids, beside the traditional traveling to the village with the whole family by the end of the year.
If paradventure you do find yourself in one of these places, take time out to visit this little idea about amazing family vacation destinations in Nigeria that don’t really cost a lot.
- Tarkwa Bay, Lagos
Tarkwa Bay located along the harbor of Lagos is a sheltered beach that can be accessed by boat, it offers safe swimming conditions for small children and other recreational water sports.
It’s popular with swimmers and water-sports enthusiasts, also home to a welcoming resident community. You’ll love this beautiful island that far removed from the hustle and bustle of Lagos. Unlike most public beaches in Lagos, it isn’t often noisy or overcrowded, this makes it a great place for some alone time with your significant other or perhaps a fun day out with your friends.
Though Tarkwa Bay Beach is a small and lesser visited beach, many fun seekers visit it during the weekends, public holidays and festive season.
- Obudu Cattle Ranch, Calabar
Obudu Ranch Resort is one of the most beautiful and pleasant tourist center destinations in Nigeria. Located on the Obudu Plateau, close to the Cameroon border, in the Northeastern part of Cross Rivers State, it is a wonderful place for family vacation. It features a water park with water slide and a swimming pool, a golf course, night-time bonfires and horseback riding. Besides, you will be bonding with your families and nature as you hike through forests and mountains while watching birds. The accommodations are modern and you will enjoy admirable entertainment and quality food.
This resort centre has grown to become a major destination choice for tourists. It has an attractive landscape and calming ambience, with clouds smiling down on its peaks and valleys. It offers visitors a good blend of warm and cold temperature, as it has a very temperate weather.
The rooms in Obudu Mountain Resort are made up of chalets, standard room, executive room, huts to presidential suites. Although this resort is open to visitors throughout the year, the period between October and February is the best time to visit, as it is the time when the sky is very bright and the air is frosty.
- Tinapa Business Resort, Cross River
Tinapa Business and Leisure Resort is located near Calabar Free Trade Zone, it has top-notch facilities for wholesale and retail trade as well as entertainment and leisure. It has a children’s arcade, an eight-screen cinema, a mini amphitheater, restaurants and pubs. It is a great place for a family vacation.
- Idanre Hills, Ondo
The historic Idanre Hills are situated in Idanre town in Ondo State. The beauty and the precise architectural design employed by nature in arranging of the hills is amazing. A total of 640 steps is required to reach the top with 5 resting spot on the way. The scenery of the green vegetation surrounding the hills and the crystal clear Arun River on the hill top visiting the hills a communion with nature as well.
- Jos Wildlife Park, Jos
Jos wildlife Park is a man-made wildlife park. Set in an undulating landscape with different species of plant and picnic sites, it hosts several wild life like hippos, buffalos, lions, pigmy horses, birds, crocodiles, pythons and much more. Children’s playground, picnic pine forest, wildlife museum, video viewing center and restaurants are some of the attractions of the Park.
- Abraka Turf and Country Club, Delta
Located on the plains of Delta coastline, Abraka Turf and Country Club offers savannah adventure, natural reserves and clear emerald green river. It’s a holiday retreat for families and it provides recreational activities to keep adults and children happy. Watching the river flowing rhythmically and slowly is a fascinating way to bond with both your family and nature.
- Millennium Park, Abuja
Millennium Park is the largest public park in Abuja. A narrow river run through the center of the park, there are pleasant walkways with fountains and lights. A section of the park is devoted to scientific knowledge of the natural environment, it has Italian-style garden layout while another section comprises of untouched nature with brushwood and greenhouses for tropical birds and butterflies.
- Nike Art Gallery, Lagos
Nike Art Gallery is wonderful place to visit with your children, you never know if one might discover his latent talent, it has a lot of artworks on display which includes bead work, painting, drumming, singing and dancing, stone works and carvings, traditional loom weaving, indigo dyeing, embroidery etc.
From the inner courtyard of the gallery where you’ll find the stone sculptures, tie-dye workshop, and hanging craft works, to the wide variety of art displayed inside the magnificent structure, you can rest assured that your love for Nigerian art will go through the roof.
- Erin Ijesha Waterfall, Osun
Erin Ijesha waterfalls also known as Olumirin waterfalls is a natural sauna, the falls has seven layers of ascending plains with all the levels having breathing views and the freshness of the water is energizing. Being at these different levels and just basking in the invigorating freshness of the falls is an unforgettable experience for the whole family.
- Hi-Impact Planet
Hi-Impact Planet offers world-class fun for the young and old, friends and families. There are games, rides and other entertaining attractions for the young and young at heart. You and your family will enjoy a good time and form magical memories. You can grab a snack or a pastry during your day of fun or enjoy full-blown intercontinental meals at the parks 3 food court.
- Agodi Gardens, Oyo
Agodi Gardens is a beautiful park in the city of Ibadan which has risen to become one of the top tourist attractions in the country. Also called Agodi Botanical Gardens, the site is a serene environment on 150 acres of land. It is usually patronized by families during festive periods and weekends. It’s peaceful and calm environment makes it a perfect destination for you to take a break from the hassle and reevaluate life values or hang out with friends and family. From the water parks to the animal enclosure or even just walking through the garden paths
- Kajuru Castle, Kaduna
Kajuru Castle is a luxury Medieval-German style villa, built over 3 decades ago, the villa is designed with bedrooms modelled after dungeons and several towers with crenelated walls. The medieval theme is seen throughout the castle, it even has a portcullis (the vertically closing gate) with a crocodile pit.
The castle includes a guest tower with 4 rooms and the main building with a knights hall and a master suite (also known as the “landlord’s residence”). There’s an outdoor swimming pool for cooling off on hot days and a barbecue spot right by the pool. From the pool area and most of the castle windows, you will enjoy a fascinating view of the surrounding mountains and inselbergs. The Castle also has its own Sauna!
- Osun Sacred Grove, Osun
Classified as one of the UNESCO world heritage sites. This sacred forest attracts a large number of tourists as it is definitely worth visiting and is reputed to rank high in the list of tourist attractions in Nigeria. Situated on the outskirts of Oshogbo, the capital of Osun state along the banks of the Osun river. Yoruba people believe that Osun sacred grove, which spans about 75 hectares of land, is home to Osun– the goddess of fertility. A festival that celebrates this fertility goddess takes place every year in Oshogbo. You will find scattered about the forest, shrines, and effigies of different deities. In addition to that, the forest contains about 400 different species of plants that are used for medicinal purposes.
- National Children’s Park and Zoo, Abuja
The National Children’s Park and Zoo located in Asokoro District, Abuja has wildlife and domestic animals. It also has plenty of playgrounds and activities for children. It allows children to get up close to some of the most exciting animals like the lions and monkeys.
- Lekki Conservation Center, Lagos
Lekki Conservation Center is a reserve for wildlife in Lagos. The natural habitats of this centre has preserved making it a vacation spot for nature lovers from around the world
The LCC is one of the best nature reserves in Nigeria, this conservation and relaxation center offers a breath of fresh air and an escape from the forever buzzing city of Lagos. The 21-year-old conservation center cum nature hub, generally regarded as an icon of nature conservation represents the flagship project of Nigeria Conservation Foundation for the preservation of unique biodiversity, scenic, natural, highest spring walkway, scientific recreational values of the coastal environs of western Nigeria.
- Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary
Located in Cross River State, Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary is a preservation center for chimpanzee, gorillas, drill monkeys and many other endangered primates. It is also a home to large migratory roosts in Africa. It’s a perfect destination for ‘family’s day out’, parents can take their children here to experience the amazing wildlife it offers.
- Wonderland Amusement Park & Resort
Wonderland Amusement Park & Resort is a world class recreation center, situated opposite the National Stadium Abuja. It offers games and rides for various age categories, a leisure garden for relaxing, several restaurants and shops.
- IITA Forest, Ibadan
The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has a forest reserve at their campus in Ibadan, it serves as a research and leisure destination as well as a sightseeing spot. This natural reserve is home to various species of birds with a 3 kilometer long lake filled with diverse fish species.
- Oguta Lake Holiday Complex, Imo
Oguta Holiday Resort has a lot of facilities and services to make your family enjoy their vacation which includes: Golf course of international standard, mini children recreational park, cruise boat services much more. Swimming is another activity and the confluence of Oguta Lake and Urashi River make for good sightseeing.
- Eleko Beach, Lagos
Eleko Beach is a beautiful, serene and tranquil public beach along the peninsula. It is one of the best beaches for family hangout in Lagos. There are nice beach huts and food joints along the seashore, any day of a week is a good day to visit this beach.
Eleko Beach offers a peaceful retreat for privacy seeker or couple’s looking to enjoy a good time away from the hustle of Lagos. This public beach, located close to La Campagne Tropicana, offers private beach features bamboo huts. It is also less rowdy than other public beaches in Lagos and considered to be cleaner. It’s definitely one of the few tourist attractions to offer such services.
- Olumo Rock, Ogun
A massive outcrop of granite rocks of prehistoric formation. The highest point of the rock is about 137m above sea level. There are several caves on the rock a few of which is 20 feet long and 25 feet wide. It is such a serene environs for family vacation.
Any visit to the city of Abeokuta would be incomplete without stopping by at the “fortress of Abeokuta”; Olumo Rock. No surprise that this rock is located in Abeokuta, as the name “Abeokuta” itself means “under the rock” as has been one of the choice tourist attractions in Nigeria. Olumo Rock has long served as a rock of of fence and a fortress for the people of Egba Land, since the 19th century. At Olumo Rock, you would be treated to attractions like natural tunnels, unusual trees, natural cantilevers, gardens on the rock, broken pathways, monuments of the belief system of the rock’s primeval settlers, etc.
- Ikogosi Warm Spring Resort
Ikogosi Warm Spring is a natural wonder, warm water spring flows side by side with a cold spring. The spot where the two springs merge is a distinctive attraction. The resort situated around the warm spring has various accommodation and recreational facilities suitable for family vacation.
- Okomu National Park, Edo
The Okomu National Park is a rain forest. It is a favorite spot for family picnics. Imagine watching above 150 varieties of birds each with its distinctive acrobatic display with your family. Similarly, children will be amazed at the sight of White throated monkey, forest elephants and other 33 wildlife species. Suitable air-conditioned accommodation is available.
- Yankari Games Reserve, Bauchi
Children will be tickled at the sight of baboons, hippos, elephants and other 50 species of wildlife including variety of fishes and birds. The Marshall cave Systems and Wikki Warm Springs are exciting attractions ideal for family fun. The Wikki River is a natural swimming ground. Yankari also has outdoor and indoor sports facilities and suitable accommodation.
At the reserve, you will be captivated by the number of activities you can participate in. Marvel at the largest herd of elephants in the country, embark on a guided safari tour and explore the tropical forests. At the Reserve, you’ll find different varieties of animal species including the olive baboon, pates monkey, roan antelope, western hartebeest, living in their natural habitats.
After your day at the reserve, exploring the marvel of wildlife, head over to the Wikki Warm Spring
