Hey there, fellow travelers! Today, we’re addressing some of the most frequent questions we get from our blog readers and YouTube viewers. We get a ton of questions about international travel with kids and navigating the challenges of family travel. So, today we’re talking about the best destinations for travel with family and we’re providing tips for making your family travel more enjoyable.
What Are the Best Places to Travel With Kids?
Kids love adventure. Our kids’ favorite trips are the ones that involve outdoor adventure. So, this is something we look for when planning our family trips. Sure, beach vacations or the hotel pool are great, but these are some of the outdoor adventures my kids love have included:
- Snorkeling in the Caribbean
- Hiking in Iceland
- Ziplining in Costa Rica
- Cycling around the Grand Canyon
Incorporating a physical activity is a great way to get your kids to learn about the area you are visiting. It also wears them out and can help them keep a good sleep schedule on vacation.
What Are Some Other Options for Family Trips?
If your family doesn’t love the outdoors or are not as adventurous just yet, there are still plenty of cool travel experiences to have as a family. Here are a few examples of cultural experiences:
- Cooking class in Morocco
- Painting class in Paris
- Language learning classes
Taking classes may take a bit more planning, but we’ve had so many rich cultural experiences while traveling. Giving up a bit of flexibility is totally worth it to have these experiences.
How Can We Make Museums More Fun?
Of course, you’re probably going to want to visit some museums during your travels. These aren’t always your kids’ most favorite spots, but we have some tips for making it more fun.
- Don’t Overdo Museums – I would recommend a maximum of two museums in one day. We usually just stick to one and then balance the day with some fun activities outdoors.
- Look for children’s programming on the museum website. You’ll have to do this ahead of time, but you can often find really fun programs tailored for kids.
- If the museum doesn’t have children’s programs, make your own! Creating a scavenger hunt list is a great way to get your kids involved in a museum visit. As a bonus, you can include all the museum sights you want to see in the scavenger hunt so you don’t miss out on anything!
What Can We Do Before the Trip To Get the Kids Excited?
It helps to build excitement before a trip and get the whole family involved in the planning process. We love to plan a family movie night and watch movies about the places we are going to visit. We showed Caleb a Bugs Bunny video at the Colosseum before going to Rome, and he was so excited to see it in person.
Lonely Planet has a couple of series of books for kids. One is called “City Trails” and another one is “Not for Parents.” They’re available for many different regions of the world, and it puts all of the sights into a kids’ perspective. Reading these books before a trip is a great way to get your kids pumped up for a trip. The books are pretty lightweight, so you won’t mind bringing it along on the trip They even have fun activities, like scavenger hunts specific to a city that you’re visiting. It also is a great way to get them involved in planning your travel itinerary.
Having your kids help craft your travel itinerary is a great way to drum up interest and excitement. Older kids can even research a destination and find things that they think are interesting. Doing the activities that your kids choose for vacation not only encourages them to travel, but it teaches them how to research and plan. As they get older, they can be even more involved in the planning and even the budgeting for travel.
Eight Rules for Picking a Guidebook
Don’t Forget About Playtime!
Incorporating playtime is crucial for having a successful family vacation. Make sure you balance the activities so that everyone is happy. Before going into a museum, let the kids run around a nearby park for a bit to burn off some energy. Playtime is a great incentive for good behavior as well. If they are good for two hours in a museum, reward them with more playtime outside, not another museum visit.
What Are Some Family-Friendly Destinations?
We’ve found Southern Europe to be the most family-friendly of all the places we go with our kids. Portugal, Italy, Spain, and Greece seem to have an endless supply of “abuelitas” ready to step in and help out. We’ve been invited to dine with other families, we’ve had people offer to show our kids around, or give them treats. For the kids, they’re getting a much better perspective of local culture by interacting with locals.
Iceland is another great destination for families with children. As Anne of Green Gables would say “it leaves a lot of scope for the imagination.” The landscape changes around every corner, and there’s always something fun to do. Our kids loved counting waterfalls as we drove around Iceland. The locals were also very friendly and open to our kids.
Our kids really loved Costa Rica, Belize, and Ecuador. Each of these destinations has a focus on eco-tourism and outdoor adventure. In addition to burning a lot of energy, our kids are learning about ecology. It’s important for us that travel is educational and fun, and being in a place like this is as good as any science class. In Costa Rica, we went to hot springs, rode a zipline, and took a cooking class. Ecuador contains all of the Earth’s biomes in one small country, so there’s a lot to learn about the earth through experience.
What About a Family Road Trip?
We’ve taken several great road trips as a family. Ireland and Scotland are wonderful destinations for a family road trip. Not only are the locals lovely and welcoming of children, but there are a lot of outdoor activities for the whole family. With a road trip, you’re freer to explore at your leisure and pull off the road when you see something interesting. Without the rigid schedule of a group tour or train schedule, you can build a lot of flexibility into your trip.
I hope this helps you feel more confident about planning a family trip and gives you some ideas on where to go and what to do. International travel with kids can seem overwhelming if you’ve never done it, but we’ve had so many unique family vacations. Not only are you teaching your kids how to be good travelers and global citizens, but you’ll create an incredible family bond through travel experiences. For more tips on family travel, check out some of our other blog posts: