Trips with kids under 6 that felt like a “real vacation”
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Anonymous
 Right? OP I'd love to go to a new and exciting place every year, and I have no interest in cruises. But I anticipate until DD is older it will be a mid-Atlantic beach week every year and maybe a Disney cruise to spice things up when she's 4 or 5. I comfort myself with the knowledge that I traveled well in my 20s.
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Anonymous
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I’ve done most of those trips with my kid (7).
She loved the San Juan Islands but I’m guessing you did that if you did Vancouver/WA state. Hiking, boating, and crossing a sandbar to an island off of Orcas … it was great. Looking into an aurora trip for 2023 (solar peak is then), will probably do Churchill, Manitoba, though Iceland is a possibility. Kid has to be capable of waking up in the middle of the night, though. Post-pandemic, Costa Rica is high on our list for the adventuring. We were slated to go in spring 2020, when kid was 5, but couldn’t. Possibly a river cruise in Portugal and Spain in August — we’ll bike when we come into port bc kid is probably not going to be able to deal with historical building after historical building without activity. Would love to do Alaska, but we’re waiting until kid is old enough to white water raft. Our plan would be to hit Denali, Anchorage, Sitka, the Alyeska resort on the Kenai peninsula, and Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow). Jackson Hole and Yellowstone would be another one I’d want to do. And last but not least, Lake Tahoe is AMAZING with little kids. Lots of hikes of all levels, playgrounds in South Lake Tahoe and Tahoe City, beaches, water … Virginia City where you can pan for silver … it’s my favorite |
Anonymous
| Rosewood Mayakoba. Had a very relaxing trip there with my kids because of all the great kids activities, kids camp, kids dinner and movie on the beach every night with free babysitting, etc |
Anonymous
| Bring nanny |
Anonymous
Yes, so do I but not with young kids. Planning a day of monuments, museums, architectural walks, full days of hiking, and trying the hidden foodie hotspots around their eating, pooping, napping, and witching hour schedules is not my kind of sightseeing. I do solo trips/girls trips/or couple's trips for that when they're little. The vacation should be enjoyable for all. An all inclusive where they can feel all grown up ordering their own Shirley Temple and the fun activities in the kids club is enjoyable to them. I was content enough to lay in a hammock by the beach and read a book. Those days fly by and then they're big kids! Now we have adventure trips and sightseeing trips that we all enjoy, but they still have fond memories of vacations at the places with kids clubs. |
Anonymous
| Resort with kids club (like Nemacolin) and lots of kids activities. Also Lancaster was a big hit at that age, and because kids were happy it was fun for us too. But based on what you are asking I would look into Nemacolin, The Homestead, family camps, or other resorts with lots of activities for the kids. The kids club starts at different ages at different places, so it depends how young your youngest is. But even without putting kids in the kids club, those resorts are more relaxing because there are so many activities you can do in one place with less planning. |
Anonymous
+1. Plus they get used to travel and become more adaptable. My 5yo is always asking when is the next “trip”, and is wildly excited even if it is just to the grandparents. OP you’re way better travelled than us, lol, but we enjoyed the Adirondacks with our young kids. Just keep expectations low and don’t expect to be hiking the high peaks just yet. |
Anonymous
| The key (if you don't have childcare help) io make it relaxing is to have a suite or some kind of separated room so your day doesn't have to end at naptime. I am not a travel diva but I insist on kid sleeping ins eparate room. |
Anonymous
| The best vacation, that felt like a vacation, was a cruise. I didn't have to lift a finger all week long. The meals were made for me, room was cleaned, the kids had the option of a kids club or hanging out with us and we enjoyed the beaches. |
Anonymous
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Rosewood Mayakoba
Banyan Tree Mayakoba Disney Cruise Sea Island Ritz Grand Cayman Nizuc I personally love luxury resorts that have a good kids club. Most of the resort feels catered to couples but there are some kid activities. I thought Rosewood and Banyan Tree did this well. |
Anonymous
| Pp again. I forgot about beaches Turks and Caicos. That was a great vacation although I wasn’t impressed with the rooms at all. Food was just ok but kids were entertained and everyone had a good time. |
Anonymous
+1 We all loved it. |
Anonymous
It is possible to have a nice vacation and not have a nanny. Many people do it in fact because they can't afford it. |
Anonymous
These places are SO expensive. I always see them suggested here, and when I checked the prices, I felt the same when I felt when I learned that some people are spending thousands of dollars on a purse. I just had no idea people could spend that much! I'm sure they are lovely, though. The Disney cruise is a rip-off, but we have done that and would maybe do it again if not for COVID. OP, I think people have different ideas of what is vacation, and it depends both on them and on the kids. Personally, I HATE renting a place because I end up doing a lot of work and feel like I do all the same stuff just in a different location -- and one which is normally not as nice or as well stocked as my own house/kitchen -- plus I feel like the kids have all the same fights they do at home, but without all the separate rooms and toys that I can use to separate/distract them. But my husband loves it because it feels low stress to him and he doesn't have to juggle schedules. The cruises were the vacations where I could read a book, drink a cocktail, etc., without feeling like things would come off the rails if I relaxed. The other fun vacations were the ones where I just planned stuff that both the kids and I would like, and just had an itinerary and stuck to it. Jackson Hole/Teton/Yallowstone worked well for that, but it was a lot of work to plan. If you do that, you need to be REALLY realistic about what the kids' needs are. It ended up working well to schedule a couple hours downtime n the afternoon for everyone -- my husband would nap with the kids and I would find a coffee shop and read a book (and maybe run a load of laundry while I was at it), or take a stroll around and look at cute stores. I have a strong preference for lodging that is walking distance to things that I would enjoy, because then when the husband and kids want "downtime" to get on screens or nap, I do not feel like I am trapped, but can go for a little stroll the way I did on vacations pre-kids. So my usual itinerary was morning activity, lunch, down time for non-moms, dinner and maybe another short activity, sleep. My kid also like a place with a pool and that seems to make them less likely to fight, so I also look for that. I found that once I accepted that the kids WANTED to have an hour or two per day on screens or just sitting in the hotel room reading a book, and that was okay and not a failure of me as a mom, I could actually have a better vacation because they weren't as fussy and I could get a little time to myself to explore, which is what I like to do on vacation. That was one of those "a-ha" mom moments for me. Sometimes the oldest comes with me on my strolls now. This is another downside to rentals for me--- they typically are not in great strolling areas (but can be in places like big cities). |
Anonymous
Interesting how people are different. We have loved sightseeing with kids and ours have definitely enjoyed those vacations. We started those around age 3.5 so out of the napping phase. I actually think it was easier doing sightseeing trips with younger kids who have boundless energy than it is with moody teens who need more sleep and adjust less easily to time changes. |