Playa del Carmen.....perfect weather, minimal crowds, excellent food

I’m the PP who went to Kyoto for spring break. We went as a family and flew economy (on miles). Jet lag was minimal. We just woke up super early the first couple of days, which meant we beat the crowds at the more popular tourist sights. Actually worked out great. Also surprised that we were not jet lagged on the way home. We can home on Saturday afternoon so had Sunday to recover before school and work on Monday. Much easier than I was expecting.

Japan is the in place now for DC people on kids' spring break.

Anonymous wrote:we stayed in an apt we rented through airbnb near luxembourg gardens.
Walk from there to eiffel tower. We walked up the tower and saved a ton of time in line.

the lourvre was open late that day so we went there around 6 that evening

These are all very solid moves in Paris- in particular the Louvre during the much less crowded evening hours is a completely different (and much better!) place than during the crowded day. Similar for the Orsay.

Only thing I might have added to your itinerary was stopping at one of the big outdoor markets like the one near the Bastille on Thursdays and Sundays. Really cool aspect of daily Parisian life that is really unlike anything here. But you may have done that and not included it.

Sedona; Grand Canyon; Zion; Las Vegas. Ideal weather but Grand Canyon's South Rim was overcrowded. Zion was much more enjoyable if slightly less impressive.

Anonymous wrote:Went to Kyoto with kids ages 4 and 7. Amazing trip. Lucked out with great weather and cherry blossoms. Gorgeous temples, parks, and gardens. Great food (kid-friendly noodles, gyoza, tempura, yakitori, etc.). Kids loved the monkey park near the bamboo forest and the deer park in Nara. Great handicraft shopping (and Pokémon and Totoro store for kids). Highlights included daughter dressing up in kimono, temples and gardens lit up at night, boat ride along canal surrounded by cherry blossoms, hot spring spa at the end of a long day of hiking, matcha ice cream twice a day, and melt-in-your-mouth wagyu beef. Stayed in a traditional Japanese house with tatami, shoji sliding doors, and rock garden, walkable to almost everything. Awesome Japanese toilets! Kids bickered a bit but were mostly great, especially about walking. Totally worth the long flight and would do it again in a heartbeat.

I took my then 4 & 8 yr olds to Kyoto to meet DH on a business trip. We flew economy plus and it was fine. The kids were on never-before-seen exceptional behavior. And we really didn’t miss a beat with jet lag. In addition to the above awesome recs, we rode the Shinkansen and did a sumo wrestling match one day and Tokyo Disneyland another. Really perfect.

Previous Poster, did you go business class so your kids could sleep?

Were you only there for one week? With a 4- and 7- year old, I can't believe they didn't have trouble with JL during a brief vacation like this.

Went to Kyoto with kids ages 4 and 7. Amazing trip. Lucked out with great weather and cherry blossoms. Gorgeous temples, parks, and gardens. Great food (kid-friendly noodles, gyoza, tempura, yakitori, etc.). Kids loved the monkey park near the bamboo forest and the deer park in Nara. Great handicraft shopping (and Pokémon and Totoro store for kids). Highlights included daughter dressing up in kimono, temples and gardens lit up at night, boat ride along canal surrounded by cherry blossoms, hot spring spa at the end of a long day of hiking, matcha ice cream twice a day, and melt-in-your-mouth wagyu beef. Stayed in a traditional Japanese house with tatami, shoji sliding doors, and rock garden, walkable to almost everything. Awesome Japanese toilets! Kids bickered a bit but were mostly great, especially about walking. Totally worth the long flight and would do it again in a heartbeat.

we stayed in an apt we rented through airbnb near luxembourg gardens. Worked out great- had breakfast there every day and a few dinners in. Lunch was always out.
our itinerary (which was not planned at all before hand, I had a list of highlights I knew we wanted to hit but didn't want to be too overscheduled w the kids. Lots of just walking around and taking breaks at playgrounds and cafes or to watch random street performers.
Day 1:
Walk from our apt to louvre area and work our way through tuilleres gardens and eventually to a Seine boat tour
Walk from there to eiffel tower. We walked up the tower and saved a ton of time in line.
Walked through gardens there and rue du cler for dinner
day 2:
Luxembourg Gardens playground
Latin Quarter
Pompidou center

Day 3:
Musee dorsay
rodan museum
walk along river promenade
day 4:
sewer museum
walk to arc de triumph
go up arc, then walk along champs elysees
tuilleres gardens
the lourvre was open late that day so we went there around 6 that evening
Day 5:
science museum
montmarte/ sacre cour
day 6:
notre dame
st chappelle
concierge
riverwalk promenade
latin quarter
eiffer tower at night
day 7;
more luxembour gardens and latin quarter
back to pompidou center to check out street performers
les halles area- AWESOME playground there where you can leave kids for an hour!
shopping , walking, last day sightseeing

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:8 days in Paris with kids age 7 and 9. I was worried there wouldn't be enough kid-friendly stuff to do but I was wrong. We walked about 8 miles a day and loved every minute.

Could you give a little more detail on your calendar of activities? Sounds amazing.

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Anonymous wrote:7 days in cape town was amazing!!!!!

Oh, please tell me more about your trip. I always wanted to visit Cape Town.

There is so much to do in that city. We have 2 kids- 2 and 4 years. We went to aquarium (small but excellent), Table Mountain, Cape of Good Hope, Boulders Beach (penguins), Wharf shopping and eating, Botantical Gardens, I also ran the amazing 2 Oceans half marathon and we visited friends. We live in Africa so for us it was a huge treat to be in such a modern well functioning city, but really you cant not love Cape Town. Next time we will do vineyards as well.

So the near constant news of a Cape Town water crisis is fake?

Def not. Public places only had hand sanitizer and los of campaigns about water usage

Sounds like a great place to vacation. I’m sure the water was plentiful in the fancy hotels.

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Anonymous wrote:I am actually shocked so many people travel for Spring break. That is the worst time of year for crowds! I would rather take the kids out of school for 1-2 days and have a 4-5 day long weekend during a slower time of year

Depends on where you go.

Also depends on when you go. Not all schools have spring break connected to Easter.

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Anonymous wrote:I am actually shocked so many people travel for Spring break. That is the worst time of year for crowds! I would rather take the kids out of school for 1-2 days and have a 4-5 day long weekend during a slower time of year

We have two kids in high school . We can not pull our kids out of school because of sports and AP classes. The sports being the hardest to get excused. We have traveled to Europe the past two spring breaks and had a great time. The crowds are definitely worse in the summer. I wish we could go in May or even early June or September but it not going to happen.

Where in Europe? What was the weather like? Itinerary?

Anonymous wrote:I am actually shocked so many people travel for Spring break. That is the worst time of year for crowds! I would rather take the kids out of school for 1-2 days and have a 4-5 day long weekend during a slower time of year

We have two kids in high school . We can not pull our kids out of school because of sports and AP classes. The sports being the hardest to get excused. We have traveled to Europe the past two spring breaks and had a great time. The crowds are definitely worse in the summer. I wish we could go in May or even early June or September but it not going to happen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am actually shocked so many people travel for Spring break. That is the worst time of year for crowds! I would rather take the kids out of school for 1-2 days and have a 4-5 day long weekend during a slower time of year

I'm willing to bet that you have elementary aged kids. You don't just take a week off (or even a few days) when you have older kids. It's very hard to make up when they are older.

Plus, if the kids don't have school, then someone needs to take off work. If I'm taking off work for a week, then I'm not sitting at home.

Re: crowds - just avoid Disney. Caribbean resorts and cruise ships and Europe certainly aren't too crowded to visit.

We went away for 10 days, and it was awesome!

Anonymous wrote:I am actually shocked so many people travel for Spring break. That is the worst time of year for crowds! I would rather take the kids out of school for 1-2 days and have a 4-5 day long weekend during a slower time of year

I'm willing to bet that you have elementary aged kids. You don't just take a week off (or even a few days) when you have older kids. It's very hard to make up when they are older.