Best Family-Friendly Travel Destinations for Kids at Every Age

After having a baby, I seriously doubted whether we would ever travel again. Parenting at home was already hard, and the idea of hauling baby gear while working around naps and meltdowns on vacation felt overwhelming and just not worth it. But I wasn’t able to ignore the wanderlust for long so we started small with a few family road trips. What we learned is that traveling with kids isn’t impossible. It’s not always easy, but choosing the right destinations makes a huge difference. As our kiddo got older, the way we traveled evolved too. Even revisiting the same places was fun because we experienced them in new ways through his eyes. If you’re thinking about traveling with kids, here’s what I’ve learned about making travel easier and more enjoyable (for both parents and kids) and our recommendations for the best travel destinations for kids at every age.

Baby (6-12 months)

Traveling with a baby can be both easier and harder. Babies are easy because they don’t have opinions. So you can still do wherever you want on vacation. But it can also be harder because of all the extra gear you’re lugging along and the nap schedule. Since babies are still napping multiple times a day, you’re not really going to be able to do much sightseeing. Because of this, I would pick easy places that you have already been to. Then you won’t get FOMO from traveling so far to a new place, only to miss out on seeing the things you wanted to see. Traveling with a baby isn’t really about discovering new places. It’s more about practicing how to travel as a family, refining packing lists, and figuring out how well your child adapts on the go.

When you’re traveling with a baby, manage your expectations. I would recommend doing shorter road trips because at this age your baby will probably still sleep through the car ride. These are places where you can park yourself in one place near a pool or beach so you can still have some relaxing time during the day without traveling too far in between naps.

Travel Essentials to Make Travel with Babies Easier

Traveling with babies means taking along much more gear (or renting gear when you arrive). These are the travel essentials that came in clutch most often when we were traveling with our baby. A lot of these revolved around protecting our sleep.

• Pack and play sheets and waterproof cover: many family-friendly rentals luckily have pack and plays available, but we found that they did not always have pack and play sheets. We always brought our own just in case. We also brought a waterproof cover just in case of blowouts or leaks. One helpful tip for sleep is to bring sheets that your kid has been sleeping on so it smells more like home and eases them into sleep faster! If you do need to bring your own pack and play, the Guava travel crib is one of the lightest (or get this dupe that also has a helpful bassinet!).
• Portable sound machine: we’ve used a portable sound machine since our kid was a baby to help with sleep.
• Portable waterproof changing mats: these large waterproof changing mats have come in so handy for diaper changing while traveling. We can lay these changing mats on the bed, couch, or floor for easy diaper changes in any room without making a mess. And because they’re extra large, it’s ok if babies roll around a bit!
• Slumberpod: I was skeptical about the Slumberpod, but it really did help our baby sleep better through the night during travel. It worked so well, in fact, that we even used it at home over his crib for a while! It worked well until about age 2, when separation anxiety really kicked in.
• Health supplies: I always bring a thermometer, Children’s Tylenol, Children’s Zyrtec, diaper rash cream, and sunscreen. Medicines are one thing you want to have immediate access to when your kid is sick away from home.
• Red night light: during our quest to get our baby to sleep through the night, I learned that red light is less activating that white light. So we used a red lightbulb at home for nighttime feeds or diaper changes, and when traveling we made sure to have a travel night light with red light as an option.
• Travel booster seat: not all house rentals will have a high chair, so I loved our Hiccapop travel booster chair. It comes with a tray, so perfect for kids learning how to eat. We loved that it’s stable enough to strap to a chair, or you could use it standalone while at a park or the beach.

Toddler (1-2 Years Old)

At 1 year old you have a little mobile munchkin, who is intent on exploring and touching everything. This means that you will have to be much more vigilant when traveling, because most hotels and home rentals probably will not be baby-proofed. However, traveling with a 1 year old gets a little more fun because this is when you get to see them start to interact and discover the world. Seeing the joy of discovering the beach for the first time is worth the flight!

T is for two years old, and T is also for tantrums and tears, which we had a lot of at this age. Two year olds have a lot of opinions and they are not afraid to voice them. This can make traveling a struggle. Two year olds have a lot of energy, are very wriggly, and don’t like to be strapped down for long in cars or planes. And unfortunately, their attention span is not quite long enough to be distracted with screens on long plane or car rides. Picking places where our kiddo could run and burn his toddler energy worked well for us at this age. As did picking places that fed into his growing interest in vehicles to keep him entertained!

At this age, destinations with more outdoor activities or interactive kid-friendly activities are perfect for family travel. While you could still fill the itinerary with only things you want to do when traveling with a baby, by the toddler stage it helps to include more kid-centric activities in the itinerary to keep your kiddo entertained and active.

Travel Essentials to Make Travel with Toddlers Easier

Since we started flying with our kid at this age, our travel gear evolved to include lightweight transportation essentials. We generally try to be as minimalist as possible when packing. These essentials helped save our backs without adding too much luggage bulk.

• Cosco Scenera Car Seat: You could rent car seats from the car rental agency, but at this age we preferred to bring our own so that we’re familiar with the car seat. The Cosco Scenera car seat is one of the lightest. We also use it at home as our back up car seat in grandma’s car. Having a car seat backpack with straps is also clutch for carrying it through the airport!!
• Hip Seat Carrier with Straps: We prefer baby carriers rather than strollers, but at this age our kid was starting to find his baby carrier less comfortable for long distances. The hip seat carrier was a game changer for us because he could sit in it comfortably for longer. And the version we bought that has straps allowed us to carry him in the front or on the back hands free.
• Travel stroller: we love our YoYo stroller because it’s light enough to carry around and folds up small enough to fit in the overhead compartment. The Gb Pockit is another option that folds up even smaller.

Preschooler (3-5 Years Old)

By 3 years old, your kiddo has probably developed the attention span to be glued to a screen. Regardless of what your stance on screen time is normally, being able to watch a screen for an extended period of time is great for traveling! Because it opens up new worlds of possibilities since longer flights can be more tolerable and easier. 3 year olds also have more stamina to stay out during the day, so you can do a little more with your time while abroad.

By 4-5 years old, travel really opens up as your kiddo has more emotional stability and physical stamina. They have more energy, can stay out longer during the day, and are more interested in actually doing activities. They also have a bit more patience for longer transportation days because they can better keep themselves entertained. This is when going abroad becomes much more feasible and actually enjoyable as parents, making the long plane rides much more worth it.

Booking tip: certain flight searches like Kayak, Skyscanner, or Google flights allow you to set price trackers that will alert you when the price of your flight changes. I never book a flight without tracking prices first because there is no better feeling than snagging a good deal! And if you book your flights with a travel credit card like the Chase Sapphire card, the card usually includes some travel insurance protections (like lost luggage reimbursements, trip delay reimbursements, or trip cancellation insurance) to save you the cost of buying extra travel insurance. Use my contact form if you’re looking for a credit card referral with bonus sign up points!

Bonus Booking tip: sign your kiddo up for frequent flyer accounts with airlines to start earning airline miles for them! Most airline miles do not expire for minors so your kiddo will thank you later.

Travel Essentials to Make Travel with Preschoolers Easier

At this age, our kid travel gear became more entertainment based. These essentials are clutch for keeping our kid entertained on long flights or car rides.

• Sticker books: Sticker books are great screen-free entertainment! We especially like this one because the stickers are right next to the sticker page so you don’t need to flip back and forth.
• Lift the flap books: Lift the flap books take a long more time to read through than regular books so they were a big hit at this age. We especially like this Ultimate Books series.
• Headphones: We always bring kid headphones to use tablets respectfully on planes and trains.
• Mini magnatiles: Our kid loves playing with magnatiles at home. These mini magnatiles are the perfect size for traveling while still being substantial enough for building.
• Adjustable phone holder: If your arm has ever felt like it was going to fall off from holding your phone in front of your kid in the car, then this adjustable phone holder is a game changer! It rotates and can clip onto anything, so you can clip it on a headrest or the airplane tray table.
• OXO Tot travel potty: We love this travel potty! We use it all the time at home too. I love that you can set it up as a freestanding potty and you can make it flat to place it on top of public restrooms to make the opening easier (and cleaner) to sit on.

Kids 6 and Up

In full transparency, we have not reached this age yet as parents so I can’t offer any firsthand knowledge. However, friends of ours have said that these are the golden years for traveling with kids! At this age, kids are more independent and can actually be traveling buddies rather than burdens (in the sense that they can walk on their own two feet). And they actually still want to hang out with you! (Apparently, until the teenage years). These are the years for visiting new places together as a family, where you can do more nature or city exploration and regular sightseeing, without having to incorporate as many kids museums or activities into the itinerary.

Here are some places I am looking forward to visiting when our kiddo gets to this age (and reasons why I’m waiting until he’s older to visit)!

Portugal

I’ve read a lot of recommendations about how kid-friendly Portugal is. And while it Portugal is culturally very welcoming to kids (families often get to skip lines here) and there are kid-friendly activities, I would not recommend it for younger kids. The main reason? Getting around day to day. There are some seriously hilly streets in Portugal and the roads are all paved with slippery cobblestones. I had enough trouble walking up those slippery slopes on my own – never mind with a stroller! So I would save Portugal for when kids are old enough to walk on their own and don’t need strollers at all.

Italy (Dolomites)

The Dolomites in Northern Italy are perfect if you’re looking for an outdoorsy nature family vacation that is still kid-friendly. It’s got lakes, easy kid-friendly hikes, mountain playgrounds, and cable cars – just what active kids need to burn off all that energy! Because one of the main activities here is hiking, I would wait until kids are old enough to actually hike on their own to save your back.

Costa Rica

We went to Costa Rica before kids and absolutely loved it. We can already tell our kid would have the best time there when he’s a bit older. Between the animal encounters, ziplining through rainforest canopies, and volcano hikes, there would be plenty to keep kids entertained. That said, a lot of those activities require more energy and stamina, and they lean a little more on the adventurous side. So for mom’s peace of mind, it may be better to wait until kids are older and more coordinated before attempting them.

Itching to start planning your next family vacation? Check out all of our kid-friendly itineraries that you can copy to make planning a breeze!