Nancy from Family Travel Network is joining us again today to talk about great kid-friendly destinations and resorts. If you missed her last post on tips for traveling with kids you can check it out here .
We’ve been covering family travel online since 1995 and we’ve found so many family-friendly destinations and resorts. Often, the right one for each family will depend on their children’s ages and the family’s interests. Some family favorites in the U.S. are:
Orlando (all age groups)
Hawaii (especially school-age kids and teens)
New York City (especially with school-age kids and teens)
San Diego (all age groups)
Florida Keys (big with teens and school-age kids)
Alaska (school-age kids and teens)
Ski/Mountain Destinations (Utah, Colorado, Vermont, New Hampshire, etc.)
Internationally, we’ve found that families love the Caribbean, Mexico, Costa Rica, Canada (especially for skiing), Europe (especially London, Italy, Barcelona and the Greek Islands) and the South Pacific.
There are lots of kid-friendly resorts and hotel chains – both domestically and internationally. Many domestic hotel chains, such as Hyatt, Loews and Hilton, have instituted special programs for kids and families. Marriott has some cool Nickelodeon-themed weekend programs being rolled out this year.
Internationally, there are some really great family-oriented chains in the Caribbean, Mexico and Costa Rica. For families with young children (babies, toddlers up to 3+ years of age), some standouts include:
Beaches Resorts (babies and toddlers)
Club Med Resorts (selected ones that have baby and toddler programs)
FDR Resorts (babies and toddlers – cool vacation nanny program)
Four Seasons Nevis (program starts at 3 years of age)
Casa de Campo (babies and toddlers with vacation nanny option)
Atlantis (cool things for families with young children – program starts at 3)
Our Lucaya Resort
Almond Beach Resort
Coconut Bay Resort
Smugglers Notch Resort (babies on up)
Whistler Blackcomb
Beaver Creek
The Tyler Place (Vermont, summer only)
Families with school age children have so many great resorts from which to choose, including all of those above plus Palace Resorts, some SuperClubs properties, Real Resorts, Barcelo Resorts, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, Westin Hotels & Resorts, Four Seasons Resorts, Ritz-Carlton Resorts, Grand Velas Resorts, Marriott properties, Elite Island Resorts, and a whole lot more.
When the kids get to be teens – things turn interesting. Some resort chains have special programs just for teens, including:
Beaches Resorts
Club Med
Atlantis
Casa de Campo
Smugglers Notch
In addition, kids that age love adventure-type vacations to destinations such as Costa Rica and Alaska, plus trips to Hawaii, Europe and other destinations. There are so many things for families with teens and young adults to do.
Nancy, Family Travel Network
Thank you Nancy for your great tips and destinations for family vacations! You can find more of her tips and more at www.familytravelnetwork.com.
Where do you like to take your kids on vacation?
Sean C., Delta Vacations
March 1st, 2010 at 3:52 pm
An other extremely kid-friendly vacation form is a sailing vacation on a crewed yacht in the Caribbean…..and take the grand parents as well.
Charter a yacht with your own captain and chef, doubling as water sports instructors, play mates and you will have the time of a lifetime! Around the Virgin Islands there is about 300 of these “floating boutique hotels” available for charter specializing in anything from families to gourmet trips with friends. They offer all kinds of water sport, treasure hunts, and adventure in general.
Vacations like that are available from $300/person/day including all meals, drinks, water sports EVERYTHING!!!
January 24th, 2011 at 4:41 pm
We took our nanny to Costa Rica and loved it. We plan on going to New York next month. Should be fun.
Clint