Do you have a family travel bucket list? Planning travel with your kids may be challenging at times because kids are busy and as families, we are often limited in when we can travel.
When I plan our family vacations, I start with finding the dates first. That’s typically the most difficult part. Once I have the dates of our trip, I look at a few places on our “wish list” and check prices.
When I’ve got a good idea of how much each option will cost, my family talks about our preferences. Now that my kids are teens, we include them in the conversation. Then, we book our trip and feel comfortable that we are on the best vacation for our time and money.
If you use a similar process, you may want a starter list of places to travel with kids to use as a baseline. We’ve developed this list of 100 places to travel with your kids in North America and Europe to use when trying to decide where to take your next family vacation.
In some cases, we have traveled to these places before. Some of these destinations are on our bucket list though, and we haven’t yet traveled to them.
Because of that, we can’t necessarily speak first-hand about the various amenities and activities that you’ll find at every destination. Some will be better for older kids, while some are great for kids of all ages. It’s important that you do some work upfront to see what types of things you’ll be able to do at the destination.
Disclosure: We visited some of these destinations at no or reduced cost for review purposes. All opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links and a purchase/click through one of these links may result in a commission paid to us at no cost to you.
100 Places to Travel With Your Kids in North America and Europe
Hawaiian Islands – all of them are amazing but don’t skip Kauaii
Cape Cod, MA
Martha’s Vineyard, MA
Newport, RI – don’t miss the Newport Mansions
Portland, Maine
North Conway, New Hampshire – home of some great outlets
Portland, OR
San Francisco, CA
Disneyland
Orlando, FL
Clearwater Beach, Florida
Phoenix, Arizona
Sedona, Arizona
Fort Lauderdale/Miami, FL
Marco Island, FL
San Diego, CA
New Mexico
San Antonio, TX
Austin, TX
Destin, FL
Tampa, FL – be sure to stop by Clearwater Beach
Key West, FL – this is also a cruise ship destination
Sanibel and Captiva, FL
Tybee Island, GA – visit as part of a trip to Savannah
Hilton Head, SC
Atlanta, GA (see some ideas for Atlanta rentals)
Raleigh, NC
Indianapolis, Indiana – home of the largest Children’s Museum
Detroit, Michigan – the Henry Ford Museum is a must-see
Kansas City, Missouri
New Orleans, Louisiana
Branson, MO
Galveston, Texas – also home to a cruise port
Washington DC
Philadelphia, PA
Pittsburgh, PA
Cooperstown, NY – home of the Baseball Hall of Fame
Bar Harbor, ME
Ogunquit, Maine
Sarasota, Florida
Caribbean Cruise
Stow, Vermont – a ski destination that is also fantastic in the summer
Chicago, IL
Memphis, TN
Grapevine, Texas
Mall of America, Minnesota
Yosemite National Park
Mount Rushmore, Keystone, South Dakota
Plymouth, MA
Grand Canyon National Park
Salem, MA
Vancouver, BC
Banff, Alberta, Canada
Toronto, ON
Montreal, QC
Halifax, NS
Aruba
Atlantis Resort and Paradise Island
The Cayman Islands
US Virgin Islands
The British Virgin Islands
Puerto Rico
Dublin, Ireland
Edinborough Scotland
Zurich, Switzerland
Munich, Germany
Berlin, Germany
Porto, Portugal – one of my favorite cities in the world
Azores, Portugal – a short flight from the East Coast
Florence, Italy
Amalfi Coast, Italy
Venice, Italy
Prague, Czech Republic
Brussels, Belgium – home to the European Parliament
Madrid, Spain
Barcelona, Spain
Paris, France
Athens, Greece
Crete, Greece
Santorini, Greece
Iceland
Stockholm, Sweden
Oslo, Norway
Vienna, Austria
Marbella, Spain
Tips for Traveling to These Bucket List Destinations
When looking at family travel destinations, look at the various family-friendly activities and amenities that kids will love. Is there a theme park, amusement park, or water park? Are there kid-friendly day trips you can take beyond the destination? Or maybe there are more adventurous activities, like zip lining, horseback riding, and surf schools?
Some of these destinations, particularly the New England cities, can be combined. For instance, you can go to Salem, Boston, Plymouth, and Cape Cod for a longer vacation. Or, consider an East Coast road trip where you can visit even more cities.
Cruises are another way that you can visit multiple places during one vacation. Canadian, Caribbean, and European cruises typically visit several different destinations in one trip.
If you’ve got older kids, look over the list with them and see what they are interested in. I like to match our travel up with what the kids are learning in school. For example, after they learned about ancient Greek history, we went on an Adventures by Disney trip to Greece. They loved being able actually to see things they just read about in books.
Did we miss any of your favorite destinations? Leave us a comment.
