Planning out your itinerary when you have kids is a little bit different than when it was just the two of you. The pace is much slower, so you won’t be able to cram in as much as before and depending on your parenting philosophy, you may be traveling around your child’s schedule.
Here are a couple of pointers to help you figure out how to plan your itinerary on vacation with your kids:
When To Take Your Vacation
First things first: Always check to see if a special event is going on which will heavily impact cost and hotel availability. We went to Paris during Fashion Week and not only were the hotel prices triple, there also weren’t many rooms available.
Check the weather. You probably don’t want to go to a tropical beach scene during rainy season, or to a super sunny location during the peak of their summer! Also, double-check the weather as you get closer so you are packing the right clothing.
What is that city known for? If you are planning a big trip to Japan and know you won’t be back in a while, it may be worth looking into traveling while the beautiful cherry blossoms are in bloom!
Where to Vacation with Kids-from our experience!
Infant to about 1.5 Years:
Beach or Pool: We’ve found that the relaxing beach or pool legs of our trips aren’t as easy with an infant or older baby. Nap time is tough on the beach or at the pool. It was a wakeup call when I realized that hanging poolside with a baby wasn’t exactly catching rays or reading! If it were me, and I did decide to do a pool or beach vacation, I would do it for a short stretch, maybe 1-3 days and then head to a city.
Cities and Sightseeing: Exploring big cities was much easier for us when Claire was this age, and therefore much more fun for us than at the beach! Claire was happy to be in her carrier or the stroller at this age (especially as an infant), making it easier to gear our activities toward things that we, as adults, wanted to do. As an infant in the carrier, she would wake up and look around and then when she got tired I just threw a muslin blanket around her and my shoulders and voila, she was asleep! Same goes for an older baby that is still content to sleep in the stroller, once they get too stimulated, just throw on a light blanket over top the stroller to help them fall asleep and you won’t skip a beat.
1.5 Years and Up:
Beach or Pool: Once Claire started to approach true-toddlerdom, all of a sudden going to the beach and pool was a blast for all of us. All she wanted to do was splash around and jump in the water, where as beforehand she was over it after a couple of minutes. Our time in Hawaii was more fun than I had ever anticipated because Claire was at the right age to truly enjoy it.
Cities and Sightseeing: Somehow exploring big cities and sightseeing gets even more fun as your child gets older. Yes, we may not be strolling around for hours listening to audio-guides at the Vatican in Rome like we could do when Claire was an infant, but now we get to do a lot of hands on activities and truly see the world through the eyes of a child.
For more city or country specific advice, check out our page on Destination Guides.
Planning What To Do and Which Attractions to Hit
Research in advance! It’s much easier to research in advance than it is to decide what to do on location when your kids have your full attention and may be pulling you in different directions. I love to start at our local library to check out guide books for me and kid’s book for Claire to get us both excited. Checking out pinterest and bookmarking posts on Instagram are my favorite places to search online. Be sure to check us out on Instagram @travelisforthekids to see our highlights for ideas of things to do at different destinations!
What’s on your wishlist? I always start with my wish list of must-dos and front load them into the trip. That way if you go even slower than you anticipated, you know you made time to do the things you wanted to do the most.
Map it out! I like to create trips on Trip Advisor and save everything on my wish list. Then I take a look at where they are all located on a map to divide them into different days so we save time and don’t backtrack.
Day-to-Day Scheduling Tips
- Plan one big activity a day so you don’t tire your kids out and they don’t last (happily) the whole day
- If you have a toddler or older children, make sure you are planning activities that they will enjoy, too
- Know where parks and green spaces are should you need to reset
- Run your child around before they need to sit down for an extended period of time, like in a museum.
Planning Out Meals
Save time and money: Plan for a max of one formal (or two more causal) sit-down meals a day. Not only will eating out take up all your day away from other activities, but your kids will be bored and not behave as well. Try to do breakfast on the move, or pack a picnic/grab-and-go lunch for an attraction you are planning to go to.
If you have an older baby/toddler or kid, do yourself a favor and don’t plan your meal too late. It’s hard to get through an attraction or meal at a restaurant if they are hungry!
Bring lots of snacks because no one, kid or adult, has fun when they are hangry!
Napping On Your Vacation
My golden rule for a happy and fun vacation is that Claire needs to take a nap in the crib every two (max three) days. I violated this once when Claire was almost two, and boy, I really paid the price. When kids don’t get good naps, they aren’t having fun at the things they normally would have fun at and it makes for a really tricky time.
For an infant that can typically sleep anywhere and everywhere, this isn’t as important since they’ll be able to get good naps in the carrier while sightseeing.
There is a stretch of time when an older baby is able and content to sleep in the stroller and get an ok nap. This type of nap probably still won’t be good enough to make sure they are enjoying his or herself to the maximum, so make sure they are resting in the crib every couple of days.
On the days that you are napping on the go, make sure you set your child up for success and bring their sleep cues to help them settle down.
It helps to plan a strategic location during those on-the-go nap times. Maybe plan on going on a long walk during that part of the day, attend a museum with subtle background noise, etc.
Planning a vacation with your kids can be really fun and exciting, just make sure you are keeping the whole family in mind so it’s fun for everyone!
You may also be interested in:
Where to Travel To: Destination Guides
Where to Travel To with Kids in the USA
Where to Travel to with Kids in Europe