How to Have Fun on Vacation with Young Kids: 8 Easy Tips!

Traveling has always been one of my favorite things to do. Since we’ve decided to have kids, I knew I needed to find a way to continue traveling and not put this passion of mine on hold for six or seven years. Plus, I wanted my kids to share in this with me and get to experience the world in new ways. So I’ve spent a lot of time thinking on how to have fun on vacation with young kids! Now, we’ve visited four countries, eight US States, and nine US National Parks with our 1 year old and 3 year old – so we’ve had our fair share of real world experiences.

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We’ve had our fair share of struggles, but also so many fun times. Traveling with kids can be overwhelming, but it is so worth the extra effort! This post is a collection of everything we’ve learned over the last three years of traveling with young kids.

Table of Contents

8 Tips for Traveling with Young Kids!

1. Set Appropriate Expectations

The number one thing you need to know when traveling with young kids? Set appropriate expectations! If you’re expecting your travel to be the same as before you had kids, you’re going to end up disappointed.

For me, I decided to change the way I view family vacations. I used to think of it more as “relax and recharge” but let’s be honest, those things are rarely possible when you have young kids. The way I think about vacations at this stage in my life is more like “explore and make memories”. I still get to get outside and experience new things, but with cute, new travel partners! Will it be relaxing? Absolutely not! Even if I’m at a beautiful beach resort, the baby could be crying because he got sand in his mouth or sunscreen in his eyes. However, I still get to experience my babies first swim in the ocean, and the look on their faces when they first feel the sand squish between their toes.

view of cascade mountains from naches peak loop

TIP: As your kids get older, start to prepare them before vacation by helping them set expectations. Tell them where you’re going and what you’re doing ahead of time, so they aren’t totally surprised when their routine is disrupted.

2. Be Prepared

Traveling with young kids can take some extra preparation. The “fly by the seat of your pants” traveling becomes a lot harder when you have kids. After our first kid, I found that traveling was a lot smoother when I used packing lists and making trip itineraries before leaving. That was actually one of my main reasons for starting this blog! If you’re like me, you’re going to want to spend nap time during your vacation relaxing and enjoying yourself. The last thing you need is to be figuring out which hikes are kid friendly, or which restaurants have a kids menu. So plan ahead, make lists, and build at least a rough outline of your trip itinerary before you leave.

Here are some packing checklists to get you started!

3. Be Flexible

Of course, you also don’t want your itinerary to be too rigid. It’s also important to leave some room for flexibility. As you know, everything can take longer with kids. Knowing the basics of what activities you want to do beforehand and how to get there can be a total lifesaver. However, it’s also important to prepare for the possibility you won’t get to do everything you wanted to do.

So I recommend you make an itinerary, but be flexible and take things day by day! See our destination page for itineraries, things to do, and more.

4. Prioritize Nap Time

You’re a parent, I don’t need to tell you how important a solid nap is for your little kids. But this goes for when you are on vacation as well. For us, we maximize the activities in the morning and late afternoon and try not to cut it too close to nap time or bedtime. This way you’ll be able to enjoy the things you do with a happy kid, not an overtired one. Instead, use nap time for time in the car if you’re on a road trip, relaxing back at your hotel, or doing whatever YOU want to do. You can take turns with your spouse in the hotel during naptime while you go get a beach massage or another relaxing activity.

Also check out Taking Cara Babies Top 5 Sleep Tips for Traveling With a Baby and Traveling Between Time Zones With a Baby.

5. Plan the Vacation with the Kids and Yourself in Mind

One way to make you feel exhausted and burnt out after a vacation is planning based around your kids alone. It’s important to keep in mind activities that your kids will enjoy, but try to think of things that you would also be interested in. Or keep the activities to a minimum that only one party enjoys. For example, don’t plan an entire day of shopping at the mall or eat at fancy restaurants every night. Vice versa, don’t spend an entire day in the kiddie pool or going down the slide 700 times at the park. Almost anywhere, you should be able to find activities that everyone enjoys. If you learn to plan activities with everyone (including yourself) in mind, you will be on the right track to learning how to enjoy your family vacation!

mom and baby in hiking backpack sun mountain trail winthrop

Some of the activities that both us and our kids like are swimming, hiking, beaches, getting ice cream, and riding bikes.

6. Don’t do Too Many Child Centered Activities

This is a tough one for a lot of parents, and kind of goes along with #5. Kid centered activities can be fun, but they also can be exhausting. In my experience, spending time where there are a million other kids running around yelling can be entertaining but usually my toddler and myself leave feeling overstimulated. I promise, if you take time to let your kids explore nature or participate in normal activities, they will still have fun. Especially if you start doing this young! They can be just as enthused about the ant they find on the sidewalk as they will about meeting Mickey Mouse (or at least close to as enthused). So if you’re going to spend the morning at the park or children’s museum, take the afternoon doing something less stimulating.

7. Remember, the Travel Day is Worth the Destination

Whether you are doing a road trip or a long haul flight, you’re likely going to have some challenges during the transportation part of the trip. Travel can be exhausting for adults, and kids are no different. Sometimes kids just aren’t as good at managing their emotions, especially when they are tired. In our travel experiences thus far, the destination has always been worth the hassle of getting there. When we arrived in Iceland after a 7 hour flight with our one year old, we learned our luggage didn’t make it with us. In that moment, I was thinking I had made a huge mistake by planning that trip. However, after we got to our hotel and took a solid nap, we had the best trip of our lives. So keep that in mind when you are exhausted and handling exhausted little humans that it will all be worth it once you get to your destination and settled in.

view out the plane window at sunset on southwest airlines

8. Share in your Kids Joy

Kids can get so excited about the littlest and sometimes weirdest things. Have you ever taken your kids to a new park, and they are most excited about is the garbage can? I’ve been there too. It helps to accept that your kids might not be excited about the things you think they should be. They may not be in awe over the incredible beach sunset or the beautiful mountain view. Embrace the sweet mind of your little kids and share in their joy about the garbage can or ant on the sidewalk. Kids have a much smaller view of the world and can open our eyes to things that we wouldn’t have normally noticed.

After one of our vacations, I asked “what was your favorite part of the trip?” and he said “watching TV on the airplanes and eating cheerios at breakfast!” Hilarious!

dad and son at the top of enchanted peak tucson arizona

I truly believe that getting your kids out to see the world is an amazing way for kids to learn. Giving your kids the opportunity to spend time in outside and explore other cultures is such a gift and will help shape and expand their view of the world. So take a chance and try your first family vacation! Use these tips to learn how to have fun on vacation with young kids.

I hope these tips are helpful, let us know in the comments if you have other ways to make traveling with young kids enjoyable. Happy travels!