We know planning travel, vacations, and holidays with kids can be difficult and daunting. Many parents want to travel with their kids but put it in the too-hard basket, and that is why we are here to give away all of our secrets on how we plan things to do on a family vacation.
We have spent a lot of time travelling with our daughters. Juggling different interests and ages makes planning activities and accommodations more challenging when travelling as a family, but it is one we think we have gotten down to a fine art!
As parents, we want to create memories with our children that last forever and make travel memories that meet the needs of us all. It can be a huge task and one that can cause serious anxiety in the parent that it falls on.
Planning activities on a family trip with kids
Juggling the interests of kids and yourself can be hard. Planning activities can take some time to research and put together a fantastic itinerary of things to do on vacation.
From experience, when we are researching a place, we always find as many options for activities that we think we will like. This gives us a wide and broad range to pick from. It’s good to remember you probably won’t be able to do it all, but having a good assortment is key.
Our experience has taught us that it’s better to have too many options of things to do than not enough. Set aside some planning time to go over your list, and this will pay off in the end.
Here are some tips for planning activities that will suit everyone:
- Call a family meeting
- Make a list of everyone’s interests
- Read reviews, ask for recommendations, and check websites to understand what’s available and how much it will cost you
- Separate the list into free things to do and paid things to do (helps with your budget)
- Most importantly, when travelling with younger kids, only plan half-days (that way, you have some flexibility)
- If possible, buy tickets to attractions in advance. This will decrease the time you spend in lines.
- Use Google Maps to plan the best way to get to and from your choice of things to do.
- Get outside your comfort zone and encourage your kids to do it, too!
- Just remember you can not please everyone all the time!
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Families come with kids of all ages, and you may need to plan activities for different ages and interests. We started travelling with our kids when our first child was ten months old.
We hopped on a 24-hour flight from Australia to Europe for a five-week vacation. Today, we are still travelling with our nineteen- and sixteen-year-old kids.
Here are some activities that will suit kids of all ages when planning a holiday
- Younger kids: plan visits to theme parks, water parks, and zoos. These types of activities are fun and entertaining and often have play areas designed for young children.
- Older kids: Look for activities like museums, historical landmarks, and outdoor adventures, which can be more engaging for older kids.
Viator and Get Your Guide are the most common sites for booking attractions, tickets, and things to do on holiday. Don’t limit yourself. Sites like Klook and Tiqets will have activities that are not offered on Viator and GYG.
Don’t leave yourself out of family vacation plans
There’s one thing that we sometimes forget, family travel should not just be about the kids. As parents, we also need to enjoy the holiday and do things we want to do and see.
It helps when doing adult activities if you can find things to do, places to go and attractions that have some sort of kid-friendly part to them. If not, plan the visit to the attraction in the morning before the kids get tired.
We have found that places like wineries, breweries and shopping centres have kids facilities. These places cater to all ages and have facilities that usually suit all needs.
Also some museums have kids programs where kids have to find things and solve puzzles as they wander around. We have requested these even when our daughters have been older and completed them together.
Most importantly, strive to create a balance of activities that appeal to the ages of all members of your family. There is nothing worse than a child, or especially a teen, who thinks they are not being included in the holiday.
There is one thing you should never do… ever!
Finally, don’t overcomplicate the process; it’s not a life-or-death decision. It is easy to get paralysed by indecision when planning the perfect family holiday.
Stick to the bullet point suggestions we recommend above, and you will be off and ready to have fun on a vacation with your kids. You can download and use our FREE ACTIVITY PLANNER here.
We have created a FREE ACTIVITY PLANNER to help you plan your next family travel adventure. Download your copy here.
My final thoughts on how to plan things to do on a family vacation
Planning family-based activities on holiday is a trial and error sort of scenario. The more you travel as a family, the more you will figure out what everyone likes and dislikes.
We know you can do it. You can plan things to do on a family vacation, but if you need help, we offer travel planning and consultation services. Just reach out to us at mark.wyld@wyldfamilytravel.com or bec.wyld@wyldfamilytravel.com
See some more of our fab content here:
- Discover our top cities in Europe for travel with kids
- Tips on surviving and thriving during long haul travel with teens
- Best things to do in New York with teens