Holiday in the US with 11 yo DS- best itinerary?

[Discointhekitchen]

My DS is really keen to go the US for a holiday.

I’m flexible about the time of year, but this will be our main holiday, so looking at 2-3 weeks depending on when we go.

I’d love west coast ( Yosemite/ Disney etc) but worry that it’s really expensive there now. A friend was recently in San Fran and said it was extortionate.

here’s the possible options:

Florida - theme parks
New York City then maybe maybe trip to DC for day or two.
Yosemite/ west coast

also keen on getting an RV.

Any advice on trips people have done with kids about 11 yo? Anything we must do?

NYC is a favourite, but think we could do that at any age!

We went to NY this year and the prices have skyrocketed. DH travels there a lot for business and commented as well as did a friend from New Jersey.
So it may not be a cheaper option than SF.

At 11 DD would have loved a RV trip around a national park with an added stay somewhere historic.

What about starting in Boston and heading north to Maine. Going along the coast is one of my favourite routes.

sorry pressed send too soon on my earlier message - suggested route

• Boston – 3 nights.
• Salem – stop en route.
• Portsmouth – stop en route.
• Southern Maine – 2 nights.
• Camden/Rockport/Belfast – 3 nights.
• Portland – 2 nights.
• Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor – 3 nights.

All of the US is pretty extortionate right now unfortunately. Depends what your DS is like? Does he like theme parks? Florida is great fun. Disney/universal/Busch gardens and you could go for an airboat ride. We did California last year and our teens love the cities (although there is a lot of homelessness in them which can be a bit intimidating). Yosemite is the most stunning place I have ever been to.
I’d ask him what he would rather do! Maybe a trip to a city then onwards for an RV trip? Or route 66 in an RV?
Sorry, not very helpful - there’s so many options!
I’m keen to go to Yellowstone… haven’t done that yet 🙂

NYC is horribly expensive, both the tourist attractions and the cost of food.

It is not cheap to go to USA anymore. It’s expensive add on tipping and you need a lot of spends. I think the west coast would be great.

I really wanted to do a tour of California but looked recently and just to GET to San Francisco via London solo was over £2k...

Unless I'm not looking properly it would be great if someone knew a cheaper flight?!

@KeithChegwinFromExtrasPopKnob If you are willing to go in February, you can go BA/Aer Lingus for £450 return. Outbound is via Dublin. Direct flight back. Search different dates for prices and they do go up with checked baggage. High season is clearly far more expensive. If you are flexible, it’s cheap enough.

I went to Yellowstone and Montana this year, that would be amazing for a youngster to see the wildlife and thermal features. If you are hiring a RV that would be perfect.

The US is more expensive than the last time I visited about 10yrs ago.

NYC is very hot and unpleasant in the summer. We lived there when DC was small and autumn is often the best time of year. I also liked Feb half term visit we made a few years ago but it was very cold

That’s a lot of miles to cover in 3 weeks, so a lot of driving or internal flights.
8 years ago we did a west coast holiday with our teens. Started in Vegas, flew to SF hired a car and drove south to San Diego stopping off on the way. It was busy some days and relaxing on others. A great trip.

I was set on May but no way am I paying that. What's the weather like in February?

We did California coast in Feb and had pleasant sunny days. Warm enough but not beach weather. No road closures and better hotel rates. You could certainly consider Arizona then and anywhere south. I would look around for flights and keep to “southern” states.

We did Washington DC in February this year with teen and young adult sons, we all loved it. Our hotel was 15 min walk to the Natural History museum and we then hired bikes to cycle up and down the Mall and visit as many of the museums as we could. White House was very close too. We got the metro from airport and also got it back out to see the Air & Space museum. You could then go further on to Florida or west, we did 4 full days in DC. Next year we’re looking at flying to Denver and doing a road trip around various fossil sites & national parks there and Wyoming and do Yellowstone, then Utah and back to Denver. Aer Lingus are flying direct next year hence Denver.

@MabelQ We have driven the Styline Drive and toured battle sites in Virginia. We liked Philadelphia too. The Blue Ridge Mountains drive was wonderful. Best kept secret in the uk!

Thanks for all these suggestions. I’m going to look into all of them.

have been to the US many times for work and holidays - it’s one of my favourite countries purely for the variety.

But lots of the places posters have suggested, I’ve never considered.

It’s a bit depressing everything is still so expensive though! Who knows when the exchange rate will improve? Am guessing the way the British economy is going, it will be never!

Yes. I agree it’s depressing! It’s such a great country to explore though. We keep going back!

We did West Coast with DD when she was 14. Hands down best holiday of our lives but it was very expensive (around £10k for 3 of us!). This was also in 2018 so things will be worse now. It’s definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity though and such a beautiful part of the world with so much to do that it’s worth it. Universal Studios Hollywood was the highlight for us all, much better (+ cheaper!) than Disney. The park is small enough that you can easily cover it in one day, it’s definitely a quality over quantity type of place but we adored it and still talk about it to this day

The US is very expensive at the moment. We did a California trip with our two DSs a couple of years ago - we'd saved up quite a bit over the pandemic so the cost wasn't such an issue - but depending on how long you go for and what sort of style you like to travel in a 2-3 week holiday is likely to cost around £12-20k.

As for NYC, we've been several times and I'd say 11 is still a bit young to really appreciate it. Our older one was 15 the last time we went and he really loved it that time and wanted to be out exploring, shopping, just experiencing everything, so I'd say keep that trip for when your DS is a bit older.

As for Florida/Disney that's also a really expensive trip these days. It's easy to price up online, but the bill is likely to be similar to California once you've got the park passes, which are just astronomical. The cost per day goes down the more days you get the pass for, but if you just want 1 or 2 days I recently priced it up and it came to $1,000 for the four of us for a single day!!

It's very expensive, New York being the worst but CA cities not far behind. You can save a lot by staying in cheaper towns though, I've down a 2 week road trip starting in vegas in the past which I recommend, not sure about tv rental but it would work with a rv assuming you can park near Anaheim with one. Check if it's still the case but you used to be allowed to park for free overnight at walmarts as long as you arrived and left at certain times.

We went back to NYC where we had lived when DC was a toddler/preschooler, he was 11. We did lots of museums, art, Rockefeller Center, Central Park, eating out. I don’t think it’s too young. Our DC wasn’t really any more interested in Disney etc. The DH won’t go to Florida as he says it’s a swamp, he doesn’t get Orlando as a holiday either.

Having lived through American summers, they are too hot for me and I would not go in the summer.

Re California, San Fran, Yosemite, Grand Canyon. Saw them in my 20s, again … mostly it was too hot in summer.

@Wolvesart obviously it depends on your DC. Mine weren't interested in museums at 11. A Natural History Museum - okay - but anything else I can honestly say that my older one (now 16) is FINALLY starting to appreciate a bit culture, but it's been a very long time coming! He also wasn't much interested in shopping at 11 and part of the attraction of NYC is the amazing shops and the interesting/cool stuff you can get and then show off to your friends when you get home. NYC has lots of stuff though that is good for younger DC.

Re: the temp. Yes, NYC is boiling in the summer, as is Florida. We go in autumn typically, when the weather is perfect - that's what Oct half-term is for!

California in summer is more of a mixed bag. Coastal CA is fine in the summer and not too hot, so you could do an itinerary between San Francisco and LA or San Diego and it would be very unlikely to be unpleasantly hot anywhere - in fact it can be foggy and cool sometimes. Inland is much hotter and if you want to hike in Yosemite or around Mammoth or one of the other NPs you need to get up and do it very early. By 11am it's too hot IMO. This area is again, best in autumn.

I wouldn't do NYC in the summer with an 11 year old, think they will appreciate it more when older.

I think it's a good age for Disney- we went when my brother was 10/11 and he absolutely loved it. We combined Disney in California with a trip to SF and LA- SF might be ok as Alcatraz is fascinating and cable cars etc. Yosemite is amazing so that might be a good option too!

you’ve got me looking back at the trips we’ve done. This was our planned route for an RV trip when DT’s were 12. From memory we didn’t quite stick to the plan but can’t find details of where we changed route. It was a good mixture of activities and everyone enjoyed themselves.

• Denver
• Fort Collins & Boulder
• Rocky Mountain National Park
• Glenwood Springs
• Maroon Bells
• Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
• Great Sand Dunes National Park