‘Big’ trip with 3 and 1 year olds - ideas!

[RainbowFish4]

My husband’s taking a month off at the end of my maternity leave in September, and we want to get away for a trip with our 1 and 3 year old daughters to make the most of the time together. We’ve thought about a whole range of stuff from long haul to more local, and would love to get any inspiration that this group can offer!

We’re thinking of 2-4 weeks away, and up for a bit of travelling around, but not spending the whole time jumping from place to place. Not really campervan type people 😂

Any ideas appreciated (I know it’s a pretty vague and broad brief!)

My goodness, I think with children that age I would just do a staycation. Stay home but have lots of fun trips from home. The idea of dealing with small children out of their normal routine does not equate to trip of a lifetime.

My thoughts are

• South Africa- going in 3 weeks time with our 3 children under 5. Apparently it's very family friendly.
• San Francisco and down the coast then into yosemite. I did this trip minus children years ago and loved it. We actually went from Vegas up to San Francisco. But I would miss Vegas. San Francisco and San Diego are great for children. The beaches along the coast were lovely too.
• I know a friend who did Canada with a 1 year old and 3 year old and loved it
• Or short haul I love Italy (went last year with the children and had a lovely relaxed time)

What's your budget? What sort of holiday do you normally like?

Thanks so much! Out of interest, where did you go in Italy, and which part of Canada did your friend do?

Thailand.? Amazing country, easy to move around and child friendly

This is such a grumpy response! I'm pretty sure a staycation is the absolute last option on her list as she has been staycationing for most of maternity leave already

Now back to your question.

Thailand could be a really fun trip for children of those ages if you were to consider long haul. We only have 1 child but plan to do this for a month when she turns 4 (as in literally a couple of days after her 4th birthday!).

Closer to home, Italy would be a great option as it's so family friendly.

I suppose it all depends on the month of the year your husband has off

It’d depend a little bit on what we were doing e.g. if long-haul maybe around the £10k mark for travel and accommodation, but if in Europe prefer to stay lower than that.

I think my 3yo would enjoy a bit of beach, but we also like to have excursions that we can do. For example, we went to the Italian Lakes last year and tended to do a trip out in the morning, and then some pool time in the afternoon.

Thanks!

Greek island hopping?

It’s September 😀

We did think about doing a week in Cornwall and then another couple of weeks in Europe, but definitely keen to get out of the UK at some point.

Italy was definitely an option that we were considering - have mostly been to the Amalfi Coast before, but would love to hear any other suggestions of areas.

Your Thailand trip sounds very exciting, what a great experience for your 4yo!

We did west coast USA with similar age children and it worked really well, we got some really good deals on domestic flights which reduced the car time

Also, might not be the most “cultured” suggestion, but Florida for beaches, Disney, wildlife?

Or shorter haul, you could have an amazing time renting something for a month somewhere like Majorca and just really immersing yourselves in the food / beaches / island life

How exciting!

They won't remember it! But it's magical for you now. Take lots of family with you.

Any reason why they have to take lots of family with them ? Aren’t they enough for the kids ?

I’ve a friend who is now 7 weeks in Indonesia with a 6 and 4year old, last year they went to Cuba and year before Thailand (around 4-5 weeks each time)

Who are all these wet wipes who can't go anywhere without a hoard of babysitters? Travelling with kids is easy for many people you know.

West coast of America is amazing but there is a huge and very open drug problem in San Francisco.

we are doing a California trip with a 3, 7 and 9 year old this year. 2 weeks, Santa Monica, Orange County beaches and Disney. It will be around 10K. We have built in short simple drives and lots of family friendly activities and accommodation

I’ve also looked at Iceland, close by ish, safe, cheap flights. Expensive when you are there but some good deals on accommodation

or a week in Iceland then on to Toronto

Echoing other suggestions, we took 3 year old DD on a west coast US road trip and it was brilliant. Plenty of stuff that’s child friendly (Pasadena science museum was great, the Getty Centre had lots of outside space, Santa Monica pier, Monterey aquarium etc), and we also managed a few peaceful meals while she slept! We planned drives around her nap times and eventhough she doesn’t remember it we have some fab memories.

@Merrilydancing there really is and I agree it’s definitely something to be aware of. I would say I found that part of our trip a bit intimidating with young children. I was really quite shocked by the state of it now. We did the tourist bits like the boat to Alcatraz, but I’m glad we weren’t there more than a couple of days

West Coast of the US sounds like a nightmare to me - the time difference would take ages to get used to with small children. I'd do Europe (southern Italy?) or South Africa - no time difference.

Last year I went to nyc with my 5yo son. It took him 1 day to adjust to the jet lag. It took me 3-4 days to adjust to it (and same on the way back)

@TrueTravelPlanner This sounds an awful lot like ChatGPT?!

We did a southern Ontario trip when our daughter was 3, coming up 4. Flew in and out of Toronto, did a few days in the city, drove up to the Muskoka lake region and had a cabin in the woods for a week, then drove to Prince Edward County (not to be confused with P.E Island, which is in a completely different place!) where we spent another few days exploring cute little towns, eating lots of ice cream, and had the most gorgeous day at Sandbanks Provincial Park, which is endless white sand on the shore of Lake Ontario. Just gorgeous! In Muskoka we did a lot of lake swimming, walking and just generally being outdoors.

We had family members ask what was the point in going so far when she would be too young to remember, but we didn’t care - surely so long as you have an amazing time, that’s what counts? It truly was the most brilliant holiday, so much so we’re going back this year (6 years later) to do a similar, but longer, trip so we can go back to a couple of spots we completely loved, plus explore more of the region.