Family-Friendly US Destinations For a Perfect Summer Vacation   

By Esme Benjamin

Dying to take a trip with the kids but don't want to deal with airport drama? We’ve got you covered with family-oriented destinations that are closer to home. Offering a blend of outdoor adventures and culturally engaging activities, complete with child-friendly (but still cool) hotels and restaurants, these U.S. destinations tick all the right boxes for a carefree summer break. 

The pretty coastal town of Camden is everything you want from Maine: rugged coastline, sparkling lakes, a bustling harbor dotted with schooners, and plates of fresh-from-the-ocean seafood everywhere you look. The town’s population explodes every summer when seasonal residents and tourists flock to Camden to spend their days island hopping, perusing antique stores and soaking up sounds at the annual Harbor Arts and Camden Jazz Festival. Make Whitehall – a boutique inn that’s a 10 minute walk to town – your base, then get out on the water as quickly as possible. Take a kayak tour, learn to fish or charter a local schooner at sunset. When you’re hungry, grab a meal at Waterfront, a local seafood restaurant boasting the best harbor views in town. 

Easy breezy San Diego is Californian cool at its best. A trip here spans activities like surfing with the pros, hiking the Torrey Pines trails and entertaining the little ones at the San Diego Zoo or Belmont Park – an amusement park with a beachfront boardwalk and rides. Stay at the Kimpton Hotel Palomar – which rents bikes to guests for free and has in-room yoga mats and videos – for easy access to the city’s best attractions, and be sure to make a reservation at Farmer & the Seahorse, a farm-to-table restaurant with lawn games for the kids and happy hour for the grownups. 

If your family is forever in search of a new adventure, look no further than the Colorado city of Buena Vista. This pretty mountain destination nestled at the foot of the Collegiate Peaks is the perfect place to get your adrenaline pumping and then bring it right back down again. Try mountain biking, hot air ballooning, whitewater rafting and horseback riding, then relax with an outdoor concert on The Lawn or a soak at Mount Princeton Hot Springs – an expansive resort with six pools, a spa, a lazy river and a 400-foot water slide. When you’re ready to hit the hay, head to the Surf Hotel, an elegant European-style property with a top-notch restaurant and views of the Buena Vista Whitewater Park. If you’re traveling with a large group of extended family, the hotel’s sister property, Surf Chateau – an assortment of stone cottages encircling a shared central courtyard – is a smart option. 

Skip Orlando’s Disney World and take your family to the idyllic Floridian island of Sanibel instead. Nature is the main attraction here, and you’ll discover endless ways to help your children explore it. Go hunting for seashells on one of Sanibel’s immaculate beaches (shells are a thing on Sanibel – there’s even a museum dedicated to them), take a dolphin spotting boat tour, cycle the island’s 25 miles of car-less trails, kayak through mangrove swamps or learn about marine conservation at Sanibel Sea School. Book the Pink Shell Beach Resort on nearby Fort Myers Beach for tons of on-site activities, from nightly campfires complete with oozing s’mores, to movie nights and tie-dye T-shirt classes.