Summer Vacation Ideas for Families
Family vacations provide wonderful opportunities for parents and kids to spend time enjoying each other and new experiences that the busy schedules don’t typically allow. Vacations are a big undertaking, financially and logistically, so you want to get it right by choosing the best summer vacation destination for you and your family.
If The Outdoors Are Your Thing
Celebrating summer means taking time to be outside. What better way to do that than to go camping! Summer camping trips will soon become a favorite of your kids as they learn to cook over an open fire, hike wilderness trails, roast marshmallows and enjoy the outdoors.
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park offers several camping options. There are backcountry camp sites available to backpackers that are accessible only by hiking in, while the frontcountry sites are your typical camp site that is accessible by car and offers a fire grate, cold running water and flush toilets. Group sites are available in the frontcountry for groups of 8 or more.
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park offers 800 miles of hiking trails that range from easy to expert. You can bicycle around Cades Cove, ride horses or take a horse and carriage ride. The park is known for being a refuge for wild flowers, with 1660 different types of flowering plants there!
The Caribbean
You may not think of the Caribbean when you think of a family summer vacation–but maybe you should! All-inclusive resorts, such as the Beaches resorts with locations in Turks and Caicos and Jamaica, drastically reduce their rates in the summer.
All-inclusive typically include all meals, drinks and some recreation (such as snorkeling and small sail boat rentals), making them ideal for families. Beaches resorts cater to families, offering babysitting for young babies and toddlers, kids camp complete with water slides and a teens only night club and XBox garage.
Walt Disney World
What summer family vacation could possibly top Walt Disney World? With attractions for the entire family everyone’s sure to be pleased. Disney boasts four parks (Disney’s Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot Center) and two water parks (Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon and Disney’s Blizzard Beach) along with Downtown Disney–an area of shops and restaurants with free admittance.
Disney World also often runs specials and discount rates for the summer months that make this destination very attractive. Many of the resorts offer man made beaches and pools for when a day off from the park is in order.
