Late Aug/early Sept with 15 month old - where to?
 

Looking for ideas! My husband is switching jobs and we have the rare opportunity to travel for up to two weeks in late August/early September, leaving from Atlanta. We have a 15 month old who is very active but still needs his naps.We are considering Hawaii (Kauai and Maui), Cape Cod/Martha's Vineyard and the west coast (hopping around a little, ending in San Diego).
Baby has flown several times, the longest flight being 4 hours and always basically in the same time zone. So we are fairly aware of the perils of traveling, appreciate the extra effort and are those parents that are willing to do it anyway. However, Kauai/Maui and even the west coast give me pause with the flight time and time zone - but with our jobs, we never get the chance to go for two weeks so I'm tempted.
I am really struggling with where to go because of the time of year. Caribbean would have been our first pick but that's out with the hurricane season. We want upscale, some beach time (because that's fairly easy with baby) and will also be booking fairly last minute. We would not want to move more than 3 times in two weeks. We could possibly bring our nanny for 1 week of the trip. We go to Florida/Carolinas frequently so that isn't very appealing. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

there are so many options...you're going to have to do some research to see which suits your family the best. i think maui is a great place with a kid that young because all kids love playing in the sand, waves, pool so it's relaxing vacation for the parents. plus, when the kid needs to have a nap, you can sit out on your balcony enjoying a beautiful view. one parent can always take that time to go do something that's not so kid friendly. however, the distance is a factor.
san diego is a great city for families. you say upscale...that is high season so actually having a nightly budget would be helpful and booking last minute might be tough. but a beach villa at hotel del coronado is definitly upscale. or, the pacific terrace hotel in pacific beach has a nice pool along the boardwalk and beautiful beach. i hope you are aware that while the beaches are nice, don't expect the beautiful white sand ones like florida or carribean. and the water temperature is cool.
if you didn't mind moving around a bit, i'd suggest flying into san fransisco and stay two nights then take the beautiful pacific coast hwy down. 2 nights in the monterey/carmel area; then onto cambpria or pismo beach for a night or go to santa barbara for 2 nights. then the rest of the time in san diego and fly out of there.

Thanks LTT. Not having looked at rates really, we could average $400-$600 per night. Thanks for the heads up on the Cali beaches, I hadn't really thought about that so we would look for a place that also had a great pool if we go that route.

I agree either Hawaii or San Diego would be nice - with a child that small I would look into renting a condo so the baby could nap, go to bed early, etc. while you can sit out on your balcony with a glass of wine or whatever. The water in San Diego is not real warm, maybe high of 70-72F in August and September.
Kauai is lovely that time of year, maybe look into renting a condo up in Princeville, something like Hanalei Bay Resort would suit, nice pool and BBQ area. Haven't been to Maui lately so hopefully someone else can help there. Just bring a pacifier for the airplane, the pressure hurts their ears.

If you can swing it, go to Hawaii, splitting the 2 weeks between 2 islands. Now is the time!

Perfect time for Martha's or Nantucket. Or, how about Bermuda ? I would never recommend CA. The water is too cold. Hawaii would be great but is another 5 hrs beyond CA.

We took our first child to Hawaii at that time and wish we had not done so.
The sun is just brutal on a little one's skin, especially that time of year.
In spite of sunscreens and cover-ups it's a lot of sun for delicate skin.

I don't know that you'd find much availability on Cape Cod booking last-minute for late August. Labor Day is late this year so the last week of August into September will still be crazy busy wherever there's beach.

We found flying with a walking baby is much more difficult than an infant. Once they become mobile, they wish to be always mobile - and can't be soothed by merely feeding them. A child of that age cooped up in a seat to more than 4-6 hours would be unpleasant.

Schools in MA usually do not start until around 9/1 - and since camps and such end mid-August, the time you are planning is often a busy vacation time for local families, since they have to figure out something to do with their kids. I think MV, Nantucket, Cape Cod would be perfect for what you want to do, however. But with an unexpected 2 weeks, I might venture a bit farther, since you could do a trip to MA for 4-6 days some other time.

I love San Diego - nice weather, good beaches, enough things to see that would be enjoyable pushing your child in a stroller. So you hopping around CA would be my first choice.

Thanks everyone! Really appreciate each of your inputs. No final decision yet but we're leaning toward California. Would love to do Hawaii but am just not wanting baby or parents to be miserable on the flight!

I have many east coast to hawaii flights and never experienced HELL (although I did have to give a toddler who insisted on kicking my seat the stink eye once)

As long as you book three adjacent seats and are aware of others it will be fine.

No lap babies to Hawaii. Or anywhere for that matter. It's dangerous to everyone.

Aloha @LM3682

Late August/early September have slower visitor traffic for Hawaii so this would be a great time for your family to visit. If this a once in a life time chance, we definitely recommend it as a trip to Hawaii is going to be the best vacation you can take. Please excuse our unbiased love for our islands ;) Kauai and Maui are both great choices for a more relaxing and family oriented atmosphere. Nicknamed as the Garden Isle, Kauai is fill with lush, tropical foliage with small town vibe, its a great choice for getting away and unplug from life chaotic moments. As for Maui, the Valley Isle, with more than 81 accessible beaches and multiple high end resorts like the Four Seasons, Hyaat Regency or the Fairmont Kealani, you can definitely treat yourself to an indulging vacation.

Mahalo,

A3H

Labor Day is Sept 7 this year so most tourist places / beaches will be very busy.

I went to Hawaii once and it was so hot and so humid. I really didn't enjoy it. I have been many other times at other times of the year when weather was much more pleasant.

It will be busy in San Diego but, with your budget, I'm sure you'll find a nice hotel or rental at the beach. A couple you might want to look at

Hotel del Coronado
Pacific Terrace Hotel
La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club
La Jolla Cove Hotel
L'Auberge in Del Mar

There are more very nice hotels but they aren't right on the beach like those. So, some would be a short walk.

My only suggestion is to be sure to select a hotel that gives you the option to take your little one to the pool as an alternative to the beach. Neither of my kids were big fans of the beach, and much preferred pools at that age.

If you're leaving from Atlanta, points south and east would be much closer and actually have nicer beaches than even Hawaii.

This is a bit delayed, but I thought I'd share what we ended up doing for our trip. Had a great time going down the California coast for two weeks.

1. We flew into San Fran and went immediately to Carmel, where we had rented an apartment on the main street. Spent 5 days there, seeing the town, going to the beach, visiting Pebble Beach and 17 mile drive and Point Lobos Park.

2. Then we drove down through Big Sur, stopping at the lookouts/pull-offs and stopping at Hearst Castle for a tour, ending the day in Solvang. (Note that Hearst has free baby backpacks you can borrow.) This was a long day though. We spent 2 nights in Solvang (my Uncle lives there) before continuing to Laguna Beach.

3. Spent 3 nights in Laguna Beach, although would've added one more night as we liked the town/beach combo. We took one afternoon and went up to Newport Beach and rented an electric boat to drive around the canals.

4. Then we drove down to La Jolla for 4 nights, stopping at Santa Monica Pier for lunch. We stayed at the La Valencia on a friend's recommendations. Would be great with older kids or no kids but we didn't love for young kids (not on the beach, tons of stairs/not stroller friendly, balcony overlooked the busy road during his naps which wasn't relaxing for us). We went to the beach a couple days. We spent one day at Balboa Park and the San Diego Zoo. Overall, we could've reduced a night here (and given it to Laguna if we did the trip over). Then we flew home out of San Diego.

The time change wasn't awesome from Atlanta, baby was up at 5am for the first week but we got him adjusted and everyone just went to bed early. The 4 hour flight there was fine, the flight home was a little rough in the last 30 minutes (which made it feel like forever). We did buy him a seat and put him in his carseat.

We had two 'driving' days during the trip which we timed around his naps. We scheduled breaks so he could stretch, we'd eat in restaurants rather than on the road. He did surprisingly well in the car.

We ate breakfast in the room almost every day but otherwise ate out for meals. We always had a lot of snacks for him. We took our own travel crib (Baby Bjorn) and a portable high chair (Inglesina), used mostly in the hotel rooms. We also had a fridge in the rooms, so we could keep his milk and some wine for us.

We thoroughly enjoyed the trip and would do it again even with a 15 month old! We definitely intend to go to back to San Diego when he's older and can enjoy more of the kid-friendly sites. He was just too young to have it make sense for this go-around.

Thanks for the update. I was looking through the beginning of the thread not realizing it started 8 months ago!

Interesting you enjoyed Laguna. Our son, around that age (he's now 26), really enjoyed our visit there as well. We drove down from LA and stayed in one of the penthouse suites at the Surf & Sand a few days. Our son played in the sand, and we could stroll him around town. He was happy, we were happy, life was good.

I will say that with the amount of travel your son did prior to this trip, you probably could have easily swung the extra plane time to Hawaii, especially if you had broken it up with a few days in LA or SF.

I only say this because we had our son on a plane at 3 months, and by 13 months he was a seasoned traveler, going from LA to Paris. Of course, by then, we were fairly seasoned parents, and knew his rhythm and how to get him to chill without driving the other passengers nuts.

Sounds like a very nice trip. I'm glad the little one was a trouper for the flights and car time.

Thanks for the feedback.

Thanks for checking in again. I love it when people follow up on threads to let us know how things turned out!!

Me too. ☺ I also didn't notice it was an old thread when I started reading. Just as an after thought, I think had you asked here about hotel suggestions once you'd decided where to go, no one would have suggested La Valencia with a toddler. Staying at Coronado is what I would have suggested.