What was your best summer vacation destination young children?
 

We are looking for ideas of a great summer vacation with our daughter, who is 5 years old. It will be just the three of us.

We have done Disney 3 times, so we are looking for something else...preferably on the water. We are opened to ALL ideas and hopefully something on the beach.

Florida, California, South Carolina, etc.

We live in Michigan, but are open to any ideas. Would anyone care to share there favorite family summer destination and accomodation.

Thank you kindly.

Susan

Cape Cod when my son was 2...beaches for him, history for me and no cooking for my wife.

Why not go to Mackinac Island and/or the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore? Both are very special places and not far from where you live.

We have frequent flier miles to use that expire next spring. We really want to fly somewhere since we missed our annual spring vacation. Thank you so far everyone!

supercilious - we plan on taking a weekend trip to Mackinac Island and did the Sleeping Bear Dunes last year :-)

What about San Diego? I bet your daughter would love the zoo. And don't miss Coronado Beach on Coronado Island, or the sea lions snoozing in La Jolla.

Club Med. First in Eleuthera (bahamas) now closed, and for 5 years in a row, Club Med Punta Cana. Kids have a great time. And when the kids have a great vacation, parents have a great vacation. Cancun is now a family club also.

Cape Cod - but we live in Massachusetts - if we had to fly there, it would not have been.

At that age, to be honest, destination mattered not at all to our kids. Uninterrupted time with Mom and Dad did.

Thanks everyone once again.

gail - you are soooo right. Just spending time with Mom & Dad is what she will really want.

I'm going to check into San Diego too as well as Cape Cod, since that came up more than once.

For us, it was a cabin on a lake that was close enough to home that friends could come spend an afternoon. The kids loved sharing "their" lake with friends. Picnic lunches were a big deal.

I agree that at 5 years old your child will not care where you travel to-so either choose something you and husband want to do, or stay close to home.
When our kids were that age we did go to a beach house within driving distance, and invited friends as mentioned above.
If you are still keen on flying away, how about a beach house to base yourselves; Kailua Beach in Hawaii is nice, or Kawela Bay on the North shore- kind of remote but beautiful beach.

Well, if you want something really rustic, why not try Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands...It's a bit of a pain to get to, (ferry out of Anacortes) but well worth it, and you can get something on the water, enjoy solitude and scenery that you are not likely to see anywhere else in the world, with the possible exception of Norway, or the Fjords of Chili (seen them both).

To be honest, I can't say what is good for a child your daughter's age. BUT, the idea of Mackinac Island is a good one for later. I grew up going to camp in Vermont, and we also skied there in the winter. I have always thought of Vermont as my second home, and as a place where I spent a great deal of time with family and life-long friends. So, in the future, if you can give something like that your daughter, I highly recommend that! I think it's great you are planning something now, and I hope whatever you do ends up being a great time!

I agree with the others that a child of five doesn't really care where you go on vacation. She's just happy to be having fun with Mom and Dad.

I think San Diego could be a good choice. You could go to the San Diego Zoo, Legoland and the San Diego Wild Animal Park. You could visit LaJolla and go on the beach. We took that trip when our son was 12 years old. We stayed a few nights at Loew's Coronado Bay Resort on Coronado Island - very nice. We also stayed in LaJolla.

Have fun!

Have you considered coming to England? With the dollar-pound rate 25% better for you than last year, expect a good deal. Forget about all those tales of constant rain, we'll make you welcome and with a bit of planning you'll have a wonderful time. Example: Southwold in Suffolk [east coast - Google Earth will give you an idea] is a traditional little English seaside town. Nice beach, a pier, child-friendly pubs, places of interest nearby to drive to. Also, it's off the beaten track for most US tourists.

Happy to suggest some more ideas if you need them.

I grew up in Michigan and fondly remember vacations to Mackinac Island and driving through the Upper Peninsula, probably because my sister and I had uninterrupted time with our parents!

As a parent of a now 8 year-old daughter, I'll add another vote for Cape Cod. We're going back for our fifth summer this year, and can't wait. Beaches, bike riding, canoeing, the fish hatchery in Sandwich, the drive-in theater, and just enough activities for the occasional rainy day (or two)--the destination is perfect for families.

I loved loved loved Cape Cod as a kid.
Ice Cream,pirate-themed mini-golf and beaches -- what more could a kid want?!

My sister and I especially loved the Cape-side beaches where the low tide would go out for (what seemed like) miles, leaving along the beach, patches of seaweed, little trickling streams and shallow puddles full of interesting sea creatures.

We've been going to Holden Beach, NC for 46 years, it is a family tradition from when I was a child. Now that we reside in CLT, we are there several times a year. My kids are the 4th generation to make the trek. www.ncbrunswick.com. Paris is also a great destination for small children. In addition, they will open many doors for you, that may otherwise be closed.

We took our twins to the beach when they were five, and it was great. At that time, we went to Gulf Shores, Alabama, and since then we've gone to Pensacola Beach and Fort Walton Beach, both in Florida. Get a hotel on the beach so you can just walk from your hotel room to the pool or ocean, then you can walk back easily when she gets tired. Wonderful!

Another vote for San Diego! It seems like a very kid-friendly place. It is at the top of our list to take our new little guy on his first vacation!

I've never understood the 'staying at the hotel on the beach thing'. It is quite likely in many areas you can rent a cottage for nearly the same price as a hotel room (particularly if you have to eat out all teh time). Although beachfront may be difficult this late in the game, you will still be able to find a place easily walkable. The islands in the Brunswick group (see prior post) have done a great job limiting hotel & Condo construction which helps keep their beaches less crowded than most others.