50 Bucket List Trips for Kids & Families

We have traveled with our kids for over 20+ years and here is our Family Travel Bucket List. It is not always about checking off countries and counting passport stamps, for us when we go Outside Suburbia.  It is about sharing the experience with the kids, spending family time with them, making memories, watching them learn and grow from these travels.  Having said that we do have an ever-growing travel bucket list of experiences and places to explore with our kids in this big beautiful world! 50 Places to Take the Kids!!

Travel Bucket list: 50 places to take your kids | Outside Suburbia

We try to travel in Summer to destinations where there is more sightseeing, museums, history – not really a vacation since you are constantly on the go.  We try and take a break in between to have some relaxing days. 

I like to make elaborate itineraries and map out a plan for these summer travels but sometimes we get to a destination or place and love it so much we end up throwing the itinerary to the wind and enjoy the place – stay and linger longer. 

Given that during the academic year the kids are juggling various activities, working on their grades and other school works our winter trips are geared towards some Rest and Relaxation! Kiddos need them as much as adults.

Winter break we try to do the vacations where it is more of the beach destinations and kids get to be bum out in the beach, try the various water sport activities while we relax by the pool or ocean  – morning walks on the beach, some easy hikes and sunsets with a cocktail in hand are the only things on the agenda!

Family Travel Bucket list of Experiences & Places to visit with Kids

Here’s a roundup of 50 places to take your kids before they grow up. Some of these are trips we have done and some that are still on our list to do… click on the links for additional information and trip reports.

  1. Ride the Gondolas in Venice
  2. Visit Coliseum/Colosseum in Rome, Italy
  3. Visit Pompeii, Italy
  4. A Road Trip on the Amalfi Coast, Italy
  5. Visit the Beefeaters at the Tower of London, and see the Crown Jewels
  6. Visit Stonehenge
  7. Ride in a seaplane
  8. See a Flamenco dance in Seville, Spain
  9. Visit Black Forest, Germany
  10. A Road Trip through the white villages in Spain
  11. Visit the French Riviera
  12. Walkthrough the lavender fields of Provence
  13. See the Sunflower fields of Tuscany (Disclaimer: we didn’t see the sunflowers this trip just saw the fields, we have to make another trip soon!)
  14. Try Pizza in Naples
  15. Go to a Wellness retreat in Bali, Indonesia
  16. Phi Phi Ley island, Krabi, Phuket, Thailand
  17. Catch a sunset at Rick’s café, Jamaica
  18. Visit the towns of Cinque Terre, Italy
  19. Ride the bullet train in Japan
  20. Biking around Stanley Park in Vancouver
  21. Walk on the Great Wall of China
  22. Eat Dim sum in Hong Kong (Have not written the post yet)
  23. Boat ride to the famous arch in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
  24. Climb up to see the Machu Picchu, Peru
  25. Hike in Patagonia, Argentina
  26. Look for Nessie in Scotland
  27. Visit a Harry Potter location
  28. See the Iguazu Falls
  29. See the Wildlife in Galapago islands
  30. Visit Vallée de Mai, called the Garden of Eden in Seychelles
  31. Go on a Desert Safari in Rajasthan
  32. Stay in a water bungalow (See a few others here)
  33. See the big 5 somewhere in Africa
  34. Go swimming with Penguins at Boulders Beach in Capetown, South Africa
  35. Drive around the Ring Road in Iceland
  36. Visit the Mayan Ruins
  37. Visit the Marble wonder of Taj Mahal, Agra, India
  38. Visit the Hava Mahal, Pink Palace in Jaipur, Stay in the Palace in India (See a few here for inspiration) 
  39. Stay in a houseboat
  40. Have a Greek salad in Greece
  41. Visit Uluru in Australia, catch a sunset at the Red Center
  42. Kissing and swimming with Dolphins
  43. Visit Keukenhof Tulip Garden, Netherlands (Didn’t make it during tulip season but here is our one day in Amsterdam)
  44. Visit the temples in Cambodia
  45. Marvel at the turquoise blue lakes in Banff, Canada
  46. Visit the Treasury at Petra, Jordan
  47. Visit the Pyramids of Egypt
  48. Visit Bhutan and hike to Tiger’s Nest (Paro Taktsang)
  49. Visit a Christmas Market
  50. Try Fondue in Switzerland
Family Travel Bucketlist: 50 places in the USA to take your kids

Family Travel Bucket list of Places to Explore with Kids in the USA

Here are a few more experiences and places to explore in and around the US with the kids. I realize that this is not a complete United States travel bucket list with kids, but it is one that seems to be growing every year!

  1. Visit the Bean in Chicago Illinois
  2. See Spring Training baseball games in Arizona (A special for the baseball fan)
  3. Drive on Highway 1 from Los Angeles to Monterey County
  4. People watch in South Beach, Miami Beach, Florida
  5. Visit the Key West and try the Key lime pie
  6. Visit the Florida Everglades and ride the airboat
  7. Go on a hot air balloon ride (While the kids didn’t go the balloon ride in the US, they made on the hot air balloon in Africa, so checking this off)
  8. Charleston, South Carolina
  9. Visit the campuses of MIT and Harvard in Boston, Massachusetts (No Post yet)
  10. Watch the seals at Seal beach
  11. Catch a Caribou (on camera) in Alaska
  12. Listen to some Jazz in New Orleans, Louisiana
  13. Visit DC in Spring
  14. Visit New York in Summer (New York in November was lovely too)
  15. Visit Vermont in Fall
  16. Visit Utah in Winter
  17. See the Green Sea Turtles in Hawaii
  18. Ride the Husky Sledge ride in Tahoe
  19. Have some wine in Napa Valley Wine just for the adults 🙂
  20. Big Bend National Park
  21. Check out the sacred sites in Sedona
  22. Climb the Enchanted Rock in Texas
  23. Glacier National Park (The kids didn’t go, so technically still on the list)
  24. Zion National Park
  25. Grand Teton National Park
  26. Yellowstone National Park
  27. Yosemite National Park
  28. Joshua Tree National Park
  29. White Sands National Park
  30. Shenandoah National Park & Blue Ridge Mountains
  31. A weekend in the charming little town of Carmel
  32. Spend a weekend in San Antonio
  33. A weekend in Austin
  34. Spotting stars in Los Angeles
  35. The German town of Fredericksburg, Texas
  36. Solvang, Danish town in California
  37. Santa Fe & Taos, New Mexico
  38. Leavenworth is a Bavarian-styled village in Washington State
  39. Telluride in Fall
  40. Breckenridge in Winter
  41. How can I not include all the fun we had/have in Dallas
  42. All the fun things in Fort Worth
  43. Winter Adventures in Vail (We got the summer adventures checked off)
  44. Disney Adventures
  45. A weekend in Wimberley, Texas
  46. A safari in the American Serengeti
  47. Visit the Golden Gate Bridge
  48. Visit the American Riviera
  49. Visit the Hamptons of the South
  50. Cape May, New Jersey, America’s Original Seaside Resort

What is on your bucket list, what other ideas do you have for us to add to our wanderlust list? How many have you checked off, let me know in the comments below (only counts if the whole family was together on the trip)

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8 thoughts on “50 Bucket List Trips for Kids & Families”

  1. This is such a fabulous bucketlist – your kids are quite lucky! Sounds like they’ve already had some quite incredible experiences – and I like to see that many destinations they’ve crossed off have educational value too – Stonehenge, the Colosseum, Pompeii – it’s so much better to learn about history at the sites where history took place than it is in a classroom.

    1. Thanks Mike, we like to add some educational experiences along with some just for fun. When they do school projects based on the places they visited – those travel dollars spent are worth every penny!

  2. As a child, I would look forward to our family trips – mom and dad did a very similar thing to you, would take us on exciting international trips during summer, and winter holidays were more geared towards relaxing – I agree, kids do need that downtime sometimes too. It’s fantastic to see that a lot of your US based list is made up of National Parks and natural attractions – the outdoors is where kids should be – such a huge playground this world of ours.

    1. Thanks Callie – that down time is much needed for the kids these days with so many activities and school work. There are so many wonderful places in the US we have not explored yet! Might have to do a roadtrip to all of them after we retire!!

  3. I love that your focus is on moments and memories with your family and kids as opposed to a mad rush to cross countries off a list. This is a fabulous list of adventures to do with kids, I think it’s so fabulous that you’re inspiring wanderlust and a thirst for seeing the world in them from a young age – more power to you as you tackle the rest of this list!

    1. Thanks Megan – I feel like when you visit a country you just can’t check it off a list – so many experiences and exploring one can do.
      We don’t often get to all of them in a single trip of 2 weeks or less! Then there is visiting it in different seasons. So why build a bucketlist based on a country list?!

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