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A young girl jumps into the sea, near to where a man swims on his back and another girl paddles in a rubber ring
Adventure
Spring

Adventures for all ages: 8 family-friendly trips

By Fiona Kerr

February 2025

Kick back, relax—and keep the kids happy. From splash-tastic beach breaks to history-packed cities, these destinations have something for everyone

After the chill of winter, relaxing time spent together in glorious sunshine is just what families need—but it’s not just the weather forecast that’s worth checking before booking your spring break. The best destinations are those kinds of unicorn places that offer experiences for kids and adults alike. Exciting play spaces for little ones? Out-there adventures teens will want to tell their friends about? Proper art and culture for grown-ups? Incredible food? (Well, that’s one thing everyone can agree on.) Read on to discover where to go to have it all.

Beach days and Mayan ruins in Playa del Carmen

Playa del Carmen, Mexico

Two young children are playing in the low, foamy waves on the shores of a beach in Playa del Carmen, Mexico

Make a splash on one of Playa del Carmen’s many dreamy beaches

View of Playa del Carmen in Mexico, with blue seas, palm trees and a person walking on the sand in silhouette

Sunbathe or build sandcastles in a paradise-like setting

Kids will love: Cenote swimming, chocolate, jungle critters 
Adults will love: Mayan ruins, butterfly gardens, beaches for days 

It’s not just college kids that love spring break in Mexico: Down the coast from party hotspot Cancun, Playa del Carmen is an ideal setting for families to plug into this gorgeous slice of the Yucatán. Swim in magical cenotes (try Cenote Azul) and float along the underground river, Río Secreto, beneath bats and stalactites (age 4+). Channel your inner Indiana Jones exploring the ancient Mayan city of Chichén Itzá (look out for the creepy skeleton head carvings), then continue into the jungle at back-to-nature theme park Xcaret, where there’s a butterfly garden, turtle camp and manatee lagoon. Kids will also be pleased to learn that chocolate is sacred in Mayan culture; worship it for yourselves at Ah Cacao Chocolate Café.


Explore Playa del Carmen

See the future—and Tokyo in full bloom

Tokyo, Japan

Take a walk through time, from the Tokyo Tower to the Zōjō-ji temple

Take a walk through time, from the Tokyo Tower to the Zōjō-ji temple

A woman in traditional Japanese dress leans over her young daughter as they both look at a street-food stall in Tokyo, Japan

Every street brings a new wonder in Tokyo

Kids will love: Gaming arcades, conveyor belt sushi, kawaii (cute) everything
Adults will love: Cherry blossoms, onsen baths, ancient temples 

Neon-bright and high-tech, Tokyo is a place of wide-eyed excitement for kids (and big kids) of all ages and interests. If you have a fan of cute characters in tow, Sanrio Puroland is an ultra-adorable indoor theme park dedicated to Hello Kitty; or head into Shibuya to spend a few hours learning to draw your own comics with a professional manga artist. For a gaming champ, hit the arcade shops of Tokyo’s “Electric Town,” Akihabara, before meeting the robots at the National Museum of Emerging Science & Innovation (aka Miraikan). History or martial arts buff? Discover the secret life of ninjas at the Samurai Ninja Museum. Plus, spring is sakura season, when parks and temple gardens explode with candy floss froths of cherry blossoms.


Explore Tokyo

Ancient sites and culinary delights in Rome

Rome, Italy

A man and a young girl are in a rowboat on the lake at Villa Borghese in Rome, Italy, on a sunny day with trees framing the lake in the background. She is excitedly pointing at something behind the camera and he has turned his head to look

Row a boat around the lake at Villa Borghese (and look out for the temple)

A young person is eating spaghetti in a restaurant in Rome, Italy, holding a forkful of noodles up from the bowl

Pasta, pizza, gelato: Rome is a foodie paradise for even the fussiest of eaters

Kids will love: Roman ruins, gelato, pizza 
Adults will love: Glorious food, sublime art, shopping 

History lessons come to life in Rome. Start at the immense Colosseum to hear gory tales of gladiators and staged naval battles where the whole auditorium was flooded. Eager learners (age 6+) can even enroll in Gladiator School to practice sword fighting in full Roman getup. You’ll definitely have worked up an appetite after that, so fill up on pizza: Foodies should take a pilgrimage to cult slice shop Bonci Pizzarium near the Vatican—and finish with a scoop (or three) of gelato. Run off energy in the Villa Borghese gardens (playgrounds, boating lake, zoo, miniature train) before dipping into the Galleria Borghese to swoon at some Caravaggios.


Explore Rome

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Desert adventures and laid-back dining in Tucson

Tucson, AZ

Backed by blue sky and surrounded by greenery, a person in a green shirt and white trousers stands between several large saguaro cacti in the Saguaro National Park, Tucson, Arizona, looking up at them
  • It’s not hard to spot the saguaros in Tucson’s aptly named Saguaro National Park

Kids will love: Towering cacti, cowboys, Sonoran hot dogs
Adults will love: Adobe architecture, top tacos, desert hikes 

With around 350 days of sunshine each year, Tucson is a city for all seasons, but spring is especially lovely. Wildflowers bloom across the already beautiful Saguaro National Park. Temperatures are not yet too hot to hike, bike or horseback ride around the natural desert playground in the city’s backyard. Across the city, food trucks dish out a constant stream of tacos and Sonoran hot dogs to hungry explorers returning from adventures: These might include scrambling through the ancient karst caverns at Colossal Cave Mountain Park one day, and reliving the Wild West in the gunslinging town of Tombstone the next.


Explore Tucson

Boating lakes and bumper hands-on art in Melbourne

Melbourne, Australia

On the lake at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne, Australia, a wooden boat floats towards the trees in the distance as a person standing upright punts and gives a professional guided tour to the people relaxing down in the front of the boat
  • Picnic basket at the ready: Enjoy a guided punt tour at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne

Kids will love: Beachy suburbs, old-school amusement parks, immersive galleries 
Adults will love: Street art, awesome food scene, flat whites 

Catch the last of the summer rays on Melbourne’s Brighton Beach, with its soft golden sand and brightly colored, cabana-like bathing boxes. Then head up the coastal walk to the nearby suburb of St Kilda. Duck in through the giant mouth entrance at Luna Park Melbourne for Coney Island-style rides. Back in town, punting tours of the Royal Botanic Gardens will delight kids and adults alike; while trippy gallery ArtVo lets visitors walk (and play) in giant 3D art installations, hoverboarding between planets or wrestling giant octopuses. Don’t miss the free Moomba Festival (March 6–10, 2025) with its wacky Birdman Rally, where contestants launch themselves into the Yarra River in homemade flying machines.


Explore Melbourne

A gloriously green city break in Singapore

Singapore

Palm trees, golden sands and blue waters are seen from a bird's eye view from the watch tower on Palawan Beach in Sentosa, Singapore

Cross the bridge to the scenic watch tower on Palawan Beach

Two female swimmers seen from behind at the edge of the infinity pool on the rooftop of the Marina Bay Sands hotel, Singapore, overlooking the city skyscrapers below

Paddle in the world’s largest rooftop infinity pool at Marina Bay Sands

Kids will love: Theme parks, tropical gardens, colossal playgrounds
Adults will love: Dim sum, amazing malls, cable-car rides 

You know you’re in for a good time when even the airport is fun—and Singapore Changi has everything from climbing walls to slide sculptures. The city itself might be a high-energy metropolis, but it’s also incredibly green. One of the most famous parks is Gardens by the Bay, where Insta-famous “Supertrees” reach for the sky between giant greenhouses, and wet and wild fun awaits at the huge kids’ splash park. Hit Sentosa Island just off the city’s southern coast for Universal Studios, S.E.A. Aquarium and KidZania, before whizzing up to Mount Faber Peak in the cable car for views of the harbor and Singapore’s skyline. Back at street level, follow local families to a hawker center for super-affordable, super-tasty street food, such as satay sticks, dumplings and chicken rice. 


Explore Singapore

Heady heights and deep-fried treats in Toronto

Toronto, Canada

On a bright day with blue skies, people sit in five brightly colored deckchairs on the grass at Toronto Island Park, looking out at across the water at the city skyline and the CN Tower
  • Serenity in the city: Pull up a chair for prime skyline vistas at Toronto Island Park

Kids will love: BeaverTails pastries, doughnuts, sky-high views 
Adults will love: Indigenous art, multicultural eats, foodie markets

Get the lay of the land from 1,465 feet up on Toronto’s iconic CN Tower—see the city lights after dark with a dazzling tour. Thrills come in a different form at castle-style mansion Casa Loma, which is rumored to be haunted—kids will love discovering the secret passageways. Refuel little ghost hunters with something sweet: BeaverTails (fried dough in the shape of—well, you probably guessed it) might be Canada’s traditional treat, but these days Toronto is mad for doughnuts, best sampled on a two-hour dedicated tour that takes in the happening Kensington Market neighborhood. Work off that sugar high at Evergreen Brick Works in the pretty Don River Valley, where there are nature trails, a Saturday farmers’ market, and the brilliant, hands-on Children’s Garden.


Explore Toronto

Swashbuckling fun in St. Augustine

St. Augustine, FL

The black-and-white striped St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum is framed by trees with a blue sky behind

Kids over 3ft 6in can climb up the St. Augustine Lighthouse

A woman wearing a sunhat and holding a child is standing on a beach, looking out at the waves and the warm, peach-colored sunset

Soak up the sunset from the beach after a day of adventuring

Kids will love: Pirates, forts, sandcastle building
Adults will love: The pretty Colonial Quarter, fresh seafood, white-sand coast 

Settled in 1565 by the Spanish, St. Augustine is the oldest continually inhabited European-founded city in the U.S.—which means it has some pretty cool tales to tell: tales of pirates and ghosts, bootleggers and battles. The hop-on, hop-off Old Town Trolley tour is the easiest way for little legs to dip in and out of all that history, stopping at must-see sites, including the imposing stone fort of Castillo de San Marcos. For more buccaneering fun, the Pirate & Treasure Museum has a “please touch” policy, so kids can light a (replica) cannon and handle the bronze blunderbuss, before setting a course for the beach to dig for their own treasure. 


Explore St. Augustine

Photo of Fiona Kerr
Fiona Kerr
Writer

Fiona Kerr is a food-loving travel journalist and former features director at Condé Nast Traveller. Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Telegraph, Elle Decoration and the The New York Times. When she gets to a new country, her first stop is usually the local supermarket.

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