Adventures for all ages: 8 family-friendly trips
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
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.
See the future—and Tokyo in full bloom
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.
Ancient sites and culinary delights in Rome
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.
Desert adventures and laid-back dining in Tucson
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.
Boating lakes and bumper hands-on art 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.
A gloriously green city break in Singapore
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.
Heady heights and deep-fried treats in Toronto
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.
Swashbuckling fun in St. Augustine
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.
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.
