When you begin to think about starting a family, you may feel that travelling the world will no longer be possible. The reality is that this could not be further from the truth. If you decide to travel with a baby, you will find it a fabulous experience all whilst making life long memories together as a family. Sure, there are mistakes you must avoid when travelling with children. But I also strongly believe it is important to travel with kids and take every opportunity to show them the world.
In this blog post I am going to let you in on the secrets of the best places around the world to travel with a baby in tow. I have consulted with several family travel bloggers who know a thing or two about travelling with kids. So, lets jump aboard and take off to see where this list takes us.
PLANNING TO TRAVEL WITH A BABY
If you are planning to travel with a baby, here are a few things to consider before you book that trip:
- How do you want to travel? By road, rail, plane or perhaps even a cruise? I’m a big advocate for making life easy when travelling with a baby, so perhaps even consider upgrading to business class.
- How far do you want to travel and how long for? Crossing multiple time zones with a baby can be tiring when everyone is suffering from jet lag.
- Would you prefer to stay in a hotel or AirBnB? They both have their advantages and disadvantages, which also vary from place to place.
- What do you want to see and do whilst you are on holidays? Do you prefer a city break with lots of sightseeing, or would you prefer to relax by the beach?
- If it is your first time to travel with a baby, take a look at my essential packing list for travelling with a baby.
- If you have a permanent disability and are an NDIS participant, traveling with a support worker greatly adds convenience. Contact your NDIS support coordination provider to refer you to the best care providers in your area.
THE BEST PLACES TO TRAVEL WITH A BABY
Bali, Indonesia
We’ve been travelling with our daughters since they were tiny and our favourite place by far has to be Bali! There is so much to do there and the beaches are just gorgeous. Add great food into the mix and tons of kid friendly hotels and you’ve got the recipe for a perfect baby friendly holiday.
The main reason we loved travelling to Bali with our baby though … the people! Balinese people are some of the friendliest and most kind hearted people I’ve ever met and they absolutely adore children! We took a trip there when my first daughter was 5 months old. We returned 6 months later and on several occasions we had people shout her name in the street and say they remembered us from the last trip. Wherever we went people wanted to bring her bananas and little cakes as treats.
Our top tip would be to take a small travel pram as the streets are quite narrow. If you stay in one of the great beachfront hotels with a kids club though, you’ll hardly ever have reason to want to leave!
Contributed by Sophie Marie Frame of Lifestyle Queensland
Canet-en-Rousillon, France
One place we can highly recommend to travel with a baby is the Yelloh Village Camping Le Brasilia, near Canet-en-Rousillon, in Catalan, Southwest France. This campsite has an assortment of beautifully landscaped swimming pools, including a very shallow and warm pool that is perfect for babies. The site also has baby baths in the child-friendly toilets, and entertainment for small children including a cute, nightly mini-show on stage.
Regarded as one of the best campsites in Europe, prices are somewhat eye-watering during school summer holidays, but drop to being surprisingly reasonable outside of them. The warm days of June or September are a perfect time to visit.
Nearby are some great options for excursions, including a land train to the nearby beach, lively local markets, and easy road access for a day trip out to some picturesque towns and castles en route to the Pyranees mountains, such as the wonderful Villefranche-de-Conflent.
Contributed by Rachel Day of Children of Wanderlust
Cornwall, UK
I think that Cornwall is the best place in the world to travel with a baby. Not only are the beaches amazing, but if you live in the UK, you won’t have to catch a flight to reach your destination.
I’d recommend staying at the Fowey Hall Hotel, which is part of the Luxury Family Hotels group. This property is outstanding. Not only is there a babysitting service that allows you to eat once your little one is in bed, but the hotel has an Ofsted registered crèche and your child gets two free hours in the creche each day. Meaning that the adults can enjoy the outdoor hot tub in peace. As a family, you feel very at ease here. Breakfast is laid out with a highchair and sippy cups and there’s a complimentary bottle washing service.
Make sure you take a baby carrier with you though, as Fowey is hilly and the roads are narrow, so you’d struggle to walk around with a pushchair. Our little one seemed to love the sea air and the Eden Project (a 15-minute drive away from the hotel) catered for all age groups.
Contributed by Claire Stapleton of Stapo’s Thrifty Life Hacks
Disney World, Florida
Disney World has thought of it all when it comes to travelling with babies and children! Orlando Florida’s most popular destination is a dream for any child (and most adults)! There is something to do for every single age group. Restaurants are kid-friendly in every aspect—from meals, to seating, to entertainment—the park has you covered. And the added bonus of the character breakfasts makes mealtimes even more special.
Hotels offer cribs at no charge, and there is easy access to transportation, car seats, and strollers all over the theme park. There are cute photo ops at every turn, and with the Disney MagicBands, you can be quickly photographed and deal with choosing your favorite shots at a later date! Those helpful bands also make jumping on rides and paying for food and souvenirs a breeze. The options, cleanliness, friendly staff, and pure magic EVERYWHERE make Disney World a family favorite and the perfect place to travel with a baby!
Contributed by Ashley Hutchings of Mom Uptown
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
We travelled to Dubai when our daughter was 8 months old and I was impressed by how accommodating the city is for families. By law, taxis are required to have a baby / child seat available for use for passengers. We stayed at the Fairmont Dubai whom offered a free travel cot and the club room allowed small children (plus they were ultra accommodating). The facilities in the Dubai Mall for changing and feeding were very impressive and unlike anything I had seen anywhere else in the world.
Dubai is an easy place to transit through or the perfect destination holiday. This man made paradise has lots of things to attract families, from extravagant hotels, fun filled attractions and shopping malls the size of small cities.
However, I would keep in mind that during the summer months it is incredibly hot. And whilst everywhere is air-conditioned, it is not the most ideal place to have a baby outside. So my recommendation would be to avoid the summer months (June – September).
London, UK
In my opinion I have always liked travelling to big cities with our very young children. London is one of the greatest places you can travel with a baby, and still see the city in all its glory.
The advantage London has is the number of venues, such as museums and galleries, that are free to enter and have clean and accessible facilities. We loved walking around the National Gallery in the middle of the day with the baby asleep – its peaceful and a remarkable place to see for free. Another wonderful place to visit whilst in London is The British Museum. The vast galleries provide learning, relaxation and a place indoors with which to walk with the baby in a pram. Again, there are lots of changing facilities and places to sit down or grab something to eat or drink.
A big advantage the city break has over more off the track vacations is the ready availability of public transport and taxis. Now, I would’t rush to take a baby on the Tube, but the London Buses, London Black Cabs and Uber make for many transport options when it comes to getting around with ease, even with the buggy. London has lots of green spaces, great places to eat that are child friendly and a vast array of sights to see without needing to pay. Therefore making it an ideal place that is well catered for a trip for you and your little one.
Contributed by Oli Harris of The Sporting Blog
Menorca, Spain
One of our favourite places to travel with a baby in tow is the Spanish island of Menorca. There are plenty of villa rental options on the island and because it is pretty small, you’ll always be close to the beach. The sea water is shallow and goes out for miles while the sand is soft – perfect for little babies experiencing the beach for the first time.
The Menorcan restaurant owners are so accommodating with kids too. They never seem to rush their clients and always go out of their way to help where possible. The slow and relaxed pace of life in Menorca means we never feel under pressure to get dressed up when we go out. A bonus when you have young kids and very little time to get ready.
There are lots of sweet attractions for little ones to enjoy with their families including land trains and boat cruises – both of which our babies and younger kids have enjoyed.
Contributed by Clare Lush-Mansell of Travel Bugs
Singapore, Republic of Singapore
Singapore is an excellent place to visit and the perfect place to travel with a baby. The city is clean, well organised and incredibly easy to explore via public transport. Singapore is a ‘travel hub‘ and thus many flights transit through Singapore en route to other destinations in the world. Therefore, making it to the perfect stopover when you are travelling with a young family.
There are endless amounts of things to do in Singapore with kids, from aquariums to zoos to water playgrounds. There is also an abundance of hotels to choose from meaning you will not have any difficulty finding reasonably priced, family friendly accommodation.
The tropical climate means it is always warm, so there will be plenty of time for swimming. Singaporean’s are very friendly and helpful and the food is downright delicious. What more could you want when looking for a destination to travel with a baby.
Vienna, Austria
No child in Vienna gets bored – ever! Vienna’s core planning centers around kids and every neighborhood has a playground for kids to enjoy. There are plenty of museums for kids, theaters, sports, and musical activities abound. You will find something to cater to every age and most are free entry for under 18s. Top places I recommend to visit are:
- Zoom Kindermuseum,
- Haus des Meeres,
- Schönbrunn.
If you visit Vienna with a baby, expect to find it easy to walk around with wide pathways. Public transportation is hassle-free and almost every station has an elevator for use with a pram. Vienna is a wheelchair accessible city, which means that its also stroller accessible. Palaces, cathedrals, restaurants and the like have ramps for your stroller if the entrance is not street-leveled. Furthermore, restrooms in tourist buildings and public places have a separate cubicle catered for babies and mums.
I highly recommend the Boutique-Hotel Stadthalle as its an excellent hotel for families. It is surrounded by green and lavender, which is a source of their organic honey, and the hotel is overall very family-friendly.
Contributed by Marie Gizelle of Mirage
Western Australia, Australia
Okay, perhaps I am a little biased. But I think Western Australia is a wonderful place to travel with a baby. Granted, it is a very long way from almost everywhere else in the world. But once you are there, you will be able to relax and enjoy the Australian way of life. Think beautiful beaches, warm summer days and a very relaxed vibe wherever you go.
Hire a car and explore places such as Fremantle, Cottesloe Beach and the Swan Valley. And if you want a true holiday destination, I would plan at least a few days in both Rottnest Island and Margaret River. In my opinion, there is nowhere else in the world like these little pieces of paradise.
So, there you have my list of the best places around the world to travel with a baby as advised by the experts. In my experience, babies can be quite adaptable when they are very little and it is an excellent time to travel as a family. You definitely need to be organised before you go, and my suggestion would be to plan for the worst but hope for the best. Be sure to let me know your favorite destinations to travel with a baby in the comments section below. Safe travels – Shell x
31 Responses
Some lovely ideas on here, vienna in particular sounds appealing. I like that London has been included too. I love strolling around the museums and I’m looking forward to taking my daughter there at some point soon.
Katrina x
#KCACOLS
Some lovely locations included! I just can’t wait to get travelling again so I can visit some of these places with friends and family!
So lovely to see my recommendation on here, as well as all the other brilliant ones! London is next on the list for us I think.
Such great suggestions! I can vouch for Bali too – when I was there I saw some mothers had amazing local baby sitters watching the kids while they could relax and sip a cocktail in the pool.
Great list – there are so many more places I still need to visit. Dubai is next on our list and we’re going in December so hopefully it won’t be too hot. Thanks so much for linking up at #KCACOLS. Hope you come back again next time.
What a brilliant, thorough post! Some amazing destinations mentioned!
Wow so many incredible places! I would so love to visit Western Australia, it looks absolutely beautiful and with so much to offer! Thank you for sharing these great tips xo
It’s great to read about people travelling with babies! Some wonderful places recommended here.
I would say anywhere – it’s cheap (they’re usually free) and easy. When they get older it gets more expensive and they have input in what they want to do….#KCACOLS
A great list of suggestions and has definitely added a few to my own dream destinations list. I would never have considered Bali! I love exploring more now I have children ?
What a brilliant post! Vienna sounds beautiful and reallybaby and child friendly so it woll be going on the wishlist or the future!
What a great round up. There are some amazing places out there aren’t there!
When our big twins were little their first holiday was in Lanzarote. Its such a child friendly place.
Only 4 and a half hours by plane. It a great climate for taking little ones too.
This is a great post. We did nowhere near the amount of travelling that we had hoped to. We went to Paris when my daughter was one and then Majorca with a 2 year old and a 6 month old. Since then we just haven’t been able to afford it with 3 children.
Wow some amazing ideas here! I can definitely recommend Cornwall too 🙂
Some lovely places to go. Would never have considered Vienna or Bali with small children, so great to know.
I’ve four kids so I need all of the help I can get when I travel! Great post.
Oh I love this! I never travelled with the girls when they were babies as I was to worried
I loved reading your post. It is so helpful and informative. I haven’t got kids but I’d still like to travel to all these places.
I have flown solo with my babies and kids between the UK and Australia a number of times and people always ask how I managed but it’s really not as hard as you think! People always assume that going away and doing things with kids is hard or impossible but that’s not necessarily true at all!
When I had my kids I would never thought of travelling with them like this. You are all gonna have some fabulous memories together. #KCACOLS
These are amazing ideas of holiday destinations. What a thorough post. Thanks for sharing these destinations.
Lovely! I think anywhere is fine with a bub tho it was hard to breast feed in HK as they prefer you not to do it in public so things had to be timed a little more carefully. (And a 700 shop mall had one feeding room up the other end…of course!)
Some great suggestions, we absolutely adored Cornwall with a baby and Santorini, Menorca, France with the kids! Perfect young #CulturedKids material, thanks so much for linking in, now fingers crossed for more travel corridors opening and a good dose of normality back in our lives and travels!
amazing destinations for sure, for my first trip with our baby I decided for a road trip to tiny San Marino country, it was great #culturedkids
What a lovely list! I did some crazy trips with a baby – much easier than when they get older in my opinion! Museum Girl went around the world to Australia with me at six months, and Museum Teen came to Egypt when she was a baby. Vienna sounds very appealing. Thanks for joining in with #CulturedKids
Fabulous list, and yes, having a baby means you can still travel. Our baby (now 15!) spent her first holiday in Mallorca, which we loved for kids! #culturedkids