Planning a trip with kids is no easy task. I’m right in the middle of planning our next big trip. In fact, it’s the first big trip we’ve taken that wasn’t just to see family since we moved back to Florida over two years ago.
Our flights are booked. We found a great hotel (using my hotel hunting method). Transportation between the airport and hotel is sorted. Now to figure out how we’re going to spend our days.
I’m not a huge scheduler. When we go places, I usually have an idea of what I want to do and sometimes a general itinerary for our days but mostly, I like to have a sort of menu of options.
I create a list that includes all the things that I would like the do, that hubby would like and that the kids would like. I include information on each place like the admission price, hours and address/location and also how to get there if we will be using public transport (and add this to my travel information folder).
This part of the planning process was easy when we were traveling in Europe. I would almost always turn to TripAdvisor to see what there was to see in each city and create my initial list. I would then go to each place’s website to get more specific information and make sure it was a place we would actually enjoy going.
But our recent trips around the US have proven harder for finding what there is to do. For example, last weekend we went to Orlando to visit friends and had a day to ourselves and didn’t want to pay the outrageous theme park prices. On TripAdvisor, 15 of the top 30 attractions were at theme parks and another 7 are not really appropriate for small children.
So I’ve had to revamp how I look for things to do when we travel. Here are 5 new places I’ve found for figuring what there is to see in a city:
1. Hop on, Hop off bus websites. We did a few hop on hop off bus tours around Europe (in Paris, Liverpool, and Dublin) and really enjoyed them. But I also use the bus routes to determine what’s worth seeing. If the bus stops near something, it’s probably worth looking in to!
2. City/County websites. There are a thousand tourist websites for touristy cities like Orlando and it can get overwhelming to try to sift through which are good and which are bad. I find the official city websites have information on the sites and attractions they are most proud of, not just advertising and mediocre reviews.
3. Blogs. I know, I know, just touting my own stuff here, but not really. Specifically when traveling with kids, mommy bloggers usually have really good suggestions and information for specific cities, specifically with kids.
4. Deal sites. Websites like Groupon and LivingSocial can not only save you money on the things you want to do on your trip but may also lead you to some lesser known gems.
5. Social media. You can ask specific friends who have been a place for suggestions but asking on social media is much more powerful. A quick “Going to New York, suggestions for what to do with the kids?” can get you some great information from people who know a city the best.
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