Here are some family travel tips on how to travel inexpensively and great family vacation spots.
Over the years I’ve traveled extensively with my family when I was young, and with my kids as I’ve gotten older. There are ways to do it and places to go and then there are ways and places not to! Here are a few tips on the best places to take your family on vacation and inexpensive ways to do it.
Travel Dilemma #1: How to travel inexpensively
- If airfares are too high go back to the old way of traveling when we were kids, road-trip it! Gas prices are beginning to come down but if you do the math and figure up how many miles it is to your destination (go to www.MapQuest.com or www.AAA.com if you’re a AAA member) and it will tell you and guess the best you can how many miles to the gallon your vehicle gets, you can see which way will be cheaper. More than likely, even with the high gas prices driving will be cheaper.
- If you don’t like the cramped feeling in a car or have several children who need their space look into renting an RV (recreation vehicle). There are many RV websites showing what kinds and sizes they have for rent. Typcially you can rent them by the week but some may let you have it for different amounts of time. This way you will have fewer stops because you can have a bathroom in your RV and you can even eat meals in it on the road. Not only that but you’ll save on hotels because you can sleep in your RV too.
- Go in the off season. If there’s a destination your family would love to go to consider going when it’s not going to be as crowded. You’ll save on hotels, no doubt.
- Go to a similar type of location that is not as popular. So instead of going to the Caribbean, go to the American southwest, where the temperatures are high, humidity is low as well as the lodging prices! Or instead of going to Vale for snow skiing, go to East Burke, Vermont where the lift lines are short and the lift tickets are cheaper.
Travel Dilemma #2: Where can we go that the kids will have fun?
American Southwest Places to Go See:
- Arches National Park
- Bryce Canyon
- Zion National Park
- Grand Canyon
- Hoover Dam (okay, this one’s for the men-folk!)
- 4-Points National Park
- Less Expensive Places to go Snow Skiing
- Burke Mountain, East Burke, Vermont. This little place is 3 hours north of Boston and is very family friendly. It still has some black diamond runs and a 2,000 foot vertical.
- Devil’s Head Resort
Cool Caves (From the Sept. 2008 issue of Family Fun magazine)
- California Cavern, Mountain Ranch California. Walk along the Trail of Lights and then meander to see the Jungle Room’s stalactite vines and soda straws. 866-762-2837/ www.caverntours.com/CalifRt.htm
- Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Carlsbad, New Mexico. See the nation’s largest cavern room of 8 acres. On the one-mile self guided tour you can see such things as the Witch’s Finger and Bottomless Pit. Summertime visitors can see the Mexican free-tailed bats fly around the entrance in the evening. 575-785-2232; www.nps.gov/cave
- Jewel Cave National Monument, Custer, South Dakota. At 142 miles long it’s the second longest cave in the world. It offers a scenic ½ mile excursion to see cave popcorn, cave bacon, calcite crystal jewels and flowstone. 605-673-2288; www.nps.gov/jeca
- Caverns of Sonora, Sonora, Texas. There are many familiar looking sites on this 1¾ mile tour including a quarterback throwing a football, a white rat, a butterfly and a carrot. 325-387-3105; www.cavernsofsonora.com
- Niagara Cave, Harmony, Minnesota. The 60-foot waterfall is the main attraction at this cave along with other exciting sites like stalactites, stalagmites, and fossils. 800-837-6606; www.niagaracave.com
- Meramec Caverns, Stanton, Missouri. This cavern houses the largest cavern formation in the world, a 70-foot tall Stage Curtain. This multi-level cavern has tours that are accompanied by music and special lighting effects. 800-676-6105; www.americascave.com
- Mammoth Cave National Park, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. This cave has 85 trails topside and numerous tours underground. Take a tour to see the Great Wall of China or the 2-mile Historic Tour hosting the narrow space called Fat Man’s Misery. I personally went on this tour as a kid and loved it! Although we called it Fat Man’s Squeeze! It’s open year-round and enough to keep your family busy for days! 270-758-2180; www.nps.gov/maca
- Howe Caverns, Howes Cave, New York. This tour begins on foot and ends on an underground boat ride across the Lake of Venus. 518-296-8900; www.howecaverns.com
- Luray Caverns, Luray, Virginia. The main attraction in this cave is the Stalacpipe Organ which really plays music! 540-743-6551; www.luraycaverns.com
- Florida Caverns State Park, Marianna, Florida. In these caverns you’ll get close-up views of dazzling stone draperies and ribbon formations. 850-482-1228; www.floridastateparks.org/floridacaverns
If you have any others to add, please post them!
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