The best toddler travel advice, from parents who make traveling look easy

I’m a journalist by trade, and one of the things that means is that I’m always curious about how other parents and caregivers do things. (Put another way, I’m very, very nosy.) When I started Travel with Toddlers I knew I didn’t know everything and wanted a way to highlight other perspectives in my work, and honestly, learn something myself. I was/am a first-time mom trying to take everything I know about travel and apply it to a totally new set of circumstances, and mostly the advice I give is through a LOT of trial and error.

You never know with advice, though, because every kid (and every traveler) really is different. Case in point: The much-maligned “sleep when the baby sleeps” is honestly the best advice I received postpartum, and the words I needed to hear. I kept trying to do things and my body, roughed up by a very scary emergency c-section, was like, NOPE. The more I rested, the better I felt. Revolutionary, I know! But as soon as I was well, I completely ignored this advice again. 😅

So consider this collection of my favorite toddler travel advice very take-it-or-leave it. It’s what resonated the most with me out of countless interviews with parents and caregivers for the last year:

15 pieces of advice I wish I had known before traveling with a toddler

Sometimes you get a piece of advice and it feels so obvious until you realize you’ve…never done it. (As a writer, The Artist’s Way seems to always pop up and I shrug it off until I do morning pages and lo and behold, they help!) Here are the pieces of advice just like that, but for toddler travel that made me go, ooohhhhhh yes I should do that!

1. Before you begin, think intentionally about your trip.

This was the single best piece of advice I received, because it changed totally how I think about all of my trips, not just my toddler ones. On trips we’re optimizing for relaxation, we literally book nothing now. Pre-kid me could never!

“What am I trying to achieve from this trip? Because if I’m envisioning that we’re going on these long hikes and doing the types of things I did before I had my son, that’s not going to be feasible. I get to decide what’s going to make this travel opportunity feel good to me, and it looks different than it did before.” – Aliza Sir from Platonic Love

Why is important, but with logistics so is the what…and the when. This has been a game-changer for how I plan my trips:

Traveling intentionally, for us, is not where to go, but when to go. Of course, any age person can visit any destination–but when considering limited time off and the expenses of travel, it has become critical to optimize based on our children’s ages. While it may sound limiting to choose destinations based on the current age of the children, setting this boundary has actually provided the freedom of knowing I can do all of the trips I envision, it is just a matter of allocating the appropriate timing by age. – Amanda Kellner Klein from Carry On (interview coming soon!!)

2. When planning a trip, play defense…

Most meltdowns are preventable. Make sure there is ample time for rest, feeding, and wiggles out so you can play defense and actually relax.

“With little kids you need some unstructured, low key way for them to play and not be all scheduled out. Ideally you want it to be, let’s play in the pool, let’s play at the beach. Even if you do go to a busier place, like we’re doing my sister’s 40th birthday at Disneyland, and we still have downtime scheduled.” – Lisa Sibbett from the Auntie Bulletin

That includes how you eat out, since most of your meals while traveling are at restaurants:

“With the littlest ones, I try my best to keep them out of the high chair before food arrives. In my experience, the high chair has a time limit. If there are two adults available, I recommend someone take the little one on a walk nearby, or in the restaurant’s waiting area, or wherever you can get. Get some wiggles out before strapping them in.” – Hillary Dixler Canavan from What Are We Having?

Read more of Hillary’s recs here: Eating Out with Toddlers Can Be Fun

3. Find ways to get the wiggles out.

Everything is more doable when they can run it out. I do this on every road trip especially.

My #1 travel tip for families with kids is to find the playgrounds. It sounds simple, but we’ve had many long travel days saved by finding a playground to let my toddler get out energy. I love the app Playground Buddy. It’s a free app that lets you search around your location to find where all the playgrounds are nearby. It also lists the amenities each one has so you can find one with a bathroom if you need. – Kathryn Beard from Moms Know Best

4. Plan things for you, too.

Travel isn’t just for your kids. If you can, build one thing that’s just for you for a trip, either solo or that you choose. This is something we do in my family, too—last trip my partner picked a massage, and I picked a high tea, too.

I look for ways to build in time for me to see and do what is most important to me on each trip. For example, when we went to London, I chose two things that I wanted to do that were mainly for me—visiting my favorite tea shop (Fortnum & Mason) and my favorite department store (Liberty of London) as two things that were important for me to do…I loved being touristy with my kids while we were there, but getting to do my favorite things while doing those kid-focused things helped me feel like the trip was for me, too. – Amanda Brown – Type A Mom

5. Keep the stakes low for your first trip out.

Babies are super portable but not gonna lie, it’s SO easy to tell new parents to “go now when it’s easiest” when it feels anything but easy in the moment. I’d take it slow:

Book something with a safe sleep environment where you can just relax and work around the baby’s nap schedule. We did not want to do anything super ambitious but we did want to get out of the house, so the trip to the cabin was perfect because it allowed us to get outside and take walks in a new environment, and get comfortable with travel, but the stakes were low because nothing was crammed with activities and young babies are pretty portable! – Julie Bogen

Same goes for trying a new type of trip, like a hike or camping trip:

Start small and check out a local park. No need to plan anything, because it will be new and exciting to them. Pack plenty of snacks, sunscreen, and bug spray depending on the season, and maybe a blanket and some water, and just enjoy. – Emily Hines from Wavelength

6. And continue to schedule less than you think as they age

This is the one that always gets me. I’m a rope-drop-to-fireworks kind of gal (IYKYK) and slowing down is the best thing for a trip with little ones, but I forget!

Don’t try and do too much – it’s so easy for toddlers to get overstimulated and overwhelmed when traveling which leads to meltdowns and temper tantrums. I recommend planning just one main activity per day, and then keeping the rest of the day more flexible. – Tanja from Almost Finnished

This is true whether you have one or multiple:

We also don’t overdo our plans—one big outing a day is plenty for kids at that age—and if we are staying in a home rental, we cook dinners at home or, I’ve found, there are even lots of delivery options available if you’re in a city. You can even get delivery to hotel rooms a lot of times, which can save from spending on expensive hotel restaurant meals. – Kaitlin Solimine from Postpartum Production

Read more of Kaitlin’s recs here: How to Plan Trips with Multiples

7. Take your time.

Many people said a version of this. Not just to slow down in terms of cramming everything into your trip, but to relax into each moment and not worry about it taking, say, the same 40 minutes to get out of your hotel room it does to get out the door in the morning. That’s part of this stage of life.

I really recommend reserving a ton of extra time for everything with a toddler. That way you can move really slowly from place to place and not get stressed, as you are not in a rush. For example, I had an 8-hour layover at Paris CDG when my youngest was 3 months old and my oldest was 3. It was wonderfully relaxing to be the last to leave the plane, to move around the airport at snail speed, to take lots of snack breaks and to let my toddler run around at her heart’s content before the next flight. – Mirva Lempiainen, travel writer

Read more of Mirva’s recs here: Take Your Time While You Travel

8. They remember more than you think.

I haaaate when people say, “Why go? They won’t remember!” Because first of all, it’s straight-up not true, and second of all, it’s for you! This was a great example of how tangible travel is for little ones:

This summer we went to the UK for two weeks, and we spent our first few days in London. We took the kids to the British Museum. We spent two hours there, saw a few things that we thought would interest the kids, and then left. Our three year old was on my back in the carrier crying and whining the whole time, asking when we were going to leave…Fast forward two months, and he was chatting to me while I was putting him to bed at home. He started asking me about the bones in his body. Then, he said, “We saw bones at the museum!” And I said, “Yes, we did! That’s what your bones look like, too.” Even when my kids aren’t the best as telling me, I know they’re enjoying our travels and getting a lot out of it. – Kelly Schultz

Read more of Kelly’s travel recs here: How to Go Bike Touring with Toddlers

9. Small places = big memories.

Just because everybody is doing it doesn’t mean it’s right for your family. That’s true of almost any trendy parenting thing (um, gentle parenting, co-sleeping, BLW, whatever it is!) If it works, great! I loved this perspective:

We were traveling to Florida to visit my parents, who live in Tampa, and I was considering bringing Jack to Disney for the day. But I thought about it and realized I would be doing it for my own memories of him, and also I would be overwhelmed by it, truthfully, and that he would have even more fun driving four minutes down the road to a splash pad. We went to the splash pad multiple times and he had the time of his life. Plus it was free and we made it home in time every day in time for lunch and a nap! – Carly Riordan from By a Thread

Read more of Carly’s recs here: How to Be a “Chill” Mom while Traveling

10. Use playtime to prep your toddler for their trip

You will never catch me surprising my toddler with a trip! That’s not their personality, but it’s also a huge missed opportunity to make things go smoothly by preparing them beforehand for traveling:

Play is such a powerful way to help toddlers make sense of travel. We’ll “pack a bag” with toys, go through a pretend security line, or set up a mini airport with Little People. It sounds simple, but it helps toddlers feel more in control because they’ve had a chance to practice what’s coming in a low-pressure way. Even role-playing things like waiting in line, sitting on a plane, or walking through a new place can help the real-life version feel way less overwhelming. – Christin from Elevate Toddler Play

Read more of Christin’s recs: How to Use Play to Prep Toddlers for Your Next Trip

11. And books help, too.

We do ALL the books. If you’re not subscribed to Sarah’s substack, she’s got incredible recs.

[When choosing books], I always focused on the experiences they might have in a specific place or things they might see. If we were heading to Florida, I’d find a book about playing on the beach, or the marine life we might find on the shore. Sometimes that involves focusing on the means of transportation—we’re taking a train out west next April, so we’ll read a few books about trains ahead of time, both so they know what to expect but also so they can get excited. Sometimes that means reading about specific locations, like when we spent a week on the Yucatan Peninsula this past October, we read titles about Mexico beforehand. – Sarah Miller from Can We Read?

Read more of Sarah’s recs here: How to Pair Books with Your Trips

12. Sleep is sacred.

My #1 boundary that I always hold when we’re traveling is bedtime. Does it stink sometimes to have to shut off the hotel lights and sit in silence at 7 PM? Sometimes. But it’s always worth it. The fireworks/late night concerts/etc etc can wait. We’re up at dawn and beating the crowds every time.

When it comes to sleep, consistency has been the biggest reason things have gone smoothly for us. Babies and toddlers thrive on predictability. Once they recognize the cues that signal bedtime, they’re more likely to follow along—even in a new environment. We keep familiar elements wherever we travel: a portable white noise machine, dim lighting, and bedtime books. Those small signals create enough continuity to help sleep feel safe and familiar, even with a change of scenery. – Kelly-Ann Smith from Cub Convos

13. The hard moments will pass.

Ooof, this is not for the faint-hearted. But if there’s anything I’ve learned as my toddler ages it’s that every stage is fleeting, the good ones and the bad. Keep going:

“You just have to do the hard thing again and again, and, like a muscle straining to lift a heavy weight, it’ll get easier over time.” – Tori Simokov from Window Seat

And…

“Remember that every day is a series of moments, and if you have a difficult time at one moment, you can always come back from it and make the next moment better.” – Matthew Buccelli from Creative Parenting Club

14. Don’t forget the snacks!

EVERYONE said snacks. More snacks than you think! All the snacks! No new snacks, just the greatest hits.

I basically take a carry on of snacks. Snacks and small activities bridge the gap when facing travel delays, time changes, missed meals, or just overtired moments. This has saved me when a flight didn’t have the food it was supposed to and she would have been famished otherwise on a long-haul flight. – Harmony Walton, owner of the Bridal Bar

Thanks for being here.

I promised you 15 pieces of advice and I saved the best one for last, from me: Enjoy it. I kind of hate how so much of “motherhood” or “parenting” content is just complaining about how hard it is. Anything worthwhile is going to be hard, and I would hands down much rather be dealing with a blowout at a five-star resort with a gorgeous beach view (true story, and yes we cleaned it ourselves!) than mopping up my own floor, again.

There is nothing more magical than the awe and excitement on your little one’s face when they experience something new for the first time, whether you’re doing it for the millionth time or the first yourself. Toddlers have a way of making the mundane moments magical, including travel ones—excitedly watching the bag drop in the Delta line, riding on the bellhop trolley up to the hotel room to great giggles, the whispered, “wow,” at an ocean sunset.

To awe,

Kayla

If you liked this post, please consider supporting my work. I’m just a mom in the thick of the toddler years trying to create core memories for our whole family while minimizing meltdowns—I sincerely hope this helps you do the same.

This post was originally published on Travel with Toddlers. Subscribe for more real-talk travel advice, toddler-friendly itineraries, and tried-and-true gear recommendations.

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