Summer Vacation Ideas

Summer Vacation Ideas

As parents about May we start thinking about summer vacation ideas. It is almost a panic with the thought of, "I want to create lasting memories for my children, what will we do this summer?"

Let us help you, by providing summer vacation ideas in four categories: Short day trips, 1-2 day overnight trips, RV vacation ideas, and one to two week summer vacations. All of our vacation ideas are accessible, affordable and accommodating for families.

Summer vacation is the prime time for families to vacation. The kids are out of school so let's start looking at some great summer vacation ideas.

Short Day Trip Excursion Summer Vacation Ideas

You can do lots of day trips with your kids providing awesome memories to last a life time.

First think of what might be within a 1 to 2 hour drive from your house. If you aren't sure call the chamber of commerce for the closest large city and ask them to send you information on things to do with kids in the area.

Most major cities have a Children's museum with hands on fun displays for kids of all ages, a zoo, and aquarium or water park. Some costal cities have military museums with tanks or battle ships you can actually tour.

There are lakes, beaches and parks. I once met a mother with (2) children at a local park on the river, who's summer vacation was going to be spent seeing as many parks as they could squeeze in during the summer. They called it a park a day!

If your town doesn't normally have outdoor pools call around see if you can find a county or city public pool your kids will love swimming in the outdoors.

For the train lover (most kids), some parks have train or carousel rides for kids at minimal charge. Also you can look for a scenic railroad usually an hour train ride; this is always a hit with kids.

Historical sites can be great fun to visit on a day trip. Lewis and Clark Forts or the Pilgrims villages for example.

1 to 2 Day Overnight Trips- Summer Vacation Ideas

If you have the funds and your kids are great in the car look at what cities you can drive to and spend 1 or 2 days touring the town. Kids love to spend a night in a hotel and swim in the pool. Older kids would love the city life of New York, take in a Broadway play or the opening of a new movie.

If you are traveling by car Embassy Suites Hotels or Holiday Inn Hotels are great overnight stops along the way for families. All have pools and in-room microwave, refrigerators and Nintendo games systems. Most big cities charge less for rooms on weekends as they typically cater to the business traveler.

RV Summer Vacation ideas

Renting a RV Motor home can be an awesome way to introduce your family to camping and the great outdoors. A motor home allows your family to keep some of the comforts of home, including their favorite foods for anyone with picky eaters.

Visiting a National park is always a fun RV adventure. Listed below are the highest family rated National Parks:

* Grand Canyon Arizona * Yellowstone National Park Wyoming * Great Smokey Mountains National Park * Crater Lake National Park Oregon

If a national Park is not on your list of destinations. Some other suggested summer vacation ideas for families include taking your RV to Disneyworld or Lake Tahoe.

Disneyworld actually has a resort RV park on the Disney property just waiting for you to visit.

Lake Tahoe is also the number one must see spot for families in the summer.

Planning a One or Two Week Vacation? Here are some Summer Vacation Ideas just for you.

The kids have their heart set on a theme park vacation? Keep in mind the busiest times for theme parks are in the summer; there will be longer lines. Here are the top theme parks:

Any of the Sea World Parks (California, Texas, Florida or Hawaii)
Disneyland in California
Disneyworld in Florida
Six Flags Parks throughout the USA (17) total locations
Noah's Water Park in Wisconsin

For a 7 to 10 day trip to Tropical Paradise try one of the Hawaiian Islands: Oahu, Maui, Hawaii or Kauai are the best islands suited for families. Our summer is Hawaii's off season, meaning lower hotel rates.

Another suggestion is a 5 day trip to a Resort property or Dude Ranch. Resorts and dude ranches offer a wide range of activates for the whole family. Rather you fly or drive is up to you, but you can find great resorts all across the United States.

Hilton hotels have great family friendly resort properties.

A couple offering on-site water parks are:

The Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort in Phoenix click here, Hilton Hotel, and scroll down about half a page.

Hilton Hotels Beach Resorts. Check out the Hilton Hawaiian Village, Hawaii on page 2 of this link.

Be sure to check out our visitor family vacation recommendations.

Summer Vacation Idea Considerations

To help you choose one of the summer vacation idea categories; you will need to decide how much money you want to spend on your summer vacation. Whether your kids can handle riding in the car for vacation or is flying some place on vacation the best choice? Combining the categories is great idea too.

Which ever summer vacation ideas you decide to investigate remember kids are happy just spending time with you! So save some time to relax by the pool, jump in the ocean surf or swing on a swing in a park.

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More vacation ideas besides summer vacation ideas at the home page.