The United States with Kids: Where to Go in Every State

• The national parks are the reason to come

  Sixty-three of them, most with paved overlooks, junior ranger programmes and short loop trails that work with small children.

• Built around children by default

  High chairs, changing tables, kids' menus and family bathrooms are assumed everywhere, not requested as a favour.

• No language barrier, and long opening hours

  Pharmacies, supermarkets and diners open early and late, which absorbs jet lag and early-waking children.

• A hire car opens almost everything

  Roads are wide, fuel is cheap by European standards, and automatic transmission is standard rather than a surcharge.

• Somewhere is in season every month of the year

  The country is wide enough that a good trip exists in January and in July — just not in the same state.

• 

  Bar Harbor village€€Mid-range

  Bar Harbor — village rooms within walking distance of the Green

  Puts dinner, ice cream, the harbour path and the free island shuttle hub within a few minutes on foot, which removes the evening drive at the end of a long day in the park and lets one parent take a tired child back early.

  • Walking distance to restaurants and the Village Green shuttle hub
  • Short walk to the Bar Island sandbar crossing
  • Breakfast included at many of the older properties
  • No need to move the car between arriving and leaving

  Fitting a family in

  Family rooms with two double beds are the standard product and sleep four without a rollaway; connecting rooms exist but are the first thing to go in summer.

  Watch out. This is the most expensive and the most booked-out part of the island, and prices in July, August and the autumn-colour weeks reflect a very short season. Parking is often a small shared lot rather than a space per room. Older properties in the village frequently have stairs and no lift, and street noise carries on summer evenings.

  Check hotel prices↗ — opens Klook in a new tab (affiliate link)Live availability for your dates

• 

  North Conway village€€Mid-range

  North Conway village — inns and small hotels near the station

  The only part of the valley where a family can leave the car and walk to dinner, the station and the shops, which makes the scenic railway an easy morning rather than a parking exercise.

  • Walking distance to the railway station and village restaurants
  • Pools at several of the larger properties
  • Breakfast included at most of the smaller inns
  • Short drive to Story Land, the notches and the ski hills

  Fitting a family in

  Two-queen family rooms are standard; suites with a separate sleeping area exist at the larger properties and are the realistic option for five.

  Watch out. The village sits on Route 16, which backs up badly on summer and autumn weekend afternoons — rooms facing the road are noisy and arriving between mid-afternoon and evening on a Saturday is slow. Older inns often have stairs, no lift and thin walls, and the autumn-colour weeks are priced at the top of the year.

  Check hotel prices↗ — opens Klook in a new tab (affiliate link)Live availability for your dates

• 

  Stowe village€€Mid-range

  Stowe village — inns and guest houses at the end of the path

  Puts the start of the Recreation Path, the general store and the village restaurants on foot, so a family can hire bikes and spend two days without driving at all.

  • Recreation Path accessible on foot
  • Village restaurants and shops within a few minutes
  • Breakfast included at most of the smaller inns
  • Free seasonal shuttle up the Mountain Road to the slopes

  Fitting a family in

  Rooms with two queen beds sleep four; a true family suite with a separate bedroom is a smaller and faster-selling category here.

  Watch out. It is a seven-mile drive to the slopes, which lengthens every ski morning, and the shuttle runs seasonally rather than all year. Older inns have stairs and no lift, and the village is at its most expensive and most booked during the autumn-colour weeks. Several places close outright through mud season in April and early May.

  Check hotel prices↗ — opens Klook in a new tab (affiliate link)Live availability for your dates

• 

  Nature

  Acadia Park Loop Road and Sand Beach

  Bar Harbor

  The 27-mile one-way scenic road around the eastern side of Mount Desert Island, linking Sand Beach, the Thunder Hole sea cave, Otter Cliff and a series of granite headlands with car parks a few minutes apart. Most stops are a short walk from the road, which makes it the easiest way to see the park with small children.

  Ages

  1–16

  Time

  4h

  Adult, from

  €32

  Good to know. Entry is charged per vehicle rather than per person and covers several days; the national annual pass covers it too. Much of the loop is one-way, so a missed turning means driving the whole circuit again, and the car parks at Sand Beach and Thunder Hole fill by mid-morning in summer — the free Island Explorer shuttle avoids both problems. Thunder Hole only makes its noise around a rising tide with a swell running and is otherwise a quiet hole in the rock. The cliff edges at the overlooks are unfenced granite.

  Check tickets↗ — opens Klook in a new tab (affiliate link)

• 

  NatureBook ahead

  Cadillac Mountain summit

  Bar Harbor

  The highest point on the eastern seaboard of the United States, with a paved road to a summit car park and a short loop path around bare pink granite looking over the islands and the bay. For part of the year it is among the first places in the country to see the sunrise, which is why the road is busy before dawn.

  Ages

  3–16

  Time

  1h 30m

  Adult, from

  Free

  Good to know. Driving to the summit has required a timed vehicle reservation in recent seasons, booked separately from park entry, and the rules and release windows have changed between years — check the park's own site for the current arrangement rather than relying on a remembered one. Walking and cycling routes to the top are not covered by it. The summit is exposed, windy and often ten degrees colder than the town, and it can sit inside cloud on a clear day below. The summit loop path is short but uneven rock.

  Book tickets↗ — opens Klook in a new tab (affiliate link)

• 

  Theme parkBook ahead

  Story Land

  North Conway

  A small theme park at Glen, a few miles north of North Conway, built around storybook sets and gentle rides aimed at roughly ages two to ten, with a water-play area, a log flume and a handful of slightly larger rides for the upper end of that range.

  Ages

  2–10

  Time

  6h

  Adult, from

  €45

  Good to know. Several rides carry height minimums, commonly in the region of 90 to 110 cm, so a small toddler will be turned away from a meaningful share of what has been paid for — check the park's own height chart against the child before buying. The season is a summer and early-autumn one with reduced weekend operation at the edges, and the park closes for the winter. It holds very little for teenagers.

  Book tickets↗ — opens Klook in a new tab (affiliate link)

A sample across 50destinations — see every city's own picks in the grid above, or browse all 148 family hotels in the United States on the hotels page.

Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you book through one, the price is the same for you and we may earn a commission. How this works.

• Health & safety

  Travel insurance here is not a precaution, it is the cost of entry

  The United States has no reciprocal healthcare arrangement with any European country, and an emergency-room visit for a child's broken arm is routinely billed in the thousands rather than the hundreds. A policy with a medical limit in the millions rather than the tens of thousands is the normal recommendation, and it should be bought before departure rather than on arrival. Check that it covers the specific activities planned — many policies exclude skiing, and some exclude hiking above a stated altitude, which quietly rules out a lot of the Rockies and the Utah parks.

  Compare cover↗ — opens Klook in a new tab (affiliate link)

• When to go

  ESTA or a visa, and neither is instant

  Most European passport holders travel on an ESTA, applied for online in advance and valid for two years; every family member needs their own, including infants. Approval is usually quick but is not guaranteed to be, and the official advice is to apply at least 72 hours before travel. A previous visit to certain countries removes ESTA eligibility and requires a full visa interview, which is booked weeks or months ahead — worth checking before booking flights rather than after.

• Getting around

  Child seats are legally required and unreliably supplied

  Every state mandates car seats, and several require a booster to age eight or a height around 145 cm — older than many European families expect. Hire companies rent them for a daily fee that over two weeks approaches the price of buying one, and the seat that arrives is sometimes not the size reserved. Families travelling with under-fours frequently bring their own, which most airlines carry free of the baggage allowance.

  Compare rental cars↗ — opens Klook in a new tab (affiliate link)

• Money & costs

  The annual parks pass pays for itself on the third park

  The America the Beautiful pass covers entry to every national park and federal recreation site for a year, for everyone in one vehicle. Park entry is charged per car rather than per person, so the pass breaks even after roughly three parks — which any Utah, Californian or Rockies route passes easily. It does not cover camping, shuttles or timed-entry reservations, which several popular parks now require separately and release on a fixed schedule months ahead.

• Money & costs

  The printed price is about a quarter below what is charged

  Sales tax is added at the till rather than shown on the label, and varies by state and sometimes by city. On top of that, table service, hotel housekeeping, taxis and tour guides are tipped, with 18–22% now the normal restaurant range. Budgeting from menu prices leaves a family roughly a quarter short across a trip.

• Staying connected

  Data before landing, because the maps are the trip

  Driving routes, park shuttle times, timed-entry reservations and restaurant waitlists all assume a working phone, and roaming from outside North America is expensive. Coverage is good along interstates and in cities, and genuinely absent in parts of the national parks — downloading offline maps for a park before arriving is worth the five minutes.

  Get an eSIM↗ — opens Klook in a new tab (affiliate link)

Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you book through one, the price is the same for you and we may earn a commission. How this works.