Every guide we have written,
in one place.
112 guides and articles, all built around the same starting point: a New Hampshire family of four with a fixed school calendar, driving around New England or flying out of Logan. Grouped by what you are trying to decide.
Jump to: New England · Seasonal events · Destination guides · School vacation week · Best time to go · What it costs · Where to stay · Flying and logistics · Planning and safety · Packing · Comparisons · Scorecards · Books and gifts
New England weekends,
no flight needed.
Drivable trips, ranked the way we pick them: drive time first (measured from Boston, where most readers start), then whether the town is walkable with kids. The full filterable hub lives at Northern New England.
The best day trips from Boston, MA with kids: Portsmouth NH, Hampton and Rye beaches, Ogunquit, Kennebunkport and fall farm days, ranked by drive time.
Weekend trips from Boston with kids, ranked by drive time, from Boothbay Harbor to Cape Cod, the Berkshires and the White Mountains.
Best places to visit in New England with kids: Cape Cod for beaches, the Berkshires for small towns, White Mountains year-round, Boothbay for the coast.
Things to do in Boothbay Harbor, Maine with kids, from our own October trip: where to stay, where to eat, the Botanical Gardens, and a 3 to 4 night plan.
Things to do in Maine with kids beyond Boothbay Harbor: Portland's Old Port for a walkable coastal day, Bar Harbor and Acadia for the biggest payoff.
Things to do in Portsmouth, NH with kids, from a family that goes often: Prescott Park, Market Square, two museums nearby and the Rye and Hampton beaches.
Things to do in New Hampshire with kids, from a seacoast family: Portsmouth and the beaches, Mount Major, Ice Castles, the Cog Railway and North Conway.
Things to do in North Conway, NH with kids, from a family that stays over often: Story Land, the village and outlets, two kid-friendly breweries and where to stay.
Four Vermont bases from a family with Vermont roots: Woodstock and Quechee, Killington, Stowe and Burlington, and when to go.
Things to do in the White Mountains, NH with kids, from a family that goes year-round: Ice Castles, the Cog Railway, kid-sized hikes and where we eat.
Things to do on Cape Cod with kids: the calm bay-side beaches, then a Martha's Vineyard day built around the Flying Horses Carousel and real ice cream.
Things to do in the Berkshires, MA with kids: which small town to base in, an easy hike with a real payoff, and Tanglewood's lawn on a summer night.
Things to do in New England with kids, from a mom born and raised here: apple picking, a lake summer, a first hike, a real snow day. Updated as we go.
When New England fall foliage peaks by region, the best places to see it with kids, apple picking in Massachusetts, and fall weekends ranked by drive time.
Maple sugaring season, mud season's back roads to avoid, and April vacation week.
New England events,
state by state.
Real, dated fall festivals and winter holiday events, with admission and a family tip for each.
Real 2026 dates, admission and family tips for 10 New England fall festivals: Hampton Beach Seafood Festival, Topsfield Fair, Salem's Kids' Fun Fest, and more.
Real 2026 dates and family details for 10 Massachusetts fall events: The Big E, Topsfield Fair, King Richard's Faire, Salem's Kids' Fun Fest and more.
Real 2026 dates and family details for 10 New Hampshire fall events: the NH Highland Games, Winchester Pickle Festival, Apple Harvest Day and RiverFire.
Maine in autumn, planned around real dates: the Fryeburg Fair, Damariscotta Pumpkinfest, the Camp Sunshine Pumpkin Festival and 7 more family fall events.
From the Tunbridge World's Fair to the Stowe Foliage Arts Festival: 10 real, dated Vermont fall events worth planning a family trip around.
Christmas in New England, planned around real dates: Ice Castles, the Newport Mansions' holiday lights and 8 more winter events across all six states.
From the Faneuil Hall tree lighting to Christmas by Candlelight at Old Sturbridge Village: 10 Massachusetts winter and holiday events for families.
From Ice Castles to Santa's Village: 10 real New Hampshire winter and holiday events worth planning a family trip around.
Kennebunkport's Christmas Prelude, Gardens Aglow in Boothbay, and 8 more Maine winter and holiday events worth planning a family trip around.
From A Traditional Christmas in Stowe to Burlington's New Year's Eve festival: 10 real Vermont winter and holiday events worth planning a family trip around.
The trips we took,
written up in full.
One guide per destination: where we based ourselves, the day trips worth it, and what it cost us flying out of Boston. Also browsable by region at And Beyond.
Paris with kids, firsthand: things to do with children, a one or two week home-base plan, stroller tips, Disney and Versailles, and costs from Boston.
Iceland with kids, firsthand: family-friendly things to do, a 5 to 7 day itinerary from Reykjavík with the Golden Circle and south coast, and costs.
Ireland with kids after four trips: the best places to go on the west coast, a one or two week road-trip itinerary, an honest take on Dublin, and costs.
Things to do in London with kids, firsthand: the Tower, the London Eye, parks and free museums, where to stay, then a slow week in the Cotswolds.
Italy with kids from a family that lived in Tuscany for three months: a Rome base, Florence and hill towns by train, Venice at Carnival, and trip costs.
Greece with kids, firsthand: where to go (Athens, then Naxos), things to do at a kid's pace, how to do the ferries, and what it costs from Boston.
Switzerland with kids, firsthand: a 7-day itinerary from a car-free base in Wengen, cog railways and waterfalls with a 1-year-old, and costs.
Portugal with kids, firsthand: our Algarve family vacation in Lagos, an apartment with a kids' pool above Praia Dona Ana, Lisbon add-ons, and costs.
Visiting the Azores with kids: where the islands are, how to get there from Boston, what to do on São Miguel (crater lakes, Furnas, whales), and costs.
Nerja, Spain with kids, from our 30 days there: which Nerja beach for which day (Burriana, Maro, Calahonda), places to go, a one or two week plan, and costs from Boston.
Things to do in Amsterdam with kids, how many days you need, why Bruges beats a day trip, and how we routed it from Boston by nonstop and train.
Bulgaria with kids: a flexible home-base plan for one week or two, where to stay, day trips, rough costs from Boston, and what we'd skip.
Thailand with kids from Boston: the best time to go, a 16-day route through Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Krabi, Elephant Nature Park, and honest flight math.
Bali with kids from a family that did a slow stretch there: a Sanur base, the beaches in Bali that suit little kids, Ubud's rice terraces, and costs.
Malaysia with kids, from our own trip: a Kuala Lumpur base plus Langkawi, one or two week plans, where to stay, costs from Boston, and what we'd skip.
An Australia family vacation, firsthand: a week based in Fremantle, a Rottnest Island day with quokkas and e-bikes, Margaret River for week two, and costs.
Puerto Rico with kids from Boston: a family itinerary with 2 to 3 days in San Juan, then a week of things to do on Vieques, beaches ranked for kids.
Saint Lucia with kids: where to stay in St Lucia (north-coast beaches, then Soufrière by the Pitons), things to do and see, passports and hurricane season.
February and April vacation,
from Boston.
New England hands every family the same two weeks. These pages start from those dates and work out where you can get to and back inside them.
Massachusetts school vacation 2027: February vacation is 15 to 19 Feb, April vacation 19 to 23 Apr.
Vacation week fares spike because every Massachusetts family shops the same February and April dates. What moves the price, and how we work around it.
Warm places to go in February, nonstop from Boston Logan, ranked by flight length, passports and flights a week. Puerto Rico wins, and here is why.
Fewer tourists, shorter lines, and a nonstop from Boston that flies year-round. Paris in February vacation week, written for New England families.
Short daylight, icy roads, and a real shot at the northern lights: the honest tradeoff of a February vacation week trip to Iceland with kids.
February vacation week in Switzerland with kids: family skiing in the Jungfrau region (Wengen, Grindelwald, Mürren), lessons, peak pricing and flights.
When to go,
by destination.
Month-by-month calls for each place, weighed against school vacation weeks and what the weather does to a day with little kids.
Spring and fall shoulder seasons beat summer for a family: fewer crowds, mild weather, and Air France, Delta and JetBlue flying nonstop year-round either way.
When to visit Iceland with kids: Iceland in the summer for daylight and open roads, or winter, December included, for lower prices and the northern lights.
May and September beat peak summer for a family: gentler crowds and cost in London and the Cotswolds, without giving up mild weather.
The best month to visit Italy with kids, from three months living in Tuscany: April to June or September to October, why May works, and August heat.
When to visit Greece with kids: late May to June or September for warm seas and easy ferries, plus what Greece in August, March and December is like.
When to visit Switzerland with kids: June to September for cable cars and trails, or Switzerland in winter for skiing.
The best time to go to Portugal's Algarve with kids: why we would pick September again, what October, November, March and May are like, and August.
June through September gives the mildest, driest weather, but pack layers regardless: the Azores stay changeable year-round.
A week abroad,
priced for four.
Our own ranges for a family of four, flights from Boston included, so you can compare destinations on the same terms.
Where four of us
actually slept.
Neighborhoods and bases picked for a family of four: a kitchen, a washer and room for the kids to run nearby.
Two bedrooms, walkable to food, and a washing machine. How we search for a place that fits a family of four, and the places we would book again.
Where to stay in Paris with kids: the 7th or the 1st, and the family accommodation filters we use (kitchen, washer, elevator). Plus where we stayed.
Reykjavik for one base, Vik for a second on the south coast, and what we filter for: a kitchen, a washer, and how far the day trips really reach.
An apartment in Rome, a place near Montepulciano for Tuscany.
The best Greek island for families, from our own trips: Naxos first, Paros close behind, plus where to stay in Athens and how to handle the ferry gap.
Where to stay in Switzerland with kids: one Lauterbrunnen Valley base, a self-catering apartment over a family resort, and the pass that replaces a car.
Flights, passports
and the other paperwork.
The unglamorous part: which nonstops leave Logan, what the overnight flight is really like, and the documents that trip families up.
Every direct flight from Boston Logan: about 60 nonstop international routes to Europe, the Caribbean and beyond, by season, passport and vacation week.
Flights from Boston to Europe, grouped by flight time instead of distance: the under-6.5-hour easy tier, the 7-hour middle, and Rome and Athens at 8 plus.
Six hours is four hours of sleep and a 7am arrival.
What happens after the overnight flight from Boston lands in Paris: the day-use-hotel trick, the nap everyone still needs, and the first meal worth it.
A real rest window on arrival morning, then daylight and local mealtimes. And why the flight home is the harder direction.
Rounding up, not 20 percent. Check the bill for a service charge first, and keep tips for guides and drivers modest.
Nearly every international flight from Boston Logan leaves from Terminal E.
Why we always bought the seat and brought the infant car seat on the plane: our stroller-to-gate routine, first-flight tips, and Iceland at 9 months.
How to get a child's or baby's passport: the both-parents rule, what our Dover, NH appointment really took, 2026 fees, and why we skipped expediting.
Unlike your kids, you can usually renew an adult passport by mail.
Flights the moment the schedule releases, lodging right behind it, passports before either. The order that decides a family trip, not just the timing.
Not one per person. What we actually run for two adults and two kids in Europe, and why the phone holding the data plan matters more than the headcount.
Why we default to a carrier over a stroller on the Paris metro, even past age four.
Some paper train tickets in Europe are not valid until you stamp them on the platform.
How we plan,
and what we learned.
The judgment calls behind every guide, plus honest safety answers for the destinations families ask us about most.
Every guide we publish is built around one home base and day trips, not a new hotel every two nights.
Is a week long enough for a family trip to Europe?
Adapters are not converters, ATMs beat airport currency counters, and restaurants will not rush you out.
Every guide on this site names what we would skip. Here they all are in one place: 17 destinations, one honest note each, no filler.
Yes, and it comes with real advantages: no passport needed, US dollars, and 911 works the same as home.
Yes, and it is a genuinely kid-friendly culture.
Yes, we have taken our own girls and would go back.
Yes, and being less touristy is part of the appeal.
What to pack,
by age and by place.
The master list by age, then the destination versions for the trips where the weather changes everything.
What our family of four actually packs to travel abroad, split into a 0 to 2 baby and toddler list and a 3+ list: the real gear and the buy-it-there rules.
Two checked suitcases with a baby or toddler in the mix.
Layers over swimsuits, even in July. What to add to the base family packing list for Iceland's cool, waterfall-spray weather and geothermal pools.
Altitude sun is stronger than it looks, and evenings turn cold fast even in summer.
Sturdy sandals for uneven ruins, motion sickness aids for ferry days, and sun protection that survives a swim.
Breathable quick-dry clothes over cotton, modest cover-ups for temples, and mosquito protection that works. What to add to the packing list for Bali.
This one or that one?
How we would choose.
Two destinations side by side, decided on flight time from Boston, season and what each is like with kids.
What a Disney World trip costs a family of four in 2026, line by line, and what the same money buys for a week in Portugal, Spain or Greece from Boston.
Greece vs Italy, Iceland or Ireland, England or Ireland, Portugal or Spain, Amsterdam or Paris, Switzerland or Iceland, Azores or Bali, and Bali or Thailand, with flight times from Boston and our pick.
Is it good for a family?
One scorecard each.
The nonstop, the flight time and our verdict for each destination, scored the same way so they compare. The full route list is on Direct from Boston.
TAP flies Boston to Lisbon nonstop year-round, then Faro in 55 minutes or a 3-hour drive.
Delta, KLM and JetBlue fly Boston to Amsterdam nonstop year-round, then a train to Bruges via Brussels in 2h45m to 3h.
Doha to Perth is the one genuine one-stop routing, on volatile Gulf routes. The quick scorecard on Western Australia with kids, before the full guide.
Azores Airlines flies Boston to Ponta Delgada nonstop in about 5 hours 5 minutes, the shortest transatlantic route from Logan.
One stop via Hong Kong, Doha, Dubai or Seoul gets you to Bali, a genuine long-haul trip. The quick scorecard on Bali with kids, before the full guide.
One connection via Istanbul, Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna, Zurich or Paris gets you to Sofia year-round. The quick scorecard on Bulgaria with kids.
About 8 flights a day connect Boston to London Heathrow across 5 airlines, the most frequent route from Logan.
Delta flies Boston to Athens nonstop daily, about 9 hours. The quick scorecard on whether Greece is worth it with kids, before the full Athens guide.
Icelandair flies Boston to Reykjavik nonstop about twice a day, year-round, including both school vacation weeks.
Aer Lingus flies Boston to Dublin nonstop 2 to 3 times daily, and you clear US customs before you land. The quick scorecard on Ireland with kids.
About 11 flights a week connect Boston to Rome, including a winter block. The quick scorecard on Rome and Tuscany with kids, before the full guide.
One stop via the same long-haul hubs as Bali; Cathay via Hong Kong was the most reliable through 2026. The quick scorecard on Malaysia with kids.
Iberia flies Boston to Madrid nonstop year-round, then Malaga in 1h15m or the AVE train in 2h30m. The quick scorecard on Nerja, Spain with kids.
Air France, Delta and JetBlue all fly Boston to Paris CDG nonstop, most days more than once.
JetBlue flies Boston to San Juan nonstop 3 to 4 times daily, plus Delta: a domestic 4-hour flight, no passport needed.
JetBlue flies Boston to Saint Lucia nonstop on Saturdays year-round, about 5h30m.
SWISS flies Boston to Zurich nonstop about twice daily, then a train to Lauterbrunnen in about 2h45m. The quick scorecard on Switzerland with kids.
No nonstop from Boston to Bangkok. The fastest routings connect once, via Abu Dhabi or Istanbul, about 20 to 21 hours gate to gate.
For the kids,
before the trip.
Books and small things that get kids excited about a place before the plane, including our own.
Rosie in Paris, book one of Tails Around the Globe: a hand-illustrated rhyming picture book about a cat detective in Paris, by Kailah Selima Fredette.
A real roundup of the best books about Paris for kids to read before the trip, from a family that has taken two girls there.
A real book, tied to a real upcoming trip, turns an abstract place into somewhere a kid can picture. The picks we actually reach for, by destination.
The easiest way to get a young kid genuinely excited about a trip is to read them a story set where they're about to go.
A short, honest list for the kid who is always asking about the next trip: a real book, a real map, and gear that earns its place in the carry-on.
What families ask us.
How do you decide what to write about?
Business value first, then whether we can realistically win the search, then whether anyone is already answering it well. Search volume comes last, because the highest-intent questions a Northern New England family actually asks are exactly the ones that keyword tools systematically under-report.
Why is everything written around Boston?
Because flight routing out of Logan decides the dates, the arrival time and half the budget. We live on the New Hampshire seacoast, but Logan is our airport too. A guide written for a Newark departure is a different guide. Narrowing to one airport is what lets us be specific enough to be useful rather than generically correct.
How often do you update these guides?
Anything with a route, a price or an opening time carries a verified date, and the route pages get re-checked before each New England school vacation week. Two airlines serving Logan have gone out of business since 2025, so this is maintenance rather than housekeeping.
The flight guide from Boston.
Which routes run year-round, which are summer only, how far ahead to buy for a school vacation week, and the order we book a trip in.
Or have us plan it with you: a $99 consultation, or full booking from $499.