Best Family Road Trips with Kids
Road trips are one of our favorite ways to travel with kids because they let us combine national parks, scenic drives, small towns, wildlife stops, museums, and unexpected adventures into one family trip.
This page brings together our favorite family road trips with kids, including national park road trips, coastal drives, mountain routes, and longer U.S. itineraries we have actually taken with our girls. Use this guide to compare trip ideas, choose the best route for your family, and find the full itinerary for each road trip.
Best Family Road Trips at a Glance
National Park Road Trips with Kids
Some of our favorite family road trips have been built around national parks. These trips work especially well with kids because they combine scenic drives, short hikes, wildlife, Junior Ranger activities, visitor centers, and memorable stops that break up the drive.
American Southwest Road Trip
Our American Southwest road trip is one of the best national park road trips we have taken with kids. This itinerary connects desert scenery, historic sites, scenic drives, and major park stops, including Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, Arches, Mesa Verde, and Monument Valley.
Maine Coast + Acadia Road Trip
Our Maine road trip is a great option for families who want a mix of coastal towns, lighthouses, scenic drives, and time in a national park. Acadia National Park was a major highlight, but the full trip also included Portland, Freeport, and classic coastal Maine stops.
Yellowstone with Kids
Yellowstone is one of the most classic national park trips for families, with wildlife, geysers, boardwalks, scenic drives, and Junior Ranger stops. This trip works especially well if your kids enjoy big landscapes and unusual natural features.
Pacific Northwest Road Trip
Our Pacific Northwest road trip combined national parks, forests, waterfalls, volcanoes, coastal drives, and mountain scenery. It is a bigger trip, but it works well for families who want variety and do not mind covering more ground.
Grand Teton and Jackson Hole
Grand Teton and Jackson Hole make for a beautiful family road trip with mountain views, wildlife stops, scenic floats, lakes, and easy access to outdoor adventures. It pairs especially well with Yellowstone.
Alaska Land and Sea Adventure
Scenic Coastal and Mountain Road Trips with Kids
Some family road trips are less about one major destination and more about the drive itself. These scenic coastal and mountain road trips are great for families who want beautiful views, flexible stops, small towns, outdoor activities, and room to explore without packing every day around one big attraction.
Oregon Coast Road Trip
Our Oregon Coast road trip is one of our favorite scenic drives with kids because it combines beaches, sea stacks, coastal viewpoints, tide pools, lighthouses, and small towns. This is a great family road trip when you want flexible stops and beautiful scenery without needing a packed hiking itinerary.
Montana Road Trip
Our Montana road trip was built around wide-open scenery, mountain roads, western history, and outdoor adventure. It is a great option for families who want a slower, scenic route with room for unexpected stops, rather than a trip centered on one major attraction.
Idaho Road Trip with Kids
Our Idaho road trip mixed Old West history, unusual landscapes, scenic drives, and kid-friendly stops. It is a great family road trip for travelers who want something a little different, especially if your kids enjoy lava fields, roadside stops, and less crowded adventure destinations.
Beartooth Highway with Kids
The Beartooth Highway is not a full road trip by itself, but it is one of the most memorable scenic drives we have done as a family. It works especially well as an add-on to a Yellowstone, Montana, or Wyoming itinerary, with mountain views, alpine scenery, and plenty of places to stop along the way.
Family Road Trip Tips
After taking road trips with our girls through national parks, coastal towns, mountain routes, small towns, and long driving days, we have learned that the best family road trips are not about doing everything. They work best when we build in flexibility, choose stops that break up the drive, and leave room for the unexpected parts of the trip.
Plan Around Drive Time, Not Just Distance
A route that looks easy on a map can feel completely different with kids in the car. We try to consider actual drive times, road conditions, meal stops, bathroom breaks, and whether there are convenient places to stop along the way.
Build in Kid-Friendly Stops
Our best road trip days usually include something active or interesting for the girls, even if it is not the main destination. Visitor centers, short trails, scenic overlooks, wildlife stops, playgrounds, bookstores, and local treats can make a long travel day feel much easier.
Do Not Overpack the Itinerary
It is tempting to add every scenic stop, but road trips with kids work better when there is breathing room. We usually prioritize a few must-do experiences each day and treat everything else as a bonus.
Use National Park Visitor Centers
Visitor centers are one of our favorite road trip tools. They are helpful for bathrooms, maps, exhibits, ranger advice, Junior Ranger booklets, weather updates, and figuring out which stops are realistic with kids that day.
Keep the Car Organized
A good road trip setup makes a huge difference. Snacks, water bottles, chargers, wipes, jackets, medicine, headphones, books, and small activities should be easy to reach instead of buried in luggage.
Leave Room for the Unexpected
Some of our favorite family road trip memories came from unplanned stops. A flexible itinerary gives you room to pull over for wildlife, spend extra time at a view, stop in a small town, or change plans when the weather shifts.
Road Trip Planning Resources and Supplies
A little planning makes family road trips much easier, especially when long drive days, national parks, weather changes, and kid-friendly stops are involved. We do not bring everything, but a few road trip supplies and planning habits consistently make our trips smoother.
Road Trip Packing Essentials
For family road trips, we like to keep the most-used items within easy reach rather than buried in the trunk. Snacks, water bottles, wipes, chargers, sunglasses, jackets, medicine, and a small first aid kit are always part of our road trip setup.
Car Organization
A messy car makes long travel days harder. We try to use separate bags or bins for snacks, electronics, travel activities, extra layers, and overnight items so we do not have to unpack the whole car at every stop.
National Park Planning
For national park road trips, we usually check park maps, visitor center locations, timed-entry rules, Junior Ranger booklet availability, road closures, and seasonal conditions before we go. Visitor centers are also helpful once we arrive because rangers can tell us what is realistic that day.
Travel Activities for Kids
Our girls do best when they have a mix of things to do in the car and reasons to get excited about the next stop. Books, headphones, drawing supplies, downloaded shows, scavenger hunts, Junior Ranger booklets, and small surprises can all help long drives feel easier.
More Family Itinerary Ideas Beyond the U.S.
Most of this page focuses on our favorite family road trips in the United States, but some of our best family adventures have taken us farther from home. These international family itineraries are great if you want wildlife, history, cities, outdoor adventure, and unique experiences with kids.
Costa Rica with Kids
Wildlife, rainforests, volcanoes, hanging bridges, beaches, and adventure activities made Costa Rica one of our favorite international family trips.
Colombia with Kids
Our Colombia itinerary combined colorful towns, city exploring, mountain views, cultural stops, and memorable day trips.
Peru with Kids
Peru was a bucket-list family adventure with ancient ruins, desert adventures, mountain towns, wildlife, Machu Picchu, and unforgettable scenery.
Finnish Lapland with Kids
Finnish Lapland gave us snow, Santa experiences, reindeer, huskies, ice fishing, and winter adventure in Rovaniemi.
