• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About Us
  • Work With Us
  • Shop
  • Blog Coaching
  • Disclosures
  • Contact
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Amazon
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • TikTok
    • YouTube
How many of you have heard you will no longer be a How many of you have heard you will no longer be able to travel once you have kids? I find most people who say these things don’t even have kids or if they do they have never traveled with their kids!

I’m not really into counting countries and we enjoy visiting places more than once, seeing the beauty all over the US and right in our state too. You don’t have to travel far to give your kids amazing experiences but you can also take them wherever you want. Y’all know my motto, if kids live there kids can visit!! 

Where have you been that people said you were crazy for taking your kids (or your parents for taking you) but you were so glad you didn’t listen to them and went anyway.

#travellingwithkids #familytravel
Everything you need to know about visiting Chichen Everything you need to know about visiting Chichen Itza, one of the 7 Wonders of the World (SAVE + SHARE this post).

Chichen Itza is 2.5 hours from Cancun, 2 hours from Playa del Carmen, and 90 minutes from both Tulum and Merida.

You can get here by renting a car, booking a private tour on Airbnb Experiences like we did, coming on a tour bus or for budget travelers taking the ADO bus. 

Most tours from Cancun are all day long, leaving as early as 7/8 am and as late as 9 pm drop off. This is because you’ll visit cenotes outside of Chichen Itza and the town of Valladolid. Since we only had 4 days in Cancun we didn’t want to spend a full day on the road but also really wanted to visit so booking private transportation allowed us to skip all the other stops and just go there and back. We were picked up at 9 and back at the hotel by 4 so we could have a relaxing evening.

Current admission is $533 Mexican pesos for adults, $80 for kids 3-12 and free for kids under 3. That’s about $30 US for adults and $5 for kids.

Once inside there is the main attraction that everyone comes to see but there are also other Mayan dwellings and a cenote. I recommend coming with a guide or hiring an official guide once on site so they can give you information on the history.

Have you been to any of the 7 Wonders? If so, which one(s)?

Hubby and I climbed the Great Wall of China together in 2007, Jordyn, James and I have been to the Colosseum in Rome, the girls and I have been to Petra and we all visited Machu Picchu, Christ the Redeemer, Chichen Itza and the Great Pyramids of Giza together!

#chichenitza #7wondersoftheworld
Today is the last day of school and I could not be Today is the last day of school and I could not be more proud of Jordyn! Look at all those awards she racked up at her end of the year ceremony. She’s reading 3 grade levels above hers, was only 9 points away from a perfect score on her state reading test and made the Honor Roll every quarter of the year. It’s time to celebrate, let summer begin!!!
We’ve been to 34 states and while we haven’t v We’ve been to 34 states and while we haven’t visited them all yet these are 4 states you should consider visiting this summer. (SAVE + SHARE this list for inspo)

📍Idaho- Last year we explored Southern Idaho and it blew us away. City of Rocks National Reserve, Kayak to Shoshone Falls, white water rafting, and walking behind Perrine Coulee Waterfall are musts!

📍Alaska- We visited the South East part of Alaska, Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan and WOW talk about stunning. You’ll love exploring ice caves, walking on glaciers, canoeing through ice bergs, seeing the volcano and hopefully spotting some bears!

📍Utah- From the famous national parks like Zion and Bryce to the lesser known areas like Kanab, Utah is stunning. You can’t miss sand boarding through Coral Pink Sand Dunes and ATVing through the gorgeous landscape.

📍California- Where else can you surf and ski/snowboard in the same day? California has the most national parks in any state so you know the beauty is beyond amazing. Having lived there for 3 years I’ve explored so many cities and there is something for everyone!!

Would you like me to share my website link for our itineraries for each of these trips in stories? Have you been to any of these? Which state intrigues you the most from this list? What city/state would you like to see us cover?

#visittheusa #bucketlisttrip #travellingwithkids
We have been traveling with our girls since they w We have been traveling with our girls since they were 6 weeks old. Is traveling with kids always easy? Nope! Are there added costs to traveling with kids? Yes! But having status with World of Hyatt has helped elevate our travels, making things a little easier and saving us money, here’s how (SAVE + SHARE this post).

1. Being a family of 4 standard hotel rooms can be kind of cramped. Having status with World of Hyatt means we’re eligible for free upgrades when available including suites as a Globalist.

2. Eating out for breakfast everyday on a vacation starts to add up really quickly. As a Globalist we get free breakfast for 2 adults and 2 children.

3. At hotels with club access Globalists also get free access which includes drinks and snacks, the perfect way to hold kids over until dinner without spending money.

4. I don’t know who decided 9 or 10am was a good time for check-out, hello we’re on vacation, we want to sleep in! Having status with World of Hyatt means you qualify for late check out at 2pm or 4pm depending on your level of status. So whether you sleep in, hit the pool or use the other amenities at the hotel you can enjoy a little longer. It especially helps us when we have flights later in the day.

5. After paying for our hotel room we hate having added fees. Thankfully when you have Globalist status with World of Hyatt resort fees are waived on free night awards and/or eligible rates.

6. Free hotel nights! There is nothing like booking a hotel and not paying a penny! Having joined World of Hyatt we rack up points (on more than just stays) and the higher your status, the more points you earn to get free stays faster.

7. As World of Hyatt members we even earn American Airlines miles on our Hyatt stays, getting us free flights faster to save even more money!

From being more comfortable to finding more ways to earn, you’re missing out if you haven’t joined World of Hyatt!

@hyatt #HyattPartner
4 Ways to Redeem Points at Hyatt Hotels & 7 Ways t 4 Ways to Redeem Points at Hyatt Hotels & 7 Ways to Earn World of Hyatt Points & (SAVE + SHARE):

Ways to Redeem
1. Redeem points for rooms at Hyatt hotels. There’s nothing like experiencing luxury without the cost, so glad I could redeem Hyatt points for this stay with one of the best views of Tokyo.

2. Redeem points to cover your meal at participating restaurants at Hyatt hotels.

3. Redeem Hyatt points to cover your spa treatment at participating spas at Hyatt hotels. 

4. Redeem points through World of Hyatt FIND experiences. With over 200 experiences like cooking classes, tastings, & walking tours there are so many activities to choose from!

Ways to Earn
1. Are you an elite member with American Airlines? If so, you can earn 1 Hyatt point for every $1 spent on AA flights. These are in addition to the normal miles you’ll earn on American, just sign into your AA account & link your World of Hyatt account.

2. Rent a car through Avis & can earn 500 Hyatt points per rental. Just provide your Hyatt membership number when making the reservation & use AWD code K817700.

3. Book a FIND experience by World of Hyatt and earn 10 points per $1 spent. Hyatt offers over 200 experiences such as culinary classes with celebrity chefs, hot air balloon ride in Arizona, guided bike tour over the Golden Gate bridge and more.

4. Even if you aren’t staying at a Hyatt property, if you eat at the hotel restaurant or book a spa treatment you can earn 5 points per $1 spent. We actually ate at a Hyatt restaurant in Kyoto & even though we weren’t staying there I gave my World of Hyatt number & received points!

5. Earn points on everyday spending with a World of Hyatt credit card: 2 points per $1 spent on restaurants, airline tickets, local transit, rideshares, & gym memberships plus earn 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.

6. Transfer points earned on other credit cards who partner with Hyatt such like Chase Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, Freedom Unlimited & Freedom Flex. 

7. Book a cruise with Lindblad Expeditions & earn 5 points per $1 spent.

Are you doing any of these?

📍Andaz Tokyo

@hyatt #HyattPartner
If you visit Lisbon or any mainland city in Portug If you visit Lisbon or any mainland city in Portugal I highly recommend adding a trip to Madeira! It’s an island off the coast of Portugal, actually closer to Africa than Portugal. Here’s how I spent 6 days in Madeira (Save + Share this post):

🇵🇹Day 1: Pool day at my hotel (NEXT Hotel) for most of the day and then I went running up the crazy hills of Madeira to see Funchal by foot.

🇵🇹Day 2: I explored the NW part of the island visiting Seixal Beach, Ponto Moniz, Fanal Forest and Ilheus da Ribeira da Janela.

🇵🇹Day 3: I went on a sidecar adventure where I explored Valley of the Nuns, the Cabo Girão Skywalk, and the fishing town of São Pedro with @madeirasidecartours.

🇵🇹Day 4: Whale and dolphin watching tour but we only saw dolphins. In the evening I did an Airbnb Experience at a locals farm house where he cooked a great dinner where 90% of the items were picked directly from his gardens that day. He also taught us how to make poncha, a favorite local drink. The tour should already be linked in my Maderia story highlights.

🇵🇹Day 5: I toured the SE part of the island visiting Ponta do Garajau, Monte Palace, and ended the day at the most beautiful views from Pico do Arieiro (the shots of me on the clouds).

🇵🇹Day 6: I watched the sunrise from Miradouro Ponto do Rosto and then did an 8 mile hike of Levado do Caldeirão Verde. After the hike I relaxed at the pool!

If you want photos taken in Madeira I recommend @robframing.

Honestly Madeira was everything and I don’t see it dropping out of my top 5 international destinations anytime soon.

The Traveling Child

If kids live there, kids can visit!

  • Affording Travel
  • Destinations
    • Africa
      • Kenya
      • Morocco
    • Asia
      • Singapore
      • Thailand
    • Australia
    • Caribbean
      • Aruba
      • The Bahamas
      • Barbados
      • Cuba
      • Grand Cayman
      • Jamaica
      • Puerto Rico
      • Trinidad
    • Central America
      • Costa Rica
    • Europe
      • Austria
      • Belgium
      • Denmark
      • France
      • Italy
      • Spain
      • The Netherlands
    • North America
      • Alaska
      • Arizona
      • California
      • Colorado
      • Florida
      • Georgia
      • Hawaii
      • Idaho
      • Illinois
      • Kansas
      • Louisiana
      • Mexico
      • Nevada
      • New York
      • South Carolina
      • South Dakota
      • Tennessee
      • Texas
      • Utah
      • West Virginia
      • Wisconsin
    • South America
      • Brazil
      • Colombia
  • Travel Tips
    • Tips on Traveling with Kids
    • Trip Planning Tips
  • Reviews
    • Airline Reviews
    • Hotel Reviews
    • Product Reviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Buy Our Book
  • Blog Coaching

48 Hours in Barbados with Kids

July 14, 2016      Barbados, Caribbean, Destinations

This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commission at no cost to you. Please see our disclosure policy for more information. All opinions are my own.

What do you do when JetBlue adds nonstop service from Fort Lauderdale to Bridgetown offering flight deals for $165RT? You go to Barbados with kids! I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t want to stay in paradise as long as possible but Barbados is a very small island so a long weekend is more than enough time. We flew out Friday morning and returned on Sunday.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you.

Things to Know When Traveling to Barbados with Kids

Like a lot of Caribbean islands you de-board directly on the tarmac so be prepared to carry your little one down the stairs. If you have a baby like we did, this is where having a carrier would come in handy! If you gate checked your stroller you do reclaim it on the tarmac which was great so our eldest could sit in it while we waited in the immigration line. Read more tips on surviving the airport with kids here.


You May Be Interested in: Tips on Flying with Babies or Tips on Flying with Toddlers

Where to Stay in Barbados

We stayed at the Hilton Barbados and loved it. It’s right on a beautiful beach, with white sand and crystal clear warm water. Every room overlooks the beach, ours overlooked both the beach and pool. It was a quick 25min ride from the airport and a $12USD taxi ride. They don’t have cribs but they do offer free pack n plays which we took full advantage of for Kennedy to sleep in. The room we stayed in had both a tub and stand up shower, great for families. Children under 5 also eat free so we didn’t have to pay for any of our kids meals we ate at the resort.

Things to Do in Barbados with Kids: Our Barbados Itinerary

Day 1: Beach & Waterfront Cafe

We checked in and grabbed lunch at the hotel’s restaurant. We got their signature El Dorado fish sandwich. Then we hit the beach as our oldest is absolutely obsessed. After a few hours we washed up and took a nap as we were tired from our early flight and the sun and beach water. We were celebrating Mother’s Day and our daughters 2nd Birthday and the hotel made her feel very special. When we woke up we headed to Waterfront Cafe for dinner- they have live music on Friday nights and they have indoor and outdoor seating. We took a cab, which they have plenty at the resort, for about $7USD.

toddler girl eating birthday cake on the balcony with pool and beach in the background

Day 2: Snorkeling with Sea Turtles, Barbados Wildlife Reserve, & Harrison’s Cave

Snorkeling with Sea Turtles

We woke up extremely early for a morning adventure of swimming with the turtles and snorkeling to see the sunken ships. Yes we went snorkeling with our 3 month old and 2 year old!! We did our tour through Therapy Charters. I absolutely loved Therapy Charters because it is a true private trip, it was just the 4 of us, the owner Leisa, and the captain who was also the tour guide/underwater photographer.

I had spoken with Leisa before to let her know we had our two children and if it was okay for my husband and I to switch out watching the baby so we could each have time in the water. She immediately offered to stay on board with our little one so we could enjoy the trip with our oldest. I was skeptical at first but didn’t want to seem rude through email so I just said thank you and knew I would play it by ear. Leisa has four kids herself and was absolutely amazing and I felt like I could trust her, so we did. They had a life vest small enough for our 2yr old and snapped some great photos of us underwater with the turtles that they later emailed us- this was at no additional cost.

The trip was $130 total for 2hours out in the ocean and Leisa picked us up from our hotel and dropped us off. We spent one hour swimming with the turtles (this is out in the open ocean so you are in their habitat, they are not captive). The other hour was spent on a swimming/snorkeling tour to the four sunken ships, this was very cool to see the ships underwater.

We started the day at 8AM so we were back to the hotel by 10:30AM, we showered and got ready for our next adventure. We asked the taxi driver how much it would be to take us to the Barbados Wildlife Reserve and one of the caves and it ended up being cheaper to higher him by the hour, $35/hr USD- it took us 3 hours to do all that we did.

dad and daughter on boat

Barbados Wildlife Reserve

The Barbados Wildlife Reserve was our first stop. They do not accept credit cards so be sure to have enough cash ($11.75USD for adults, $5.87USD for children 3-12, and free for under 3). The reserve is best known for the Barbados Green Monkeys that roam free, feeding time is at 2PM but we left before they began to feed them and we still saw plenty! There are also tortoises, peacocks, Brocket Deers, and many others. If you have a little one that doesn’t walk or can’t walk for long I highly recommend you bring your carrier, a stroller will be useless here due to the very narrow, somewhat hilly, and cobblestone path.

girl and dad putting fingers over mouth in shh motion with monkeys behind them

We were still deciding between which cave to go to- Harrison’s Cave or Animal Flower Cave. Both our snorkel guide and the taxi driver recommended Harrison’s Cave so we took their word for it. I regret this decision and wish we would have went to Animal Flower Cave, especially for the apparent breathtaking view from the cliff.

Thinking of Visiting Other Islands: See Our Itineraries for Aruba, Cuba, The Bahamas, and Jamaica

Harrison’s Cave

Harrison’s Cave is an underground cave known for its caverns and formations. We did the tram tour which lasts about 45mins- 1hr. It is $30USD per person and we were very disappointed. If you haven’t been to a cave before I guess it is a nice thing to see but having been to other underground caves in other countries I thought this one was sub-par and not worth the $30USD, more like a $10 tour, which is probably more of the reason why I was disappointed. We had dinner at highly talked about Brown Sugar, which we could walk to from the hotel. The food was okay but we didn’t understand the big fuss made about it.

Day 3 in Barbados with Kids: Relax at the Beach

Unfortunately it was our last day :-(. What else would we do but spend the day at my daughters favorite place, the beach! The sun in Barbados is strong! Be sure to prepare yourself with proper sun protection and even protection from the water.

dad throwing daughter in the air


baby laying on the beach with sunglasses on

After the beach it was time to shower, pack, and head to the airport! While our trip was short we had a great time in Barbados with kids. It prepared us for other trips to the Caribbean with our kids like Cuba, Aruba, Jamaica, and Grand Cayman. We hope to return to spend more time on the island but this short trip was what we needed mentally. Did you find this post helpful? Please share it!

The Traveling Child is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.

Share
Tweet
Pin8
Email
Share
8 Shares

Newsletter Subscribtion

 
Join Our Mailing List
You'll get tips on affordable travel, flight deals and detailed itineraries for every trip we've been on (family, girlfriends getaway, baecations and solo) to make your planning process easier.
Thank you for subscribing!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Musa M says

    December 29, 2017 at 11:38 pm

    Thank you for sharing. I have two boys (3 and 1) and we recently took our first trip together. It was a little chaotic but enjoyable. Reading your blog has given me the courage to plan more and Live my best life!

    • Monet says

      December 30, 2017 at 6:32 pm

      You are most welcome, yes live your best life!!! Definitely adjustments need to be made when traveling with kids but in the end it is worth it.
      Monet

  2. Nika says

    April 7, 2018 at 9:53 am

    Thank you so much for sharing all these details. I absolutely love your blog and IG page. And it’s because of your content I had a sit down with my two kids and we decided to cut out unnecessary spending and go back to traveling. I will be graduating soon in three weeks and said now that I will t be so busy with school work and deadlines we can start to travel again. Ive taken my kids out of the country before to Honduras, Grand Caymans and Cozemel as well as costa mya. But I want to be more organized and get our passports stamps again. Thank you so much for your inspiration.

    • Monet says

      April 7, 2018 at 9:59 am

      Hi Nika,
      You don’t know how much this comment means to me. Thank you so much for providing feedback and sharing your story. Congratulations on your upcoming graduation, I know you are so happy to see your school work come to an end. I hope that you and your family get as much out of traveling vs. unnecessary spending as we do. The cutbacks are hard at first but we find it rewarding, we can learn about places in person instead of on TV. Happy traveling!!!
      Monet

Primary Sidebar

  • Amazon
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • TikTok
  • YouTube

Hi! We’re The Hambricks

Hi! We’re The Hambricks

If kids live there, kids can visit! That's our motto and you'll often find us exploring destinations most don't find "kid friendly". We've traveled to 35 countries on 6 continents with our children since they were 10 weeks old and share tips to make it easier and affordable. But mom and dad are people too so we also write about solo travel, baecations and girlfriend getaways.

Newsletter

Subscribe to Our Newsletter
You'll get tips on affordable travel, flight deals and detailed itineraries for every trip we've been on (family, girlfriends getaway, baecations and solo) to make your planning process easier.
Thank you for subscribing!

Recent Posts

  • The Best Christmas Markets in Europe
  • The Best Christmas Markets in the USA
  • The 11 Best Eiffel Tower Photo Spots
  • The Best Places to Go for Halloween
  • Things to Do in Southern Idaho

LIKE US ON FACEBOOK

Facebook

FOLLOW US ON PINTEREST

Copyright © 2023 The Traveling Child, LLC.