Volcanos. Glaciers. Whales. Geothermal pools. And SO so so many breathtaking waterfalls. Iceland is a nature lover's paradise, a quick flight from NYC area, and everyone speaks English fluently (more or less)! If the Land of Fire & Ice is not on your travel bucket list yet, I hope this blog post inspires you to add it right at the top!
While most travelers plan their Iceland trip during their more temperate summer months, I'm thrilled to show you why spring is perhaps the BEST time to visit Iceland (spoiler: there are zero crowds, there are gorgeous snowy landscapes galore, and you'll have enough night time for Northern Lights but long enough daylight for 12+hr sightseeing days). I'll share every aspect of my family's Iceland itinerary so you can quickly copycat our multigenerational family vacation, and I will include tons of tips and things to consider when planning and customizing your trip. If you want to sit back and be entertained with beautiful footage of Iceland, watch our 3-part youtube series first! Then read on for all of the details!!
Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored but we were provided some tickets free to in exchange for including them in our vacation guide, and they're noted below. This post also contains some affiliate links below, noted with ** - as an Amazon Associate, I receive commission from purchases made after clicking those links.
FLIGHTS:
Flight times and prices will vary depending on your home airport and time of year, but I was able to find $280 roundtrip direct flights on Iceland's budget carrier, Play Airlines, for my family flying from Stewart International Airport in Newburgh NY (1 hr from NYC) to Reykjavik. INCREDIBLE!! It was about 4 hours there and 6 hours back, an easy peasy flight from the US east cost!
When on Play's website, play around (see what I did there LOL) with the dates to find the best fare, and definitely also check out Kayak and Google Flights to compare with larger carriers. Think of how much baggage you'll need to bring and calculate that into your total cost. For example, with Play, only a "personal item" (SMALL backpack) is included in the lowest fare ticket. My family purchased ONE checked bag to share, and it was an amazing deal for us! But if your family needs a checked bag for each person plus you want in-seat entertainment and meal service, a higher priced ticket with a traditional carrier might be a better deal.
If budget travel is your thing, make sure to come back and read these 2 blog posts (or click over and bookmark them now!):
ACCOMODATIONS:
We traveled with my parents (in their 70s) and our 3 kids (ages 8, 8, 11) and wanted to be together in a stair-free accommodation, so our needs were a bit exceptional. We decided to stay the entire trip in Reykjavik, because researching and finding a different place in each stop was too much of a headache. Plus, we didn't want to be driving a 10 passenger van all over, which would have been necessary to fit the 7 of us and our luggage. After hours and hours (no joke) of research, I booked a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom "Superior Apartment" with kitchen and balcony at Downtown Reykjavik Apartments on Booking.com**. It was PERFECTION! A true home away from home! It was very quiet while being centrally located in the city - just a 10 minute walk to the main street and bus depot. It was too cold to hang out on our 4th floor balcony but I set my alarm a few times each night to go out and look for Aurora and one night I actually did capture them on my phone from there!! They had an elevator, free wifi, we never had trouble finding a free parking spot, and there was a luggage room which worked out great because our flight arrived at 4:30am and our bus got us to the hotel at 8am but we couldn't check into our room until 3pm LOL! Just dropped our bags off, bundled up, and headed to breakfast at Sundholt Bakery followed by a FULL day on our feet sightseeing (more on that below)! If looking for a house, Airbnb** and VRBO** are great places to search.
Our 5-7 day Iceland Itinerary:
BLUE CAR RENTAL:
Figuring out who to rent a car from was another hours upon hours of research I put into our trip, but you can save yourself the hassle and just choose Blue Car Rental, which was amazing!!! AND you can save 5% with my commission earning affiliate code Usjapanfam by clicking this link**!! One thing that's so great about Blue Car Rental is they have an office at Keflavik Airport AND in downtown Reykjavik, so you can pickup and dropoff at either. Personally, we only used the city location because we wanted to get a 7-seater, which was just big enough for our group WITHOUT our luggage. The Kia Sorento was less than a year old, in perfect condition, and all of their cars have studded tires (see photo below!) so you don't have to worry so much about weather, well, not when it comes to the car anyway!
Car Rental Tips:
SELF-DRIVE ITINERARY:
Road Trip #1: Southern Golden Circle (12hrs)
Picked up our rental car at 8am and headed out bright and early... we all crashed at 6pm our first night so it was actually perfect, despite our bodies still being on Eastern Time (4 hours behind Iceland)!
Stop 1: Urriðafoss / Urridafoss Waterfall
Not super tall but large and powerful, very short path from parking lot i.e. you could do as few as 5-30 minutes here)
Stop 2: Lava Centre
An amazing hands on educational center that gifted us tickets in exchange for including them in our review. They had a beautiful volcano movie (with bean bags on the floor the kiddos loved) and so many exhibits where you could learn about how volcanos work, how Iceland is divided between 2 spreading tectonic plates so the country grows bigger at a rate of 2" per year! They even have an earthquake simulator!!! Very cool place!! We probably spent 1 hour here, followed by lunch on the road nearby.
Stop 3: Seljalandsfoss Waterfall
Beautiful tall (almost 200 feet) and narrow waterfall from a glacier-capped volcano. You can see it from quite a distance as you approach it by car. In summer you can walk behind the waterfall (bring a poncho) but in winter and in spring when we went, the back path is iced over and blocked off, and even the matted path in front was pretty icy (my kids loved "skating" around and had a hilarious fall a stranger caught on camera for us (see below photo!). We didn't want to risk my parents falling so they stayed back beyond where the mist was hitting (and freezing). This is a MUST stop, absolutely gorgeous! It's not far from the parking lot, maybe 5-10 minute walk, plan for at least 30 minutes here, more if you want to hike and see more waterfalls along the way.
Stop 4: Rútshellir Cave
A quick, free, and unique stop to break up the drive but you do need to be rather agile to maneuver the little ladder over a fence to access the cave (my 70 year old parents had no problem, but just a heads up). 10-15 minutes is all you need here.
Stop 5: Skogafoss Waterfall
This waterfall was spectacular, my favorite of all of them! Almost 200 feet fall and 82 feet wide. When we were there in early April, there was a lot of ice all around which made it even more stunning, there was a rainbow over it at one point, and you could hear ice break off and fall down occasionally. It is about a 10 minute easy walk from parking to the waterfall, plan for at least 30 minutes here, more if you are adventurous enough to climb the MANY stairs to view it from the top (we did not). You can walk right up to it but the mist gets heavier and heavier as you get closer (and the ground icier and icier).
Sólheimajökull Glacier:
We did not stop here but rather admired it while driving by on the Golden Circle, which was enough for us. There are plenty of tour groups that organize hikes here, they'll provide the gear and everything!
Stop 6: Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach
A beautiful beach, infamous for "sneaker waves" which suck a few people each year out into the frigid open waters. There are warning signs up - never turn your back to the ocean and don't go past the dry sand too close to the shoreline. Even when waves look calm, there could be a random one that "sneaks" up on you. Best case, you get wet and someone adds a video of you to countless other Reynisfjara sneaker wave videos on TikTok. Worst case, it knocks you down, pulls you out, and game over. That said, it's a beautiful beach which my kids will tell you is NOT black sand, it's black pebbles LOL! And the gorgeous basalt structures to admire, just wow, I loved those!!
Stop 7: Vík i Myrdal
We didn't spend much time here but it's a popular place to spend the night if doing a multiple night ride around the Golden Circle. Defintiely see their iconic church and have dinner at Black Crust Pizzeria (it's not black from volcanic ash but rather charcoal, to go along with the black sand beach vibe - SO yum!! I highly recommend the #2 (pizza with duck, cream cheese, syrup soaked orange, cashew nuts + chilli), and the sweet bacon wrapped dates. OMG. I'm drooling just remembering these!!
Dinner completed our first road trip and we drove 2.5 hours back to Reykjavik, with a brief pit stop for ice cream and bathroom at a nice convenience store on the highway.
Road Trip #2: Northern Golden Circle (8hrs)
Stop 1: Brúarfoss Waterfall
This was a nice waterfall but a bit scary as there was a portion before the bridge that had no guardrail - if you have little ones, please be careful! The view over the waterfall from the small foot bridge is lovely! It's probably the longest trek from parking to a waterfall that we did, but still quite short, maybe 10 minutes, so schedule 30 minutes here to be safe. If I were forced to drop any of the waterfalls from our itinerary it'd probably be this one, but only if FORCED. It was beautiful, just a bit of a drive off the Circle and then a walk, so took quite a bit of time if you're rushed, consider dropping this one to save time.
Stop 2: Strokkur Geyser
There is an amazing visitor center here - very new and modern with a huge variety of delicious food options!!! Depending on your schedule, you may want to plan for a meal or a snack here, then head over to the geyser. It's a quick 5 minute walk and erupts with a spout of water 100 feet high every 10-20 minutes. Lots of bubbling hot springs around so just stay on the path. The larger Geysir is dormant now, unfortunately, but Strokkur was still impressive! Allow at least 30 minutes here.
Stop 3: Gulfoss Waterfall
This waterfall is incredible!! If you have time you can walk along the path for a few different angles, it's not far from the parking and this one also has a wonderful visitor center with great food options! Give yourself at least 30 minutes here.
Stop 4: Laugarvatn Fontana Geothermal Bakery Tour & Geothermal Baths
To be honest, I heard about this place on Netflix's Down to Earth with Zac Efron and reached out to see if they'd host us for a visit, and they did!! And this place did not disappoint!!! You MUST schedule this on your trip to Iceland, it's right on the Golden Circle and provides some once in a lifetime kind of experiences!!! Book the Geothermal Bakery Tour and they'll take you out to their lake, dig up bread that's been baking in the ground for the last 24 hours, and bury a new loaf for tomorrow's tour to dig up. You'll see the water in the ground actually boiling!! Geothermal energy, baby!!! THEN, you go inside and they cut the Icelandic Rye Bread open - it's still steaming hot!! And you'll eat it with fresh Icelandic butter and smoked trout caught in the very lake you are at!!! It was absolutely delicious!!!
We followed up the bakery tour by relaxing in their geothermal baths. Bring your own towels and swim suits or you can rent from Fontana. They have nice big locker rooms where you can safely stow your items and wear the key on a wrist band. You'll need to scrub down in the showers before putting on your swimsuit and heading outdoors to the various naturally heated geothermal pools. I'm not gonna lie, it was COLD when we went. They were having a wind storm and it was honestly probably 0 degrees Fahrenheit wind chill!!! You briskly walk from the locker room and then plunge down into the hot baths and it feels SO good!!! The lake was frozen but they pound out the ice so you can do a cold plunge if you please (we did not but many people did), and you've also got snowy mountains in the background. After bathing, head back to the locker room - they've even got shampoo and hair dryers for you (but no shower curtain... when in Rome)!
Both bakery and bath adventures at Fontana were so incredibly unique, this place goes down as one of my top 10 most memorable and recommended travel experiences ever, 100%!!!
Stop 5: Þingvellir / Thingvellir National Park
This is supposedly the only place on earth where you can see on land where two tectonic plates meet and it's spectacular. We learned at the Lava Centre the day before that the two plates are spreading apart, making Iceland grow 2" per year! To see it in person the next day was just really cool! The parking lot is very close so you could do this in as little as 10 minutes but it's a HUGE park if you want to spend hours hiking and exploring, you can. It's only 45 minutes from Reykjavik so this could be its own day trip if you have time, but we crammed it into the larger half Golden Circle trip.
REYKJAVIK ACTIVITIES:
Reykjavik is a really cute town! The main street is lively with lots of shopping and restaurants, really nice to walk along and explore, wide variety of architecture and colorful buildings going on which I really loved! But it's not a huge city. I would have been content with a single day in the city and the 2 full road trip days, but having 5-6 days gives you much more flexibility and more of a slow travel vibe. I found Reykjavik the perfect place to have as our base camp, so you can go about leisurely if you have extra time, or book last minute tours (or rental car) out of the city.
Perlan Wonders of Iceland Museum:
Perlan's observation deck has THE BEST view in town (see below)! You can buy tickets for just the observation deck OR an all-inclusive museum ticket, the latter which we were gifted in exchange for including them in our vacation coverage. It is an amazing museum with lots of hands on exhibits and ways to learn about the science behind this amazing land of Fire & Ice! Their manmade 100m long Ice Cave was one of the highlights of the trip for me - made with 350 tons from Iceland's Blue Mountains and is kept at a frigid 14°F (-10°C)!! I also really enjoyed their Northern Lights show in the planetarium, but several in our family slept through that one since we went on our first day in Iceland after flying overnight with no sleep... oops!
Hallgrimskirkja Cathedral:
Perhaps the most iconic building in Reykjavik - you can pay to go up top for a great view from their tower, but we just went inside for free and listened to beautiful pipe organ), and our kids had fun on the swings outside!
Whale watching tour with Reykjavik Sailors / Special Tour:
There are MANY whale watching tours running but Reykjavik Sailors had the best pricing I could find, definitely a splurge for us but totally worth it - we had a great trip! It was a nice big boat with TONS of seating inside (great for the 45 minute ride to and from the bay, if it's cold weather), drinks and snacks for purchase, free wifi, life jackets (required for kids under 12), nice bathrooms, and a great deck on top for viewing. We saw soooooo many whales and even a few playful dolphins. I was nervous about my son and myself getting motion sick but 99% of the ride was shockingly smooth and we all did totally fine!
Public geothermal swimming pool (Sundhöll):
If you have time, this is a really local experience that is fun for the whole family! Supposedly the indoor/outdoor public pools are where Icelandic people go to hang out regularly, all year round, and it seemed very much the case when we went!! Maybe bars and restaurants aren't as popular because alcohol is so expensive?? I digress... We went to the Sundhöll Reykjavíkur because it was very close to our hotel, but if you have time I think Laugardalslaug looks even more fun for kids (it has a huge water slide!) Kids are free, it's about $10 per adult. They have lockers and you just take the little key with a wrist band, they even had footies to cover your shoes so you didn't get the locker room dirty where people are walking around barefoot, and they had floaties for non-swimmers. You bring your own towel and swimsuit, scrub down (naked) then suit up and go enjoy the pools! They're geothermally heated - the pools were gloriously warm, the hot tubs were amazing, and ours even had a cold plunge (which my husband did, how!?!?!). They had an indoor pool that was being used for kids swim lessons, so we stuck to the many outdoor pools and it was such a unique experience. No cameras were allowed in the pool area so I don't have any photos or videos of that but we had a great time!
Grotta Lighthouse:
We drove since we still had our car but it's walkable from Reykjavik. It's a really cute lighthouse! Check the tide times though (they're listed there but it'd be better to know before hand so you can plan your day accordingly) - you want to have enough time to walk out and not get stuck out there!! This is a popular (dark) spot to come out at night to see Northern Lights for those who can't get out of the city.
Árbæjarsafn / Arbaer Open Air Museum:
This is another one we squeezed in because we still had our car and wanted to use it LOL! They provide a tour guide and you can learn a lot about Iceland's history, I highly recommend it, though younger kids may find it a wee boring.
Smáralind / Smaralind Shopping Mall:
This was another one we randomly added to our free day with a car. I love going to grocery stores and shopping malls in foreign countries, don't you!? One big plus about this one is they have a Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur store in the mall, where you can try the famous Icelandic hot dog without standing in line for an hour and eating outside in downtown Reykjavik with the rest of the tourists LOL!! Don't try to pick and choose your toppings, you need to go all in with the standard which includes onions, fried onions, ketchup, lamb/pork/beef hot dog, remoulade, and mustard! SO YUM!!!
There are tons of activities and museums and day tours you can do in Reykjavik, and tons of excursions that will pick up and drop off there. So do your research and figure out what are musts for your family - do you want to hike a volcano, explore a glacier, do the FlyOver Iceland ride, visit the Blue Lagoon (it was closed due to volcanic activity while we were there), see the Lava Show, take a walking food tour or book a bus tour out to see the Northern Lights? Viator is a great place to book your tickets and tours, and don't forget to install the Rakuten extension** so you can 10% cash back on Viator purchases!!
WEATHER / WHAT TO PACK:
In winter and spring, pack for super cold weather with some base layers. Inside is nice and warm but outside can be brutal. You need a WARM winter coat, hat, gloves, snow boots or waterproof hiking boots. I recommend my magical combo of sherpa lined leggings and wind/waterproof pants**. This fleece lined hat and neck gaiter** also did me goooood!! There are places you can rent gear in Iceland, but it's expensive and probably only necessary for those coming from warm places who do not already have a warm coat and boots. If you're coming from northern US or Canada, you'll be fine in your winter gear. To save money on your flight, just wear all your gear on the plane ;) No joke, we did, and it saved us from having to purchase a second checked bag!! You can bring a travel umbrella if you want, but we brought ponchos instead so we didn't have to worry about wind. In the end, we didn't have any rain the whole week we were there, only got a bit of snow while boarding our flight home!! Got really lucky!!
Don't forget to pack a bathing suit for visiting a geothermal pool or two, a waterproof phone pouch** for your phone if you want to take photos in the pool, and consider a tripod if you are serious about setting up for some amazing northern lights photos.
Of course you'll also need sunglasses, phone and charger and TRAVEL ADAPTER because they use different plugs (type C/E)!! We brought 2 because between the 5 of us we had a TON of devices. This Lencent travel plug adapter** folds in and has 4 outlets, 2 USB and 2 USB C, and this Trond adapter** has 3 outlets and 2 USB. They use different voltage (230v), which is fine for most phones and laptops and tablets have a wide range (110-240v) and will be fine, but triple check all electronics before bringing - hair dryers, sound machines and things like that will NOT be ok.
Iceland Travel Tips
aka things that surprised me about Iceland:
NORTHERN LIGHT TIPS:
PHEW! Did I warn you I was going to give you ALL you need to know about planning a spring vacation to Iceland or what!??!
Questions? Comments? Suggestions??? Leave them all below! We honestly LOVED Iceland and the whole vibe of this vacation SO much we are already trying to figure out when we can go back, definitely looking to go during summer next time because I want to see it all gloriously green and full of puffins and flowers!
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Contributed post.
Planning a vacation overseas can sometimes feel like conducting a large-scale symphony with all the anticipation, excitement, and, let's be honest, stress. It's all too easy to forget important things that could make or break your trip in the rush of organizing your itinerary, finding places to stay, and booking your flights.
If you want to have a smooth and easy trip, here are some of the (genuinely important) things you’ve probably forgotten to account for and need to plan ASAP. Travel Insurance To start off with a reality check, let's face it: accidents happen, flights are cancelled, luggage disappears, and people can get sick or injured. Even though we always hope for the best, it's important to have comprehensive travel insurance to be prepared for the worst. But how much is travel insurance? This will depend on the type of cover you go for, and what you deem necessary. The more comprehensive your cover, the more you’ll be paying, but the less worries you’ll have. Regardless of what it costs, though, consider it your safety net, covering any unforeseen expenses on your trip that you certainly won’t want to be dealing with while you’re trying to enjoy a holiday. Health Precautions Your health is your wealth, and you need to pay extra close attention to it while visiting foreign places where you could be exposed to new diseases, climates, and foodborne illnesses. Speak with your doctor or a travel medicine specialist before heading off to a new destination to find out whether there are any vaccinations or preventive treatments you can or should be taking. Some common vaccinations can include typhoid fever, yellow fever, influenza, and hepatitis A and B, depending on the area you're visiting and your general health. You should also travel with a well-stocked first-aid kit containing all your usual medication as well as some extras for unforeseen emergencies. Currency Exchange Dealing with foreign currencies can be quite confusing if you haven’t done your research (and sometimes even if you have). Spend some time getting acquainted with the local currency and current exchange rates of the place you are visiting before you travel there. Although it could be tempting to exchange your money at the hotel or airport kiosk because of how easy this would be, keep in mind that these kiosks often provide bad exchange rates along with loads of additional fees. For the best deal, rather think about taking out cash from ATMs or exchanging money at local banks once you arrive. It’s also a good idea to keep a backup credit card on hand in case of any issues. Connectivity Thanks to the tech of our modern and hyper-connected world, staying in touch with your loved ones wherever you go is ridiculously easy. However, you still need to think about it and have a plan in place. Before you leave, check out what your options will be for staying connected – you could look into portable Wi-Fi devices or hotspots, buying a local SIM card when you arrive, or using international roaming plans. You’ll want to have a plan in place to get connected as soon as you can – you need to be online to access GPS and find your way around and, of course, to let your family know that you’ve arrived safely at your destination. Safety Precautions When traveling overseas, the phrase "safety first" is more important than ever. Foreign countries are always full of exciting adventures and new things to experience, but they also harbour unfamiliar dangers, especially for those who might be caught off guard. From political unrest and natural disasters to petty crime and theft, there’s a lot to be on the lookout for. Research the safety and security conditions in your destination country, including any travel advisories or warnings issued by the government, and keep yourself updated on local laws and emergency protocols. Personal safety equipment should also be kept on hand, and stay safe by avoiding unknown areas at night – especially when you’re alone. Backup of Travel Documents Every frequent traveller has had that unsettling nightmare of losing their passport or some other vital documentation on a trip and getting thrown in a foreign prison. Luckily, it’s unlikely to be that serious, but you should still be on the ball about keeping your travel docs on hand, and having backups as well – just in case. Digital copies are always going to be your friend, so keep all your files saved on a platform like Dropbox. But that being said, hard copies are usually preferred when it comes to travel documents, especially when flying, so try to keep your passport, ID, visa documents, and other important information in a travel wallet that you keep on hand at all times.
We recently journeyed from our happy home in NYC (with our 3 kids under the age of 5, including twin toddlers) to Japan for 10 days to visit my husband's family in the rural valley of Yamaguchi-cho Nishinomiya (about an hour from Osaka). We lived (barely) to tell the tale!
In case you missed it, I'm embedding our 4 ten-minute long YouTube videos below for your viewing pleasure! (Links at very bottom to products and other things mentioned / recommended in the videos!)
Video 1:
Featuring our 30-hour travel day to Japan via 3 flights (2 of which got rescheduled during our travel!) and the beginning of a horrible stomach bug (i.e. me being puked on for 4 hours of our 2nd flight, yippee!)
VIDEO 2:
Featuring our first few days in Japan (with no clothes, thanks to our flights being rescheduled our luggage didn't catch us for 3 days!!), a tour of a 7-11 convenience store (I LOVE Japanese "Combini"), the beautiful scenery of mountains and rice fields near my husband's home, and a typical experience at a "kaiten" (conveyor belt) sushi restaurant! (The nasty stomach bug that hit our youngest on the flight returned to hit 3 more of us the night after our sushi adventure, and 3 more family members in the next couple of days...)
VIDEO 3:
Featuring our adventures after recovering from the stomach bug, including a fun afternoon at the Anpanman Children's Museum in Kobe (Anpanpan is a Japanese superhero just about EVERY Japanese toddler is OBSESSED with, including all 3 of my kids), a nature walk near my husband's home (we found frogs, kiwi, tomatoes, pumpkin, a praying mantis, and more!), shopping at the mall (always a tricky endeavor with toddler twins!!!), library and children's play center, and how amazing a typical Japanese public toilet is (with electric bidet toilet and child seat on the wall to contain your little one while you do your business!)
VIDEO 4:
Featuring our visit to neighboring natural hot spring town of Arima Onsen, a big family and friends BBQ at my husband's home (and my first odd and exciting experience with "Nagashi Somen" / "flowing somen noodles" / "water noodles"!!), a tour of the amazing bathrooms and nursing rooms at Kansai International Airport, and our 24-hour door-to-door travel home back to NYC, including our sweet ride with the kid-friendly car service Kidmoto that provides top of the line car seats and drivers TRAINED to install them properly (get $20 off all rides using code "USJAPANFAM"!!)
So, the stomach bug put a major damper on our time, taking us out of commission for a good 2-3 days. On the bright side, it kept us more local and relaxed, giving us more chance for good quality family time rather than running around trying to jam in as much touristy stuff as possible! We plan to take the kids every 2-3 years, and eventually they may start going and spending summers over there, even going to local public schools for a month or so! That's the plan, anyway... we'll see how things pan out!!
LINKS!!
So, what do you think? Did you enjoy following along with us!? What's the furthest you've traveled with your kids? Any hilarious horror stories, or fabulous tips to share?? Leave a comment below!!!
In case you're new to the blog, I should preface this post with the fact that my husband is from Japan. As in, I met him clubbing in Tokyo one night while I was teaching English in Japan for 2 years! We did a year and a half of long distance, then I moved back over there, we lived together in Yokohama for 3 years together, got engaged, married in Hawaii, moved to good ol' NYC, popped out 3 kids, and the rest is history! Suffice it to say, raising our kids to know Japanese language and culture is extremely important to both of us. Also important is taking a family trip back to Japan every other year (we would go more often if budget wasn't an issue...one ticket costs about $1500!!) We had decided this summer my husband would take our 4 year old son alone, and I would stay behind with the girls because we just couldn't fathom the difficulty of the 24 hour door to door journey and a week of jet lag in each direction with TWO toddlers! It was a nightmare when we took Kenzo in 2014 when he was 20 months old. Multiply that times TWO??? Ugh.... But, when hubby broke the news to his parents, apparently they weren't too thrilled, so we have decided we will suck it up and all 5 of us will be making the trek this coming summer (just before the twins turn 2, so they can get cheap lap child tickets, which cost 10% of the regular fare!!). So, as I embark on planning this epic journey with three children, I realized I never did a blog post or video recapping our last family vacation to Japan in 2014!! So, without further ado, check out our short and sweet video montage!! I'll be coming back and posting more articles about what to do in the various cities, tips for traveling to Japan with kids, and much more. So, stay tuned!!
Please feel free to leave a comment below with any questions about where we went, places or things you are curious about in the video, recommendations for places you've been in Japan, etc!! Each year we spend a good chunk of time and money going to my hometown to visit our family. My sister's family comes in from Montreal and mine from NYC. All of us are avid travelers and wanderlusters, so we sat down last year and unanimously agreed that we would start taking trips somewhere new rather than just going home, as much as budget allows. This year marked our first attempt and it was, in a word, A-MAY-ZING!!! As word spread of our exciting plans, extended family jumped in and we ended up with a group of 19 adults and children joining from USA, Canada, and Japan!! And the location? Puerto Vallarta, Mexico! Our requirements were:
Meeting all of our requirements was the Crown Paradise Club Puerto Vallarta. For my family of 5 (granted the 2 babies were free), one week including flights, hotel, all food and drinks, was $3,000. Awesomely budget-friendly!! For us, 2 best things about the Crown Paradise were: 1) Their pirate-ship themed kids' pool, featuring a bunch of water slides (9?), which was SOOOOOO much fun for the kids and adults! 2) Their kids' programs. They have a "Baby Paradise" where you can drop off kids ages 18 months - 4 years, for free!! Unfortunately our son lasted all of 5 minutes in there before our pager went off and we had to run back to pick up our sobbing child. Ugh. Apparently another child wanted to share, and ours did not... But he did love the little ride-in car we got to borrow from them. He was riding in style around the resort!! They also have a "Kids Paradise" for kids ages 4-12, and this was great. During the day the leaders would walk around the pools collecting kids for games and contests, and in the evenings they had "parties" the kids could attend while parents went off to have romantic child-free dinners. Also amazing was the food. Their buffet was great, TONS to choose from and even a kids' buffet corner. They had 3 a la carte restaurants which were great (Italian, Asian, and French), but a bit annoying because you have to call a day ahead, from your room, to make a reservation. The beach was beautiful, though I'm not much of an ocean girl. Some of our party did the free kayaking, and my hubby and his family paid extra for parasailing!! It was really exciting to watch, maybe I'll get the guts to actually do it next time! The rooms were nothing special, but they were clean and ours had a nice balcony with views of 2 pools and the beach. I enjoyed nursing my babies out there while people watching!! We got 2 complimentary pack 'n plays for our girls, and there was plenty of room to fit them, but they were very dingy and disappointing. Our babies are only 5 months so clean sheets fitted over the mat was fine, but if they had been older and standing and chewing on the rail of the beds, yikes, I would have been really upset... So, if this sounds like your situation you may want to consider bringing along your own baby bed (like a blow up Dock a Tot perhaps). The free nightly entertainment was also a bit disappointing. First off because it was not quite the level of professionalism and excitement as I was expecting, but also because it was so late. Most shows didn't start til 9, and after bringing all the kids to 2 shows I quickly realized it wasn't worth it. For the rest of the week we all went back to the room after dinner, nursed the babies, and were in bed by 9pm. The only other negative thing at all I have to say about the resort was that several underwater steps in the kids' multi-level water park were no longer marked. I tripped going up and down steps that I didn't see, and I witnessed several children unexpectedly going under water because they missed steps down. We had water wings on our toddler and he was never out of reach, but this seemed a bit dangerous. Also, there were no life guards. So, long story short, please keep a close eye (or hand) on your kids if they're not very good in the water. If you start getting antsy to get out on some adventures, there are TONS of excursions you can book right from the hotel (and if you have the time to sit through time share spiels, you can free excursions or other goodies). We did a full-day city/tequileria/jungle tour which was pretty cool, but I would have been 100% fine with just staying on the resort property for the full week! With all of our family with us, they were so helpful with watching the babies while we swam or ate, it was so relaxing and one of the most amazing vacations of my life... so far!! I really hope we can visit the Cancun location of Crown Paradise sometime soon!!! Here's a video montage of our stay in Puerto Vallarta, enjoy! We sure did!!! |
About ME:I'm a NYC metro area mom blogger living in NJ with my Japanese husband & our 3 kids (twins plus 1), focusing on fun and honest product and travel reviews, saving moms time finding the best for their families! Find what you need in the menu bar or search section above! Categories
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