When I became a parent, I knew I’d want to travel with my children, to broaden their horizons, build their resilience and make them more curious, inclusive people.
But travel is a luxury, and one that is increasingly expensive – the Canadian dollar is the weakest it’s been in years, and flight prices just seem to keep going up. At a time when Canadian households are facing high prices for everything from food to gas to child care, finding extra money for trips is a bigger challenge than ever.
So how can parents reduce travel costs and more importantly, how do we ensure we get value from the trips we do take? Is travel with children even financially feasible any more?
There are ways to reduce trip costs and one of those is to take advantage of freebies for children. We brought our first daughter along to a friend’s wedding in Italy when she was eight months old, and she flew with us for free, slept in a crib in our hotel room, and required very little solid food and no entertainment. The cost of adding her to our trip was minimal.
As she gets older, we hope to take advantage of resorts and hotels that allow kids under a certain age, typically under 10-12, to stay and eat free. Some cruises and resorts also have children clubs that provide child care and entertainment so you can hit the pool sans children. While this approach doesn’t reduce travel costs for the parents, leveraging these freebies while the children are small can lower the overall trip price.
Another way to save is to adjust the timing of your travel. Going to Disney World or the Caribbean over March break? You’re going to pay the highest prices during this peak travel time, but you will save big bucks by going in November or June. That’s easier to do before your kids start school, since missing a week of Grade 2 won’t affect their future prospects. By the time they are in high school, taking time off during the school year is trickier.
Travelling to more affordable destinations can also present significant savings. For example the “second city” trend means travellers are skipping the most popular – and therefore expensive – city in a given country, and heading to the second, third, or fourth most popular cities instead.
Think San Diego vs. Los Angeles, or Verona vs. Venice. My feedback from friends has been that their children care more about the hotel pool than the local sights, so does it matter if they’re in the most popular city or somewhere off the beaten path?
Since accommodations are one of the biggest expenses, consider local home rentals or home exchanges. Not only can this be a way to reduce accommodation fees, but it could also mean that the home is already equipped with children gear, such as a car seat or stroller.
And while international travel is exciting, local trips can be much more affordable and depending on your children’s ages logistically easier as well. The older your children are and the more children you have, the more you’ll have to pay for flights, car rentals, hotel rooms, meals and activities. At that point, you might want to prioritize road trips over plane tickets or renting a house versus booking multiple hotel rooms.
Finally, weigh the cost of the trip against the true value. My husband and I often joke that our first daughter had visited multiple countries by age two, and our younger daughter hasn’t left our town, because travelling with a toddler and a small baby is just not something we want to prioritize from a cost, logistics and mental load perspective.
I look back fondly on a trip to Disney World with my mom when I was 12, but I just can’t justify spending thousands on a trip to the Magic Kingdom with a three-year-old who won’t remember it, even if she does idolize The Little Mermaid.
If you’re in the market for a true vacation in 2025, a day out without the kids at a local spa, beach or park might be the best way to save money and reduce stress. A day of babysitting fees is a fraction of a flight to Paris, and you can instead make those magical travel memories when your children are old enough to remember them.
Erin Bury is the co-founder and chief executive officer of online estate planning platform Willful.co. She lives in rural Ontario with her husband and two young children.
