L.A. Family Travel

09/30/2026

Raise your hand if you've ever spent 3 days cooking a Thanksgiving feast that got devoured in 11 minutes flat. 🙋‍♀️🦃

This year, let someone else handle the turkey (AND the dishes). We just updated our guide to the 12 best Thanksgiving getaways for families in 2026, from sunny Southern California to snowy Colorado to the place where it all started in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Most come with a hotel, lodge or restaurant that serves the whole feast for you.

A few favorites:
🍂 Eat a Thanksgiving dinner with a side of history at Plimoth Patuxet Museums
⛷️ Hit the slopes on opening day in Aspen, which is Thanksgiving Day this year
🌅 Catch the Indigenous Peoples Sunrise Gathering on Alcatraz Island
🏔️ Enjoy a holiday buffet in a 1939 stone lodge in Shenandoah National Park

The only thing you'll have to prepare is your stretchy pants. 😉

Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26, and the best spots book up fast. Where would your family go? Tell us in the comments! 🙏

Link below 👇

09/29/2026

🍁 Five reasons Denver belongs on your family's fall bucket list! 🍂

When the temperatures start dropping and the leaves begin changing, it's tempting to hibernate until spring. But Denver? That's when the fun really gets started.

Pack a light jacket, grab the kids, and get ready for a fall adventure filled with Colorado scenery, outdoor fun, and kid-friendly things to see and do. 🌲🏔️

And if you're looking for a fall getaway that feels like an actual adventure—not just another weekend of soccer games, homework, and figuring out what everyone is going to eat—Denver could be just the change of scenery your family needs.

We've got 5 things to do in Denver with kids this fall to help you plan your trip. 🍂

👉 Check out the guide:
https://lafamilytravel.com/fall-in-denver-5-best-things-to-do-with-kids/

Headed to Denver this fall? Here are the top 5 activities to do with kids in and around the Mile High City!

09/28/2026

🎃 What if your next Halloween adventure involved more than trick-or-treating?

The Finger Lakes makes a pretty great fall family escape—with pumpkin patches, corn mazes, hayrides, apple c***r, fall festivals AND spooky attractions mixed in with all those gorgeous autumn views. 🍂👻

Families can hike among the fall colors, visit U-pick farms, explore waterfalls, and enjoy seasonal festivals. And for families who like their Halloween with a little extra fright, there are haunted attractions and spooky history to add to the itinerary.

Basically, it’s the kind of fall destination where you can spend the morning surrounded by colorful leaves, the afternoon getting lost in a corn maze, and the evening deciding whether you’re brave enough for something spooky. 😈

🍎🎃 Ready for a Finger Lakes fall adventure? Check out our essential guide for families:
https://lafamilytravel.com/finger-lakes-in-the-fall-an-essential-guide-for-families/

The beauty of the Finger Lakes in the fall is worth the trip, but families will find apple picking, fall festivals, and Halloween fun, too!

09/26/2026

Things I learned the hard way about European Christmas markets: 🎄

The internet told me Leicester Square had a Christmas market. What Leicester Square had was a large drunken party. Not the same. Not even close.

Also: there are no post-Christmas sales. None. In the US we happily buy half-price tinsel on December 26th. In Germany, if you show up in Nuremberg on the 26th expecting glühwein, you will find an empty square and a man folding up a tent.

So I updated our guide to Europe's best Christmas markets — 20 of them, with the 2026 dates confirmed so far, which markets actually work with kids, and where the good food is.

Some highlights from our own trips:

🍞 Prague's stick bread. My kids remember it more vividly than the castle. Sugar-crusted dough cooked over coals. Worth the flight.

🎅 Dresden's Striezelmarkt has been running since 1434, which makes it the oldest in the world. Also ten markets in walking distance, so when the famous one got overwhelming we found a quiet one three streets over and everyone recovered.

🍺 The mugs. Every market has its own ceramic mug with the year on it. You pay a deposit and can return it. Do not return it. My husband wrapped ours in clothes to fly home and every single one survived.

Heads up — Strasbourg still hasn't announced its 2026 dates, so anyone publishing them confidently is guessing. We'll update as each city confirms.

Anyone been? Which market am I missing? 👇

09/23/2026

🍁🏖️ Before you officially pack away the swimsuits for the season…

What if you squeezed in one more family beach vacation? 👀

October might actually be the perfect excuse. You can enjoy a beach getaway without the peak-summer crowds, and depending on where you go, you can combine those last beach days with some seriously fun fall activities.

🌊 Carlsbad for an easy California escape
🏄 Manhattan Beach for a quick Los Angeles getaway
🎃 Outer Banks for beaches AND spooky history
🍂 Virginia Beach for fall festivities and changing foliage
🐢 Amelia Island for warm water and wildlife
🎡 Myrtle Beach for beaches, attractions, and family fun

Because sometimes the best way to deal with the end of summer is to refuse to let it end quite yet. 😎

If you're looking for an October family getaway, we've rounded up six beach destinations worth considering.

👉 See the list and start planning your last beach trip of the year:
https://lafamilytravel.com/chase-away-end-of-summer-blues-with-these-6-best-family-beach-vacations-in-october/

09/21/2026

🧙‍♀️🎃 If your family takes Halloween seriously, it might be time to visit Salem, Massachusetts.

Every October, this historic New England city goes all-in on Halloween. Witches are everywhere, costumes are encouraged, ghost tours fill the evenings, and Haunted Happenings brings a month of festivals, performances, markets, and family activities. The 2026 celebration begins October 1 and runs throughout the month.

But Salem isn't just witches and spooky stories.

Families can explore the city's fascinating history, visit the Salem Witch Museum and Witch House, wander historic streets and cemeteries, check out pirate exhibits, visit the House of the Seven Gables, or head to the Peabody Essex Museum when everyone needs a break from the Halloween craziness.

And for Hocus Pocus fans? 👀 You can even explore some of the movie's Salem filming locations.

If you're thinking about a Halloween getaway this October, our insider's guide has tips on what to see, when to go, how to get around, and where to stay.

🎃 Would Salem make your family's Halloween bucket list?

👉 https://lafamilytravel.com/an-insiders-guide-to-celebrating-halloween-in-salem-ma/

An Insiders Guide to Celebrating Halloween In Salem, Massachusetts in October 2022 with Family and Friends.

09/20/2026

Michigan in the fall is basically the whole state showing off. 🍁

Our Michigan contributor Steffy McCourt — mom of three boys and a professional at getting kids out of the car — just updated her guide to the best things to do in Michigan, and it now covers exactly when fall color peaks where. Spoiler: it's not one weekend, it's four. The Upper Peninsula turns first (as in, right now), then the Tunnel of Trees and Traverse City in October, then Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids last.

Highlights from the McCourt Family Field Research Department:

🍩 Her oldest announces every year that he's too old for the c***r mill corn maze. He goes in every year.

🚗 The Tunnel of Trees is gorgeous and extremely winding. Pack a bag for the kid who gets carsick. You know which one.

🏒 At Ford Field, her youngest learned that football is loud and nachos are half the point. Most of the cheese ended up on his shirt.

🐺 The UP is the one place she's fine with her boys acting like a pack of feral wolves. She howls too.

38 things to do, from Detroit museums to Mackinac Island fudge to Lake Superior waterfalls, all tested by one gloriously chaotic family of five.

Michiganders: which c***r mill is the best one? Loyalty wars welcome in the comments. 👇

09/16/2026

🎃 Calling all families who still love Halloweentown! 👻

There’s something pretty fun about watching a Halloween movie with your kids and then telling them, “Want to actually go there?”

St. Helens, Oregon, was the filming location for the 1998 Disney Channel movie Halloweentown. Every fall, the town transforms itself into the Spirit of Halloweentown, complete with giant pumpkins, Halloween decorations, costumed visitors, pirates, vendors, photo opportunities, and spooky attractions.

And this isn't just a one-night Halloween event. The 2026 celebration takes place on select dates from September 26 through November 1, so families have several opportunities to plan a spooky fall getaway.

🎃 Watch the pumpkin lighting.
🏴‍☠️ Meet the pirates.
👻 Try the Haunted House.
🧙‍♀️ Dress up for the costume contest.
📸 Take ALL the Halloween photos.

Basically, if your family thinks Halloween should last more than one night, St. Helens might need to be on your fall travel list.

👉 Get the tips for visiting Halloweentown, Oregon:
https://lafamilytravel.com/celebrate-halloween-all-october-long-in-halloweentown-oregon/

Parades, costume contests, haunted houses, and more make Halloweentown, Oregon the spookiest spot to bring your family this Halloween season!