Family Friendly Vacations On The East Coast – We live in an earthly country; a country with beautiful lakes and rivers and small mountains, but we love water and so does our daughter. So when we can make a quick visit to some coastal states, even if it’s just a 4-day weekend, we’ll run to New Hampshire and Maine to soak up the vitamin sea. In the early years of our daughter’s life, we traveled from Pennsylvania to Maine five times; we prefer away from home.
In this post, we’ll cover just a small area in NH and Maine that you can visit for a long weekend – around Portsmouth, NH, Portland Maine, Freeport, Wolf’s Neck, and Reed State Park.
Family Friendly Vacations On The East Coast
We have visited Portsmouth twice since our daughter was born and our favorite hotel is the Residence Inn by Marriott Portsmouth Downtown/Waterfront. We use our annual nights and/or Marriott card points and usually book this hotel for free. We love the small pool, the in-room kitchen, and the proximity to good food.
It’s Reel Fun At These Family Friendly Fishing Spots In Singapore!
Our favorite place is near Portsmouth in Rye. Leave Portsmouth and head to Odiorn State Park. After paying the entrance fee, you have a beautiful park with a large playground, picnic tables, walking path and access to the Seacoast Science Center – perfect for little ones. There’s also an opportunity for older kids to explore the history of the area, and there’s usually a food truck near the playground.
But when we drive to Maine, we try to stop here for a few hours to run around and play and explore.
If you visit on a nice sunny day, you’ll want to explore Rye’s beaches. When we visited in May, it was a little too cold to swim, so we put our daughter in swimsuits and boots and played in the sand and splashed around.
Popovers on the Square: We stopped here a few times to get a box of popovers that went well with our morning coffee. However, they also offer soups and other items for lunch.
Family Friendly 3d2n Short Trips From Singapore
Every time we went to Portsmouth we ended up at the same places. The River House on the waterfront was our favorite place for dinner or brunch. It’s right on the water, not too crowded, and easy to get in without a reservation if you arrive early for dinner. It’s an easy walk from downtown to the water. And if you have a child who gets tired easily, bring a stroller that is slightly above the water.
When we were in trouble and the kid couldn’t eat out, DoorDash from Portsmouth Gas Light Co ordered meals in our beautiful kitchen in our hotel room.
On your way back from dinner, check out Annabelle’s Natural Ice Cream or Kilwins for chocolate, sweets and ice cream.
This is probably our daughter’s favorite part. We recommend this especially for children between the ages of 1 and 6. It has a three-story play area, which is a great place to hang out on rainy or very hot days. On the first floor there is a theater and a playground. We usually take the elevator up to the third floor, play in the water, look at the fish, and then work our way back home—the fire station, the lobster boat, the doctor’s office, and the airport—for about an hour. Everything here invites little and small children to use their imagination.
Top Family Friendly Beaches On The East Coast Our Roaming, 49% Off
Check out the many happy moments of our daughter’s creative, hands-on play at the children’s museum below.
If you’re looking for a lighthouse with parking that’s easy to get to, look no further than Bug Beacon in South Portland. It’s an easy walk along the waterfront to a small lighthouse. If you ride a bike, you can go for a walk on the nearby trail, or if you have a baby or a toddler, it’s a great place for a long walk with the stroller. (Fun fact – when training for a half marathon, I would ride my bike, run from Bug Light to the local Dunkin’ Donuts, fuel up, and then continue the adventure I had.)
Fun fact, in 2018 Bon Appetit magazine named Portland, Maine as the city with the best restaurants in the US. If you’re a foodie and enjoy eating out, you won’t get bored in Portland, bring stretchy pants. Unfortunately, we are not gourmets, and the palette for our little ones is a bit limited. But over the years, we’ve found special places in Portland that we enjoy going to for coffee, pastries, donuts, fries, or beer. So here they are, in no particular order—we’re going to eat in Portland.
If you want to take a legendary photo, L. Bean Shoes, then you’ll want to visit the flagship store in Freeport. Now, you might think that grocery shopping can’t be fun for kids, but we know it’s a great place to stop before heading to camp. L.L. Stores Bean is surrounded by a grassy, open space where you’ll find yoga, concerts and the occasional simple game of tag. It’s a great place to run.
Fort Myers Family Vacation Guide
The main store has an indoor aquarium, and the children’s section inside the store usually has a tent or two that you can enter.
Wolfe’s Neck is a family farm, campground, riverfront, just outside of the state park and a short drive to Freeport if you need groceries or if you want to break the day with city time and nature time.
If you are used to state parks or national parks, the facilities at Wolfe’s Neck are less impressive. The campsites are a bit close together, and the campsites with the best sites (near the water) have the worst bathrooms. However, for a few nights, this is a great place to bring your family. One of the loops has a children’s playground, a shop if needed, and the possibility to rent kayaks. If you’re not into tent camping, they also have cabins.
We love Wolfe’s Neck because of the ponds along the water. (Even though our daughter was 3 and 4 when we brought her here, I wouldn’t have settled here before she was 24 months old.)
Destinations For Kid Friendly Summer Vacations Enjoyable For The Whole Family
After Freeport, if you have time to go a little further north, you can try to get to Reed State Park near Georgetown, Maine. The park features a half-mile stretch of wide, sandy beach that is hard to find on the rocky shores of Maine and New Hampshire. It’s a great place to dig sand, run around, and just relax.
Although the ocean water is never particularly warm, we have found that if we dig a hole, our daughter stays warm enough to enjoy her time there.
Just below Reid State Park, you’ll find a relaxing outdoor dining area on the water. After a morning on the beach, Five Islands Lobster, Co. There’s no doubt about it, it’s first come, first served, and you have to be disciplined. But sitting on the water with a lobster roll or fried clams is a wonderful experience. We went on a hot day and found some shade to hide in before eating ice cream. The wait can be long, so bring toys or other things to keep your child entertained.
If you’re looking for a simple place to stay near Georgetown, there are several small hotels, and two near the Marriott. If you want to cook while you travel, Residence Inn offers a kitchenette. If you’re traveling through New England, we’ve found some of the best Marriott points deals and are great for last-minute bookings, even on holiday weekends.
Explore The Top 10 Family Friendly Tours In Korea! From Cultural Gems To Thrilling Adventures, Discover Unforgettable Experiences For The Whole Family
This Chase card has great benefits ranging from 3 to 5 free nights and an annual free night. If you click our link and agree, we will earn points (at no cost to you).
If you visit Reed State Park, you might be willing to take a short trip to one of my favorite places in the world, Acadia National Park.
We wrote about camping in Acadia with our daughter when she was 10 weeks old – you can read about it on Christina’s guest blog at Baby Can Travel . I don’t know about you, but it’s summer for our family
