6 Best Vacation Ideas For Large Families

Enjoy traveling with your family during your next vacation.

Travel is one of the best ways to make memories—memories made with your family are some of the most significant and long-lasting. But if you have a big family, taking a trip together might seem out of the question. And taking a vacation together that’s not stressful and is actually fun for all involved? Sounds impossible.

However, it can indeed be done—with a little strategy and a lot of planning. Your family can be the type that travels together (maybe even on an annual basis) to exciting new destinations or the tried-and-true favorites. Read on for six of the best vacation ideas for large families.

Saddle Up For An Adventure

Ever dreamed of trying out ranch life but can’t make it all the way out to the Wild West? Look no further than Westgate River Ranch Resort & Rodeo, where all your cowboy dreams can come true. At this 1,700-acre luxury glamping resort in central Florida, accommodation options suit every kind of family and group, from standard hotel-style rooms to replica Conestoga wagons to RV and tent camping sites and even luxurious teepees.

There are endless things to do—from airboat rides to skeet shooting to a weekly Saturday-night rodeo—so no one has to worry about leaving the property. It’s a one-stop shop for one of the rowdiest and over-the-top fun family vacations out there, and there’s plenty of space to roam for even the largest of groups.

Take Over A Beach Motel

If your family can happily entertain themselves beachside and poolside, then a laid-back trip to somewhere with sea and sand—and not much else—might be the perfect solution. No need to overextend everyone’s budgets on some fancy resort—for the best deals, look to the smaller seaside towns with less trendy goings-on and more bang for your buck.

A Florida beach vacation is an amenable option for most family members. Look at the beachfront Best Western Cocoa Beach Hotel & Suites for fair prices, lots of rooms to choose from, and years of experience hosting groups like yours. Or you could head to Pawleys Island, South Carolina. The Oceanfront Litchfield Inn welcomes groups and supplies continental breakfast and a prime beachfront location just a short drive from all the local attractions and Myrtle Beach.

With this type of large family vacation, everyone gets to choose a room type that suits them. There are plenty of common spaces to hang out and enjoy each other’s company—not to mention, of course, the beach, where kids and adults alike can entertain themselves building sand castles, riding the waves, or just lounging in the sun for some much-needed R&R. Vacations shouldn’t be stressful, so if everyone in your family needs a bit of a break, taking over a beach motel together could be both a welcome reprieve from the ordinary and an opportunity to reconnect with loved ones.

Rent A Cabin In The Mountains

A mountain cabin might be more your speed (or a welcome change of scenery). In places like Blue Ridge, Georgia, and Gatlinburg, Tennessee, there are many oversized cabins—and groups of cabins—built for this very thing.

A trip to the mountains will require some driving, as the cabins for large family groups are usually not located in a prime, walkable location. Still, there’s plenty of fun for all family members in all seasons. 

Take Banner Elk, North Carolina, for example. By day, you can head out on adventures like hiking and gem mining (or, in the winter, snowboarding Beech Mountain)—by night, you can hit the tiny downtown for some memorable BBQ and live music or head back to the cabins to cook your own feast and gab around a fire pit. Put together an itinerary with suggested activities, and members of the group can select which they want to participate in (or not)—then, at the end of the day, you can all reconvene at the cabins together.

Book A Fully-Stocked Home Rental

No matter where your family is willing to go—nearby or far from home—there’s likely a fully stocked home rental that will do just fine. For trips less about “going somewhere together” and more about gathering everyone under one roof for once, the best option might be to book a home where everyone has a bed and crosses paths daily (at least for a weekend).

Vacation houses are available on booking sites like VRBO, and Airbnb can be great resources for finding homes that can accommodate even the biggest of groups across a wide range of bedrooms. For example, there are options for groups sized 15 to 100. Whether you book an individual home that everyone shares or a compound broken up into separate abodes for each family, make sure to note if it has everything you’ll need to cook, clean, and entertain your group for the duration of the trip.

Jet Off To An All-Inclusive Resort

Booking a large group vacation to an all-inclusive resort, such as the newly-opened The Swag in Waynesville, North Carolina, is a great way to get everyone in one place to see a new part of the world together. Moreover, there are plenty of activity options both on and off the resort, and food and drinks are included in the price, so the price you pitch to the group is what they pay for the whole experience—no surprise budgeting.

Pitch Tents At A Campground

What could be more fun than embarking on an adventure in the great outdoors together? Planning a camping trip for your large family can be one of the most adventurous ways to make memories together—and stretch your dollars. Even well-equipped campgrounds in prime locations are reasonably priced, so there’s no need for primitive tent-pitching off some beaten path (unless that’s your thing). Many campgrounds have tent sites, cabins, and RV hookups available, so everyone can choose what type of accommodation works best for them. 

A camping trip with a large family keeps the prices accessible to all and limits the amount of itinerary planning required. Activities available in and around campgrounds are simple, from hiking and horseback riding to creek swimming to a day trip. There will be plenty to entertain everyone, yet sleeping in the woods by default brings lots of space and time for good conversation around the campfire. Time spent under the stars promises to form some of your most cherished memories with the people who matter most. 

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