Frommer's 500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up

by Holly Hughes

500 Places to Take Your Kids allows parents, grandparents, and kids to create a lifetime of shared memories while visiting destinations the whole family can enjoy. Here are cities, zoos, sports shrines, museums, castles, beaches, outdoor activities, and moreâ 500 thoughtfully-chosen places that will enchant and beguile both the young and the young at heart.Each entry contains all the information families need to help plan a age ratings, service details, and nearby kid-friendly hotels. A Specialty Index organized by type of trip helps families discover places and activities for all ages and interests, while a Geographical Index allows families to locate attractions across the world or simply across town. Photos throughout the book help bring destinations to life.Free companion podcast is available for download!

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Reference, Parenting, Childrens

566 pages, Paperback

First published August 7, 2006

About the author

Holly Hughes has edited the annual Best Food Writing series since its inception in 2000. The author of Frommer's 500 Places for Food and Wine Lovers, she lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Cass · Rating 1 out of 5]

203 out of the 500 places are in the USA. The book should be called "500 places to take your American kids before they grow up". Really unsure how this found its way into an Australian library, though I suspect it is because the blurb on the back makes it sound more diverse then it actually is.

Published in 2009, really seems dated. Spattered with black and white pictures which do not add much to the book.
Not interested, not interested, not interested.

[La Crosse County Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review originally published December 2009

Holly Hughes, author of 500 Places for Food & Wine Lovers, 500 Places to See Before They Disappear, and Fodor’s Family New York City With Kids, has traveled the globe seeking out unusual places to visit.

Her newest book, Frommer’s 500 Places To Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up, takes you across town and around the world to 500 of the most exciting places on Earth. With more than 40 new destinations, this revised edition is loaded with things to see, do, and explore from the Painted Desert (United States) and the cave homes of Coober Pedy (Australia) to a camel safari (India) and Dracula’s Castle (Romania).

Choosing a destination is only part of the challenge. The author has given you all the information you need to make these trips unforgettable. With tidbits of history or other background, you will look like an expert when you are leading your children around a site. They might want to know which animals thrive where or why one army won this battle and not another. Your kids are interested, and you find yourself having a richer experience.

Traveling with a family is not cheap, so moderately priced hotels are listed with kitchenettes, room layouts that accommodate extra beds, and of course swimming pools.
           
Have fun reading this book and planning a trip with your children!

Find this book and other titles within our catalog.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent ideas for places to travel with children.

It's incredibly helpful that she includes appropriate age ranges for each location. She also includes recommend hotels (may be out of date by now, but a helpful jumping point.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've taken my kids to 19 and I've been to 63, not a bad start

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sadly I am grown up and still have not been to many of these places, but I am always keen to find new ideas.

[Melissa Kuehnle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I made a list of all of the places we want to visit post-COVID. It was a very helpful and informative guide.

[Steven Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another of those books that makes selections of places throughout the world that are well worth visiting. The takeoff point for this one? Places that would be cool for parents to take their kids. Frankly, the selections don't seem to me to be obvious places for kids as compared with other groupings. Why would Pont Neuf in Paris be somehow special to kids compared with others? The premise seems a bit forced to me. On the other hand, if you want an introduction to some interesting places on the planet, this is fun in its own right, on the merits.

Some of the places that I have visited that I think are worthy of a visit: Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, Lake Como (Italy), the Tower Bridge (London), Assateague, The Tower of London, the Heidelberg Castle's ruins, Fort McHenry, Gettysburg, Old Ironsides, Amish Country (Pennsylvania), The Field Museum (Chicago), Franklin Institute (Philadelphia), National Air and Space Museum (Washington, D. C.), Notre Dame (Paris), Art Institute of Chicago, Versailles, Paul Revere House, Monument Valley, and Disneyland.

So, in short, lots of cool places are described. But they're cool for everyone, not just kids. Still, the volume does note why kids would enjoy. Overall, a good quick read and quite a bit of fun.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a sucker for booklists, and this one is great. Does Nancy Pearl really read all of these books she recommends??? If only I had the time to keep up with her! There aren't enough hours in the day! In this installment of her collection, she focuses on books for kids and teens. The book is divided up by age, beginning with the "Earliest Readers," a category that includes babies and toddlers as well as young elementary school children. She continues with the interesting, and sometimes humorous, categorization that she uses in the other Book Lust books. Does your child love dogs? Well you're in luck, because there is a section on dogs! Did a loved one just pass away? Well, there's a section on "Death & Dying" too. What I like about Book Crush, is that while it does include the most popular children books, such as "Goodnight Moon" and "Cat in the Hat," it also provides many more suggestions (thousands of them!), most new to me. I borrowed this book from the library to see if I liked it, and now it's in my Amazon shopping cart. :)

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a terrific book. Pulling from a variety of continents, experiences, difficulty levels, this book didn't make me feel just like these are "must do's or you're a schmuck", but rather, "if you're in the neighborhood, do this! it's great!" While there were some kid-pleasing amusement parks mentioned (this biggies, the historical ones), this focused on grown-up activities that kids can appreciate (each segment lists why your kid will thank you for the experience). The 500 places will not only give your kids great stories for "how I spent my summer vacation", but will make them pretty nifty human beings to boot. I appreciated the lack of time spent discussing lodging and logistics, and the energy spent describing the sites and sights. The recommended age ranges were helpful, but didn't feel pushy. Most of all, it treated travel as something any family can do, starting with any level of experience.

[Emily Mellow · Rating 2 out of 5]

What would be a fun project is traveling the world, and seeing everything in this book like it was one giant to-do list. We are, however, not able to do that. I have flipped through this book, and was dismayed by how not able to do any of these things we are. I don't know who this book was written for. If you live near these places, you have probably been there. If you don't, too bad. Also, none of them seem like must-see-before-you-grow-up places, as the title would imply. They include places like Machu Picchu, The Great Wall of China, and Mt. Rushmore. They would be cool to see at any age, and you might appreciate them more when you have the perspective of years. I know my kids would love to travel more, but we will not be using this book as a guide when we do. Better to get a guide of the location you're actually traveling to.

[Marissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

So I didn't "read" this book- I skimmed it. This book is 550+ pages and each page is PACKED with information. It would take FOREVER to read it. My initial intention was to read the book and take notes on the locations I found intriguing. I quickly found that it would require a lot of work, time I just do not have.

This book definitely put together a good list of places to visit. I liked the authors almost conversational writing style and that she notes hotels, the best time to go, and why your kids will love it. What I didn't like was the way the book was organized by catergories like, "boatrides" caves" and "atmospheric places to explore." I think it would have been easier for planning purposes to organize things by state or country (for Europe. Because of the organization I think it would be easier to just research online vs comb through the book.

[Suzy Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Used this book to plan my 6.5 week journey as a single mum with 2 pre-teen boys. Was very insightful and sent us to places we never would have considered unless we talked to a travel agent… places like Chamonix to climb Mont Blanc, Ironbridge and it's museums in the UK, Catacombs in Paris, Edinburgh Castle, Cite des Sciences et de l'Industrie in Paris (hi-tech museum showing environmental development in product design), punting on the Cam in Cambridge, etc. For someone who just wanted to see Europe without all the art museums and churches that tend to bore kids, it was a great guide take with us. There is also plenty of inspiration for the USA in there, as well as other continents like South America, Asia and Australasia, as well as a touch of Africa. My copy is dog-eared to the max!

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will have to check out this book again when Cam and Ryan are older. A lot of the stuff in there would be good to see when they're in middle school and high school. There were a few places I remember visiting growing up like bicycle-riding on Mackinac Island, the red rocks in Sedona, AZ, and Stingray City in Grand Cayman. Some of the places I'd like to go with Cam and Ryan: Nantucket Island, Ireland, Australia, Yellowstone National Park, Niagra Falls and Rome. This was a good book to get ideas for some kid-friendly vacations (that would also be fun for us too).

[Kate McCartney · Rating 2 out of 5]

The place to visit in this book are all places i would love to visit as well. The problem was, my problem was that reading this was like a pipe dream to me. In my current standing, it is unlikely that I will have an oppurtunity to take my children to most of the places listed. I had thought it was going to be more along the lines of great vaction spots that were more kid focused or family (pocket) friendly. Some of the places were, a lot to me were not.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was not entertaining to read, but it gave me tons of interesting ideas for future vacations, mini vacations, and long term dream locations to visit. It does not actually reflect what I feel to be the best 500 places to take kids before they grow up and I consider myself somewhat an expert on US travel, but still some interesting new locals I plan to incorporate.

[Thuraya Batterjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

a great book from Frommer's guides
really cool ideas to do with your kids
during vacations
highly recommended for those who do a lot of traveling
and take their kids along
and do not believe that Disney land is the only place where kids could have fun in

[Aimee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some fun ideas, although many international and places I wouldn't feel safe taking my girls. I liked 100 places to see before you're 12 better, it was more creative and realistic. Especially in this economy!

[Darnetta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frommer's 500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up by Holly Hughes is a fairly decent book that gives nice descriptions for vacation destinations. I question some of the 'family friendly' locations but overall the places described appeared interesting.

[LM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great resource for travel-minded parents. The title could easily read 500 places to take anyone, because so many of the great cities, natural places and historic sites are here that appeal to all ages. Still, if it inspires a trip or pushes us to expose our kids to worldly experiences, I'm for it.

[Buckle Button Zip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great resource for travel-minded parents. The title could easily read 500 places to take anyone, because so many of the great cities, natural places and historic sites are here that appeal to all ages. Still, if it inspires a trip or pushes us to expose our kids to worldly experiences, I'm for it.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This guide book was great in terms of picking some unique adventures and giving readers some idea of the ideal time to take their kids there. I read through it once and I am already referencing it again as I jot down notes.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could never in a million years afford to internationally travel my child to see these things before growing up. The thought was good, but a bit out of my league. To focus this book regionally (even on a global scale) would do more service to the authors and reader.

[Pants · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool ideas. I don't personally think that "crusing the Vegas strip" is all that fun for a 6 year old. So yeah, some cool ideas, some I wouldn't chose, but overall lots of good suggestions.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is really helpful to suggest vacation spots, but I wish there was a version with U.S. destinations only. I'm not sure that we'll make it to Denmark with our 3 year old.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is okay for what it is. If you know nothing about these areas then this is a good place to begin researching. Ultimately, it is a beginning, not an end to planning trips.

[Julie]

loved reading about all these really cool places to go....course now i wanna go on vacation

[Hilary · Rating 2 out of 5]

TMI. Take small bites. Begin before the child is conceived and you might finish it by the time they are teens...

[Michelle]

Good choices. wouldn't it be great to go to them all. At least my kids have been to one of the places in the book!

[Cindy Lofgren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Covers many, many places so I wonder how discriminate the book writers were. Reasons to go were also very weak while trying to be witty. Okay to look up places that spark interest.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book!