We stayed across from Grant Park, so Buckingham Fountain became our evening walk rather than an outing. That turned out to be the right way to see it. It’s free, it’s five minutes from the…
A short walk from the Nutella Café on Michigan Avenue, we found ourselves heading toward one of Chicago’s most beloved landmarks: Millennium Park and its centerpiece sculpture, Cloud Gate (popularly known as “The Bean”). That…
The Nutella Café on Michigan Avenue was the first Nutella Café in the world when Ferrero opened it in 2017. It is also, on any normal morning, a queue. We went for breakfast with two…
We wanted the view from above before we’d worked out anything else about Chicago. Skydeck at Willis Tower was the obvious first stop — 103 floors up, with a glass box you can walk out…
Short answer: yes, but with a caveat about which tour you book and where you sit. We did the Chicago architecture river cruise with kids in July 2025 as part of our CityPASS C3, and…
Our first morning in Chicago started five floors up a coffee factory on Michigan Avenue. The Starbucks Reserve Roastery is 35,000 square feet across five floors and it is the largest Starbucks anywhere in the…
We did not set out to become a family that plans holidays around basketball. It happened one camp at a time, and by now we have taken our two boys to play in Catalonia, Wisconsin,…
Our two sons, Damian and Marc, play basketball, and for the last few years our family holidays have followed the tournament calendar. Since 2024 they’ve played eight youth tournaments: in La Roda, Puigcerdà (twice), Lloret…
The short answer Three days covers the Los Angeles everyone comes to see. Five days lets you add the beaches properly. A week gets you Orange County as well. Two weeks is only worth it…
Best Beaches in Los Angeles for Families: Which One to Pick Quick answer Most LA beaches are free to walk on. You pay for parking, and that is the real cost. Calmest water for small…
Quick answer On our last morning in Los Angeles we had a couple of hours, no plan, and two children who had had enough of driving. We spent about four dollars and it was one…
Quick answer We went in to buy an iPad and came out having spent most of our time looking at the ceiling. Apple Tower Theatre is a working Apple store inside a 1927 movie palace,…
Quick verdict Quick picks: where to stay in Los Angeles with kids Budget · we stayed hereBest Western Westminster Inn – our base for eight nights in Orange County. Free hot breakfast, an outdoor pool…
Venice Beach is 14.9 miles (24 km) from Downtown Los Angeles. That’s about 21 minutes by car with no traffic and 45–75 minutes in the afternoon, or roughly an hour and a half on public…
Quick answer We were staying in downtown Los Angeles and wanted a view of the city that did not cost forty dollars a head. Los Angeles City Hall has an observation deck on the 27th…
Getty Villa to Point Dume: A Malibu Evening With Kids Quick answer Allow 2–3 hours at the Villa, then 45 minutes at Point Dume before sunset. 🆕 The Getty Villa reopened on 27 June 2025,…
Quick answer The Santa Monica Pier was built in 1909 to carry a sewage pipe out into the bay. One of the most photographed structures in the world started life as municipal plumbing. The fun…
Quick answer I will be honest with you, because most guides to this place are not: the Hollywood Walk of Fame is a pavement. It is a busy, ordinary city boulevard with brass and terrazzo…
Quick answer Beverly Hills sounds like the last place you would take children, and I understand why people skip it. It is a luxury shopping district. Nobody’s eight-year-old wants to look at handbags, and the…
Quick answer We went to Griffith Observatory twice on the same trip — once after dark, and once in daylight — and they were so different that I would now tell any family to do…