Family Friendly Long Weekend in the Florida Keys!
You’ve heard of the Florida Keys, maybe you’ve been to the Keys in your college days or for a romantic vacation, but have you thought about taking your kids to the Florida Keys? I’m going to share what I loved about my first trip to the Keys with my family! This info can be for anyone traveling, not just families, but I was pleasantly surprised with this getaway with kids!
How to Get to the Florida Keys
There are many ways to get there! We found cheap flights to Fort Lauderdale (FLL) Airport and drove down. Similarly you can drive from Miami (MIA) Airport. There is also a small airport on Key West (EYW) all the way at the bottom of the Keys that you can fly into. We had heard of Key West being the place to go and see in the Keys, but we felt driving down allowed us to make stops along the way to see many of the different keys! It was a beautiful drive, and I do recommend it!
Where to Stay in the Florida Keys
I am going to HIGHLY recommend the resort we stayed in. Isla Bella Beach Resort in Marathon. One thing I loved about it is that it is in the middle of the Florida Keys. It allowed us to make stops along the way, stay in the middle, and we did a day trip to Key West (only an hour from Marathon).
Isla Bella is located near the iconic Seven Mile Bridge. "Pristine white architecture and sandy beaches provide guests a tranquil respite from the world beyond". It was truly a beautiful place, had a quiet and relaxed feel, and had many things for kids to enjoy! There were several heated pools (one of which was adult only), a small beach area where we saw hermit crabs, oversized chess, connect 4, ping pong tables, bocce ball, and more! They had an activity calendar with all kinds of things like hermit crab races, yoga on the beach, and art classes. The sunsets were stunning and breakfast on the beach by the water was perfect. All of the rooms are oceanview as well. It is located near the Seven Mile Bridge and the Old Seven Mile Bridge which is converted into a walking/biking/running path. I went on a long sunrise run over the water which is definitely one of my favorite runs I have ever done!
While we did not on this trip, I do think that Key West would be a fantastic place to stay as well, if we had more time I think splitting our time between the two would have made the trip even better, simply having one night in Key West.
Things to do in the Northern Keys & Marathon
Our first stop along the way was in Key Largo (cue the Beach Boys song…) at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park
We took a glass bottom boat tour into the 3rd largest reef in the world! Other options are kayaking, snorkeling out on the boat, or snorkeling from Canon Beach. We have done several boat tours with snorkeling in the past and our kids are a little hit or miss so we thought we’d try the glass bottom boat this time. Unfortunately our son who is seasick prone did not do well as the waters were really choppy that day! It was definitely beautiful!
We had lunch at probably one of my favorite stops: Robbie’s in Islamorada. The Hungry Tarpon Restaurant was quirky and fun, right on the water, and the food was delicious. That’s not all! There was shopping, a beach with a beach bar, AND feeding Tarpon fish. For about $5 we got a bucket of small fish to feed to these giant fish. While there, we avoided the pelicans who also wanted the fish, saw nurse sharks in with the Tarpons, and saw larger shark fins sticking up just a little ways out by some kayakers! A sign showed there were manatees there, which is my favorite animal, but alas, we did not see any. Robbie’s is a super fun place to eat and to spend a few hours!
One experience we saw but did not have time to do is: Theater of the Sea, but it is something I’d recommend checking out!
In Marathon, there are a couple experiences that we did that I recommend! The first is the Dolphin Research Center. Here you can learn all about dolphins and watch the trainers work with them. You can also meet a dolphin like our kids did, where we sat next the the water and got to rub a couple dolphins and hold their fins! With little kids this is a great option to first experience a dolphin up close - they are big animals! They had other options of getting in the water and swimming with them as well for older kids and adults!
The second place I recommend is the Turtle Hospital. Here we took a 1-hour tour where we learned all about the different types of sea turtles that live in the ocean, how they are injured, and how they are cared for. I will admit when we started by sitting in a quiet room listening to the lady talk about them, I thought the kids might be bored for the next hour. This definitely wasn’t the case! The tour continued with us walking through the hospital, watching a turtle being examined by the vet, on to seeing many others in tanks outside, and ending with us getting to feed them! It was a great place where we all learned a lot!
Things to do in Key West
We did about a half day trip to Key West as we were tired and wanted to spend some down time at our resort. We only skimmed the surface of what there is to do. We did a Conch Train Tour which took us all around the island. This was a fun ride for the kids and our guide was excellent. Key West gave me a New Orleans vibe from the balconies to the trees. It was very unique and beautiful. We saw the Southernmost Point and Duval Street. We were supposed to have a snorkeling tour, but it was cancelled due to a maintenance issue. I highly recommend getting out on the water in Key West and there are many boat tours, snorkeling, jet skiing, paragliding, etc tours to do so!
Some other ideas of things to do:
Go to the Ship Wreck Museum
Go to the Butterfly & Nature Conservatory
Get Key Lime Pie from Kermit’s
Go to Mallory Square Sunset Celebration (a festival every evening at sunset)
Experience Duval St at night (similar to Bourbon St in New Orleans)
Take a trip to the Dry Tortugas National Park (a seaplane or boat ride away that has to be booked well in advance)
What to Combine with the Florida Keys
If you are flying into Fort Lauderdale or Miami, you can easily add one or both of those destinations onto your trip. We made a last minute decision to add on a stop in Miami - South Beach as we were driving by Miami around dinner time so we thought we’d check it out! South Beach is a fantastic beach, but was closed as it was dark when we were there. We found a Cuban restaurant, where we sat outside and enjoyed a delicious meal with music all around us. There were dancers inside that our daughter loved to watch! The strip had many young people going out partying, and there were many fancy cars and nicely dressed people. There were also many families there as well! It was a good little taste of Miami!
You can also add on a national park such as the Everglades where you can do a boat tour to see the swamps and alligators. You can add on the Dry Tortugas as mentioned in a trip from Key West. And near Miami, you can also visit Biscayne National Park.
I hope you are as excited about the Florida Keys as I am! The good news is not only am I a travel blogger, but I am a travel designer as well, and can help you book your trip with ease!
The Best Waffles, Beer, Fries and Chocolate: Can it Get Any Better?
When we moved to Germany, I will admit I never had Belgium as a bucket list place to go. I had heard of Brussels from my brother and sister in law who went there on their honeymoon European adventure, and I had heard of Belgium waffles, but that was about it! Three trips to Belgium in a year should be evidence enough that I LOVED it! Brussels and Bruges - two Belgian cities that have captured my heart.
Brussels
This city was one of our first cities we visited outside of Germany in our year and a half living abroad. The buildings in the main square, the Grand Place, lined with gold, were the most amazing thing we had ever seen! There was even a parade happening when we were there with a big mechanical dragon, which definitely caught our kids eyes.
Speaking of kids, this city has so many great activities for kids! The Mini-Europe was adorable. It showed all of the European countries and things that made them special. So much of it stuck with us as we traveled to several of those countries to see the life-size version! The Atomium was unique and an amazing piece of art as well as a fun attraction. Train World was fascinating. Going during COVID, we couldn’t get on the trains like they allowed before and now, but standing beside massive trains old and new, touching them and learning about them, it was truly incredible.
One unique thing in Brussels, is finding the “peeing statues”. Mannequin Pis is famous and you will find all kinds of trinkets of it in the gift shops. There is also a Jeanneke Pis (peeing girl) and a Zinneke Pis (peeing dog) adding a fun scavenger hunt to your city tour. The artwork including comics on buildings throughout Brussels is fun to see as well!
We ate our way around Brussels - the Belgian fries, the waffles, the chocolate, the beer. While not the healthiest weekend, it was DELICIOUS and worth every bite!
In a second trip to Brussels, we added in another incredible and what I feel is a must-do experience in Belgium - making our own waffles! Experiences are something that last a lifetime and this experience was definitely one of those! On this trip we found a fantastic playground for kids - such a perfect break in the day when traveling with kids!
One bonus tip that I haven’t personally seen, but have added to my bucket list is seeing the flower carpets. Every other August in the Grand Place a flower carpet is created like the picture shown here (which was taken at Mini-Europe).
Bruges
While Brussels had beautiful architecture and so many fun things to experience, another city that was beautiful albeit in a different way was Bruges. This city had a romantic “Venice of the North” feeling with canals and bridges everywhere. We took a canal boat tour, walked around and relaxed soaking it all in. We also enjoyed eating the amazing Belgian food around; one of our favorites that we didn’t try the first time we went to Belgium is Mussels and fries!
Belgium has so much more to see and do. I highly recommend exploring these cities and others such as Antwerp, Ghent and more!
Why in the World Should you Travel the World with your Young Kids?!
Can’t you leave them with someone else? They won’t remember any of it anyways. It’s a waste of time and money. It’s too stressful. It’s too challenging. They have to stay on their sleep schedule. What if they don’t like the food?
These are all thoughts and questions I have heard regarding traveling outside of the US with young children. My husband and I love to travel and we were given an opportunity for an 18-month expatriation to Germany. We were so excited to be able to live in a new part of the world and travel to all the different countries so easily accessible! The only “problem” was that we had two children, aged 4 and 1 and 1/2. Fast forward through those 18 months and here we are with thirty-one countries checked off our bucket list! WITH our children. WITH the chaos. WITH the challenge. And I’m here to tell you it was MORE THAN WORTH it and here is why!
1. People around the world love children and most places are kid friendly. In America, I find that parents often worry about their children bothering other people. I can’t tell you how many times our children were acting up and instead of it “bothering” the people around us, others began interacting with them and making them happy again. In certain cultures, such as when we visited Cairo and Istanbul, they don’t often see blonde-hair, blue-eyed little girls and the joy on their faces to talk to and even take pictures of our daughter (who some even called “Barbie”) surprised us.
Many places are very kid friendly – from fast-track lines in the airports, to offering toys and snacks on even budget flights, to incredible playgrounds all throughout the cities – in Europe we felt that kids and those traveling with families were treated very nicely.
2. Teaching your children about languages and cultures at a young age prepares them to understand that there is SO much more to life than where we live. Kids see that people travel to work by train or even by donkey rather than a car, that they can communicate with each other in languages other than English, that even your kids can communicate with others in different languages as they learn the local words for “hello” and “thank you”. They come to understand the uniqueness of the places you are visiting and appreciate them. You also learn new things by seeing them through your children’s eyes and answering their many questions.
3. The kids are exposed to new foods they typically wouldn’t eat. They may or may not like what they try, but they learn that it is okay to expand their palates and to eat foods that people in other countries eat. For us, meals were a bit of a challenge with our daughter who has nut allergies. We had to learn how to communicate with those at restaurants and translate things we would buy at the store, all to verify that there weren’t any nuts in the food we gave her. This limited her in some ways, but we always had her favorite snacks with us and she was always happy. Our son was fortunate to be able to try all of the foods we were having to explore all of the different flavors. At 5 years old, he was loving to eat mussels, reindeer, squid, bear, sauerkraut, and more!
4. Children are more adaptable than you think. They sleep on trains and planes when arriving to a destination late. My daughter learned that riding in the baby carrier usually meant it was nap time, even at 3 years old. They learn that walking to a destination rather than taking a car may be the best option, and they do it often times without even complaining. They learn to eat new things and to be off schedule from their day to day routine. They learn to go to sleep in hotels that are unfamiliar. Kids truly adapt.
5. They may not remember all of the experiences or sights that they see, but they will remember many of the highlights. They will remember going up the Eiffel Tower, riding on a double decker bus, being at the top of a snow covered mountain, and jumping off of a boat into the ocean. They will remember riding on camels in the desert and traveling to Santa’s Village in the “North Pole”. They will learn things in books or in school and think “Wow, I’ve been there” or “I’ve seen that!” and they won’t feel as unattached from the other side of the world.
It’s also important to remember, even without them remembering it all, YOU will remember as a parent and will hold those memories dearly, and if you’re anything like us, you will take a LOT of pictures which kids love going through and talking about the things they have seen and done!
6. They will love and crave the adventure and excitement right alongside you. If you love exploring, then explore with your kids and chances are, they will love exploring. One key tip is to find fun parks and unique adventures along the way to enhance the experience for them, but otherwise, take your trip! Want to go to Oktoberfest in Munich? So do your kids. Want to relax on the beautiful beaches on the Amalfi coast? So do your kids. Want to go hiking to see beautiful waterfalls in Croatia? So do your kids. If it’s something that you enjoy, and you have the right attitude and planning, your kids will love it all as well!
7. Your kids will be shaped through the experiences they go through. They will grow by getting out of their comfort zone, and you as a family will grow by getting out of your comfort zone together. Make these memories with your kids and watch them blossom in new ways you didn’t even know was possible. Enjoy the time with your family, experiencing new and exciting places; I promise you won’t regret it!
I admit that I had my fears of traveling outside of the country with my children, but I will say that I am now passionate about traveling with my young children. I want to continue to show them new, exciting, and unique things in different places around the world. I want to continue to have that bonding time with them, creating memories to last. Before the opportunity that we had, I thought if we ever went to Europe, it would have to be just myself and my husband or we’d have to wait until our children were teenagers to make it work. Now, I know and recommend that you travel with your young kids!