***Edit: Trip Booked!***
Just a quick update, and thanks for all the good ideas. We booked our trip already and are headed to Barcelona for 8 nights at the end of September. I would have never considered Spain, so thanks for the suggestions! I love that this thread has some great suggestions/ideas/responses and keep the discussions going! But PLEASE keep it on the topic of good international destinations to bring babies along! Don't steer it towards how babies should be raised, or why you should just stay home or stay local.


Hi All,

Just hoping some people could throw out some ideas and maybe even some personal experiences. My wife and I (both 29) love to travel and do at least one week long international trip a year. Trips we have done in the past include:
Mediterranean Cruise (Barcelona, Nice, Florence, Rome, Naples, Palermo)
Caribbean Cruise (western caribbean)
Florence, Italy for a week
Playa del Carmen at an AI for a week

We'll be having our fist child in October, and would like to plan a nice vacation for the fall of 2012. We are currently very flexible on dates and destinations, but it would probably be 6-10 days in length. I really have no clue what to expect in traveling with a child just under a year old. Things that come to mind are dining with an infant (we love fine dining), getting around cities with a baby, being in a hot/tropical environment, etc. Also I don't know what is available in terms of child care for a child so young, if we wanted to get out for a dinner on our own.

I'd appreciate some feedback on trip ideas. Also I'd love to hear from other's personal experience and certain dos/don'ts or things to consider.

We actually hadn't planned on starting the family until next year because we wanted to plan a 2 week Europe trip. Now that we'll have the baby it still would be nice to see Europe, but perhaps only a single location.

Currently some things that have come to mind are:
Australia
New Zealand
Dublin, Ireland
Paris
Germany (what city?)

Australia/NZ/Dublin all are appealing because they are modern countries that with English as their primary language. I figure removing the language barrier just will make things easier. I'd LOVE to go to Paris, but mostly for the food, and I'd worry about missing out on the nice restaurants because of the baby. I'm also thinking we should just pick one location and stay there the entire time, as traveling place to place with the baby and all the gear will be tough. I love the tropical destinations, and so does my wife. We'd both love to check out Southeast Asia (Boracay, Phuket, Bali, etc), but I'd be worried about bringing a baby to a hot/sunny location. We wouldn't want a baby out on a snorkeling tour, or sitting for hours at the beach.

We both love fine dining and food. Also love to just walk around and take in the culture/sites. Neither of us are big on visiting museums, going to shows, etc. We loved our week in Florence because we got to just spend time hanging out in the city, eating at all the restaurants, wandering around to various cafe's, going wine tasting in the countryside, etc.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or personal experiences!