New England family vacation packages,
built our way.
We don't sell New England vacation packages, and for most families we don't think you need one. We live on the New Hampshire seacoast, right on the Maine border, and every week we would hand a family here comes down to three choices: one base you can walk from, the one big ticket the week is built around, and which weekends to avoid. Below are the three weeks we would put together, with the hotels we have stayed in, and the times a real bundle is worth buying.
Three New England family weeks,
at a glance.
Think of each row as a package you assemble yourself. Pick one, base there for the week, and book the lodging first.
| The week | Base | Built around | Best for | From Boston |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southern Maine beach week | York Beach or Ogunquit | Long Sands and the tide pools | Young kids, July to Labor Day | About 1 hr 25 min to Ogunquit |
| White Mountains week | North Conway | Story Land, or the Cog Railway | Kids under 6 in summer, older kids for hiking | Just under 3 hrs |
| Vermont week | Woodstock, Stowe or Burlington | Lakes, bike paths, a slow village | Summer and fall, any age | About 2 hrs 35 min to Woodstock |
| Add-on: Acadia | Bar Harbor | Cadillac Mountain and Sand Beach | A long weekend, not a day | About 5 hrs |
Drive times are from Boston, since that's where most readers start, and assume no Friday traffic. Opening dates and ticket prices change every season, so check each attraction's own site before you book.
What is in a New England family vacation package?
Strip a package down and it is usually two things: a place to sleep, and tickets to the one attraction the trip is named after. Sometimes breakfast. For a family that is driving, there is no flight to bundle, and the flight is where most package savings come from elsewhere.
So we build it in the same order a package would, just without the middleman. Lodging first, because the 2-bedroom places with a real kitchen go first. Then the big ticket, with its dates checked. Then nothing else, because the best days we have had up here were the unplanned ones on the rocks at Long Sands.
When a bundle does pay: ski weeks. Mountains often sell lodging and lift tickets together, and those are worth pricing against booking separately. Our family friendly ski resorts from Boston guide covers Gunstock, where our girls ski, and the Vermont mountains Kyle grew up on.
The southern Maine beach week.
This is our home turf, and the week we would book for the youngest kids. Base in York Beach or Ogunquit and don't move. Long Sands in York is our family's favorite: a bathroom right on the beach, takeout and several ice cream shops across the road, tide pools, and Nubble Lighthouse in view. The girls always end up playing on the rocks.
Fill the rest of the week from what is close. In Ogunquit the girls walk the Marginal Way in the morning and spend the afternoon on Ogunquit Beach. Wallis Sands State Park in Rye, just over the line in New Hampshire, is the easiest beach day we know: reserve the state-park parking spot, and there are bathrooms and a small store. Portsmouth is close enough for a rainy afternoon, and Prescott Park and Market Square are what our girls ask for there.
The one thing to plan: parking. At Long Sands the road meters run about $4 an hour and fill early, so get there before about 10am. After that, the lots cost about $20 to $40 a day. Staying where you can walk to the sand solves it.
The full beach-by-beach version is in our best beaches in Maine for kids guide.
The White Mountains week, from North Conway.
We go up to North Conway and stay over with the girls, and our most recent stay was the White Mountain Hotel and Resort, which we loved. The village is fun to walk and shop, and dinner is Tuckerman Brewing or Moat Mountain Brewing Company, both kid-friendly.
The big ticket depends on your kids' ages. Under 6, it is Story Land in Glen, a theme park built for younger children. We took both girls when they were that age. It is seasonal, so check its calendar before you book the week around it. Older kids get more out of the Mount Washington Cog Railway, which we have ridden with the girls, and a real summit hike. Mount Major is the one we send families to first: it is technically in the Lakes Region, south of the White Mountains proper, and both girls have climbed it for the lake views.
In winter the same week can become a ski week. We ski at Gunstock with the girls, which is a separate drive south in the Lakes Region rather than a day out from North Conway, and the Ice Castles are a winter outing we have done with them too. The whole plan is in our North Conway with kids guide.
The Vermont week.
Kyle grew up in Wallingford and lived in Vermont for his first 25 years, and we go back constantly to see his family. Summer and fall are our two favorite Vermont seasons. With the girls we have done Stowe, Burlington and Lake Champlain, and Woodstock and Quechee.
Pick one of those and stay put. Stowe or Burlington is the active version: recreation paths, the lake and long summer evenings. Woodstock and Quechee are the slower one, a village to walk and a gorge to look into. A Vermont week doesn't really have one big ticket, which is part of why it suits families who want the week to be quiet. Our Vermont with kids guide splits the bases up by what each is good for.
What about Acadia or Cape Cod?
Acadia is the add-on we would make room for. We have taken our girls to Bar Harbor and Acadia, and it has the biggest payoff in Maine. At about 5 hours from Boston it needs two full days at minimum, and driving up Cadillac Mountain needs a vehicle reservation in season. It pairs best with the beach week as a second base.
Cape Cod we haven't done with the girls. Kyle knows it well from before kids and would pick summer: beaches, ice cream, arcades and outdoor restaurants. His warning is the traffic, with only two bridges on and off the Cape, so plan the arrival and the drive home around it. Our Cape Cod weekend guide is the research version.
Where should a family stay for a New England vacation week?
Somewhere you can walk from. That is the part a cheap package tends to skip: a hotel off the highway costs less, and then you spend the week in the car.
Some links below are affiliate links. If you book or buy through them, NOE may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend what we would book for our own family. Our disclosure.
A coast base and a mountain base, both places we have stayed
The two summer bases we use most are the beach towns just over the Maine line and North Conway. The two hotels below are ones we have stayed in with the girls. For a week, a 2-bedroom rental in either town is what we would search first.
Where we stayed for a night away with the girls: two indoor pools and an outdoor pool.
Our last stay in North Conway, and one we would book again. It is a hotel, not a rental, so ask for a room that fits four.
Links open Vrbo or Expedia for 2 adults and 2 kids with no dates set, so prices change once you add dates. Summer weeks book up early. See every stay on our approved list.
Can someone build the package for us?
We can. A weekend in New England is simple enough to plan yourself in an evening, and the guides on this site are written so you can. A full week across two or three bases is where families ask us for help: which base first, which weekend the big ticket is least crowded, and what to book before it sells out.
The $99 planning consultation is an hour on the phone with us, a proposed itinerary built from the call, and a month of email follow-up while you book. The booking service, from $499 for one week and one or two locations, has us book the stays, tickets and activities in your name, with three to five rounds of revisions before anything is booked. You pay each hotel or rental directly, so we never hold your card, and no hotel pays us for where we send you.
What families ask us.
Do you sell New England family vacation packages?
No. We are a family travel site, not a tour operator, so there is no bundle to buy from us. What we can do is build the week with you: a $99 planning consultation, or full booking from $499, with every reservation made in your name and paid by you directly to each hotel or rental.
Is a vacation package cheaper than booking New England yourself?
Usually not, for a drive-to trip. Most New England family trips are a drive, so the flight-and-hotel bundle that makes packages cheaper elsewhere does not apply. Lodging is most of the cost, and a 2-bedroom rental with a kitchen does more for the budget than any bundle. Ski weeks are the exception worth checking, because resorts often sell lodging and lift tickets together.
What is the best New England family vacation for young kids?
A beach week on the southern Maine coast, based in York Beach or Ogunquit. It is the easiest week there is with small children. If your kids are under about 6, a White Mountains week built around Story Land is the other one we would put first.
When should we book a New England family vacation?
For July and August, book in winter. The 2-bedroom rentals with a real kitchen in beach and mountain towns go first.
Can you plan a New England vacation for us?
Yes. For a weekend you can probably plan it yourself in an evening. For a week across two or three bases, the $99 consultation gets you an hour with us and an itinerary built from it, and the booking service, from $499 for one week and one or two locations, has us book it in your name.
Keep planning.
Planning something further afield?
The Boston-to-Europe family flight guide: which routes run year-round, the order we book things in, and how far ahead to buy for a school vacation week.
Plus our 12-page field guide, free: where we stay, what we pack, and the eSIM, VPN and insurance we set up before every trip.
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