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National Geographic Traveler contributing editor Christopher Elliott recently spent a day in Québec City with his family. Here’s what he found. If you have only a day to spend in Québec City, the capital of the Canadian province of Québec, here’s my advice: Don’t waste a minute. It’s going to be a full day. Ours…
National Geographic Traveler contributing editor Christopher Elliott recently spent a day in Richmond, Virginia, with his family. Here’s what he discovered. You can’t see a place like Richmond in just a day. You can only begin to, and that’s especially true if you have three young kids in tow. My advice? Pick the best this city…
Christopher Elliott writes about a recent family trip where plans to add authenticity to the itinerary went awry.
The scenic overlook that offers a breathtaking view of a fishing village and an improbably blue Caribbean Sea is a classic tourist trap. And St. Lucia has more than its fair share of them, where merchants hawk necklaces, painted shells, and jewelry to unsuspecting visitors. After seeing our third commercialized vantage point, we asked our…
It’s easy to get lost in Vail. It’s just as easy to find yourself in Keystone. Here’s how to get turned upside-down at Colorado’s largest mountain resort: Take your whole family skiing, and just try to stay together. My four-year-old daughter, for example, is a timid skier compared with her brother, a kindergartner. He left…
Horses aren’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Hawaii. Palm trees. Pineapple plantations. Luau. Hula, maybe. But horses? No. And definitely not cowboys. But in Maui’s upcountry, far from the beach resorts and the gentle surf and the postcard-perfect waterfalls, there I was, confronted with a funny question. “Dad, which…
Visiting an art museum may not be at the top of your “to do” list if you’re a four-year-old. But when a docent at the newly-opened Dalí Museum in St. Peterburg, Florida, invited my three kids — ages 4, 6, and 8 — to participate in a scavenger hunt on a recent Sunday afternoon, their…
National Geographic Traveler columnist Christopher Elliott recently visited northern California with his family. This is his final report. Read the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth. California’s wine country may be the last place you’d expect to find wild animals roaming the hillsides, from giraffes to zebras. But after exploring the Northern part of the Golden…
National Geographic Traveler columnist Christopher Elliott recently visited northern California with his family. This is the fifth of six reports. Read the first, second, third, and fourth posts. “Look at the castles!” my four-year-old daughter exclaimed, pressing her nose against the car window. “Yes, Napa has lots of castles,” I agreed. There’s no shortage of temples…
National Geographic Traveler columnist Christopher Elliott recently visited northern California with his family. This is the fourth of six reports. Read the first and second and third posts. Northstar-at-Tahoe isn’t the first ski resort we’ve visited as a family. Just last week, we checked out the slopes in nearby Heavenly. And last year, we…
The Disney Dream‘s star attraction starts as a nightmare. You climb a narrow set of stairs to the 14th deck, high above the pools, basketball courts and mini-golf course. Then you plunk yourself down on an inner tube and are shot through a transparent acrylic tube, over the vessel, on a ribbon of water. “Oh…
National Geographic Traveler columnist Christopher Elliott recently visited northern California with his family. This is the third of six reports. Read the first and second posts. If you want to get to know your kids, take them skiing. But if you want to bond with them, go snow tubing. Skiing may be one of the…
National Geographic Traveler columnist Christopher Elliott recently visited northern California with his family. This is the second of six reports. Read his first post here. It’s a strange time to be in Sacramento. A day before we arrived, Jerry Brown was sworn in as the Golden State’s 39th governor. The marbled hallways of the Hyatt…
National Geographic Traveler columnist Christopher Elliott recently visited northern California with his family. This is the first of six reports. Oakland is the kind of city that’s always looking up. If the drive along Lincoln Avenue over the Highway 13 Bridge–where you can see the ornate Ascension Greek Orthodox Cathedral and the magnificent Mormon Temple,…
National Geographic Traveler columnist Christopher Elliott recently visited Northwest Florida with his family. This is the second of two reports. Here’s the first. You can’t build a sand dune. Not a real one. You can try, says our guide, Snookie Parrish. “You can pile the sand, but when a big storm hits – whoosh,” she…
National Geographic Traveler columnist Christopher Elliott recently visited Northwest Florida with his family. This is the first of two reports. Seaside, Florida, is the kind of destination that can be enjoyed year-round with your family. But some seasons are easier than others. For about nine months, when this master-planned community in Florida’s Panhandle enjoys…
National Geographic Traveler columnist Christopher Elliott recently visited Hawaii with his family. Read his first blog post here. Like almost every other destination on the planet, Hawaii claims to have something for everyone. But on Oahu, the most visited of the Hawaiian Islands, you have to look hard to find something for kids. Check into your hotel…
National Geographic Traveler columnist Christopher Elliott recently visited Hawaii with his family. This is his first report. There’s a surprise waiting around every corner on Hawaii’s big island. Like the time we ran out of road. We were dizzy with jetlag and like most tourists from the mainland, a little confused. “Dad, I’m hungry,” my middle son,…
National Geographic Traveler columnist Christopher Elliott recently visited the Washington area with his family. His three-part series, Inside-Out With Kids, explores the D.C. region from different perspectives. Today, on their final stop, they return to the nation’s capital. Read the first and second blog posts in the series. What does it mean to be an “insider” in…
National Geographic Traveler columnist Christopher Elliott recently visited the Washington area with his family. His three-part series, Inside-Out With Kids, explores the DC region from different perspectives. Today they make a detour to Annapolis, Md. Here’s the previous story. Every morning in Annapolis should start like this: You drop by Chick & Ruth’s Delly at around 8…
National Geographic Traveler columnist Christopher Elliott recently visited the Washington area with his family. His three-part series, Inside-Out With Kids, explores the D.C. region from different perspectives. Today, the outsider’s point of view. You don’t know Washington until you’ve shared it with your family and a hundred thousand tourists all trying to squeeze into the monuments, the…
National Geographic Traveler columnist Christopher Elliott is trekking through the Los Angeles area with his family in search of the real Southern California. This is his seventh and final dispatch; read the previous one here. Nothing brings a family together like a little adversity, so it’s probably no wonder that our oldest son, Aren, is…
National Geographic Traveler columnist Christopher Elliott is trekking through the Los Angeles area with his family in search of the real Southern California. This is his sixth dispatch; read the previous one here. The search for authenticity can lead you to a place or, if you’re my three-year-old-daughter, it can lead you straight to a…
National Geographic Traveler columnist Christopher Elliott is trekking through the Los Angeles area with his family in search of the real Southern California. This is his fifth dispatch; read the previous one here. Can anyone write about Santa Monica, California, without bringing up the pier, or the beach, or at the very least, politics? Not…
National Geographic Traveler columnist Christopher Elliott is trekking through the Los Angeles area with his family in search of the real Southern California. This is his fourth dispatch; read the previous one here. This is Marina del Rey, California. Seriously. In the middle of a densely-developed part of Southern California, only three miles from Los…
