What’s better than a family vacation? Getting a great deal on that family vacation, of course! One of the best ways to save money is to purchase a vacation package. These can consist of any combination of hotel, flights, rental car, activities, and even theme park tickets.
There are lots of websites that promise the best deals — so how do you know which ones will save you the most money or help you find a resort or hotel that caters to family travelers?
Unfortunately, there’s no one site that always has the lowest prices. But, some sites are better than others at helping you find the best deal on your family vacation package.
We’ve narrowed it down to show you 7 websites that offer great deals on family vacation packages and allow you to search for family-friendly properties — let’s take a look!
1. Expedia
You’re probably familiar with using Expedia to book travel, but did you know it’s also a great tool to search for family-friendly vacation packages? There are 2 main ways to use it to find kid-friendly travel.
First, you can start a search as you usually would. Once you get your search results, scroll way down to the bottom of the filtering options. There you’ll see a filter for Traveler experience — you can choose between LGBTQ welcoming, Business friendly, or family friendly.
You’ll be able to filter your search results to show only family-friendly properties. Image Credit: ExpediaAnother way to use Expedia is to start at the kid-friendly vacation packages landing page. Here you’ll be able to search for a specific trip, get ideas and inspiration for your vacation, and read family vacation FAQs.
If you’re not sure where you’d like to go, scroll down to the bottom of this page to see lots of kid-friendly destination suggestions.
You can search for kid-friendly vacations on Expedia. Image Credit: ExpediaHot Tip: Check out these family travel tips to make your next vacation as stress-free as possible.
2. Costco Travel
Costco Travel is another great site that can help you find the perfect family vacation. Instead of starting your search on the main page, head over to Costco’s family-friendly travel page.
You can search for family-friendly deals through Costco Travel. Image Credit: Costco TravelHere you can search for a specific destination or check out the featured deals, family-friendly resorts, and family-friendly cruises.
These hotels, resorts, and cruises all offer features that will appeal to families traveling with kids, including kids’ clubs and activities, kids-eat-free programs, and pools and waterslides.
While you do have to have a Costco membership to make a purchase from Costco Travel, you can search for a package without a membership. Often, packages purchased through Costco Travel will come with a Costco Shop Card which can more than make up for the price of the membership. Plus, Executive members earn 2% back on purchases, including those from Costco Travel.
Many Costco Travel packages come with a Costco Shop Card. Image Credit: Costco TravelBottom Line: Don’t count out Costco Travel even if you’re not a member. You’ll often find that packages purchased through Costco Travel come with a shop card that can more than make up for the cost of a membership. You can price out your vacation without having a membership so you don’t even have to join until you’re ready to book.
3. Undercover Tourist
Undercover Tourist is a popular site for families wanting to visit theme parks like Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, SeaWorld, and more. While you can’t book a flight through Undercover Tourist, you can build a vacation package that includes a hotel, rental car, and even park tickets.
Vacation packages purchased through Undercover Tourist can include hotel, car rental, and park tickets. Image Credit: Undercover TouristThe downside is that Undercover Tourist only offers deals in select locations. However, if you’re looking for a vacation that includes theme park tickets, this site is great.
One of the best parts about purchasing theme park tickets through Undercover Tourist (either on their own or as part of a package) is that they will code as “travel” instead of “entertainment,” which opens the door to earning lots of points on your purchase.
For example, you’ll earn 3x points per $1 spent at Undercover Tourist with the Chase Sapphire Reserve® but you’d only earn 1x point per $1 if you purchased your tickets directly through the theme park.
Undercover Tourist Destinations and Ski Resort Locations
- Aspen Snowmass
- Beavercreek
- Boston
- Breckenridge
- Chicago
- Keystone
- Lake Tahoe
- Los Angeles
- Miami
- New York City
- Orlando
- Park City
- San Antonio
- San Diego
- San Francisco
- Steamboat Springs
- Vail
- Vero Beach
- Washington, D.C.
Bottom Line: There are lots of great reasons to use Undercover Tourist if you’re interested in a vacation package that includes theme park tickets. It’s a popular website among families looking to make a trip to Disney.
4. CheapTickets
CheapTickets is a popular online travel agency for finding hotels, flights, rental cars, and vacation packages. It’s powered by Expedia so it has the same functionality as that site, but it’s worth checking out both sites as each can offer different pricing.
When you’re searching for a family vacation on CheapTickets, scroll down to the Traveler experience section of the filtering options at the bottom and select Family-friendly. This helps narrow down your search to properties that have kid-friendly amenities or family-friendly conveniences.
Additionally, some properties are labeled as Great for families in the search results.
CheapTickets features many hotels and resorts that are great for families. Image Credit: CheapTicketsHot Tip: Regardless of where and how you book your family trip, be sure to use a credit card that’s great for vacations and vacation packages.
5. Southwest Vacations
Southwest Vacations is a great way for fans of Southwest Airlines to book a vacation. That’s because it offers the ability to earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points on your vacation package.
Southwest is great for families because it’s easy to change and cancel tickets, each passenger gets 2 free checked bags, and families traveling with kids 6 and under can use family boarding.
To find deals that cater to families, scroll down on the homepage until you see a selection of vacation package themes.
You can find family-themed vacation packages on Southwest Vacations. Image Credit: Southwest VacationsOne of the cool things about booking with Southwest Vacations is that you can add extras during the checkout process. This can include things like airport transfers, trip protection, and sightseeing tours. But, if you happen to be visiting a place that has lots of theme parks, like Orlando, you can actually add park tickets to your reservation.
Hot Tip: Southwest Airlines flies to many family-friendly vacation destinations, including Hawaii and many international locations.
6. Momondo
Momondo is a metasearch engine that lists the best prices found across all websites and then transfers you to that website to book your trip.
This type of website can save time since it does all of the searching for you.
After specifying your travel dates and destination, scroll down through the filtering options on the results page until you see Property style. Check the Family box to narrow your search results to family-friendly properties. Unfortunately, Momondo doesn’t specify what makes a property fall in the family category, so you may still need to narrow down your search a bit more with the other filtering options.
Some search results have the Family Saver label which could help you focus on properties that can save you the most money.
Keep an eye out for Family Saver properties. Image Credit: Momondo7. Apple Vacations
Apple Vacations specializes in popular vacation destinations like the Caribbean, Mexico, and Hawaii. Because of that, it has got a lot of options that will appeal to families.
To focus solely on hotels and resorts that cater to families, start your search as usual, then look for the Experience section of the filtering options. Select Family and your search results will narrow down to family-friendly properties only. While this is nice, we did find it filtered out some locations that would appeal to families, so use it with caution.
Another, and possibly better, option if you’re traveling with kids is to use the Children’s Amenities filtering option found under Hotel Amenities. This filter may give you a better selection of hotels that offer kid-centric activities.
You can filter your Apple Vacations search results to only show family-friendly options. Image Credit: Apple VacationsPrice Comparisons
Now that we’ve gone over some of the websites that offer package deals on family vacations, let’s take a look at the numbers. We’ve priced out 2 different packages on each of these sites to see which offers the best price.
Package #1: A 7-night stay for 2 adults and 2 kids at Iberostar Rose Hall Beach All-Inclusive plus round-trip flights from Atlanta to Montego Bay, Jamaica
Package #2: A 5-night stay at Kimpton Surfcomber Hotel in Miami Beach for 2 adults and 2 children plus round-trip flights from Minneapolis to Miami.
| Website | Package #1 | Package #2 |
| Apple Vacations | $6,944.78 | $3,369.03 |
| CheapTickets | $7,100.45 | $2,392.08 |
| Costco Travel | N/A | $2,436.72 |
| Expedia | $7,657.96 | $3,016.77 |
| Momondo | $7,121.04 | $3,298.60 |
| Southwest Vacations | $6,988.65 | N/A |
| Undercover Tourist | N/A | N/A |
Apple Vacations had the best price for the all-inclusive package in Jamaica while CheapTickets came out ahead for the Miami vacation package.
As you can see, prices can vary dramatically on the same vacation package. That’s why it’s always a good idea to price out your trip on a few different websites to ensure you’re getting the best deal.
Final Thoughts
Planning a family vacation can be a lot of fun, but it can be stressful as well. Finding the right combination of flight, hotel, rental car, and activities can be a daunting task. Hopefully, you’ll now find it a little easier since you’re armed with some knowledge and a list of great websites to search.
