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What to Pack When Traveling With Baby

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What to Expect the First Year , 3rd edition, Heidi Murkoff. WhatToExpect.com, Flying With a Baby? Here's What to Know Before You Go , September 2021. WhatToExpect.com, Do Babies Need Passports? , October 2021. WhatToExpect.com, Best Travel Toys for Babies , February 2021. WhatToExpect.com, Baby Products You Can Take on a Plane , September 2020. American Academy of Pediatrics, Flying with Baby: Parent FAQs , November 2019. American Academy of Pediatrics, Is It Safe for Families to Travel Now? , August 2021. American Academy of Pediatrics, Travel Safety Tips , August 2018.  American Academy of Pediatrics, Is It Safe for My Baby to Travel in a Car Seat a Few Hours at a Time? , August 2021. Transportation Security Administration, Traveling with Children . Federal Aviation Administration, Flying with Children , March 2021. Mayo Clinic, Is Air Travel Safe for an Infant? , October 2019.

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• Toddler and Baby Gear

The Best Baby Travel Essentials for Your Next Family Trip

All parents know that bringing baby anywhere pretty much guarantees a bag (or two) brimming with gear —and when you’re packing for an extended trip, the prospect of carrying everything around (and remembering it all!) can be daunting. Thankfully, there are plenty of sanity-saving baby travel essentials out there, all designed to lighten your load. From on-the-go changing and feeding accessories to feather-light strollers and packable playards , these trusty products will make any trip more seamless. Below, browse our handy baby travel essentials checklist, then shop our favorites for an array of categories.

Baby Travel Essentials Checklist

Packing for yourself and your little one doesn’t have to be a headache. To make sure you don’t forget any baby travel essentials, keep this checklist handy as you prep:

Travel car seat

Travel stroller

Travel crib

Baby carrier

Portable high chair

Travel diaper bag (and diaper bag essentials , of course!)

Travel changing pad

Wet/dry bag

Portable wipes dispenser (and your favorite wipes )

Diapers (or training pants !)

Travel potty seat (for little ones who are potty training )

Travel white noise machine

Travel nursing pillow (if you’re breastfeeding )

Baby bottles

Insulated food jar

Formula and snack dispenser

Portable baby bathtub (for newborns and younger infants)

Pacifier clip

Travel toys

Baby Travel Essentials To Shop

Missing a few key items, or not sure where to start when it comes to picking out baby travel essentials? We’ve got you covered. Here, check out top-notch travel strollers, portable high chairs, diaper bags, car seat toys and everything else in between so you’re prepped for any and all travel plans.

Best travel car seat

Searching for a top-notch infant travel car seat? You can’t go wrong with this design from Nuna . It’s made from premium materials, has a secure five-point safety harness and can easily be installed with a seatbelt (no base needed!). This car seat is also Aircraft-certified and can be seamlessly connected to any Nuna stroller. Another feature you’ll love: It has a removable, full coverage canopy that’s UPF 50 to keep baby shaded in sunny weather.

Dimensions: 27.25” (L) x 17.5” (W) x 23” (H) | Weighs: 6.9 lbs. | Maximum capacity: 32 pounds

Best travel booster seat

Traveling with a tot or a kiddo? Don’t forget to bring along a travel booster seat . Our favorite is this design from Peg Perego . It can be adjusted in four different ways to ensure your little love is comfy and safe while en route to your destination. This booster can be installed using just a seatbelt and folds easily for added convenience. When inevitable messes occur, you’ll also love how the cover is machine-washable.

Dimensions: 26” (L) x 22” (W) x 17.25” (H) | Weighs: 14.8 lbs. | Maximum capacity: 120 lbs.

Best travel stroller

Talk about on-the-go: This lightweight travel stroller is just 16 lbs. and meets International Air Travel Association (IATA) requirements, meaning it can be stored in a plane’s overhead compartment. When on the ground, unfold it in seconds and enjoy features like the spacious underseat basket, the protective sun canopy and the advanced four-wheel suspension. Better yet, you don’t have to sacrifice sturdiness for the small size—the stroller can be used from 6 months up to around the four-year mark.

Dimensions: 36.42” (L) x 17.72” (W) x 40.31” (H) | Weighs: 16 lbs. | Maximum capacity: 48.50 pounds

Best travel crib

Wherever you’re headed, making sure baby has a safe place to sleep is a top priority. Thankfully, the Lotus solves that problem. This lightweight travel crib (13 lbs.) folds into a compact carrying case that fits in the overhead compartment and can be worn as a backpack. Once you’ve reached your destination, it sets up in 15 seconds and is super-sturdy for peace of mind. Plus, it doubles as a playard, with a side zip door so baby can crawl in and out.

Dimensions: 45.5” (L) x 31.5” (W) x 25.5” (H) | Weighs: 15 lbs. | Maximum capacity: No weight limit

Best toddler travel bed

Need something a bit more tot-friendly? Then this toddler travel bed will have your (and your kiddo’s) back. Highlights include the sleeping pad, the adjustable sunscreens and the secure anchor straps. This portable bed can be used by little ones between the ages of 6 months and 5 years old, so you can count on it for many outings to come. The best part? It easily folds into the included carry bag when not in use.

Dimensions: 19” (L) x 3.5” (W) x 19” (D) | Weighs: 3.65 lbs. | Maximum capacity: N/A

Best baby carrier

A carrier will let you walk around with baby without having to work hard—and still have the freedom to use both hands. Pro tip: Wearing baby through the airport will let you wheel along your luggage and sail through security without taking baby in and out. A longtime parent-loved brand, Ergobaby stands out for form and function, giving you the option to wear baby in multiple positions.

Dimensions: 6.2” (L) x 9.1” (W) x 10.4” (H) | Weighs: 2.2 lbs. | Maximum capacity: 45 pounds

Best portable high chair

Clip it on, clip it off; this portable high chair creates seating for little ones where there otherwise is none. Suitable for up to 37 pounds, it’s sturdy and durable enough to last through the toddler years. Best of all? It packs flat into the included travel bag. Now comes the hard part: Picking just one of the cute colorways available.

Dimensions: 14” (L) x 17” (W) x 11” (H) | Weighs: 4.96 lbs. | Maximum capacity: 37 lbs.

Best travel diaper bag

Road, train or plane trips with kiddos are what this weekender bag was made for. It weighs only 3 lbs., but don’t let that fool you—there’s plenty of room for your gear, thanks to the convenient mesh packing cubes included and the wipe-open compartment. Need to be hands-free? No problem. Just adjust the strap to turn it into a crossbody. Other highlights include a cushioned changing pad, an insulated bottle pocket and a handy luggage sleeve—score!

Dimensions: 17.5” (L) x 9” (W) x 14” (H) | Weighs: 3 lbs. | Maximum capacity: N/A

Best travel changing pad

Make on-the-go diaper changes a bit less messy with the help of this travel changing pad. No matter where you are, it will offer a hygienic, cushioned surface for baby to lay on while they get cleaned up. We love how this one can be opened with just one hand—plus, it features two storage pockets for diapers and wipes. When you’re all done, fold it flat and tote it in your diaper backpack , your carry-on bag or your suitcase.

Dimensions: 13.8” (L) x 8.4” (W) x 1.6” (H) | Weighs: 7.04 oz. | Maximum capacity: N/A

Best wet/dry bag

What do you do when you’re nowhere near home and you’ve got a handful of dirty cloth diapers and soiled clothes? Grab one of these totes, which separately store wet and dry items in the same bag. Sealed seams prevent wicking and leaking, and a snap handle makes it a breeze to carry.

Dimensions: 12” (L) x .05” (W) x 15” (H) | Weighs: 3.2 oz. | Maximum capacity: N/A

Best portable wipes dispenser

When it comes to on-the-go diaper changes and post-meal cleanups, you’ll likely have your hands full. This is why OXO designed a dispenser that, with a one-handed push of the button, reveals a large opening for easy access to wipes. The handy strap and slim shape mean you can hang it from your stroller or tuck it neatly into your bag. Dimensions: 1.5” (L) x 6.2” (W) x 11.3” (H) | Weighs: 4.9 oz. | Maximum capacity: N/A

Best travel potty seat

Thanks to this cool design, potty training doesn’t have to stop just because you’re out and about. When nature calls, unfold this travel potty seat and place it on any adult-sized toilet to create a smaller, more comfortable seat for your kiddo. Then, simply wipe it clean, fold it back up and place it in the included travel bag.

Dimensions: 13.75” (L) x 11” (W) x 0.75” (H) | Weighs: 12.8 oz. | Maximum capacity: 50 lbs.

Best travel white noise machine

If you’re traveling with a little one who’s still lulled by white noise, this is a must-have. It has all the features you’d want in a sound machine—a variety of white noise and sound options, volume control, long battery life and a lock—all in a compact, highly portable design. There’s even a clip to hang it from baby’s stroller or car seat.

Dimensions: 3.5” (L) x 3.75” (W) x 1.75” (H) | Weighs: 6.72 oz. | Maximum capacity: N/A

Best travel nursing pillow

Nursing pillows are the perfect companion to long breastfeeding sessions—and this one is ideal for on-the-go moms. The unique sling style offers you and baby support, with the distinct advantage of folding into a convenient travel bag, thanks to its slim, lightweight design.

Dimensions: 22” (L) x 3.5” (W) x 5” (H) | Weighs: 1 lb. | Maximum capacity: N/A

Best baby bottle

Bottles are essential baby travel gear for families with newborns or infants. Our favorites are these from Phillips Avent, which have natural response nipples that allow baby to control their feeding pace. They also have a no-drip design, making them perfect for taking out and about.

Dimensions: 2.8” (L) x 8.39” (W) x 6.54” (H) | Weighs: 11.04 oz. | Maximum capacity: 9 fl. oz.

Best insulated food jar

If your little one has moved onto solids , this insulated food jar is the perfect way to keep their food fresh while you’re not at home. The container keeps contents warm for seven hours and cold for five—plus, it even comes with built-in utensils for an on-the-move meal.

Dimensions: 3.5” (L) x 4.7” (W) x 3.5” (H) | Weighs: 8.2 oz. | Maximum capacity: 11 fl. oz.

Best formula and snack dispenser

Keep snacktime contained with this handy container. It seals shut for ultimate freshness and is complete with removable inner sections that let you pack different snacks all in one place. What’s more, its convenient spout makes formula storage and transfer a breeze.

Dimensions: 3.94” (L) x 3.94” (W) x 6.10” (H) | Weighs: 3.68 oz. | Maximum capacity: 27 fl. oz.

Best portable baby bath

Baby is practically guaranteed to make a mess wherever you go—but a portable tub will help you deal with the aftermath. This lightweight one by Stokke folds completely flat, so you can easily fit it in your luggage.

Dimensions: 33” (L) x 10” (W) x 20” (H) | Weighs: 9.5 lbs. | Maximum capacity: 46 pounds

Best pacifier clip

Trying to keep a pacifier in baby’s mouth and off the yucky sidewalk (and all other dirty surfaces) can be next to impossible—that is, without a pacifier clip. This one is a traveling parent’s best friend, thanks to its soft (and washable!) design and easy-to-use plastic clip. This pack of six will have you covered for many adventures with baby to come.

Dimensions: 6.3” (L) x 5.43” (W) x 0.71” (H) | Weighs: 1.58 oz. | Maximum capacity: N/A

Best baby travel toy

Last but certainly not least on our list of baby travel essentials is this best-selling car seat toy. Your little one will love how it’s super-soft and features plenty of engaging textures, patterns and activities to explore. On the other hand, you’ll love the convenient clip-on design that keeps it within baby’s reach—perfect for when you’re driving, or traveling in general. It’s easy to see why it has tens of thousands of glowing Amazon reviews !

Dimensions: 5.3” (L) x 2.8” (W) x 11.5” (H) | Weighs: 15.36 oz. | Maximum capacity: N/A

How We Chose the Best Baby Travel Essentials

We get it—parenting requires a lot of gear, and it can be hard to find the best fit for your family every time. To streamline your shopping (and packing) experience, we browsed baby travel essentials from an array of leading baby brands and trusted online retailers. We considered a list of criteria when sourcing products, such as ease of use, weight, size, portability, quality and durability, value, style and, of course, safety. We also read user reviews to understand how these products have worked for real families on the go, and didn’t consider anything with less than an average four-star rating. What’s more, we also looked for products that meet IATA requirements or have Aircraft Certification where applicable.

Interested in learning more about our editorial process? Read about how our team develops and reviews all articles here .

Plus, more from The Bump:

12 Awesome Car Seat Toys for Families on the Go

The 5 Best Infant Car Seats

30 Tips to Keep in Mind When Traveling With an Infant

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40 Practical & Encouraging Tips for Traveling with a Baby

Home » Blog » Family Travel » 40 Practical & Encouraging Tips for Traveling with a Baby

Adventuring with a little one can be overwhelming, but these practical tips for traveling with a baby will make it feel much more manageable. After reading this article, you’ll feel encouraged and confident to start planning your dream family vacation.

After taking all types of different trips with our daughter in her first year – from National Parks to European Christmas Markets to traveling Scotland by campervan (and so much more!) – we have learned so much about traveling with a baby. 

Why keep all these tips to ourselves when we can share them with you ?!

We know how overwhelming it can be , especially when other people tell you how hard it is traveling with kids. 

But you know what? It can also be amazing, too. 

Traveling with your little one will full your cup, create lifelong memories, and will open your eyes to a totally different way of looking at taking trips. 

While traveling with a baby certainly looks different and requires more flexibility and planning , we’re still able to do some pretty epic things. And you can too (if that’s what you want).

Traveling with our daughter has truly been life changing, and we can’t wait for you to experience this magic, too. 

Guide to traveling with a baby

• Our story: Read about our travel-style and our background so you understand our approach to traveling with a baby.
• Top tips: Wanna get to the good stuff right away? Jump right down to our top tips for traveling with a baby! 

This article is full of practical tips, gear that is actually worth packing, and encouraging advice that will help you feel prepared and confident about traveling with a baby.

We’ll also be discussing some helpful mindsets about traveling with a baby that can transform how you think about it. 

Whether you’re an experienced parent or you’re dreaming of someday traveling with a baby, we’ve got tips and advice that will help you feel confident to plan the family trip of your dreams!

As full-time travel bloggers , traveling is one of our biggest passions, and it’s also both of our jobs. So when we found out we were expecting, we knew that travel wouldn’t just stop for us once the baby arrived (like many people warned). 

We’ve known for a long time that we’d want to start a family, eventually . So over the years, we (almost subconsciously) took note of all the people we saw traveling with their kids.

• On our 4-day Inca Trail hike to Machu Picchu , there was a family with 4 kids, the youngest of whom was 8 years old.
• In Thailand , we saw countless families living nomadically or traveling with kids of all ages.
• We met a family on the west coast USA, living out of their campervan with two little boys (before it was common!).

We stored up all these acquaintances as “evidence” that traveling with a baby is not only possible, but it can still be adventurous .

We saw it as inspiration and started to dream of all the adventures we could take our little one on. Together, we dreamed about how we could open their eyes to the endless beauty and kindness around the world. And we talked about how traveling with a child would create core memories and forge a bond between us that we just couldn’t replicate at home.

We were excited about this new chapter, and confident we could forge our own path despite what anyone said.

That mindset came in handy because soon after announcing we were expecting a baby, we got a mixed bag of responses:

• “Can’t wait to hear all your advice for traveling with kids!”
• “You’re definitely going to be slowing down and traveling less now.”
• “Travel while your baby is young, because as soon as they can walk, traveling will be over!”

The good, the bad, the well-meaning… we got it all.

We expected people to say how difficult it would be . And if I’m completely honest, those “you won’t be able to travel anymore” comments encouraged us to prove to ourselves that we could in fact travel with a baby. And thrive while doing it.

The truth is, we were prepared for people to tell us we couldn’t travel with a baby. Remember, we had stored up all that “proof” that we weren’t the only ones with these dreams. 

Thinking about taking an adventure with your little one?

Be sure to download our  complete packing list for traveling with a baby !  It’s packed with good suggestions and advice for what has personally worked for us on our travels with a baby.

Whether you’re getting ready for your first ever trip with a baby, or you’re a parenting pro just looking for a few extra tips, we hope this baby travel packing list will serve you well!

Why trust our advice about traveling with a baby?

For years, whenever we saw people traveling with kids, we’d look at each other and say, “Wow, that’s badass. Someday I want that to be us.”

And now we’re doing it which feels both surreal and like we’ve been training for this for years. Because we kind of have.

Prior to having a baby, we traveled to more than 50 countries together and built a business around the travel industry. So travel is something we are not only passionate about, but it’s something we feel very comfortable with.

We made it a point to bring our daughter on some epic trips during her first year of life. And we have so many more family trips planned for the future!

In Juniper’s first year of life, she:

• took 19 flights
• traveled to 9 countries 
• visited 14 US states
• explored 4 US National Parks
• went on 2 overnight backcountry camping trips
• lived in a campervan for 4 months

Juniper went on countless hikes, slept in many different places around the world, and made more friends than any other other 1-year-old we know!

She is growing into a very adaptable little human, and we feel so lucky for all of the memories we have already created together.

If you, too, want to travel with a little one, we’re here to share all of the things that have worked for us along the way. 

We hope you take the advice that resonates with you and feel empowered to plan and execute your dream family trips!

Why are you here?

I imagine you’re here because you want to know more about traveling with a baby. Ding, ding, ding!!!

Okay, that was obvious. But the rest is a little harder to determine…

• Perhaps you are already a parent , and you want to start adventuring more with your little one but you don’t know where to start.
• Maybe you already travel with your baby a lot , but you’re constantly seeking new tips and advice. Everything helps, right?! 
• If you are expecting, be sure to check out our list of the best babymoon destinations !
• Or perhaps you aren’t even sure you want to be a parent , and you’re trying to figure out how much, exactly, having a baby would impact your lifestyle and dreams.

You might be feeling excited about the prospect of traveling with a baby. Or confused about how to even get started. 

Maybe you’re skeptical about the whole idea of traveling with a little one. Or you’re feeling defeated after being told many times that traveling with a baby is hard, and you’re just looking for some encouragement.

Feel all the feels. They are all valid.

Wherever you’re coming from and whatever you’re feeling, my hope is that you’ll be able to find some nuggets in this article that will speak to you .

Everyone’s journey is different 

In this article, we’re sharing tips for traveling with a baby that have worked for us. 

That last part of the sentence is important: These are the things that have worked for us , personally. 

I will say that we have been privileged that we haven’t had to deal with any major health issues. Our daughter is (for the most part) very easygoing and adaptable. Some of this we can attribute to things we have practiced and experiences that we have exposed her to. But I also know that some of this is pure luck.

Everyone’s parenting journey is different. And every child is different. 

You know your child and your comfort level better than anyone. Plus, we all have different priorities and goals and dreams and lifestyles. (Remember, traveling is a big part of our job, so things may look different for you.)

Pick and choose the tips that will work for you. Ignore the ones that won’t.

Psst! After reading through all our tips for traveling with a little one, be sure to read my personal note at the bottom of this article.

Our best tips for traveling with a baby

Let’s dive into the things that have worked for us.

Scroll through them all (there are 40!), or jump to the sections that are most important to you:

• BUILD CONFIDENCE: Feel confident about traveling with a baby
• PLANNING: Planning your trip
• TRAVEL TIPS: Tips for while you’re on your trip

Good to know: Most of these tips are geared toward babies and toddlers (aka under 2 years old). As our daughter grows and our experiences change, we will continue creating resources based on our personal experiences.

1. Start small with “mini adventures”

One of my biggest pieces of advice is to start small. And start early.

In my last weeks of pregnancy, we got out a calendar and made “mini goals” for each week after the baby was born.

They went something like this:

• 1 week old: Go to your favorite coffee shop
• 2 weeks old: Go on a long(ish) walk (we went snowshoeing because it was winter!)
• 3 weeks old: Go to a brewery or event in town 
• 4 weeks old: Spend the night away (we booked a cabin in the woods)

More ideas:

• Mini road trip
• Go to a friend’s house for dinner
• Book a staycation in your own town or a nearby city
• Find a nearby soaking pool (with water temperatures safe for a baby)
• Picnic in a nearby park

Everyone will have different comfort levels, but do what feels good to you.

Having these “mini adventures” on our calendar brought some much-needed structure to our weeks after having a baby. And obviously we knew we could cancel if it didn’t feel right at that time. 

These little adventures gave us the confidence to slowly make the excursions bigger , so that we weren’t completely overwhelmed when it came time to board our first international flight.

Note: Even if your little one isn’t a newborn anymore, it’s never too late to schedule some “mini adventures” on your calendar. Base the excursions on the skills you want to practice and the type of trips you want to take.

2. Practice “baby skills” on the go

This kind of ties in with the “mini adventures” above, but make sure that you’re practicing some skills on the go:

• changing diapers in new environments
• napping on the go
• feeding (whether nursing or bottle feeding)

Trust me when I say you won’t want the first time you change your baby’s diaper outside of your house to be at the start of a trip. 

Make a point to breastfeed or bottle feed on a walk near your house.

Change a diaper in the coffee shop bathroom instead of waiting until you get home.

It will feel uncomfortable at first. But since you’re close to home, you can always go back and start fresh another day if things don’t go as planned.

Doing this time and time again will make you feel more confident and know what to expect. Plus, it will help your little one get used to environments other than your house.

3. Master the art of napping on the go

Black out curtains, a humidifier, and a bassinet that rocks babe to sleep are great, but we personally knew that we’d be in lots of situations where these wouldn’t be available.

So we were proactive about practicing napping in different situations from the time Juniper was very young . 

At home, we had an ideal sleep environment in her room, but we also practiced napping in the living room, in a travel sleeper, and while wearing her in a carrier so she could be adaptable.

Once we felt comfy with it, we practiced napping around town, and eventually on mini trips.

She quickly mastered sleeping just about anywhere:

• her stroller
• in a baby carrier
• in our arms
• in quiet places
• and noisy ones too

Being able to have her sleep in different environments has been a game-changer for us (especially in the earlier months!). It allowed us to get out of the house and not worry about being home at an exact time.

It also made the prospect of traveling with a baby seem so much more attainable when we were newbie parents.

One item that has been helpful for napping on the go:

• Travel sound machine (if you forget this, there are apps and Spotify channels with white noise)

4. Refine your diaper bag

These “mini adventures” I keep talking about will help you realize what you need in many different situations, and what items never get used. 

Take note of these things and keep repacking your diaper bag until you have it down.

AKA you have all the essentials (and remember to restock the items that get used up, like diapers and wipes!) and none of the bulk .

5. Put the essentials in a fanny pack diaper bag

Your full-sized diaper bag will come in handy for bringing all the necessities on your trip, so don’t leave it at home. But there will be many times where you won’t want to lug a big backpack around all day .

Wandering historic cobblestone streets of European cities or walking beach trails on a humid island or a hike in the mountains will all be so much more enjoyable without your full-sized diaper bag.

Pack the essentials – diapers, wipes, diaper cream, a binky, medications, small snacks, etc. – into a fanny pack. You can also include any of your personal necessities for the day (chapstick, credit cards and cash, keys, etc.)

I have this fanny pack that is actually made for this purpose (there’s a wet wipes pocket), but you could use any medium to large size fanny pack ( like this one ). Usually, I just string it over the handle of our stroller so I don’t have to actually wear it. This way, we’re prepared but aren’t bringing the bulk!

Psst! This diaper bag fanny is much cuter than mine, but it’s 3 times the price.

6. Don’t buy all the things

As soon as you get pregnant, it’ll feel like you are constantly being bombarded with ads for all this “essential baby travel gear”. 

Plus, there are all these bloggers and influencers who share all the gear that they use (myself included).

And holy cow, it’s overwhelming.

There is just so much stuff out there and it can feel like you need it all. 

Spoiler alert: You DON’T.

It’s hard to know what will really make your life easier and what isn’t worth the money or space. 

Here’s the best way to really get a feel for what baby gear you need:

• Take those “mini adventures”! I sound like a broken record at this point, but they are truly a low-risk way to find out what items you really need.
• Find a handful of voices you resonate with and trust (a friend, a family member, a blogger/influencer). See what items they recommend and see if it sounds like something you definitely need.

Psst! One way to save money is to search for items on Facebook Marketplace or your local Buy Nothing group. Many first-time parents end up with duplicate items or are keen to sell baby gear after it’s lightly used (since many things won’t be necessary as they grow older). We got so many baby items and nursery furniture this way (and we’ve sold/given a bunch of things away on these platforms too!).

7. Create routines that can be recreated anywhere

While you’re at home, try to create routines that you can recreate anywhere. 

Maybe there’s a certain book you read to signify bed time. Or a song before naps. Or the routine of brushing hair and teeth.

These routines are simple and don’t require much, so you can give your little one the cues they look for even when you’re far from home.

8. Pick and choose the advice you follow

As a new parent, it can be really scary even thinking about traveling with a baby for the first time. And it’s even scarier when people you know (and trust) tell you how hard it will be, or how that part of your life is over.

First things first: Tune those people out.

Take the advice that resonates with you, and ignore the rest. 

Our personal experience:

I remember when I was pregnant I kept hearing how hard parenting was. The advice came from people who meant well – and who were probably right in many ways – but it made me feel nervous and unequipped. 

In the midst of all the warnings, one of Ben’s cousins talked about how much fun being a parent was. She went on and on about how, “ yes, it’s work, but it is also the best thing ever!”

In that moment, I remember finally feeling excited rather than scared.

So I decided I would focus on the advice that lifted me up rather than the words that brought anxiety.

Now as Juniper is getting older, we get similar well-meaning advice from people who say things like, “Traveling when they’re this age is easy. Just wait until she is walking. Then, your work is cut out for you!”

The “just wait until ” advice doesn’t sit well with me. So now I just ignore it.

Take the advice that makes you feel encouraged, and leave the rest. 

Yes, that applies to this list . 

The tips we’re sharing are things that worked for us . If something doesn’t sit well with you, ignore it and listen to the pieces of advice that feel right.

Everyone’s parenting journey is different. You’re in charge of yours. Nobody else.

9. Work on your mindset

Read the sentence below and internalize it: 

People have kids in every country of the world. 

Unless you’re going to a really remote region or an active war zone, bringing your child on a trip isn’t anything unheard of. Other people have brought their children to the destination you’re dreaming about, so why can’t you?

If traveling with your child is important to you, you can make it happen.

10. Adjust your expectations

Traveling with our baby has been one of the most empowering and rewarding things we’ve ever done. 

But it has also included moments of exhaustion and frustration .

Like many people, we probably don’t share enough of those moments publicly on social media . (Although I’m trying to work on that!)

I truly think that for most people, traveling with a baby will be a wonderful experience as long as you have realistic expectations…

Think about what travel looked like before kids and what it will look like now. Consider what will be the biggest changes. 

This will help ensure your expectations are realistic and set you up for having amazing experiences with less frustration.

These are some of the differences for us:

• Don’t worry too much though, the flight is just a small part of the journey and we have some tips for flying with a baby that will help a ton!
• Traveling with a baby means we usually need to move more slowly , and we are able to do less each day than we would without a baby. 
• Sometimes we need to cancel plans or turn around from a hike early because our daughter just isn’t having a great day. We’ve found we need to be a lot more flexible and be prepared for some plans to just not work out.
• Good news: We’ve got practical tips for choosing accommodation with a baby ! 
• We can’t just pop into a bar for a late-night drink if we feel like it. And there are plenty of cool bucket list activities that just don’t allow children . (Aka no more scuba diving together for a while!) Still working through my FOMO with this, but there are still plenty of epic things we can do, so I’m trying to focus on that.

11. Think about your why

Between logistics and packing, traveling with a baby requires a whole different level of planning. And it can get overwhelming. Especially when you have family or friends who aren’t all that encouraging. 

When you start to get frustrated or overwhelmed, think about why you want to travel with your baby.

Is it to feel like yourself again and pursue a hobby you love?

Is it to create memories as a family? 

Is it to show your child the world and see it through their eyes?

All of the above?

Focusing on the why will make the process – frustrations and all! – much more bearable. 

Here are some examples of why you might want to travel with a baby:

• It fills your cup.
• It shows your child to prioritize things that make them happy.
• It shows them the world is so much bigger than your community.
• It gives them the opportunity to meet and interact with people different from themselves.
• It teaches them flexibility.
• It creates lifelong memories.
• It may introduce them to a forever hobby or skill.
• It teaches them to cherish experiences over things.
• You can grow and bond as a family.
• You can push your comfort levels together.

And here’s one more that I’ll add to the list:

• It’s easier than you think. (Hopefully this article helps make it feel more doable!)

Write your “whys” on post-it notes and stick them around your house. Journal about it. Set your phone screen to be a picture that motivates you.

Do whatever it takes to remind yourself of why you want to make traveling with a baby a priority.

12 Talk about what makes you nervous with your travel partner

Still have some nerves?

That’s totally normal. In fact, I’d be a little worried if you didn’t have anything that you were nervous about.

It can really help to talk out these feelings with your partner. 

Maybe you just need them to listen to you and validate your concerns. Or perhaps walking through the scenarios that you’re most uncomfortable with together and discussing what you’d do in each situation will make you feel more prepared.

Whatever the case, getting your worries out in the open will help ensure you’re both on the same page and there for each other.

13. Don’t stress too much about the flight

The flight is just one (tiny) fraction of your trip. And in many cases, it will not be nearly as bad as you’re making it out to be in your head. 

Think of it this way: Most people on flights have headphones in (watching movies or listening to music) and won’t even notice if your baby is being fussy. 

That realization made me feel a lot better before taking our first flight with a baby! (Hopefully it helps you, too.)

We took 19 flights (legs) with our daughter before she turned one, and we gathered all our top advice and created an entire guide full of tips for flying with a baby that should help ease your nerves and make you feel confident about boarding that plane!

In short: Don’t let your nerves about the flight prevent you from going!

14. Start with a trip that’s within your comfort zone

Just like we recommend starting with “mini adventures” near home so you can build your confidence, make your first trip with a baby one that is within your comfort zone.

Maybe this means you return to a place you’ve already been to.

Or maybe this means you travel to a country where English is the native language (or widely spoken), so you don’t have to worry about language barriers.

Make the actual trip one that doesn’t stress you out or push your boundaries too much. This way, you can focus on getting the hang of this whole t raveling with a baby thang so that you can plan bigger, bolder trips for the future.

15. Pack as light as possible

This is honestly a tough one because I truly think it comes down to finding a balance between packing light and making sure you have all the essentials (many of which are really freaking bulky).

We’ve got lots of advice on the best gear for traveling with a baby , but in general, less is more.  Make sure the items you’re bringing are going to be used and won’t just be dead weight.

And truly, bring as few toys as possible. You will thank me when you’re traveling around with ease because you ditched half the toys you thought you needed.

Psst! Want to know what baby gear we personally recommend? We’ve gotcha covered with our favorite baby travel gear.

16. Remember: you can get diapers everywhere in the world

Personally, I don’t stress too much about diapers because you can buy them everywhere in the world. 

Bring plenty of diapers for the plane and to get you through the first several days of your trip. But if you’re going to be gone for a couple weeks (or more!), don’t stress too much about packing the perfect amount. 

Just about every grocery store or convenience store should have diapers and wipes available.

If you’re having trouble finding them in your destination, ask the hotel staff to point you in the right direction.

17. Choose your accommodation wisely

Something I’ve learned is that the type of accommodation we book with a kid is much more specific than when it was just the two of us .

There are a lot of other factors to consider, and what might have been a perfectly good hotel for you will be a disaster with a babe.

Lemme tell ya, we’ve learned the hard way what doesn’t work well anymore now that we travel with a baby.

There have been a few very uncomfortable stays and even an Airbnb that we left (already paid for) because it just didn’t work with a baby.

Psst! Read our tips for choosing a hotel with baby so you don’t make the same mistakes!

18. Book places with pack ‘n plays when possible

If it’s an option, try to book hotels and Airbnbs that have a travel crib for your baby. 

Many hotels and many Airbnbs offer this, so keeping it in mind when you’re making your reservations is key. This means you won’t have to travel with your own, which is a huge space saver.

Their booking details will usually disclose if they have a crib available. If you don’t see anything about a crib, it doesn’t hurt to ask. We once asked an Airbnb host if she had a crib available, and she decided to buy one so that she could offer it to future guests.

If you’re not finding any good accommodations with cribs available don’t stress too much. It’s definitely possible to bring your own.

The Guava Lotus pack ‘n play is undoubtedly the best travel one on the market. Trust me, I spent a lot of time comparing, and it’s the smallest, most durable, and made without toxic materials. So if you’re looking at buying one for travel, the Guava Lotus is what you want. (This is the one we personally have.)

Even though it is compact, it is still bulky and another item to lug around. So if you can get away with not having to pack it, that’s a big win.

Our personal experience

During our 3-week European Christmas Market Trip, we stayed at 8 different hotels/Airbnbs, and all but one had a crib available, so we decided not to bring our own. We are comfortable with co-sleeping, so we did this on the nights that we did not have a crib available. 

However, there are some destinations where finding accommodation with cribs is much more difficult. For example, we’re currently planning a trip where we’re mostly staying at Airbnbs and none offer pack ‘n play, so we will be bringing our own.

19. You can rent things on vacation… (but you might not want to)

Lately I’ve seen a lot of articles and social media posts about renting baby items on vacation through platforms like BabyQuip .

In theory, it’s a great idea, and can be really useful in some situations . There’s a lot to be said for not having to lug around bulky gear, after all. 

Examples of items you can rent: 

• high chair if you plan on eating lots of meals at the accommodation
• bassinet or pack-and-play when your hotel does not offer this option
• car seat when it is significantly cheaper than going with one through the rental car company
• hiking baby carrier (if you have a big hike planned for on your trip)
• beach toys if you are doing an ocean vacation but don’t have or want to pack the gear
• so much more!

But here’s my word of caution…

These rentals can add up quickly , and before you know it, you might be spending hundreds of dollars. (Especially if you’re on a longer trip.)

The prices vary depending on what products you’re looking for and where you’ll be traveling, so calculate the total cost to help you determine whether this would be worthwhile service for you or not.

20. Invest in a compact stroller

One of our most-loved travel items is our compact stroller. It is one of the things we’d strongly suggest buying specifically for travel.

On our first international trip with Juniper, we lugged our normal stroller. This stroller was a hand-me-down from a friend and we love it for at home. But we quickly learned that it was an absolute beast to transport.

It was very heavy and still took up quite a bit of space even when it was collapsed.

After that trip, we bought a stroller that was made for travel . It folds up small to be able to easily fit in the overhead compartment on planes, making it a breeze for travel. 

We personally love our Colugo stroller (and have brought it all over the US and the world!) and would highly recommend it as a durable and affordable travel stroller.

21. …and a solid baby carrier

Having a solid travel stroller is great, but there are places and activities where a carrier is far superior.

Here are just a couple of things to consider:

Stroller is better when:

• it’s hot out and you don’t want to baby wear
• the sidewalks are well-maintained and the streets are flat

Carrier is better when:

• you’re in a crowded place
• the sidewalks are not well-maintained (or the streets are cobblestone)
• you’ll be getting in and out of public transportation

We’ve had a lot of baby carriers, and we both agree that the Ergobaby Omni 360 is the best all-around baby carrier. It’s pricy, but lasts for a long time and is good in a variety of situations. Plus, it works for both of us to carry her, even though we have very different bodies!

22. Consider traveling in a campervan

We’re biased and this certainly won’t be for everyone, but we’ve found campervan travel to be wonderful with a baby , especially when Juniper was really young.

We had everything we needed with us at all times, and we could pull over at any minute to cook a meal, change a diaper in the comfort of our own van, or just hang out in our own private space.

In Juniper’s first year we:

• spent 4 months living and traveling in our own campervan that we built from scratch
• we rented a campervan in Scotland for a 2-week road trip (spoiler alert: it was amazing!)
• plus, we rented a campervan in Ireland for 1 week too!

If you’re renting, you’ll really want to look at the space to figure out if it will work for your family. Most campervan rental companies will be happy to help you choose. We also have a whole list of USA Campervan Rental Companies you can choose from that we personally recommend.

Traveling in a campervan with a little one certainly requires a different mindset, and I wouldn’t recommend it as your first trip with a baby if you’ve never experienced vanlife before . But I think camping can be very special with a little one and a unique way to see a destination.

And don’t leave home without our VanLife Baby Gear Checklist . These are the things we always pack in our van that make our lives so much easier and keep our baby happy.

23. Get a baby passport ASAP

If you plan on traveling internationally with your little one in their first year, we’d recommend getting the process rolling shortly after they are born so you are sure it’ll arrive in time. We applied for Juniper’s passport when she was just 3 weeks old, so it really isn’t ever too early.

This is actually very easy to obtain and we have a whole guide to getting a baby passport . 

Good to know: If you have Global Entry and want to continue using it, you will also need to apply for this for your baby. We learned the hard way when we were turned away at Global Entry. “Interview” time slots fill up very quickly, so schedule this as soon as you get the passport.

24. Get travel insurance 

Hopefully I don’t have to explain why here, but we get travel insurance for every trip we take.

Now that we have a baby, it feels even more important to be properly covered.

Need advice on how to go about getting the best policy for your situation? We’ve gotcha covered in this guide to choosing travel insurance .

25. Get an eSIM on international trips

If you are traveling internationally, it’s super helpful to be able to connect to cell service immediately upon landing.

This can be essential if you need to contact your transport or hotel. 

We love eSIMs because you don’t have to search for a physical SIM card (a hassle) and you don’t have to pay crazy international coverage fees from your home phone service.

Our favorite eSIM is Airalo .

Psst! We have an entire guide to how to get an eSIM here . 

26. Renting a car is usually a great idea

We love using public transportation on our travels, but having a rental car is a lot more convenient when you’re traveling with a baby.

You won’t need to carry around your car seat or luggage, and you can go at your own pace, making stops as frequently as you need. Plus, you won’t have to run so you don’t miss that train! (We’ve all been there.)

When in doubt, make it a road trip. And be sure to check out our tried and true 5-step plan for making your road trip a success !

Want some road trip ideas?

Here are our favorite road trips in the world:

• Iceland Road Trip
• Scotland Road Trip
• New Zealand Road Trip
• Australia Road Trip
• Yucatan Peninsula Road Trip
• Costa Rica Road Trip
• Banff to Jasper Road Trip
• European Christmas Market Road Trip
• Oregon Road Trip
• Oregon Coast Road Trip
• Utah Road Trip
• Idaho Road Trip
• Washington Road Trip
• Colorado Road Trip
• New England (fall foliage!) Road Trip

27. Include family in your trips

Again, this is a tip that may not apply to everyone, but you may want to consider including family in your travel planning.

This could be an opportunity for them to create special memories with your little one, and who knows – maybe they’ll give you the gift of a “date night” while they watch baby !

You could either plan a trip together (hint: book a big Airbnb for the most comfortable stay!), or plan a trip to visit friends or family who live somewhere you’d like to explore.

We’ve been lucky enough to take trips with both Ben’s family and mine, and we’re excited to plan more extended family vacations in the future.

28. Move around less

If you’re used to moving around from place to place rather quickly on your trips, you may want to slow it down a bit (or a lot!) when you add a baby into the mix. 

You’ll be able to cover much less in one day, and you’ll need to consider what you’ll do during nap times and when babe needs to go to sleep at night.

You certainly don’t need to stay in one place the entire time (though that’s not a bad idea); but trust me when I say you don’t want to move to a new place every single night .

Our rule of thumb is we aim to stay in places at least 2 nights on trips, but 3-4 nights per place is ideal , in our opinion. 

(An exception to this is when we’re staying at an airport hotel the night before a flight, we only book one night.)

Psst! Read our tips for how to choose the best accommodation for traveling with a baby !

29. Get to major attractions early

Take advantage of your little one’s early wake up call (sleeping in on vacation is something I dearly miss!) and when possible, get to those popular sights before the crowds get there .

Not only will you have a better experience without all the people around, but there will be less commotion and sensory overload for babe. Plus, without all sorts of people around you may feel less self-conscious if your kiddo starts to get fussy.

30. Plan on early dinners (sometimes)

Not gonna lie, I’m a huge fan of late dinners. I like the buzzy atmosphere and I don’t usually get hungry until later in the evening.

But alas, there are many cases where it makes a lot of sense to do an earlier dinner when you’re traveling with a baby.

Popular restaurants tend to be a lot more family-friendly before the dinner rush really begins. That might mean making a 5:00 p.m. or 5:30 p.m. reservation . If you’re like me, you might be rolling your eyes, but getting there earlier means you won’t have to worry about disturbing the late-night dinner crowd with a baby that is overwhelmed by all the sights and sounds.

We don’t always stick to early dinners, but when we know a place is popular or on the fancier side (or if it’s a weekend night), we do like to go before the real dinner rush (aka sensory overload!) begins .

31. Take advantage of room service (or takeout & delivery!)

Pre-baby, this was never something I’d do, but having dinner in your hotel or Airbnb can be really convenient (especially after a long day of exploring!).

We’ve gotten takeout/delivery a handful of times on trips and either have dinner as a family, or eat once our daughter has gone to sleep. It’s can be such a treat.

Money-saving tip: If you book accommodation with a kitchen, plan on cooking at least a couple of nights during your trip.

32. Cook some of your baby’s favorite meals

When possible, I like booking accommodation with a kitchen or kitchenette so I have more control over what our daughter is eating.

We love having her try new foods on our travels, and overall she is a pretty great eater. But we’re not always able to get to a restaurant when she starts getting hungry. It’s nice to be able to whip up some easy and wholesome meals we know she likes at our Airbnb so we can carry them with us throughout the day.

Below are a few meals and snacks that have worked well for us. I specifically chose dishes that use few ingredients that are easy to find in most places around the world, as well as dishes that don’t require complex cooking equipment.

If your baby is eating solids, use these ideas or create your own list of their favorite foods that you can easily replicate on your travels. Use this list to determine what items you’ll need to pack from home.

Insider Tip: Bring reusable baggies ( like these or these ) to store food to easy eating on the go. You could even bring a small cooler so you can carry it with you during a day on the road.

Banana & egg pancakes 

Mash one ripe banana then add one egg. Mix until combined into a batter. Pour this in a skillet with oil (I prefer coconut oil), and cook on both sides, like a pancake.

I like to add a little nut butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon if I have access.

Insider Tip: Pack nut butter packets like these to be able to easily add it to different meals.

Smashed avocado

Super simple! You can add tomatoes too if you want. Serve as is or with rice crackers.

Oatmeal 

I prefer to bring my own premade mix from home in a large silicone baggie . Then I can cook small amounts at a time on the road. All you need is hot water.

You can make it however you’d like, but this is a combo I like:

Quick-cooking oats + hemp + flax + powdered coconut milk + chia + cinnamon + freeze dried berries.

Once it’s prepared, you can add nut butter as well as fresh berries if you’d like.

Chia pudding

This is a nutritious meal that is good to make if you’ll be staying in one spot for a while.

A simple Google search will show you plenty of recipes, but I like chia + milk (almond, coconut, or oat are my preferred milks) + a little maple syrup. I usually add a bit of cinnamon if I have it.

I sometimes pack chia seeds from home if I think they’ll be hard to find.

Scrambled eggs 

This is another go-to as eggs are easy to find just about everywhere. 

Bulk it up by adding other veggies, a sweet potato or avocado.

Rice + beans + corn

This is another easy one using ingredients you can easily find in most places. I’d recommend this one if you’re staying in a place for a longer period of time, as you’ll definitely have a few days worth of leftovers.

Alternatively, order rice and beans as a side at a Mexican restaurant and keep it in a takeaway container to store.

Pasta, peas, & pesto

Whole grain noodles combined with frozen peas and pesto is a quick and easy meal and it saves well for leftovers. You can add cherry tomatoes too!

Roasted veggies

If your accommodation has an oven, simply bake some veggies. Sweet potato is a favorite of ours!

Insider Tip: When you’re in a pinch, look in the prepared food section of the grocery store. We’ve found premade guacamole, what bulgar and veggie salad, fruit medleys, and lots more that has worked for us no matter where in the world we are. Check the frozen aisle too. We’ve found frozen falafel (or veggie burgers) and frozen veggies with hummus is an easy meal.

33. Find out where you stand on sleep schedules

One of the most common questions people ask us is, “How do you stick to a sleep schedule while traveling with a baby.”

Our completely honest answer is: We don’t.

This may be somewhat controversial, but we realized early on that we didn’t want to be super rigid about bedtime while traveling. And we didn’t want to always need to go back to our accommodation for naptime.

This is something that has been gradually changing and adapting a bit as our daughter gets older and her needs change. But during her first year, we had a somewhat flexible bedtime and we did a lot of napping on the go. 

This doesn’t mean we were hitting the town until the wee hours, but we often gave ourselves a 1-2 hour window for getting back to the hotel and getting ready for bed. We got to know her cues pretty well and used them to inform our decisions. 

We also had worked on napping on the go so much that if she fell asleep while we were at dinner, we didn’t stress out. We’d enjoy our meal, head back to the hotel and transfer her into her sleeping space.

Important Note: Sleep schedules are one of the more personal topics when it comes to parenting. And we’re not saying our way is right for you. We’re simply sharing what has worked for us so you have somewhere to start.

34. Do your own research about co-sleeping

Personally, once we felt our daughter was old enough, we practiced co-sleeping every once in a while so that we could use it as a tool if needed. This has come in handy several times on trips.

Ideally, Juniper has her own sleeping space in a hotel. However, in the case that she is having a rough night, isn’t feeling well, or we’re staying in a tiny room, we can co-sleep comfortably and with peace of mind.

We’ve also used this as a tool in our campervan on occasion. She has her own crib in our van, but if she wakes up in the middle of the night, we feel comfortable bringing her into bed with us so she is comforted.

Important note: Co-sleeping is another controversial topic. Do your own research and see how you feel so you can make an informed decision for your family.

35. Help your babe adjust to different time zones

If you’ll be crossing time zones, here are 5 tips for helping your little one adjust easier:

Start shifting time zones at home

Before you leave for your trip, start to shift bedtime 1-2 hours to get closer to your destination’s time zone.

Start slow. A few weeks before the trip, make their bedtime 15 minutes later. Then 30. And so forth until you’ve shifted as much as you’d like.

This can help cut the adjustment time down once you get to your destination. 

Good to know: If you’re going to be changing time zones more than 2 hours, you likely won’t be able to fully adjust at home. But every little bit will help!

Maybe you don’t need to adjust at all

If it’s just 1-3 hours different from your home time zone, you may not even need to adjust at all. 

Let’s say you are traveling from Seattle to NYC. This means you will be 3 hours later than at home. 

Perhaps instead of a 7 p.m. bedtime, you allow your little one to stay on their normal schedule and go to bed at 10 p.m. (which will allow you to have extra time to explore the city in the evening). This will also mean later wake-ups which is always nice on vacation.

If this is just a short trip, this can work really well and will also cut down on the adjustment when you go back home.

While you’ll want to aim for the same amount of sleep they typically get at home, there’s no rule that says you have to abide by their normal bedtime hour.

Use daylight to your advantage

When trying to adjust to a new time zone, use outdoor activity and daylight to your advantage.

Your baby will realize this is daytime, and their body will start to adjust accordingly.

Expect jet lag to last one day per hour time change

There’s kind of a general rule that you should anticipate it takes 1 day per hour that you change time zones. 

So that means if you are going to be changing time zones by 5 hours, it will take roughly 5 days for you to feel “normal” and get over jet lag.

This rule is for both adults and babies, so use it as a gauge for your own travels.

Don’t plan anything big on the first day

If you will be shifting several time zones, we’d recommend keeping your first day (or two) relatively free. 

This will alleviate any pressure and will allow you and your little one to rest up after a long travel day.

Insider Tip: We like these homeopathic “No Jet Lag” pills when we’re traveling through many time zones. These are for parents (not babies), but being adjusted yourself definitely helps deal with helping your little one shift as well!

36. Book a family photo shoot

This is a fun one I wanted to throw in there just because!

Instead of booking a photoshoot at home (like many people do), connect with a local photographer on a trip for a photo session. 

On our European Christmas Market Trip, we booked this photo walk last minute, and were so happy we did. With a baby, it has become more difficult to get good pictures of ourselves. (If you know, you know!)

The pictures turned out amazing, and it was such a special souvenir from our trip. You will never regret having photos taken , after all!

We’re definitely going to continue this tradition in our future travels.

Want to do it yourself? Look on Airbnb Experiences . This is where we’ve found a lot of local photographers around the world. Some cities have more options than others, but it is becoming more and more common. Alternatively, you can try to find local photographers in the city you’re visiting on Instagram . Reach out to them in a DM or via their website to book a session during your trip.

37. Plan on some personal time

This might not be advice you take on your first trip with a baby or even on your fifth. But eventually, it might be something you and your partner want to consider.

What would it look like for each of you to be able to do one experience on your own while the other spent quality one-on-one time with your child ?

Maybe this would be something you used to do on trips in your pre-baby days, like going scuba diving or another adrenaline-fueled adventure. Or perhaps it would be a massage appointment to unwind.

I once did a hot air balloon flight next to Mount Rainier (babies aren’t allowed) while Ben and Juniper hung out in the campervan.

This might not appeal to everyone, but if you find yourself missing your old travel days, this might be just the thing you need!

38. You don’t need to limit yourself to only baby-centered activities

If you’re not keen on the typical baby-friendly trips or activities, like kiddie pools or zoos or chain restaurants, I’d like to pop in for a minute to remind you that travel with a baby can look however you’d like .

There’s no rule that says all your trips from here on out have to be at Disney or on kiddie-friendly cruises if that’s not your style. I know we didn’t like the idea of being relegated to only taking trips that were focused on babies from here on out.

We’ve found that while there are certainly some activities you just can’t do with a baby on vacation (scuba diving being the biggest thing we miss!), there’s a lot that you can do, even if it’s not marketed toward families.

Sometimes this means you’ll need to do more planning in advance, but in our experience it has been worth it to be able to continue traveling the way that feels best to us.

We usually research activities in our destination to determine which ones we personally really want to do. Then, unless it explicitly says children are not allowed, we think about what we’d need to do to make it work for us.

Here are some examples of what I mean:

• Some cocktail bars only allow minors until a certain time, so we will plan to go earlier .
• We pack lots of snacks and a good napping-on-the-go set up for walking tours or food tours (we’ve been on a bunch with her!).
• Sometimes we might have to take turns at an activity , like snorkeling or snowboarding, while the other watches Juniper.
• We might alter a hiking route to make it more doable with a little one.
• Often, we’ll go somewhere with the mindset that we’ll leave if Juniper isn’t doing well . More often than not, she surprises us with doing great.
• We still take public transport, but we’ll give ourselves plenty of time to get from Point A to Point B.

It kind of becomes a puzzle of: how can we still do this activity?

Don’t get me wrong – there are times we turn things down because it’s not worth it to us to make it work. But for the most part, we’ve still been able to do most of the things we really want to experience.

And we’ve been able to take some pretty epic trips that are focused on our interests (even though we have a baby):

• road trip around Scotland
• backcountry camping at Cracker Lake in Glacier National Park
• lived in our self-built campervan for 4 months
• Christmas Market hopping in Europe

As our daughter gets older and has her own interests, the way we plan trips will likely change, but up until this point, this is what has been working for us.

Overall, I’m honestly surprised by how much our trips now are similar to the things we’d be doing before having a baby.

39. Get ready for some really special interactions

Something I wasn’t prepared for before having a child is the sweet interactions it would bring to our travels.

We’ve had so many different types of encounters – from servers at restaurants falling in love with Juniper (see pictures below) to people offering to help out when she’s crabby (this has happened multiple times!).

The last photo in the set above was taken at a Venezuelan bakery in Mexico where I was eating by myself with Juniper while Ben had dental surgery. She was just the slightest bit fussy, and the two sweet women behind the counter insisted that they would cheer her up while I eat my food.

Juniper is quite the conversation starter (she loves waving at strangers!), and has brought a whole new level of sweetness to our travels.

I’m so excited to watch Juniper grow up and experience kindness from different people all over the world.

*Excuse me while I go wipe my tears.*

40. Go ahead and book those damn flights! 

Here’s my last piece of advice (for now!):

Just book it!

Don’t let the voices in your head (or your well-meaning neighbor!) scare you away. 

If traveling with a baby is something that’s important to you, I know you can do it. And I’ll be your cheerleader rooting you on!

The first big trip with a baby can be daunting, but I have a feeling you’ll realize it’s not as scary as you’re building it up in your head to be. 

And you’ll feel like such a badass for turning your dream into reality. 

You might even find yourself daydreaming about your next big family vacation, which will feel a lot more doable since you’ve already got one trip under your belt.

Personal note from Katie

I truly hope this article has been helpful to you and leaves you feeling encouraged about traveling with a baby and motivates you to start planning that dream trip. I also hope you’re able to take away some helpful nuggets that you can put into practice! 

I do just want to say that if you want more content on traveling with a baby, please let us know. 

I have been avoiding writing this article for a number of reasons (which I’ll go into below), but it was readers like you who encouraged me to ignore these thoughts and just write it anyway.

So why did I avoid writing this article?

Lemme spill the tea… 

1. Giving parenting advice always attracts negative comments. 

Anytime I share things we do as parents, there’s always someone to point out why they would do something differently. Or why traveling with kids in general is just selfish.

I’m only human, and negative messages and comments are not fun to deal with. So avoiding the whole “traveling with kids tips” felt like an easy way to avoid the negativity. 

2. Traveling with a baby is very different for every single person. 

Everyone parents differently and there’s no way I could create an article that would resonate with everyone. 

This was kind of keeping me frozen in place, asking myself, “How do I give all parents advice about traveling with kids?”

And then I realized I didn’t need to. I just needed to share what has worked for us. I hope you’ve read this article with that lens. 

Some of these suggestions may not work for you or your child. You know your situation best, so pick and choose the ideas and advice that feels good for you.

3. This isn’t a family travel blog.

We decided very early on that we didn’t want Two Wandering Soles to become only about traveling with kids as soon as we had a baby.

At its core, TWS will always be about responsible and adventurous travel . And we aim to share the best things to do in locations around the world, regardless of whether or not they’re family-friendly. 

That said, we’ve realized that we can create family travel content without that being the only thing we write about.

4. Honestly, I don’t feel like an expert at parenting.

We traveled to more than 50 countries before getting pregnant. 

We lived out of a backpack for years on end, and called many different countries “home” for an extended period of time.

We have years and years of experience, and very much consider ourselves experts in all things travel-related.

But the whole parenting thing is new to us. We have one daughter. And at the time of writing this article, she is just over a year old.

So there’s a part of me who kept delaying sharing our “baby travel tips” until I felt like more of an “expert” as a parent. 

But I’ve come to realize that parenting is something that we’re likely never going to feel like experts at . It is a continuous learning process, and as soon as we feel like we’re getting the hang of it, things change. 

I finally became okay with the idea of creating content about traveling with kids without feeling like an expert. Because with the exception of people whose profession is related to parenting, we’re all just doing what we feel is best for our children.

And that might be as “expert level” as you can get.

Want more advice for traveling with a baby?

• Our top tips for staying at a hotel or Airbnb with a baby
• Feel confident on your flight with these tips for flying with a baby !

Save these tips so you don’t lose them!

Pin this article so you can easily come back to it…

We want to hear from you!

We hope these tips for traveling with a baby are helpful!

What advice would you add? Any travel hacks that have helped you? What questions or concerns do you still have?

Note: Please be respectful with your comments. Remember, we are sharing tips that have personally worked for us .

Comments (10) on “ 40 Practical & Encouraging Tips for Traveling with a Baby ”

Thank you for sharing your wisdom and experiences in such an engaging and relatable way. You’ve truly inspired me to create unforgettable memories with my baby. Keep the amazing content coming! Greetings!

Insightful travel tips with baby! I loved how you addressed the importance of booster car seats and how they ensure safety while on the road. Your practical advice on traveling with little ones is invaluable, especially for parents like us. As we plan our family adventures, we’ll be sure to consider the booster seat recommendations you shared. Thanks for helping us make our trips safer and more enjoyable for our baby!

Traveling with a baby can be a challenge, but having a reliable travel cot is a game-changer. It provides comfort and security for your little one, ensuring they have a familiar place to sleep and play. Investing in a lightweight and safe travel cot is a must for any parent on the go. Thanks for highlighting its importance in your informative article! -Baby Train-

I feel like I could tear up after reading this – what an invaluable resource! Thank you!

I have been following you both for quite a while & have been trying to implement the tips you’ve shared over the last few months. My baby is 4.5 months old & she is so chill. Maybe it’s her personality, but I also think it’s the way we’ve done things..which has a lot to do with the tips you’ve shared! She can sleep wherever. I’ve practiced changing her & feeding her in different places & she’s been to our local museums & coffee shops more times than I can count. Though I still get nervous about things (like her getting fussy in public, etc), she really makes it pretty dang easy. We’re hoping to spend a couple of months in Europe this summer, so I’ll probably be re-reading it & studying it so I can prepare us as best as possible.

Thank you again. <3

My children are older and I am still terrified of travel, I am so inspired by seeing you travel with Juniper! I am going to start being more brave!

So happy to hear this resonates. I totally get being scared – I am too hehe! Starting with small adventures near home has been so good at building our confidence and hopefully it helps you too. Wishing your family lots of memories and adventures in the years ahead!

As always, you nailed it with your advice and tips…and your honesty. I love what my father-in-law says that parenting is flying by the seat of your pants. So true! And I am a big believer that when you become a parent, you go with your gut because no one knows your kid like you do!

Juniper will grow up with a worldly perspective…what a gift you and Ben are giving her. Travel makes me joyful, too. I like what you wrote about being a better mom when you are happy…so true!

Last year my 21-yr-old daughter was so inspired by my travel blogging that she asked to take some trips with me. So we did and it was special! There is nothing better in this world than when your adult kids want to spend time with you…and in the form of travel!

What a wonderful foundation of love, adventure and joy you are building for your sweet girl.

I know this article will help a lot of traveling parents…and any negative comments you get…tune those right out! YOU are doing it right! Happy travels with your cutie pie baby girl!

Thank you so much for your kind words, Rachel. It means a lot! I bet seeing your kids grow into adults is unlike anything you can describe. And how cool that you get to share a passion with her! Thank you again!

This is amazing and such timely advice! My husband and I are due to have our first baby in May and we have been going back-and-forth about what kind of travel we want to do when he comes. This article has given me so much more confidence about the things that we can do with him and has really helped me see what is possible with a baby. Thank you so much for this! Keep the baby content coming! Your style of travel is so similar to ours and I love to see what you have done with Juniper so far!

Thank you so much, Stef, for the kind words. Truly just brought a smile to my face. So happy to know it resonates with you. And CONGRATULATIONS on this new and beautiful chapter. Wishing your family all the best!

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9 Baby Travel Essentials (+ Baby Packing List!)

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Planning to travel with a baby? That first trip with a baby can be a little overwhelming with unknowns of what to pack and the logistics of figuring out how to get it all to your destination.  To help make the process a little easier (and think about what baby registry items you need for those future vacations) we put together a list of baby travel essentials. While this list isn’t too much different from our toddler travel essentials , there are some smaller items that are important to make your trip as seamless as possible.

Keep reading for our baby travel must-haves and a packing list for babies at the end!

Travel Crib and/or Bassinet

Sleep is so important to babies whether at home or away, and having a good travel crib is one of the top travel essentials for baby. Not sure what to look for in a baby travel crib? The best baby travel cribs are usually lightweight and easy to set up. Our best recommendations for a travel crib for babies are listed below.

• A regular  pack ‘n play  with a bassinet is a less expensive option for a baby travel crib. They can sometimes be a little too heavy and cumbersome to travel with, but you can typically request a pack ‘n play at your hotel. There’s also a standard pack ‘n play without the bassinet or a deluxe pack ‘n play that includes a travel bassinet.
• For a lightweight travel crib that’s easy to set up and put way,  this  portable crib is awesome. It has a comfortable memory foam mattress and a zipper on the side to make it easier to get infants in and out.
• When flying with a baby to your destination,  this lightweight works well. It can take a few more minutes to set up than other options, but it fits easily in a regular suitcase. ( This  option is also a less expensive alternative to the Phil and Ted’s travel crib.)
• This  travel crib is another great option that we have used as well. It’s a little more expensive than the other options listed, but it’s a travel crib with a bassinet and a removeable changing table as well.

You can also rent a full size crib from BabyQuip here and have it delivered to your destination.

Pro Tip: As your baby gets older, consider using a Snoozeshade or or Slumberpod blackout crib cover. They make the crib dark and baby can’t see you when sharing a room!)

Travel Bassinet

If you’re traveling with a newborn or younger baby, you may want to consider a baby travel bassinet that you can use both at home and when traveling.  We’ve included some of the best options for a portable bassinet for travel below.

• This portable bassinet is great for both at home or travel. It’s also large enough for most babies to use up to 6 months or older. (We used it for both of our kiddos for the first four months and traveled often with it.)
• This super lightweight travel bassinet is great to take outside or anywhere you go. 
• This baby travel bassinet with a sunshade that doubles as a small beach tent for babies as well. (It’s a great option for camping with babies too!)
• You can find another travel bassinet with a cover to use both at home and for travel here . (Full disclosure, this is the only one we haven’t personally used.)

Travel Stroller For Babies

A baby travel stroller is usually more lightweight and easy to fold up than a traditional travel system. Anything that minimizes the weight and amount of stuff you have will make your life easier, making this one of our top must have items for traveling with a baby. When searching for the best baby travel stroller, be sure to look for something with adequate sunshade that reclines easily for naps on the go. Some of the best baby travel strollers for infants through toddlers are listed below.

• YoYo Babyzen is lightweight at about 14 lbs, has a one handed fold and can be used from birth up to 40 lbs. One of the major downsides of the YoYo Babyzen is the high price point compared to other travel strollers.
• GB Pockit+ is a very lightweight travel stroller that folds up small to fit in an overhead bin on airplanes. 
• Mountain Buggy Nano Stroller is another one of the best travel strollers compatible with an infant car seat, and it also has a lie flat option with a “cocoon” cushion. It weighs about 13 lbs and can be used for kids up to 44 lbs. 
• Zoe Traveler stroller is only 11 lbs and can be used for babies 3+ months up to 45 lbs. It also folds up small and can be brought as a carry-on backpack on planes. Zoe also makes one of the lightest double strollers for travel as well. (For $20 off, use my Zoe stroller referral link here .)
• Summer Infant 3D Light is a more affordable (but still very functional) travel stroller that can be used from 6 months up to 50 lbs. The only downside is that it can’t be used for newborns and is not car seat compatible. 

Additional Tips for Choosing a Travel Stroller

• Be sure to check minimum age recommendations and stroller compatibility with an infant car to ensure it meets your needs. Some travel strollers can be used from birth on, and others have a minimum age requirement of 6+ months. 
• A jogging stroller is another option if you’re planning to bring it on the beach or hiking trails. (The downside is that it’s very heavy.) We’ve also used our Baby Jogger City Select Single to Double Stroller for travel, but the downside is that it’s heavy and the seats have to be taken out to fold it up.
• If you want a for a double travel stroller for twins or more than one child, side by side strollers are usually the easiest to navigate while traveling. (And they fold up in one piece.) The Zoe double stroller or Summer Infant double stroller are two great options.
• A car seat frame is an inexpensive alternative if you’re not planning to do a ton of walking. We’ve used this infant car seat stroller frame with both kids over the years. It was definitely one of the best baby registry items we received for everyday use and travel. 

Travel High Chair

A travel high chair is another one of the best baby travel items to have.  While it may not always be necessary if you’re just eating at restaurants, it’s especially useful if you’re staying at a vacation home, visiting family or spending time outdoors. 

We use this portable high chair on a regular basis, and we keep it in our car for visiting friends or going to some of our favorite kid-friendly breweries. (We also use it at home when eating outside!) While it’s perfect for road trips, it’s a little too bulky to take on flights with a baby.

We also use this clip-on high chair at our home on a daily basis. It only weighs 3 pounds, making it a great baby travel high chair for flying to your destination. The only downside is that it doesn’t work with tables that have a “lip” on them, so you may want to check before arriving at your destination. 

• Disposable Placemats

While this isn’t one of the pricier baby travel products mentioned above, disposable placements are one of the best baby travel essentials. Most restaurants only offer breakable plates or paper placemats that babies can easily throw. These adhesive placemats stick right on the table and you throw them away after your meal, making cleanup a breeze. (Both of our kids also had a weird habit of wanting to chew on tables when they were teething. So this also covers the end of the table up to prevent extra spreading of germs!)

Baby Carrier

A baby carrier is another one of our top travel must haves for baby. If you want a baby carrier for travel from infant to toddler ages, a soft structured baby carrier like this one is the most versatile we’ve used. Whether you want a carrier for hikes with a baby or something to use on terrain that a stroller can’t reach, it’s perfect for either. It has an infant insert, and we’ve used it as a backpack style toddler carrier as well. 

A few options for baby carriers for travel (or everyday use) include:

• Solly Baby Wrap : Fabric baby wrap that’s especially great for baby wearing in the airport. The Moby baby carrier is a similar alternative.
• ErgoBaby 360 : All position baby carrier that’s super versatile from newborns to toddlers.
• LILLEBaby : Another baby carrier with multiple positions from babies to toddlers.

Diaper Bag For Travel

Whether you’re navigating the airport or the amusement park, the best baby travel bag is typically a hands-free diaper backpack. (And fortunately backpack style diaper bags are super popular right now, so there are many options to choose from!) When searching for the best travel diaper bag, be sure to look for one that comes with a changing pad, a bottle cooler (or space for bottles) and several compartments for storing necessary items in a baby carry-on like snacks and toys. 

We have a faux leather diaper backpack similar to this one and have also used our standard travel backpack before.

Travel Bottle Washing Set

You’re bound to be washing bottles or pump parts during your vacation with a baby. (Whether they’re breastfed or bottle fed!) This travel bottle washing set is one of the best baby travel items. It includes a drying rack, and bottle brush in a compact box that closes. It also makes a unique baby registry idea if you’re looking for items the mom to be may not have thought of. 

Pro Tip: Be sure to also bring a small travel bottle of dish detergent with you. We just use reusable travel toiletry bottles and fill them up with our standard free and clear dish soap.

• Sound Machine

Aside from a good travel crib, a sound machine is another item on our list of travel essentials with baby that helps the whole family sleep. Sound machines help keep their routine consistent at home and away, and they drown out noises if you’re sharing a room with a baby on vacation. There are a variety of options for baby sound machines depending on how much room you have in your luggage. 

• A standard baby sound machine that’s lightweight and still easy to pack without taking up too much space. (We use this portable sound machine at home and away.) 
• A small travel sound machine for a stroller or on-the-go is another option. We have this one . 
• There are also several sound machine apps available on your phone. We use the Guva free sound machine app for babies that also allows you to record a sound as well. (I even recorded myself shushing to help our second child fall asleep for naps.)

Baby Toys and Teethers

Babies are constantly chewing and dropping things.  So we recommend a variety of baby travel toys and teethers for your trip with a baby. A few baby travel items we don’t leave home without include:

• A multi-sensory baby toy that can be clipped on a stroller or car seat.
• Several teethers and different pacifiers (if your baby uses one.)
• A lovey or stuffed animal that your baby uses for comfort.
• A simple, small toy like these stacking cups to use at your destination.
• An interactive book with flaps or different textures. (Shop my Usborne Books & More storefront for ideas!)

Pro tip: Bring a Ziploc bag for dirty toys that need to be cleaned at your destination. (Especially if you’re traveling with a baby on an airplane and they drop toys.)

Related Post: 10 Baby & Toddler Travel Toys Under $10

Baby Packing List For Vacation: More Must Haves for Traveling with a Baby

Traveling with babies usually requires so much stuff. Much of which you’re probably not used to bringing if you’re new to traveling with kids. We recommend having a standard baby packing list that you can use for each vacation with a baby. (In addition to your standard diaper bag of course!)

This packing list for baby includes several items we (usually) don’t leave home without.

Clothing Items*

• Outfit for each day along with extra onesies
• Pajamas/ sleepers (bring extra for younger babies)
• Socks and shoes
• Swimsuits/ swim diapers (for the pool or beach with a baby )
• Baby hat- beach hat, baseball hat or winter hat

*Clothing needs vary depending on weather and activities.

Linens 

• Sleep Sack or Swaddles
• Light blankets (we love these muslin blankets)
• Crib sheets
• Baby towels/ washcloths

Baby Equipment for Travel**

• Travel Crib
• Portable High Chair
• Car Seat (with a car seat bag if you’re flying)
• Blowup baby bathtub (If a tub isn’t available at your destination)

**Some baby equipment may be available at your destination. Be sure to check first. You can also rent baby equipment from BabyQuip and have it dropped off at your destination.

Miscellaneous Items

• Diapers 
• Baby Wipes (bring extra for messes)
• Pacifiers & Teethers
• Baby Toys & Books
• Bottles and/or sippy cups
• Bottle washing set +dish soap
• Breast pump + parts
• Baby monitor
• Ziploc bags
• Car window blackout curtains for road trips with baby  
• Kindle or iPad with rubber case (if you do screen time)

Baby Toiletry Bag

• Baby shampoo
• Infant Tylenol/ Ibuprofen
• Diaper cream
• Baby lotion
• Small amount of soap for handwashing soiled clothing

Documents for Traveling With a Baby

• Insurance card
• Passport (for international travel with a baby)
• Copy of baby’s birth certificate (if you’re flying)

Pro Tip: If you’re flying to your destination, share a large suitcase with your baby using packing cubes . (This will save money on fees and also minimize the number of items you’re traveling with.) You can also ship diapers/ wipes to your destination or purchase them there.

Related Posts:

• Packing Tips and Beach Essentials for Baby
• Flying With a Baby: Tips for Before, During and After Your Flight
• Road Trip With a Baby: How to Survive Long Drives with Baby
• 5 Must Have Travel Essentials for Toddlers
• Intro to Traveling With a Baby

Do you have any must-have baby travel items that aren’t on this list?  Please share in the comments if you have any favorite baby travel products to add!

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• Ask the Expert /

Travel Experts Answer All Your Questions About Traveling with a Baby

This advice from a flight attendant and a pediatric physical therapist will keep your trip with baby moving smoothly., by kara mulder and kailee noland pt, dpt.

Welcome to Ask the Expert, a series in which real experts answer questions from real Babylist parents. For this installment, we asked Babylist parents to submit all their questions about traveling with a baby or toddler (no small task no matter how far you’re going). Here to give expert advice on all things travel are Kara Mulder, a flight attendant for 14+ years and the voice behind Flight Attendant Life , and Kailee Noland, a pediatric physical therapist and the owner of The Movement Mama .

Traveling with a little one can be such a rewarding experience full of family bonding—at the same time, it can also be such an exhausting experience. Whether you’re flying, road tripping or taking another form of transportation, there’s a lot to think about with a baby or toddler in tow. From how much time they can spend in their car seat to keeping a fussy kiddo placated on a cross-country or even an international flight, here’s advice from two travel experts to keep your trip moving smoothly.

In This Article

Flying with a baby or toddler, road trips and car seat comfort for babies and toddlers.

Taking to the skies? With over 14 years of experience as a flight attendant, Kara Mulder answers all your questions.

How old should a baby be before air travel?

Airlines generally suggest that a baby should be at least two weeks old before flying, but a physician can provide a more personalized answer. Some airlines may require a doctor’s letter for newborns under two weeks old. Many parents and pediatricians recommend waiting until baby is around six weeks old and has started their vaccinations to better handle potential germ exposure.

How important is getting my baby his own seat? Is it dangerous if I just have him in my lap on a flight?

Although airlines allow children under two to sit on a parent’s lap during the flight, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) states that purchasing a seat for your baby and using an approved child safety seat is the safer option.

When booking flights, consider your child’s age, the duration of the flight, the type of aircraft and whether you’re traveling alone. This will help you make an informed decision regarding purchasing a separate seat for your toddler. Air travel can be exhausting, and providing your child with their own seat can offer invaluable peace of mind.

One final recommendation is to understand the aircraft configuration anytime you travel with infants or toddlers. If possible, reserve a bulkhead row (the row with no seats in front of it, usually at the front of economy/coach class) with the attachable bassinet . If you have any questions about how to reserve the best seats on an aircraft when traveling with young children, airline customer service representatives can assist you.

How many baby items (and which ones) can you take through security and check at the plane gate?

The TSA allows parents to bring baby essentials such as bottles (including breast milk and formula), baby food (including puree pouches) and medication through security, even if they’re over 3.4 fluid ounces—and they don’t need to be in a quart-sized bag with the rest of your liquids, they just need to be in your carry-on.

To keep breast milk, formula and baby food cool, freeze some juice and use it as an ice pack. Frozen liquids are allowed in your carry-on luggage, and once they’re done keeping things cool, they can double as a snack for you or your little one. Note: when traveling with frozen juices, remove the containers before security screening and communicate to TSA that the contents are frozen. And they have to be completely frozen; if there’s any partial melting or liquid at the bottom, they have to meet the regulation for 3.4 fluid ounces.

As far as other baby items, diaper bags, strollers and car seats are also allowed, and many airlines allow travelers to check strollers and car seats at the gate for free .

For international travel, each country has its own rules regarding what items are allowed through airport security. So depending on where you depart, be sure to look at customs, security and border guidelines. For example, in other countries, you won’t be able to bring frozen liquids. However, items for your baby fall under medical exemption and are allowed to travel in reasonable quantities.

Should I check the car seat before security if I’m not using it on the airplane? Or is it best to check at the gate? Is there a cost for checking car seats and strollers?

Most airlines allow you to check a car seat and stroller for free, either at the ticket counter or at the gate. If you’re not using the car seat on the plane, I would suggest gate-checking. That way, you can use your car seat or stroller right up until you board the plane, making managing a baby and luggage easier—just hand it over at the boarding gate. (Editor’s note: If your baby still fits within their infant car seat’s height and weight limits, those are much easier to travel with than heavy, bulky convertible car seats. Check out our roundup of top rated infant car seats to find some travel-friendly options for babies under 1 year old.)

Gate-checking also minimizes the risk of damage by reducing some of the handling associated with checked luggage. Just remember to ask for a gate-check tag at the boarding gate.

What are some tips to keep a baby or toddler entertained on a flight?

There are several strategies to keep a little one entertained during a flight. First, consider bringing some new, small toys or books that your child hasn’t seen before—novelty can be a powerful distraction. Baby’s favorite comfort item, whether it’s a blanket, stuffed animal or pacifier, can also be incredibly useful during your trip.

While some parents prefer to limit screen time, a flight can be considered a “special occasion.” A digital tablet loaded with some toddler-friendly apps or shows can be a lifesaver.

For long-haul flights, international trips or ones lasting more than six hours, consider taking your baby for a short walk around the cabin when the seatbelt sign is off. Feel free to greet the flight attendants, but be aware, your baby might become their favorite passenger!

How can I pop baby’s ears during/after a flight?

Changes in air pressure can cause discomfort to a baby, but there are strategies to help. Consider breastfeeding or offering a bottle during takeoff and landing, as the swallowing action helps clear your baby’s ears. A pacifier can also stimulate swallowing and provide the same benefit.

For toddlers, a drink from a sippy cup or a small snack might do the trick. Chewing and swallowing can help adjust their ear pressure.

If you’re nervous about your baby’s ear health for an upcoming trip, it’s always a good idea to consult with your pediatrician before the flight for additional recommendations.

Where is the best place to breastfeed on the plane?

Where to breastfeed on a plane will largely depend on your comfort level and the type of aircraft. On wide-bodied aircraft with two aisles, some lavatories are larger and might offer more privacy. However, you’re more than welcome to breastfeed at your seat with a nursing cover.

Additionally, breastfeeding can help clear baby’s ears, so nursing during takeoff or landing may help alleviate any discomfort your baby might experience due to air pressure changes.

Where can I use a breast pump while flying? Is it rude to pump in the bathroom on a plane? And how/where can I clean all the bottles and pump parts, especially on long-haul flights?

You are absolutely allowed to use a breast pump while flying. Some parents feel more comfortable pumping in their seat with a nursing cover, while others prefer the privacy of the lavatory. Larger lavatories on wide-bodied aircrafts may offer a more comfortable space.

Cleaning pump parts can be challenging on a plane, as limited bottled water is stocked onboard. Using potable water from lavatory sinks or galley faucets is not recommended. Ideally, bring enough parts to last the flight without needing to clean anything. However, for lengthy flights or if packing additional items isn’t feasible on your trip, consider cleaning breast pump parts with bottled water and disinfectant wipes. As a flight attendant, I’d encourage you to ask the working crew for bottled water if needed. The crew is there to help.

No matter how you travel or how long it takes, it’s important to know how traveling impacts your little one’s body and behavior. Pediatric physical therapist Kailee Noland answers all your questions about keeping kiddo safe and happy during the long haul.

What is the longest a baby should be in a car seat on a road trip without getting out?

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies (12 months old and younger) should only spend two to three hours in a car seat at a time, including on long road trips. This is because of how babies are positioned in a car seat, which can cause physical strain and restricted breathing after more than a couple of hours. It’s a statistic that many parents aren’t aware of and one that we definitely need to spread the word on, so be sure to send this article to a friend! (Editor’s note: Even though baby should only be in their car seat for two to three hours at a time, you can still make sure those couple of hours are nice and comfy. Check out our picks for the best car seats to see the absolute comfiest.)

Taking breaks during travel allows baby to stretch and move, plus it reduces the risk of plagiocephaly (or flat head syndrome). Remember, too, that car seats aren’t recommended as safe sleep devices. So while it may be tempting, when you reach your destination or a pit stop, please get baby up and out, even if it means having to wake them from their sweet slumber.

It’s not forever, though. Most experts agree that once a baby has the upright head and neck control to sit independently, you can begin driving longer stretches. While I know the two-hour rule may seem restricting, this is a great excuse to hunker down and stay home in those first few months to adjust, as your life has now changed, and family and friends can begin to make the effort to come to you!

If longer travel is unavoidable, here are some tips:

• Plan for your trip to take twice as long as normal. With all the stops and time allowing babe to stretch out, it’s wise to just plan this into the schedule.
• Do some gas station tummy time .
• Babywear while you take a quick walk around a park on your route. If you’re nearing the two hour limit, just check the next town en route and google “[Town Name] Park” or “[Town Name] Trail”; you’ll likely find a lovely spot for some fresh air and stretching your legs.
• When the adults need to stop to eat, be sure to take baby out of the carseat. You could babywear here, too.
• Have one parent sit in the back with baby to monitor temperature, breathing and overall comfort level. If this isn’t possible, use a travel-safe mirror or car camera to check on babe.

Keep in mind: If your child is premature or has any other medical conditions, always consult your pediatrician regarding their specific travel recommendations.

At what age is it okay to use a tablet for long trips?

According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry , screen time should be limited by age as follows:

• Prior to 18 months old, the only screen time should be video phone calls, which provide an active and involved experience for your child.
• Between 18 and 24 months, it’s recommended to only provide educational programming for less than one hour per day that you view with your child.
• Between two and five years old, limits are capped at one hour per day and three hours per weekend day.

These guidelines were created not only to protect your child from potentially harmful content, but also to promote optimal brain and body development. All that to say, my recommendation for independent tablet use in the car would be no sooner than two years of age. I also invite you to consider utilizing a device that isn’t actively connected to the internet or data during usage to prevent your child from accidentally stumbling onto something they shouldn’t.

For our family, we’ve always had fun utilizing a portable DVD player and headrest mount with DVDs we own or check out from the library. This ensures we’re able to control exactly what’s being viewed and the toddler/child isn’t in control of the buttons, causing potential driving distractions.

Of course, we all understand needing to entertain them in the car so you’re not stuck with a screaming toddler, but try the ideas mentioned here before resorting to screen time. Some of our favorites include:

• Activity books and sticker books
• Listening to music
• Listening to children’s stories on audiobook or podcast
• Pop-its or other car-safe toys

We also personally find that if our children have too much screen time on road trips, particularly near nap or bedtime, the blue light their eyes are taking in may reduce their sleep quality and make it difficult to get to sleep. You might consider investing in some child-sized blue light blockers to assist with combatting this issue.

How can I keep my toddler entertained in his car seat without using technological devices? Car rides often become screaming sessions!

Trust me. Been there. And it’s no fun. While I can’t guarantee a tantrum-free trip (because toddlers love to move , after all), I can give you lots of ideas that have helped make traveling with toddlers as smooth as possible!

Here are some of our favorite travel solutions:

• A portable audio player like the Yoto Mini
• Storytime podcasts
• Coloring books + Clickup markers (no more missing lids or lids that are choking hazards)
• Water painting books + reusable brushes you can fill with water
• Bubbles + the car vent
• Foam activity boards
• Playing “I spy”
• Suction spinning toys
• Car-safe non-projectile books (soft-cover only)
• Car-safe toys

Keep in mind: All items offered in the car shouldn’t be considered projectiles. This means the item should be lightweight and soft, so that in the case you got into a collision, it wouldn’t cause harm if thrown around the vehicle.

My toddler is good for about two hours of driving in a day (plus naptime), but then he screams at the very sight of his carseat, and it doesn’t really get better. I know this is normal, but when will things get better? Our family lives seven hours away, and it’s very hard to get there!

This is so tough—but our children have an innate desire to move! Think about how much we adjust in our car seats. Because of the restraints of child car seats, they’re often unable to wiggle and readjust as we are, leading them to feeling uncomfortable and fussy!

To help minimize the fuss:

• First, ensure that your kiddo’s car seat is installed properly for their weight and height and it’s at an appropriate incline angle. This eliminates whether or not significant discomfort might be what’s bothering them.
• We love to do playground pit stops to get out some energy. Often we’ll pack some snacks or grab food at a drive-through and instead of stopping at a gas station each time, we google “[Next Town] Playground” or use the Playground Buddy app . If it’s bad weather, consider exploring a nearby department store or wandering a grocery store for road trip snacks. If there’s more than one adult, you could also try having one adult take the child to the playground while the other packs the car. This already starts your little one off on a positive note with some of their movement needs fulfilled.
• Novelty is key. I often try to pack most of the activities I listed above in our travel caddy. I try to only offer one activity at a time and use “first, then” statements, like “First we’re going to color, and then we can watch a show.” Break up your screen time so you always have something fun and enticing to offer. Give them something to look forward to—maybe a special snack they get to have at your next stop.
• Consider breaking up your trip into two parts. We’ve enjoyed staying halfway in AirBnBs to make our trips more enjoyable for everyone!
• Some families also like to leave close to bedtime or very early in the morning to get a few “sleepy” hours for the kiddos in the car. Always be sure you’re not driving when you are too tired, though.
• Try playing a game of “I Spy,” but make it simpler by encouraging them to tell you when they see animals on the side of the road (we love to look for cows in the Midwest) or something that you know they might see often, like big trucks or billboards. Encourage them to look for shapes in the clouds or find things that are a certain color along your trip!
• Finally, know that it’ll improve with time! But it’s completely normal for your mover and shaker to not want to be confined to a seat for hours on end. And soon you will be at your destination and having fun!

How do you make a baby more comfortable in a car seat, especially for babies that find it hard to self-soothe in order to sleep in the car?

First, know that it’s completely normal for separation anxiety to increase in the car. While you can easily see them in the mirror, they may not be able to understand at a very young age that you’re right there with them. As mentioned previously, consider having one caregiver sit in the back next to them to ease their little minds.

And as always, make sure your car seat is installed properly for your baby’s age and size so they’re as comfortable as possible.

Something to note with car seats, too, is that traditional infant seats create a C-curve to the spine, which can be particularly uncomfortable for babies with reflux or for prolonged time spent in the car seat. Consider transitioning to a convertible car seat for improved comfort—just be sure the seat’s harness and weight limits accommodate your baby’s size safely!

Making the car environment as soothing as possible can help a lot, too. Maybe this means turning on white noise or their favorite lullabies. Try using a pacifier clip to prevent them losing their means of orally soothing.

Be sure to also offer stretch breaks at minimum every two hours to improve their physical comfort in the seat.

Be mindful of their body temperature and check to ensure they’re not too hot or too cold.

There are also many car-safe toys that you can offer if they’re at the age where they’re able to manipulate toys!

I hope these tips have been helpful and given you some ideas to try out on your next trip!

Kara Mulder

Flight attendant.

Kara Mulder, the aviation pro behind Flight Attendant Life , parlayed curiosity and an affinity for travel into careers as a private jet flight attendant and writer. Now based in Sydney, Australia, she’s crafting her debut memoir that draws from her rich life experiences. More about Kara and her work can be found at KJWattsAuthor.com .

Kailee Noland

Pediatric physical therapist, pt, dpt.

Dr. Kailee Noland, PT, DPT is a pediatric physical therapist and mama of two (soon to be three). She is a self-proclaimed baby & toddler enthusiast and is passionate about helping families incorporate developmental play into everyday routines and rhythms. She has also helped countless families feel empowered to choose the right shoes for their children. You can find support and encouragement in all things motherhood and motor milestones within The Movement Mama community.

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For expecting parents, travel can seem like one of those parts of life that’s off the table after having a baby. The ability to be spontaneous, to just pack a carry-on bag and head to some far-off destination for a few days, to run around exploring new cities, restaurants, beaches — all of it seems impossible. It doesn’t help that many parents and grandparents who have been there before will warn you to travel now, “while you still can!”

But as the parent of a now-16-month-old, I can say from experience that this is categorically false. I’ve now taken my daughter on many trips, including flights to the Midwest and Canada, and road trips to upstate New York and Washington, DC. The first trips we took were nerve-wracking: Did we pack all the right things for her? Would she sleep okay in the new place, thus allowing us, her parents, to sleep okay? Did we remember every possible item we might need to have at arm’s reach in the event of catastrophe while in transit?

With each successive trip, though, we got more and more confident. Each time, we learned a little bit more about how to optimize our travel routine. We learned what items we needed and what we would be fine without. We learned that you should definitely pack a lot of wet wipes, and that navigating the airport is a lot easier with a lightweight travel stroller than with your big everyday stroller.

You can absolutely travel with a baby, as long as you accept that it will look a little bit different from the way you traveled before. And one of the ways it looks different — besides having to juggle your vacation plans around the baby’s nap schedule — is that you need a lot of gear.

Specifically, there are a number of things that can make traveling with a baby or toddler much, much easier. There is a wide world of products out there, some of which are for making plane travel smoother, while others make vacation at your eventual destination more enjoyable. Wading through the options can be overwhelming, and it’s hard to know which products are worth the money and/or packing space.

The recommendations we’ve put together — by talking to travel experts, parenting specialists, and seasoned moms and dads on the Vox staff — are not meant to be one-size-fits-all. Pick and choose what feels most useful and valuable to you based on your travel style and budget. You might, for instance, be totally fine skipping a travel high chair if you don’t mind having your baby sit on your lap for meals. You might feel your regular stroller works well enough for vacation and you don’t need a travel stroller.

And remember: You don’t always have to spend money to get these products. A secret of modern parenting is there is a whole economy of parents swapping baby and kid stuff they’re done with. Ask friends and family who have kids older than yours if they have what you need, or source from a neighborhood parent group or local Buy Nothing group . If you’re able to get (or borrow!) something for free, that can be more valuable than having the “best” brand .

Things to pack that are genuinely useful

Travel stroller.

That perfect stroller that you spent months researching and selecting before the baby was born? It may not be very well-suited to traveling, particularly if it’s a big, heavy model. When traveling, you want something that’s lightweight and compact, since you’ll need to fold up the stroller when going through TSA checkpoints and when gate-checking it.

All of this means traveling will be easier if you get a second stroller specifically designed for travel. There are two kinds: travel strollers , which generally fold up into thirds in a little compact rectangle, and umbrella strollers , which tend to be cheaper than travel strollers and fold up more like a long stick or umbrella shape.

I have the Summer Infant 3DLite stroller, which is a relatively inexpensive, light umbrella stroller. This thing has gotten us through trips big and small.

Summer Infant 3DLite stroller , $79

For a travel stroller, Vox audio producer Victoria Chamberlin recommends the GB Pockit+ All-Terrain stroller: “We took this to Germany, Scotland, and Italy. It folds to half the size of a rolly suitcase and can go under most seats and in all overhead compartments,” Chamberlin said. “Highly recommend if you have an international flight connection because if you gate check a stroller, you will not get it back until your final destination. When we got stranded in London overnight, I was very happy I had this in my hot hands.”

GB Pockit+ All-Terrain Stroller , $280

And Corinne McDermott, author of the travel website Have Baby Will Travel , recommends just bringing your regular stroller on trips, provided it can play double duty. “It’s not necessary to purchase a second stroller specifically for travel if your main one works well,” McDermott says. “A stroller is not just a stroller when it comes to travel with babies and little kids. It is a bed, a high chair, a buggy for all of your stuff, and a baby jail for when you need to know your baby is in a secure spot while your hands are full and attention is elsewhere. Our beloved stroller was the UPPAbaby Vista, which was our everyday stroller that worked great for travel. It is easy to maneuver, the basket holds a lot, it’s high enough to push up to a table for mealtimes, and the deep recline was great for naps.”

UppaBaby Vista V2 Stroller , $969

Travel car seat

One of the most annoying things about traveling with a baby is that you need to lug your car seat around everywhere if you plan to take a taxi or ride in any car at all. You could try bringing your regular car seat if it’s small, like an infant car seat — but otherwise, most parents I know recommend leaving the heavy convertible car seat in your car and getting a much lighter travel version.

Vox video managing producer Val Lapinski recommends the Cosco Scenera Next, a travel car seat that weighs just 10 pounds. Says Val: “It’s ubiquitous for a reason — it weighs nothing.”

After having a miserable time dragging our bulky convertible car seat through Newark Airport and around our destination of Toronto, my husband and I bought the Cosco car seat upon Val’s recommendation to use for our future travels. Just a month later, we took it on a trip to Chicago and immediately knew it had been worth it. It was much lighter and easier to carry around; my husband’s shoulders were grateful.

Cosco Scenera Next car seat , $60

Travel bags for both the car seat and stroller

If you’re flying, most airlines allow you to gate-check a stroller and a car seat for free. But items can be damaged during the gate-check process, so it’s a good idea to invest in travel bags to protect them from scratches and other wear and tear. I have these simple red bags from J.L. Childress.

J.L. Childress Car Seat Gate Check Bag , $20

J.L. Childress Stroller Gate Check Bag , $23

A lightweight baby carrier

If your baby is still small enough for babywearing , bring a carrier — it’s nice for carrying the baby around the airport once you check or gate-check your stroller, and it’ll be helpful when you want to do short outings where a stroller might feel cumbersome, like going to a restaurant.

Emily Oster, an economist and author of the parenting books Expecting Better , Cribsheet , and The Family Firm , recommends the BityBean carrier: “It’s a very lightweight baby carrier that goes front or back and can range from a very small baby up through a 2-year-old. I spent many an hour in the back of an airplane flight bouncing a kid in this thing. Generally, in my view, the less gear the better, so this was a big win when we discovered it.”

BityBean Ultra Compact Baby Carrier , $70

Travel crib

Unless you’re staying somewhere that offers a crib, you will need a travel crib that folds up compactly and is easy to carry around to provide a safe sleep space for your baby.

The Graco Pack ’n Play is beloved by many parents (including myself). It’s easy to assemble, fold up, carry, and store, and comes with a bassinet attachment for younger babies.

Graco Pack ’n Play Playard , $80

Chamberlin recommends the Guava Lotus travel crib: “This is way lighter and easier to put together than a pack and play, and takes up less space as a backpack than similar models. Also, it has a bassinet insert you can get if your baby is that little.”

Guava Lotus Travel Crib , $249

Travel high chair

You most likely already have a high chair at home, but when traveling, you might want one that’s easy to collapse and carry.

Says Chamberlin: “This is our go-to travel high chair. It is good for the floor, and also attaches to a dining chair. And if you take the tray off, it’s a camp chair. We have used it for travel to visit family, camping, and hotels.”

Summer Infant Portable Booster Chair , $30

Baby headphones, if you’re into screen time

Screen time can be a godsend on vacation when you want to have a nice dinner at a restaurant and need your toddler to sit still and be quiet for a little while. Bring your iPad with preloaded shows, but don’t forget baby headphones so the rest of the restaurant’s patrons don’t have to listen to Ms. Rachel. I use these.

BuddyPhones Explore+ Headphones , $30

Portable white noise machine

One of the most important keys to a successful vacation with your baby is sleep. Maintaining a baby’s sleep schedule and making sure they get adequate naps and good sleep at night, even in a new setting, is crucial. If you use a white noise machine at home as many parents do, then you likely want a small portable one to pack on vacation. I use this one, which is chargeable and has a little hook that makes it easy to strap onto your stroller or car seat for naps on the go, too.

Yogasleep Hushh Portable White Noise Machine , $27

Portable blackout curtains

Many kids need total darkness to be able to sleep, and the varying light situation in hotels and Airbnbs can wreak havoc on daytime naps. Many Vox parents recommend portable blackout curtains to create that perfect darkness — everyone will be happier if the baby has had a solid nap.

Catherine Spangler, a supervising producer on Vox’s video team, says: “These blackout curtains with suction cups have been lifesavers across three continents for us.” The suction cups make them easy to attach to any window, and they’re lightweight and easy to fold up and throw into your carry-on bag.

Tommee Tippee Portable Blackout Curtains , $19

A diaper bag that holds everything you need for the flight

A diaper bag that holds and organizes all the essentials you might need in flight — from diapers and wipes to snacks and bottles and the iPad and headphones and an extra change of clothes — is important to a less stressful flight.

Your everyday bag might work, but Jessica Darrington, who runs the baby travel website and Instagram Where Is Briggs, also recommends the ultra-structured travel diaper bag from No Reception Club. Says Darrington: “This diaper bag has been a game changer when traveling with a baby because it has kept all of our gear organized. I’m amazed at everything I can fit inside and love that this bag counts as a personal item and can go under the seat in front of me on the airplane.”

No Reception Club “The Getaway” Bag , $235

Things you can probably skip bringing

Tons of diapers.

Save your suitcase space and bring only enough diapers to get you through the trip — you can always buy more diapers when you arrive at your destination.

The SlumberPod

As far as I can tell, this is basically a tent for babies to sleep in , but the entire $180 tent is made of blackout shades. Some parents I know love it, but we’ve never invested in one — portable blackout shades have worked just fine for us and are much cheaper.

Travel baby monitor

Travel baby monitors are things that exist, but there are also a million baby monitor apps that turn devices like iPads, with cameras and microphones, into monitors that stream to your phone. Save your money and skip buying a travel-specific device.

How to travel now

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• Flight Advice
• The “Perfect” Vacation

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30 Baby Travel Essentials in 2023 (and Affordable Alternatives)

03/12/2023 by Kristin Addis 2 Comments

As someone who traveled to over 60 countries before giving birth, I knew that I didn’t want my adventures to end just because I had a baby. Before traveling with him, I almost gave into the persistent belief that traveling with a baby has to be difficult and that it has to involve tons of checked baggage.

Neither has to be the case. Over 10 trips — two of them international — and 24 flights with my now 8-month-old, these are the essentials I bring when we travel with our baby.

Table of Contents

1) LOTS of Diapers

This one will seem obvious, but don’t underestimate how many diapers you will need! We were once on what was supposed to be a one-hour flight that got rerouted mid-air and turned into three flights and most of the day. Airports don’t always have diapers to purchase. We always WAY overpack the amount of diapers we’ll need in our carry on, and I’m glad we do for moments like this.

I’ve tried many brands, but one stands out for being the most absorbent. I have had leaks with all the others – Pampers, Dyper, Honest, but never with Coterie . They truly are worth it.

On our most recent trip to Japan, we packed enough diapers for a week and bought the remainder in Japan. They weren’t as good as what we brought from home, but it helped save much-needed space.

2) A Comfortable Baby Carrier

Although a travel stroller can be a great idea, we rarely travel with one, especially if we need to pack light.

Garrett and I almost always babywear instead – through the airport, on the flight, walking around, on public transportation, and just about everywhere we need to go. Our baby sleeps well like this, and it’s just so much easier for any terrain we might encounter.

In the early days, I loved the soft Solly Baby Wrap , then we graduated to the Artipoppe and Ergobaby carriers, and as he gets bigger, it’s been more important to go for something that wears more like a hiking backpack .

3) Portable Changing Pad

With all of the changing tables that our portable pad has seen, I’m glad that we had it along to act as a barrier between Felix and the, sometimes nasty, tables we’ve had to change him on.

Or benches, forest floors, beds, and so on. This is the portable pad we use . It’s easy to wash and fold up.

4) Comfortable Diaper Bag Backpack

First Name:

I initially thought that I was going to want a cute diaper bag, and while that would have been nice, when it came down to it, functionality mattered more than anything else. Go for the biggest one within your budget that also has stroller clips.

Trust me, you want it to be large if it’s traveling with you in order to fit the loads of diapers, extra bottles (if using), washing station, extra wipes, extra onesies, and travel toys.

5) Portable bottle washing station and soap

I always joke this is the best $17 I’ve spent, but honestly, this bottle washing station has come in SO handy. From airport bathrooms to airplane bathrooms, Airbnbs, hotels, and friend’s houses, this has given us a clean surface, dedicated bottle brushes, and a drying rack anywhere we go. We even use this as his dedicated bottle washing station at home!

I also recommend bringing your own unscented soap in a travel size container. I almost always end up only finding antibacterial (not great for ingesting) or heavily scented soaps when we travel and have been very glad to have our own unscented, plant-based dish soap.

6) Sanitizing Bags

I’m in love with these steam sanitizing bags too. They’re cheap, multi-use, pack down tiny, and steam clean pump parts, bottles, binkies, and silicone teethers. One of my Instagram followers told me they even use these in the NICU for sanitizing! As long as you have a microwave available, which we have in 90% of the places we’ve stayed, you just pour in 60ml of water, seal, microwave for 90 seconds, and dump onto a clean surface. Voila! It’s all sanitized in just a few minutes.

7) Portable breast pumps

These saved my pumping journey. Although I never planned to exclusive pump, that’s how things ended up, and I’m so glad to have been able to maintain on the road with these! Whether in a moving car (sometimes while driving), airplane, lounge, or train, I’ve pumped on the go with ease with my pumps. I tried both the Elvie and Willow Go and like them both. Even if you’re not an exclusive pumper, if you pump at all, these are so much easier for travel!

8) Portable Bassinet

We want to create a safe sleep environment on the road. Sometimes the places we stay have cribs available, but most of the time we have needed to bring our own.

At first, we loved this foldable bassinet . It packed down small and we could pack diapers and clothes inside. Now that he’s too big for it, I use the Guava Lotus bassinet . It’s considerably bigger, but it has worked great on road trips along with the Slumberpod .

9) White Noise

Our baby sleeps better with white noise, and we do too! Having our white noise machine has saved us when we got put in a room with a bar downstairs, when there were lawn guys outside in the early morning, and from general hotel noises.

I learned from experience that the fancy ones that connect to Wifi are better kept at home. We have the most basic Hatch Mini sound machine and it works great. Alternatively, you can play Spotify 10-hour white noise podcasts from your phone.

10) Portable Baby Monitor

I should have known when our friend gifted us his Owlet due to the constant connectivity issues that we might have the same problem. Especially on the road with hotel WiFi or anything that isn’t 2.5ghz (WHY are all baby items like this?!) For the price, I really like the analog one we bought for $35 for trips.

It works up to 1000 feet, has night vision, and allows us to put Felix in his own room, or for us to let him sleep downstairs while we enjoy the pool, hot tub, etc. It’s honestly just as good as the Owlet and costs a fraction of the price.

11) Portable Highchair

If your baby is eating solids, take it from me, it’s much easier to have them in a high chair than feeding on your lap, although sometimes we do the bathtub and just hose him off after.

I like the Ingesina Fast Table chair , though this one is a great alternative.

12) Nail File

Do not forget the nail file! I swear I’m filing F’s nails every other day, both at home and on the road.

13) Bottles or spoons appropriate for age

If your baby is on solids, be sure to bring the spoons and bibs you use at home. Since we do baby-led weaning, we use these spoons that he can self-feed with, along with this full-body bib.

Since BLW can be very messy, I usually order a side of avocado or fruit for him when we’re in a restaurant and hand feed him pieces of it, then do a full meal when we’re back at the room. It’s worked great so far!

14) Baby food, formula, or cooking supplies

Depending on where you go, you may or may not need to bring the enough baby food and/or formula with you for the entire trip.

I have seen baby purée in small towns in Mexico as well as drug stores in Japan, albeit more limited than I might find at home. Since we do BLW, we usually buy fruit and veggies at grocery stores to share with Felix. For our most recent road trip, we had space in the car for me to bring his Beaba babycook , which allowed me to steam veggies for him in the hotel room. I was glad to have it with us, though it’s less practical for flying.

15) Medications, nasal aspirator, and thermometer

It sucks when little ones get sick on the road, but it happens. We always have his thermometer, nasal aspirator, and infant Genexa with us when we travel. It’s so much easier than having to look for these things on the road.

16) Portable toys

Some people think babies don’t need toys, but I disagree! Having a toy along has saved dinnertime for us parents more than once, and they keep him stimulated and entertained. 90% of the toys that we have for Felix are from the Lovevery Montessori-inspired play kits and that’s what we bring with us when we travel. We’re big fans. Read my Lovevery review here.

17) Baby-safe sunscreen

Once your baby is 6 months or older, baby-safe sunscreen is great to have on-hand. I like this mineral one.

18) Baby-safe insect repellant

I honestly hate bug repellant, but I hate mosquito bites more! When possible, I try to keep Felix in rooms with screens to keep insects out, and keep a mosquito net over his crib, but when we can’t avoid exposure, these wipes come in handy.

19) More baby clothes than you think you’ll need!

Garrett and I joke that we end up wearing the same outfit a bunch of times, but babies tend to need to change more often whether it’s drool, spit up, blow-outs, you get the idea. I usually have more than one per day for him, which is easy to do since they pack up small.

Our baby has extremely sensitive skin and basically lives in Kyte Baby . We use a North Face onesie for cold weather with the Kyte baby underneath. It helps him regulate body temperature better and keeps his skin from reacting. I also zip him up in Seraphine babywearing jackets . I love them so much I have three!

20) Umbrella for shade or rain/snow

When we arrived in Japan, Osaka airport happened to have free umbrellas outside the arrivals hall. I grabbed one and we were so glad to have it for all of the snow we encountered. It was a clear plastic one, so it wouldn’t be great for sun, but I would definitely bring along a small umbrella to block out sun on warmer trips.

21) Pacifiers

I don’t know about you, but for us to have a good night of sleep we tend to throw a good eight pacifiers into the crib. If your little one is as into them as ours is, definitely bring them with you when you travel, too! Don’t forget the binkie clip.

22) Car Seat

You may or may not need to bring a carseat on your trips. We needed one to get from the airport to the Airbnb when we went to San Pancho, Mexico , but didn’t need one in Japan where we exclusively took public transport. That said, you will need to get a ride from someone with a car seat installed to the airport since Ubers do not have infant car seats.

You can check, gate check, or use the car seat on board if you buy your baby a seat (more baby travel tips here ). It’s really up to your comfort level. We always zip it into a travel case and check ours, though it’s a back-up ‘travel’ car seat from a friend. Our main one stays in the car.

23) Lots of bibs and burp cloths

We bring at least four burp cloths with us when we travel.

24) Hat (for sun or cold)

We always bring his hats along, whether it’s a cold-weather beanie or sun hat. Felix rocks this UV-blocking Patagonia hat in sunny environments. Consider baby sunglasses as well.

25) Consider bringing your own detergent

As I mentioned before, our baby has extremely sensitive skin. We have some Dreft samples the pediatrician gave us so that if we do laundry on the road, he’s not getting exposed to scented or harsh detergents that’ll make him break out.

26) Swim gear (life jacket, bathing suit, bathing diapers)

Depending on where you’re going, you may want to have swim gear with you. Consider an infant life jacket, baby floatie, and definitely some bathing diapers!

27) Portable baby activity center

We don’t own one of these (yet) but I could see how MANY times it would have been great to have. You can’t bring absolutely everything when you travel, but this one folds down and gives you somewhere to stash the baby if you have a crawler, which we now do!

28) Portable baby bath

For bath time on the road, we almost always just bring Felix into the shower with us. It’s how we do it at home, too. But as he gets bigger, bath time in the real bath makes more and more sense. This blow-up bath tub creates a safer environment and is workable if your hotel doesn’t have an actual bath tub.

29) Travel Stroller

There are hundreds — maybe thousands? — of strollers out there. Part of the reason why we don’t travel with a stroller is the difficulty of gate checking or luggage checking it, though we’re in the process of testing out the world’s smallest stroller, the Qbit+ all-city . It’s small enough to go into an overhead bin on a plane, and we’re excited to see if we like it!

30) Book(s)

We always bring at least one book with us when we travel. Some of my earliest childhood memories were of nightly reading with my mom before bedtime, and that’s a habit I want to repeat with Felix. We bring one of this smaller and lighter board books with us on the flight (we’re not doing screen time yet) and on the road.

I realize that this list is full of products that can add up fast. Although I have bought some of these things new, I’m a big fan of buying and selling baby products on the secondhand market . More than half of what I listed here has been purchased and resold this way, essentially giving me a cheap or free rental.

Speaking of rentals, you can also rent baby gear at your destination using BabyQuip . Though I haven’t personally used it, I’ve heard good things.

I hope this helps you to have a seamless journey. While we don’t bring everything on this list every time we travel, each of these items has come in handy on various trips we’ve had in Felix’s 8 months Earthside.

About Kristin Addis

Kristin Addis is the founder and CEO of Be My Travel Muse, a resource for female travelers all around the world since 2012. She's traveled solo to over 65 countries and has brought over 150 women on her all-female adventure tours from Botswana to the Alaskan tundra.

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03/14/2023 at 4:00 am

Glad you didn’t give up on your dreams! Your suggestions are great, I love it. It is both practical and useful. You really inspired me. Thanks a lot for this..

Kristin says

03/22/2023 at 10:49 am

75 Tips for Traveling With a Baby (Free Packing Checklist)

When traveling with a baby, there are so many little things to remember (and forget!). Taking a family vacation with an infant, baby or toddler doesn’t have to be a challenge when you know what to bring. This guide to packing a diaper bag and must-have baby travel essentials for little ones will help!

Mom Rewritten uses affiliate links which means I may earn a small commission if you purchase through the links in these posts. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. For more information, see the Privacy Policy and Disclosures tab.

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. This article originally published September 5th, 2016 and has been updated and republished with a new date.

Best Tips for Traveling With a Baby

I remember the first time I took my baby on her first extended vacation. There was so much to remember when I packed! Not only was I figuring out my own suitcase there was also my baby’s supplies to tote.

Are you overpacking for your baby? Or not packing enough? It’s a careful balance to be sure. You don’t want to be that traveler jamming the car full of unnecessary items because you think the baby needs it all . This article will help you pare down to the basics that will still allow you to travel with ease.

How to Pack for a Trip With a Baby

Whether headed to the beach, camping, city or theme park, when traveling with a baby in diapers you’ll need the same important essentials.

Keep reading for the helpful vacation guide with tips on taking the baby on a trip. There’s also a free baby packing list you’ll want to print and use when filling the luggage.

I’m sharing suggestions for toys, swim and bath products and road trip requirements. And of course figuring out that all important number of how many diapers to pack for your travels!

Baby Travel Essentials – Can You Buy It When You Get There?

Depending upon where you’re going, you might need to pack everything you’ll need upfront. This could be because the location in which you’re headed might not have the supplies you need. You may not want to replenish or purchase when you get there because of higher cost concerns.

If possible, consider these options which include shipping the items or buying there. If you know the products you need are readily available in stores, wait and buy it when you get there. That’s a decent idea if you don’t want to have to pack and tote bulk consumable items like baby formula and diapers.

Another option is to have the items shipped to your destination. If you’re staying with family, that’s an easy choice. Purchase items online and have them sent ahead of your trip so the packages are there before you arrive.

Call hotel locations ahead of time to verify what their policies are for accepting deliveries. Some hotels will have requirements for the shipping label, timelines for holding packages or may charge a fee.

Diapers and Wipes are Top of the Baby Packing List

When it comes to traveling with a baby, it’s easy to over pack. But when diapers are concerned, you never want to be stuck without! This is how to figure out how many diapers to bring with you on the trip.

How Many Diapers to Bring on a Trip?

So, how can you figure out how many diapers to bring with you on a trip? In the week leading up to your vacation, take note of how many diapers you go through each day with your baby.

I kept a notepad and a pencil on the shelf above my baby’s changing table to make a tally. Average the number of diapers you’ve used over the week to figure out a daily amount and then multiply that by the number of days you’ll be away from home.

Just to be on the safe side, put in about two extra diapers per day of your trip…just in case!

Do the same for the baby wipes but definitely bring additional extras of these. WaterWipes baby wipes are convenient for cleaning messy fingers and faces as well as bottoms!

Best Travel Clothes for Babies and Toddlers

When traveling with your baby in diapers, consider these logistics for choosing the best vacation outfits. Pick breathable fabrics that will be comfortable during long drives in their car seat.

Only choose separates that make diaper changes easy. Avoid outfits with buttons or snaps on the back of the clothing. These can be uncomfortable for babies to lay on for long periods of time.

Zip Footie Pajamas – For infants, skip those fancy outfits and go straight for the pajamas all day. Avoid multi-piece outfits that will bunch up and cause discomfort for a baby. Grab this organic cotton zip-up footie from Primary in all the colors!

One-Piece Rompers – When traveling with a baby in diapers, snap-crotch bubble onesies are probably the most ideal when the weather is warm. Look for long sleeved one-piece jumpers with a snap crotch when it’s chilly. Toddlers will appreciate the comfort factor. You’ll appreciate the quick diaper changes with clothing that’s simple in design!

My go-to for the best children’s clothing is Primary . They offer gender-neutral mix and match pieces in every color of the rainbow. Lots of coordinating outfits to match older siblings too! Use code AFT20PCT to save 20% and receive free shipping on your first order.

Sun Hat – If you’re planning to be outdoors, a baby sun hat is required. Opt for a stylish version like this with a wide brim, breathable materials and a chin strap to keep it secure.

Must-Have Baby Travel Toys

Older kids can leave their toys behind when they go on vacation. But it’s important to pack a few toys for the baby whenever you leave home. Toys can help with boredom, especially if the baby is kept in their car seat or stroller for longer than usual periods of time.

If your baby has a few favorite items, be sure to bring those on the trip. In addition purchase a few new baby travel toys for variety while traveling. When your child gets fussy, surprise them with one of the new items!

Travel Teething Toy – If you have a teething baby you know that gnawing is a big deal! This teething mitten offers up safe-to-chew bumpy grooves and ridges. The adjustable Velcro strap secures the glove to baby’s hand so the toy is less likely to fall on the floor or get lost.

Car Seat Toys – This soft cotton hanging toy mobile spiral-wraps around the handle of the car seat with dangling toys for baby to play with.

Electronic Baby Toy – Babies love the stimulation of lights, sounds and music! VTech rules when it comes to educational electronic baby toys. This small-sized Happy Lights Bear serves up songs, phrases and flashing lights. The cuddly bear Velcros to the stroller or car seat.

If you’re traveling on public transportation or on a plane, avoid anything with annoying or loud sounds so as not to disturb other travelers! Relegate noisy electronic items to the rental car only.

I have an extra tip to minimize the noise of electronic toys. Place a piece of electrical tape over the speaker to quiet the sound when there’s no volume control.

Baby Toy Straps – Keep toys from dropping on the ground with silicone baby toy straps . Secure rattles, chew toys and sipper cups to the car seat, high chair or stroller to prevent them from getting lost or dirty.

Baby Travel Essentials for the Hotel

One of the most challenging things about traveling with a baby is sharing a hotel room. When baby goes to sleep, generally everyone else has to turn off the lights and be quiet too! Consider booking a suite with a separate bedroom door. This way if you have older children, they don’t have to go to sleep when baby does.

Inflatable Bath Tub – If baby is too small to sit up or too big to fit in the bathroom sink for a wash, consider packing this. The inexpensive Inflatable Duck Tub  will make bath time easier and it won’t take up any extra space in your luggage.

Touch-Control Night Light – Moving around blindly in a dark hotel room when baby wakes at night is recipe for disaster. You don’t want to turn on a light and risk waking everyone else up either.

Away From Home Sleep Needs for Little Kids

Whether driving or in a crib, nap and sleep routines are important to maintain when traveling with babies. A disrupted sleep pattern can cause havoc, resulting in overly grouchy behavior. Aim to travel during regular nap times in the hopes that baby will sleep while driving or flying.

These baby travel essentials can help regulate naps and nighttime sleep for your child:

Car Seat Head Support – If you’ve ever rigged up your own head support for the toddler sleeping in a car seat, this is the road trip product for you! This simple to install Car Seat Child Head Support keeps toddlers heads from slumping when their napping.

Sun Shade – Nobody likes the sun in their eyes, especially young kids who are trying to rest. Block out the rays and heat during long car trips with a simple window sun shade . This one stretches to fit and has suction cups to secure on the glass.

Sleep Sack – Skip the blankets in the crib and use a muslin sleep sack for bedtime. The fabric is soft, breathable, and lightweight but will keep baby warm enough if the hotel air conditioning is running.

For colder nights or in outdoor locations like on a camping trip bundle toddlers in a warmer sleeper sack . This version has foot openings for walking babies. There’s diaper access via a reverse zipper.

White Noise Machine – If the strange noises at a hotel are interrupting your baby’s usual sleep patterns, this VTech White Noise Sound Machine is perfect. Petite-sized for travel with a rechargeable battery, it features both gentle lullabies and ambient sounds.

Baby Travel Essentials for Flying

Sucking can help relieve ear pain with babies during elevation and descent on an airplane. Chewing gum can help older kids and adults. For babies try using a bottle, pacifier or breastfeeding. My friend Leslie at Trips With Tykes has tons of helpful tips for flying with a lap child .

Pacifier – Each baby seems to have their own preference of pacifiers. And some babies (like my daughter) refused to use one. Have a few on hand just in case.

If traveling with a pacifier is essential, make sure the Nuk doesn’t get lost on your travels! Secure pacifiers to baby’s clothing with one of these convenient pacifier clips .

Keeping a Toddler Happy While Traveling

Whether you’re flying or hitting the open road, keeping toddlers happy while traveling can be tough! I recommend scheduling your travel times during their regular nap schedule. If you can ensure that your younger child takes a nap this can make everyone’s trip go a little smoother!

Car Seat – If you’re flying somewhere and will need a car seat when you get there, bring the seat onto the plane. Your toddler will have a comfortable and safe place sit in the airplane. And bonus, they’re more likely to nap if they’re latched into their car seat!

My favorite car seat to travel with is the inexpensive Cosco MightyFit 65 Convertible Car Seat . Rear-facing for babies from 5-40 pounds or forward-facing for children 22-65 pounds. It’s also reasonably lightweight and easy to install into a rental car.

WikkiStix – The perfect travel craft, WikkiStix are mess-free and easy for little ones to use. These soft and pliable bendy sticks adhere to each other or to a smooth surface for ideal quiet time entertainment.

Reading Material – Pack a few baby books but make them lightweight and able to hold up to wear and tear. The Indestructibles Baby Book series are great to entertain toddlers with a story on the road. Or baby can just chew on the pages, whatever!

Swimming and Sun Tips When Traveling with a Baby

If you’re planning a full day in the sun, make sure that your baby is well protected from sunrays and heat. This means extra hydration, just like you should be getting.

Babies should be nursing or bottle feeding more often. Older babies and toddlers should drink water or Pedialyte to keep them from getting dehydrated. These are the baby travel essentials when you’re outdoors or traveling during the hot summer season:

Swim Diapers – A necessary packing item if you plan to let baby swim. Whether in the hotel pool or at the beach swim diapers are a must.

If you prefer an eco-friendly option, choose a reusable swim diaper like this version with side snaps. This preference works best if you have access to a bathroom toilet and washing machine while traveling.

Pop Up Beach Tent – An open sided Beach Shelter offers an escape from the direct sun, essential for babies and young children. This version has a flat bottom to keep sand away, windows for ventilation and a hanging hook for a battery operated fan. It folds down like a car sun shield into a tiny carrying bag so it’s excellent for travel to any beach locale.

One-Piece Rash Guard – Choose a swimsuit with built-in UPF 50+ sun protection. This Primary long sleeved rash guard is all one piece but still has a snap gusset for fast diaper access.

Pool and Beach Baby Travel Essentials

Depending upon the age of your child, one of the following versions of pool floaties might work for your needs. Naturally, these floaties aren’t a replacement for supervision. Parents should remain within arms reach of their baby around water.

Baby Spring Float – This SwimWays Baby Spring Float offers younger babies a gentle way to float on the water while keeping their face dry and out of the sun. The product is also easy to close and carry so it’s ideal for taking on a trip.

Kid’s Life Jacket – This SwimWays Sea Squirts Learn-to-Swim Life Jacket is not inflatable and therefore will take up more space in your suitcase. But if you’re planning to be in the water a lot, the safety factor of this Coast Guard approved product might outweigh. Be sure to read the description on weight and size to ensure this will properly fit your child.

Suncreen – A travel essential for everyone, whether the sun is shining or behind clouds. Look for varieties like Babyganics Mineral Sunscreen . Ask your pediatrician to know their recommendations for application of sun protection lotion onto newborn skin. Reapply often, especially after water exposure.

Sunglasses – Headed to the beach or some place where the sun is particularly bright? A pair of baby sunglasses can help keep crankiness down when the sun is out of their eyes.

Baby Travel Essentials for Feeding Away From Home

Whether you’re feeding from the bottle or the breast, eating in a restaurant or on the road, these are some of the must-have items when traveling with a baby.

As a nursing parent, you can breastfeed your baby any where you wish. Some babies are challenged with nursing in public because they are distracted by activity around them. A nursing cover up can come in handy if you prefer privacy when breastfeeding or if your baby needs less distraction.

Nursing Cover – Choose a nursing cover up that’s lightweight to prevent overheating. The Milk Snob Nursing Cover doubles as a cocoon for infant car seats.

Snack Cups – These spill-proof Snack Keeper cups hold food with soft flaps on top for access. Fill them up with Goldfish crackers or animal crackers for the perfect to-go toddler snack.

READ MORE: How to Choose Healthy Road Trip Snacks at the Convenience Store

Sipper Cups – We all try our best to keep track of everything when traveling. Inevitably something ends up missing. It’s usually the sippy cup that rolls under the car, falls out of the stroller or gets left at a restaurant.

Skip the pricey sippers and buy a set of these Take & Toss Spill-Proof Sippy Cups . If one gets lost, you’ll have a few to spare.

Bibs – If you have access to laundry, these machine washable bibs are superb for feeding time. In a pinch use a baby wipe to clean off small messes.

No washing machine, no problem. Disposable bibs offer protection to clothing from food spills and can be tossed in the trash after each use.

An excellent reusable choice is the Bib Clip . Especially convenient for frequent restaurant dining, simply snap in a cloth or paper napkin to protect toddler’s clothing.

Disposable Placemats – If your toddler is self-feeding, these disposable placemats are awesome. We all know that kids don’t keep their food on the plate! To keep mealtime a little neater and more sanitary these peel-and-stick plastic mats are a must.

Comfortable Shoes for Babies

If your baby has only crawled around the carpeted floors at home you might not have even purchased them a first pair of shoes. Generally a pair of socks will keep baby toes warm and dry.

However when away from home consider covering baby’s feet to protect them when traveling in public locations. Choose flexible soles that don’t require a “breaking-in” period.

My children have been wearing pediped brand shoes since before they could walk. The pediped Originals are perfect crib shoes that can transition into walking shoes for a toddler.

Aqua Socks – If your child will be walking on hot sand or on the concrete around a pool, consider slip-resistant water shoes . They are a safe way to protect toddlers from stubbing their toes or burning their feet.

Walking Outside with a Baby

If your travel destination includes a lot of walking you’ll need to be prepared for taking baby along for the ride. Follow these additional tips for walking outside with a baby .

Stroller – The Baby Jogger City Mini has been my favorite for traveling with a baby. It’s all-terrain for both sidewalk or trail walking and offers excellent recline for naps. Best part is that it closes up compactly with one hand, ideal for boarding public transportation or getting into the vehicle trunk.

If you’d prefer not to take your own stroller consider renting one at your destination. Companies like Kingdom Strollers that rent equipment at Walt Disney World are one of the top places to get a stroller while traveling.

READ MORE : Guide to taking toddlers to Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom .

Stroller Fan – When the weather’s hot, keep baby cool using a flexible Travel Fan . Wrap the arms around a stroller, car seat or hold it in your hand to create a breeze wherever you need one.

Muslin Blanket – This lightweight muslin blanket in a variety of colors is multi-versatile. Use it as a blanket, burp cloth, swaddling cloth, nursing coverup or to cover the stroller when the sun is out.

Front Carrier – Best for going where strollers can’t go, the baby front carrier is invaluable. It’s also convenient to use when babies are sleeping and you don’t want to wait until nap time is over. Put the baby in a front carrier and go about with your exploring!

A Front Carrier is also highly convenient in places where you need to be hands-free. Airplane travel and amusement park queues are perfect locations to use a carrier. Plus nursing parents can discretely feed their baby inside of a front carrier!

I also used a front carrier to help soothe my fussy toddler to sleep at hotels. I’d pop her in the carrier then tidy up the room and get things ready for the following day until she was asleep.

Toddler Backpack with Harness – Ideal for the toddler who is always trying to run away! This Skip Hop Toddler Backpack has a leash that can be detached. My daughter enjoyed carrying her sippy cup, plush toy and a snack in her bag. The removable leash allows toddlers to walk independently but not get too far away.

Choosing the Best Diaper Bag for Travel

Before you start packing, make sure that your everyday diaper bag will work for your travel needs. You might want to purchase a day bag that’s better suited for vacationing with a baby.

Figure out first which baby travel essentials you’ll be bringing on your excursions each day. From there you’ll have a better idea which type of diaper bag is best suited to your family’s needs.

Where will you put the bag when you’re not carrying it? If you want to store it under the stroller or in a locker, make sure to measure so it’s not oversized. For airplane travel, ensure that the diaper bag will fit nicely under the seat.

Diaper Bag Tote – For longer days away or lengthy plane trips, this diaper bag tote opens wide into one main compartment. An included shoulder strap is versatile and convenient.

Diaper Backpack – A stylish alternative to the usual diaper bag that either mom or dad would be pleased to carry! This spacious diaper bag backpack houses plenty of storage pockets and space for everything you’ll need on the go.

Stroller Diaper Bag – Ultra convenient stroller caddy diaper bag hangs from the stroller handle for quick access of wipes, diapers and other essentials. A compact style that’s ideal for short trips.

Packing a Travel Diaper Bag

Bottles, baby food, diaper cream and drool bibs! Each evening when you return from outings, empty and refill the diaper bag. Reload the bag with wipes and diapers, clothing changes and baby food. Taking time to restock at night will allow for less stress in the mornings.

Besides what you usually bring for baby in the diaper bag, there are a few other baby travel essentials to consider:

Wet Bag – In the unfortunate event of a diaper blow out or spit up incident you’ll need a place to keep clothing until they can be washed. A reusable wet bag stores messy or damp clothing until you can get to the laundry.

Diaper Changing Pad – Many of the newer diaper bags already have coordinated changing pads included. For getaways where there might be diaper changing tables, purchase disposable diaper changing pads for sanitary purposes.

Stain Stick – When you’re away from the washing machine, use an on-the-go Stain Stick for laundry. Simply rub on spots to prevent stains from happening until you can wash.

Requirements for Safe Travels with Babies

If you have an active toddler there’s sure to be a few bumps and bruises along the way. It’s always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to taking care of small injuries or treating pain.

My daughter fell and scraped her elbow at Disney World. With the wet and humid Florida weather the bandages from first aid just wouldn’t stick to her skin. Now I know to pack waterproof band aids in the first aid travel kit!

First Aid Kit – A well stocked first aid kit is essential when traveling with a baby. Include cleansing wipes, antibiotic ointment and plenty of kid-friendly bandages.

Baby Medications – Kids can get sick, even on vacation. Fevers can spike quickly in the middle of the night. Better to have what you need for emergency than rely on the local convenience store or hotel gift shop. Basics like a baby thermometer and Infants’ Tylenol are a must pack.

Safety Kit – Whether you’re staying overnight at a hotel, Airbnb or at grandma’s house, you’ll want to baby-proof the accommodations. This includes protecting exposed electrical outlets, covering sharp corners, securing loose cables and locking up cabinets.

READ MORE: Complete Guide to Keeping Kids Safe on Vacation

What Else to Pack for Baby?

It can be tempting to want to pack ALL the things when traveling with a baby. Some of what you use at home on a daily basis may not be a baby travel essential. Before you overload the car’s trunk space or suitcase with oversized items, here are some tips.

Find out what’s there already before you pack your own. Check with hotels and Airbnb to find out what baby equipment is available. Verify that the products aren’t recalled.

Check with rental companies at your destination. Places like Cloud of Goods can offer up the rental of items like cribs, booster seats, pack ‘n play, stroller wagons, and high chairs.

In the case of high demand items like your baby’s bouncer seat , you might want to consider bringing it on the road. If the bouncer is the only place your baby will calm, best not to disrupt their pattern any more than usual when traveling.

How often will you use it? If you regularly use a high chair cover at home, consider if it’s worth lugging on your travels. I personally brought a high chair cover with me to Walt Disney World for my baby and used it one time. It wasn’t worth losing the space in my suitcase. But if you think that large item is essential, by all means pack it!

Baby Travel Essentials Packing Checklist

Now that you know what you need to bring when traveling with a baby in diapers, click the link below to print the free baby travel packing checklist!

Traveling with Baby – Free Printable Packing List

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TravelersGears

44 Must-Have Baby Travel Essentials & Travel Tips

It is always daunting when a baby is your travel companion, and you always need to carry every little thing for peace of mind. Baby travel essentials make your child’s trip joyful, safe, and comfortable. Every aspect of your baby’s life is taken care of by us, including between eating and sleeping.

Packing for a trip with a baby is overwhelming while you’re eager to create lasting memories with them. But fear not! In this blog post, we’ll go further into the area of baby travel essentials and provide top suggestions. Now relax and go with your child on a holiday without worries.

Table of Contents

Baby Travel Essentials

You must have a list of baby travel essentials before you leave on vacation to ensure you don’t forget anything important. To get you started, check out our comprehensive guide to baby travel essentials for 2024:

Baby’s Diaper Bag Essentials

Packing efficiently is the key to successful baby travel. Here are the baby’s packing essentials you need to pack in your baby’s travel bag:

Pack enough diapers for your vacation and a few extras in case of an emergency. If you care about the environment, take into consideration eco-friendly options.

This is necessary for rapid cleanup, including diaper changes as well as cleaning up soiled hands and faces.

Changing Pad

A portable changing pad is compact and keeps your baby comfortable during diaper changes.

Diaper Rash Cream

Keep this cream in your diaper bag and prevent rashes on your baby’s skin while urine and poop touch and damage it.

Always prefer a spacious diaper bag with multiple compartments to keep everything organized and accessible for your baby. You can put all your baby’s diapering essentials, wipes, bottles, baby food, and changing clothes.

Feeding Essentials During Travel

When it comes to feeding your baby while traveling , preparation is key. Here are some baby travel essentials items for feeding to be considered are:

Breastfeeding

If you’re breastfeeding, invest in a comfortable nursing cover for discreet feeding while on the move.

If your baby is on formula or solid food, bring enough supplies for the journey, including formula, and baby food.

Bibs and Burp Cloths

Keep your baby clean during mealtimes with bibs and burp cloths. They prevent messy spills and stains.

Bottle Warmer

A portable bottle warmer can be a game-changer when you need to heat milk or formula quickly.

Insulated Bottle Bag

If your baby relies on formula or breast milk, an insulated bottle bag will keep liquids at the right temperature.

Snack Containers

For older infants, pack easy-to-reach snacks in spill-proof containers to keep hunger at bay.

Baby Food Pack

Single-serving containers of baby food for older infants who have started solids. This eliminates the need for bulky jars.

Stay Hydrated

Keep both you and your baby hydrated during the journey, especially in hot weather. Ensure that all the time you have access to clean water.

Baby’s Clothing Essentials

Ensure your baby’s comfort, safety, and style when it comes to packing essential clothing. Here we will explore the must-have items that every parent should consider while planning a trip with a baby.

Onesies and Bodysuits

These versatile garments are simple to layer under other clothing to keep the baby warm in colder months or as separate outfits in warmer months.

Bring one or two sets of comfortable, breathable nightwear for your child to sleep in at night.

Booties and Socks

Booties and socks are essential pieces of clothing to keep your baby’s tiny toes warm, cozy, and covered.

Your baby may become exposed easily to intense sunlight as well as in cold weather when traveling outside. Pack cozy hats to protect your baby’s head from the sun or cold weather.

If your trip includes a beach or pool, don’t forget small swimwear and sun protection gear to enjoy time with your little one.

Extra Clothing

Babies are known for unexpected messes, so pack a few extra outfits for your little one.

Baby’s Peaceful Sleeping Essentials

Babies need their rest, even on the road. Creating a peaceful sleeping environment for your baby is a personal and evolving process. Here’s how you create a comfortable sleeping environment for your sweet baby:

Versatile and cozy, blankets can serve as swaddle cloths, nursing covers, and a comfortable surface for your baby to nap on.

Travel Crib

A portable crib is easy to set up and provides a safe and familiar sleeping space for your baby when you are staying in hotels or vacationing at a rental place.

Baby Monitor

A travel-friendly baby monitor lets you keep an eye on your little one while they nap in another room.

White Noise Machine

A compact white noise machine can create a soothing environment, masking background noises and helping your baby sleep more soundly.

Essentials Baby Travel Gear

Ensuring your baby’s safety during travel should be your top priority. Here are the Essentials Baby Travel Gears you need to consider:

Depending on your travel plans, wisely choose a baby carrier. A lightweight and compact design stroller that’s easy to fold and maneuver in tight spaces can be indispensable for keeping your baby comfortable and mobile.

Baby Carriers

Baby carriers are a great alternative to strollers, especially for hiking or exploring places where strollers might be impractical.

Pacifiers and Loveys

Don’t forget your baby’s favorite pacifier or comfort toy. These familiar items can help soothe your baby to sleep in an unfamiliar environment or during travel.

A properly installed car seat ensures your baby’s safety during road trips. Choose an appropriate car seat according to your baby’s age and size.

A portable baby monitor ensures you can keep an ear on your baby even when you’re not in the same room.

Childproofing Supplies

If you’re staying in a vacation rental or hotel, bring baby-proofing supplies to keep your baby safe in unfamiliar environments.

Portable  High-Chair

A travel high-chair accommodates different needs and allows parents and caregivers to provide a safe and secure place for their child to eat, play, or simply sit.

Health and Hygiene Essentials

Maintaining your baby’s health and hygiene is crucial during travel. Here’s a list of baby travel accessories that you can include:

Baby Insect Repellent

If you’re traveling to areas with mosquitoes or other insects, bring baby-safe insect repellent and a mosquito net to your baby’s sleep area.

Baby Toiletries

Pack baby-friendly shampoo, soap, and lotion to keep your baby clean and comfortable.

Hand Sanitizer

Keep your hands and surfaces clean with a travel-sized hand sanitizer. It helps you to quickly clean your hands and give a hygienic environment to your baby.

Baby Sunscreen

Protect your baby’s skin from harmful UV rays by using baby-friendly sunscreen and dressing them in lightweight, long-sleeved clothing and a sun hat.

First Aid Kit

Pack a compact first aid kit for babies which includes lotions, small ointments, adhesive bandages, antiseptic wipes, and baby-friendly pain relievers.

Baby Medications

Bring any necessary medications, like fever reducers or allergy medicine, in case of emergencies.

Baby Travel Essentials Document

Essential travel documents ensure that you have all the necessary information about your little one when it is required. Here we suggest a list of travel documents for your trip with your baby.

Baby ID and Passport

Keep your baby ID and identification close to reach. Have all the required photos and documentation on hand to prove your identity and paternity.

Travel Insurance

Consider purchasing travel insurance that covers unexpected events and medical emergencies.

Baby Medical Records

Your baby’s medical record can be invaluable in case of emergencies. It ensures that you have all the necessary information on hand when seeking medical care during your journey. Keep a set of medical records in your backpack.

Entertainment Essentials for Babies

Long journeys can be boring for babies so the best entertainment essentials keep them engaged and happy during travel.

Bring a few of your baby’s favorite toys to keep them entertained during downtime and also ensure that your baby always has access to a hygienic toy.

Pack a few of your baby’s favorite books to keep them entertained during downtime.

Portable Baby Music Player

Your child is calm and entertained while traveling with the baby music player.

Baby Carrier

A baby carrier or sling allows you to explore while keeping your baby close and secure.

Tablet or Smartphone

For your older babies, a tablet or smartphone loaded with baby-friendly apps or videos can be a lifesaver during long journeys.

Tips For Baby’s Travel Packing 

Before getting into the baby travel essentials, let’s discuss some crucial factors to take into account when preparing for a trip. As you prepare for your baby’s journey, keep the following tips in mind.

1. Pack According to Destination and Climate

What you should pack depends a lot on the location and climate. If you’re headed to a tropical beach, you’ll need different essentials than a snowy mountain retreat. Research the weather conditions and activities available at your destination and pack accordingly.

2. Create a Travel Itinerary

The duration of your trip will also influence your packing choices. Short weekend getaways require different supplies than extended vacations. Based on the number of days you’ll be away, compile a list of essentials.

3. Mode of Travel

Consider how you’ll be getting to your destination. Travel by plane, train, or car each has its special requirements and difficulties. Make essential preparations to guarantee a secure journey.

4. Always Plan Ahead

It’s essential to be prepared for unexpected situations while traveling with a baby. Start packing and planning well in advance to avoid last-minute stress.

5. Pack Light but Smart

Packing light is essential when traveling with a baby. Consider packing multi-purpose items to save space, such as a diaper bag that doubles as a changing station.

6. Organized with Ziplock Bags

Use zip-lock bags to keep baby essentials organized and easy to find. You can use them for storing snacks, diapers, and clothing items separately.

7. Roll Clothes to Save Space

  Roll your baby’s clothes instead of folding them. By doing this, wrinkles are reduced, and space is saved.

8. Bring Extra Plastic Bags

  Pack a few extra plastic bags for dirty diapers, soiled clothing, or any other messes that might occur on the go.

9. Don’t Forget the Baby’s Comfort Items

Make sure to have your baby’s favorite comfort items, whether it’s a special blanket, stuffed animal, or pacifier.

10. Emergency Contact Information

Carry out a list of emergency contacts, including your pediatrician’s contact information.

11. Asking for Help

Don’t hesitate to seek assistance from flight attendants, hotel staff, or fellow travelers if needed.

12. Enjoy the Journey

Remember that the purpose of your trip is to create memories and share experiences with your baby. Embrace the adventure!

FAQ’s

Q. How can I engage my baby in a car or during a flight?

Ans. Try feeding, soothing, or distracting your baby during the flight. A favorite toy or pacifier can work wonders.

Q. What’s the best way to sterilize baby bottles while traveling?

Ans. Use sterilizing tablets or portable bottle sterilizers that require minimal equipment.

Q. Do I need a separate travel stroller?

Ans. A lightweight and compact travel stroller can be convenient, but it’s not essential. Some parents prefer baby carriers for added flexibility.

Q. Should I bring a travel highchair for meals?

Ans. It depends on your destination. Some restaurants provide highchairs, but if you’re unsure, a portable highchair that attaches to a regular chair can be useful.

Q. What should I do if my baby gets sick during the trip?

Ans. Consult a local pediatrician or seek medical advice based on your location. It’s essential to have the contact details of healthcare providers at your destination.

Your family can have a richer time traveling with a baby. You may make beautiful memories with your baby by bringing the appropriate infant travel essentials, remaining organized, and placing your baby’s comfort and safety first. Therefore, set out on your trip with assurance, knowing that you are ready for the road ahead.

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What to know about traveling internationally with a baby

There's no doubt that babies can complicate travel plans. (There's a reason parents call it a trip, not a vacation!) Still, plenty of people travel outside of the U.S. with their infants. Some have family and friends they want to visit, while others figure it's easier to travel to far-flung destinations with a baby (who still sleeps 16 hours a day) than with a toddler (who wants to spend the flight walking up and down the aisle).

Whatever your reason, your trip will go more smoothly if you make a few preparations before booking your tickets and boarding your flight. Here's what you need to know about traveling internationally with an infant.

Requirements for traveling internationally with an infant

As you're planning your trip, take care of these must-dos:

Check travel advisories

Before booking, check the  U.S. Department of State's website Opens a new window for international travel advisories. You can also look at travel health advisories for your destination at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website Opens a new window as well as information on required vaccinations by country. Although most countries have lifted COVID-related restrictions, you can quickly check requirements for international travelers on the United Nations' Destination Tracker Opens a new window .

Talk to your baby's doctor

The American Academy of Pediatrics Opens a new window advises talking to your pediatrician before flying with a baby . Some doctors recommend delaying unessential travel for the first few weeks after birth (sometimes until babies are at least until 2 to 3 months old ). Babies are prone to catching infections – especially those who were born prematurely or have certain health conditions.

Once they clear your baby for travel, your pediatrician can verify that your baby is up to date on vaccinations, recommend preventative medications to pack, and determine whether your baby requires any additional immunizations. If your destination is experiencing measles outbreaks, for example, your doctor may adjust your baby's MMR vaccine schedule.

Depending on where you're traveling, your doctor may recommend – and some countries require – vaccinations for other infectious diseases (such as yellow fever or rabies) that aren't part of the standard childhood vaccine schedule. Book your appointment at least four to six weeks in advance of your trip, because it can take time to build up immunity after a vaccination.

Make sure your baby has a passport

For international travel, your baby needs a passport . Make two copies of each family member's passport, and leave one copy with a trusted friend or relative. 

If you're traveling as a solo parent, consider bringing documentation proving you're a legal guardian – as well as letter of consent (preferably notarized) from the other custodial parent saying "I acknowledge that my son/daughter is traveling outside the country with [the name of the adult] with my permission." If you have sole custody of your child, you might want to bring a copy of the custody agreement. 

12 tips for international travel with an infant

Consider travel insurance. Travel insurance ensures that you're not out of luck if, say, your baby gets an ear infection the day before you're scheduled to fly. (Keep in mind that your credit card may already offer travel insurance.)

Bring your baby's car seat. Though babies and toddlers under age 2 are allowed to fly free (or at a discount) sitting on your lap , it's safest if you buy an airplane seat for your baby. That way you'll be able to use your car seat on the plane , as long as it's approved for aircraft as well as motor vehicles. (It likely is – just check for a sticker on the car seat confirming this.) What's more, your car seat will come in handy at your destination – or at least on the car trips to and from the airport.

Request a bassinet. If you're on a long-haul flight, and especially if you forgo buying a seat for your baby, consider reserving a baby bassinet. Most airlines offer free portable baby bassinets that attach to the bulkhead for longer international flights. These beds, which generally accommodate babies up to 20 pounds and 26 inches long, allow your baby to snooze during the flight. There are usually only a couple of bassinets available per flight – so be sure to call early, ideally when you book your tickets, to request one. 

Bring the basics. Depending on where you're traveling with your baby or toddler , you may not find your usual brand of formula, diapers, or baby food – although you'll usually identify a decent equivalent. At the very least, be sure to bring a two- to three-day supply of these products in your checked baggage, so you aren't pressed to find a pharmacy as soon as you arrive. If you're really attached to specific products, pack enough for your full trip, plus a couple days' worth of spares. (Here's what else to put on your baby packing list .)

Don't forget adaptors. You don't want to scramble to find a store that sells adaptors for your breast pump or sound machine when you're scheduled to be at the beach. Throughout Europe and in many countries worldwide, power outlets and voltage are different from the U.S. Be sure to check the requirements at your destination, and buy a few appropriate adaptors before you leave.

• Pack a change of clothes. Having a couple of full-body changes of clothes in your carry-on bag, including socks, is essential. There's a good chance you'll have to deal with at least one leaky diaper or major spit-up on a long-haul flight .

Stock your carry-on. Besides a change of clothes, pack all of the essentials you'll need for the duration of your flight – bottles, formula, pacifiers, diapers, wipes, baby food – plus a few spares for potential delays. Think of it like your usual  diaper bag on steroids. Airports in the U.S. allow you to carry on liquids (such as water, pumped breast milk, and baby food) that surpass the usual 3.4-ounce limit, but be prepared to remove them from your bag when you go through the security checkpoint. For your return trip, you'll need to verify whether there are liquid limits in the country you're visiting.

Bring a carrier. A baby carrier is extra convenient for infant travel, especially when you're boarding your flight and when you're trying to help your baby fall asleep.

Pack sleep essentials. Sleep can be tricky when you're traveling with a baby. As much as possible, try to stick to the bedtime routine you follow at home. Pack anything your baby relies on to sleep, such as a sleep slack , night light, or sound machine. And while many hotels and rental apartments have play yards available, check beforehand to make sure your baby will have someplace safe to sleep.

Prep for jet lag. It may be worth gently adjusting your baby's sleep schedule before your trip, especially if you're traveling to a different time zone. Starting a few days before you leave, begin moving your baby's bedtime 15 minutes earlier or later every night to closer match your destination. (This trick can help you with jet lag, too!) Moving your baby's bedtime by even one hour before you travel can make a difference. When you arrive, try to stick to your baby's usual nap, meal, and bedtime schedule, adjusted for the local time zone, right away. Here are more tips for handling time changes with a baby .

Dress your baby in layers. Airplanes are usually chilly, but it's hard to predict just how cold. Dress your baby warmly in layers that you can remove or add if it's warmer or cooler than expected.

Leave yourself lots of time. Like most tasks, traveling with children takes a lot longer than traveling solo. The Transportation and Security Administration (TSA) recommends arriving three hours early for international flights, but you may want to get to the airport even earlier. That way you won't panic if, say, your baby has a massive diaper explosion on the car ride to the airport. Arriving extra early also helps ensure you can secure that baby bassinet you reserved when you booked your flight.

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Flying with a baby: 15 tips for an easier trip

BabyCenter's editorial team is committed to providing the most helpful and trustworthy pregnancy and parenting information in the world. When creating and updating content, we rely on credible sources: respected health organizations, professional groups of doctors and other experts, and published studies in peer-reviewed journals. We believe you should always know the source of the information you're seeing. Learn more about our editorial and medical review policies .

American Academy of Pediatrics. 2023. Flying with baby: Parent FAQs. https://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/on-the-go/Pages/Flying-with-Baby.aspx Opens a new window [Accessed January 2024]

American Academy of Pediatrics. 2017. Precautions for international travel: Information for parents. https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/prevention/Pages/Precautions-for-International-Travel.aspx Opens a new window [Accessed January 2024]

American Academy of Pediatrics. 2023. Tips for safe and stress-free family travel. https://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/on-the-go/Pages/Travel-Safety-Tips.aspx Opens a new window [Accessed January 2024]

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2023. Travelers health: Vaccine recommendations for infants and children. https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2020/family-travel/vaccine-recommendations-for-infants-and-children Opens a new window [Accessed January 2024]

Mayo Clinic. 2018. Prepare for jet lag before boarding the plane. https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/mayo-clinic-q-and-a-prepare-for-jet-lag-before-boarding-the-plane/ Opens a new window [Accessed January 2024]

Transportation Security Administration. Undated. Traveling with children. https://www.tsa.gov/travel/special-procedures/traveling-children Opens a new window [Accessed January 2024]

Federal Aviation Administration. 2023. Flying with children. https://www.faa.gov/travelers/fly_children Opens a new window [Accessed January 2024]

USA.gov Opens a new window . 2023. International travel documents for children. https://www.usa.gov/travel-documents-children Opens a new window [Accessed January 2024]

Where to go next

Baby Travel Gear: Complete List of Travel Essentials

• Updated June 29, 2023

Traveling with a baby may seem like a STRESSFUL business, but you can have fun with the entire family as long as you know what to bring!

This list contains all the portable baby travel gear items you might need to bring when you’re planning a local or international trip.

Best Baby Travel Gear Essentials: Travel Items Packing List

Don’t just pack all the baby travel items you think you might need—plan accordingly to where you’ll be staying so you can have the optimal experience when traveling with a baby!

1. Baby Travel Car Seat

Babies can be fussy when sitting down, so you want something that will strap them in safely.

This item is one of the best baby travel essentials parents can purchase when they hit the road.

Travel car seats will be your best friend on the road and plane ride if you don’t want to carry your baby on your lap all the time and end up with a NUMB LAP.

While you might already own a car seat for daily life, a car seat for travel will be different.

Ideally, you’ll want one that’s easy to lug around during your trip and one that’s as compact as can be.

If you decide to bring this seat type to a plane, make sure it’s ALSO appropriate for use on an airplane .

If it is, you’ll be able to find a label that says “ This restraint is certified for use in motor vehicles and aircraft ” on it.

You can find a list of non-toxic car seats here to bring to your next travel destination.

NOTE: If you have a newborn baby, avoid using a forward-facing seat. It’s much safer for newborns to sit on a rear seat that’s facing the BACK of the car!

2. Baby Carrier

Imagine walking through the streets of Rome and catching all the beautiful sites before you.

Except you can’t because you’re too TIRED from carrying your baby around to enjoy your trip.

That’s why you’ll most likely need an organic baby carrier with you when you travel with a baby. We have a few organic baby carrier options , so you don’t have to scour the internet.

Aside from that, a baby carrier will be helpful if you ever need to do something else with your hands, like preparing your baby’s formula or handling another one of your kids if you have one.

Baby carriers are also perfect for places that aren’t stroller-friendly, so that’s something to keep in mind when planning for your next trip!

3. Lightweight Travel Stroller

Don’t just bring any everyday stroller to your trip — especially not a bulky stroller! Be sure to bring a baby stroller that’s lightweight and compact .

You’re not going out for a day trip to a park. You’ll need something to easily transport around sightseeing spots, hotels, and other travel destinations.

It’ll be a real hassle if you find yourself tiring over having to carry a heavy stroller around.

You’ll preferably need foldable strollers that fit a small rental car or the overhead compartment of an airplane.

If you’re boarding an airplane, make sure to check the dimensions and weight requirements of strollers with the airlines you’ll be using.

Aside from passing travel requirements, get a non-toxic stroller. You can find a comprehensive list of non-toxic strollers over here .

Stroller Cover

If you bring your baby out in a stroller during the day, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll need to cover the front with something so that your baby doesn’t get sunburn .

While you could attach a blanket to your stroller to use as a shade, your baby might feel too hot from it, especially during the summer.

Stroller Clips

Stroller clips help keep blankets in place .

No longer are the days where you have to chase after a blanket during a windy day or fix the blanket after your baby kicks it up in their stroller.

4. Portable Baby Bassinet

If you have a newborn infant with you when you travel, take a portable bassinet with you.

That way, you can allow your baby to sleep in comfort and feel safe even if you go out to eat or walk through the beach.

Be sure to bring a cover for the bassinet to block out the sun when out on a sunny day.

5. Baby Travel Crib or Travel Tent (a.k.a Pack ‘N Play)

If your baby is older than six months , bring something more sturdy like a portable travel crib or tent so they can sleep well even in your hotel.

While hotels offer cribs to rent, you might want to bring your crib sheets, especially for babies with more sensitive skin.

If you want to get rid of the uncertainty that comes with renting cribs, buy your own travel crib and let your baby sleep or play in it so they can get used to it.

However, if you have a toddler with you, bring a portable toddler bed or travel tent for them to sleep in instead.

6. Baby Swaddle and Sleep Sack

Infants can be fuzzy before sleeping, and that holds especially true when you’re in an UNFAMILIAR place.

Giving them a swaddle can give them more comfort, meaning they can sleep wherever they want to.

Be that an airplane, a hotel room, or even just grandma’s house.

If your newborn is old enough, then consider using sleeping sacks for babies instead.

7. Portable Diaper Changing Pad

This one is an essential item, especially if you plan on hiking or walking around.

Your baby will need to change their diapers whenever they need to. If you let your baby keep their dirty diaper on for too long, they could get a diaper rash.

A portable diaper changing pad lets you change your baby’s diaper on the go . These include filthy places without a diaper changing station.

8. Diaper Bag

This isn’t even a debate.

A handy diaper bag is going to be full of equipment you’ll need when changing your baby.

You’ll need to fill your diaper bag or diaper backpacks with items like:

• Diapers (preferably disposable)
• Extra Clothes
• Diaper cream
• Bottles and Formula
• Baby food and snacks

You might want to find one that has more space to avoid worrying about not being able to bring baby gear like these during your trip.

9. Wet-Dry Bag

Parents who don’t want to use disposable diapers don’t need to give up their ideals for a trip.

All you need to do is bring a wet-dry bag for your baby’s used cloth diapers.

Aside from dirty diapers, you can use wet-dry bags for soiled clothes or dirty bibs .

Be sure to bring two for dirty clothes and stained bibs so the mess doesn’t mix.

10. Baby Toiletries

Parents absolutely cannot leave the house without these baby travel items:

• Toothbrush and Toothpaste
• Shampoo and Body Wash
• Baby Lotion
• Sunscreen (optional)

While the sunscreen might depend on where you’re going, it’s never a bad idea to bring the other baby travel products on the list.

You want to keep your baby feeling fresh and clean all the time when you travel, that’s for sure.

11. Breastpump

Not keen on having to breastfeed your baby in PUBLIC?

Bring this piece of baby gear, use it, and put the milk away for later.

Even if you don’t breastfeed your baby, bring one just in case.

You might want to go out to have time for yourself and leave a bottle or two for your baby while you’re gone, or maybe your partner will take the baby out while you relax in bed.

If possible, bring a manual pump in case you get stuck in a place with no electricity or experience a power outage (fingers crossed this doesn’t happen, of course).

12. Nursing Cover

While it’s perfectly okay for mama bears to breastfeed in public without a cover, this depends on your comfort and safety .

Bringing one is one way to ensure that the woman breastfeeding your infant will feel safe or keep the locals comfortable.

13. White Noise Machine

Picture yourself getting ready for bed in a hotel room.

You’ve put away all your things, got changed, and have your baby in a crib.

You’re settling down in your own bed, but then your neighbors start acting up next door.

Next thing you know, your baby can’t sleep due to all the noise.

Bring a white noise machine as part of your baby gear to help your babies and infants settle in for their sleep routine .

If you don’t want to purchase one, you can get a white noise app on your cell phone for the same purpose.

Just make sure you don’t need to use it in the evening when your baby needs to use the white noise app to sleep.

You’ll be surprised to know that this is exactly what your baby will need to sleep soundly when you’re away from home!

14. Portable Travel High Chair

Sometimes restaurants don’t have high chairs for your baby when you need to dine in.

You can obviously just let your baby sit on your lap while you have your meal, but it might not be as comfortable, especially if your baby kicks up a fuss.

Bringing a portable/foldable high chair might save you a lot of strength and give you the rest you might need, so make sure to get the most convenient travel high chairs possible.

15. Baby Bibs

It’s no secret that babies and toddlers alike can make a mess when they eat .

Pack a baby bib .

It might not stop your baby from getting a stain on their clothes, but it DEFINITELY helps.

16. Table Mat

Aside from the mess a baby or toddler makes on their clothes, they’ll also leave their mark on the table.

Bring these particular baby travel accessories to make cleaning a breeze for you and the people around you.

17. Bottles, Sippy Cup, and Spill Proof Snack Cup

Baby travel essentials like these are one of the best baby travel essentials for families when traveling with a baby.

Baby Bottles

You’ll need to feed your baby using reliable nursing bottle when they’re hungry, so be sure to bring one whenever you go out of the house , even if it’s just a short day trip.

Don’t Forget Dish Soap!

We also recommend bringing your own baby bottle dish soap for longer trips so you can clean your bottles without worrying about bacteria and the like.

If you have a toddler, then they’ve most likely graduated from drinking from baby bottles and have begun to drink from sippy cups.

You can start to give your toddlers something to drink aside from milk, so you can give them more options to choose from (water, 100% juice, etc.).

Just be sure not to make it a habit to drink sugary beverages since it can lead them to grow UNHEALTHY habits.

Spill-Proof Snack Cups

As your child begins to grow up, they’ll start developing a taste for solid food as well.

Sometimes your transportation can go through bumps which could cause a mess when it comes to snacks. To prevent that from happening, get feeding supplies like a spill-proof snack cup .

All your toddler needs to do is reach through the flaps or silicone covering of the snack cup and get their baby food and snacks from the inside.

Bring more than one spill-proof snack cup so you can give them more than one kind of snack while you’re on a journey.

18. Inflatable Travel Bathtub

If bathing in a bathtub is part of your baby’s or toddler’s bedtime routine, try not to skip on it just because of your trips to a different place.

An inflatable bathtub is one way to help your baby or toddler to ease into their new environment faster and, in turn, get them to sleep with ease.

If you can’t get one, you can use a sink if they still fit or wipe them down with a warm cloth.

19. Baby Travel Toys

You don’t need to bring your baby’s whole box of toys wherever you’re going to go.

Just bring two or three toys for your baby or toddler. It’ll be a lifesaver so they won’t get bored and cause a ruckus.

If your baby gets bored with their toys, play a game with them instead.

That way, you can also bond with them!

BONUS TIP: You can even consider buying toy steering wheel attachments for car seats!

20. First Aid Kit

While it’s a parent’s worst nightmare for their baby or toddler to get sick, you’ll need to be prepared anyways.

Bring these essential baby travel items to save yourself the headache:

• Thermometer
• Baby Tylenol
• Teething relief
• Baby vitamins

You can find a drugstore to buy all those items, BUT it’s not worth the risk of running around not knowing where to go while your baby or toddler doesn’t feel well.

Packing for Baby: How Much to Bring on a Trip

The first thing to note down:

Do. Not. Over. Pack.

Remember, your baby is not the only person going on this trip. You will end up hauling WAY MORE things than you want to if you overpack your suitcase with things you might not even need.

Leave the baby stuff you won’t need at all during your travels. At worst, you’ll have to go out and buy something you didn’t bring.

Where Are You Going?

Now that you’re packing under that first principle, remember where you’re going to go .

We mentioned bringing sunscreen, but you won’t need that item if you’re planning to go to a place like Tokyo during the winter season.

Or are you going for a day trip to a nearby beach? Are you really going to need that stroller when you can’t even push it through the sand?

Better bring a bassinet with a cover or an umbrella instead.

How Long Will You Be Gone?

If you’re not staying overnight to whatever place you’re going, skip the crib.

Your baby can always sleep in their stroller while you push them through a park.

There’s a crib waiting for them at home anyways.

That said, there’s no need to worry about overnight items if you’re going home at the end of the day.

Don’t Have Space?

If you lack the space to bring all the essentials with you, you can find a reputable baby equipment rental company at your destination.

You won’t have to worry about somehow getting all your baby’s items in your already overstuffed bag.

Baby Travel Tips: How to Travel With a Baby Safely

How to Travel With a Baby in a Car

Before you hit the road with your baby or toddler, be sure to check that you have everything you need; all your baby travel essentials and other products you might need while you’re stuck in a car.

How Soon After Birth Can a Baby Travel By Car?

Most families bring their newborn infant home with a car, so there aren’t any real restrictions for going on a road trip.

However, you’re going to need to be prepared for a road trip to keep your baby safe and comfortable throughout the car ride .

We recommend you take short practice trips with your baby to get a feel of what they’ll need during the car ride.

This is one way for you to know what particular baby products you’ll need , and how long your baby will last without kicking up a fuss .

Most importantly, everything else you’ll need to keep your entire family happy .

If you’re looking for a specific range on how soon your newborn can travel long distances by car, around 3 months old is a good range to keep your baby safe.

How Do I Keep My Baby Cool in Car Seat?

We’ll go through all the most important things you’ll need to know to keep your baby cool in a car.

• Choose light-colored car seats instead of dark ones. Dark colors absorb heat more and will cause your baby discomfort.
• Use a car seat cover to keep the car seat cool when your baby uses it. You can also buy a car seat cooler which is the same thing but is meant to be frozen overnight.
• Dress your child appropriately for the heat. Don’t overdress them, and don’t use clothes with materials like fleece, wool, or flannel.

The last thing you’ll want is your baby getting sunburnt or overheated while you travel.

How Long Can I Travel With My Baby?

According to The Lullaby Trust , your baby should NOT be in a car seat for more than 2 hours at a time and should be taken out frequently.

Make sure that you let your baby rest by taking frequent stops during the drive. During your breaks, stretch your legs and let your baby take a breather.

If possible, keep one adult in the back seat as well to keep an eye on the baby. If your baby changes its position, be sure to adjust them to the correct position .

If you’re traveling alone, stop the car as soon as possible and adjust their position yourself.

How to Travel With a Baby on a Plane

Before you leave for your flight, be sure you have all your baby travel essentials and everything else you need, like your passports, gadgets, and snacks if you need them.

Can a 2-Month-Old Baby Travel By Plane?

While there are no actual restrictions to newborns flying on airplanes, it may not be safe, especially for long-haul flights.

To really play it safe, ask your doctor for more information.

Make sure to check the country or place you’re visiting for information about the weather and if any diseases are spreading there.

How to Travel With Baby Formula on the Plane?

You’re probably aware of the 100 ml liquid rule strictly imposed in airports when you travel to a different destination in your country or to another one.

However, according to the TSA , baby formula or milk is exempted from the rule . You can bring it in carry-on luggage but should keep them separated from other liquids.

When Can You Travel With a Baby?

Many parents want to travel to different places with their children, which is perfectly understandable.

Before your infant reaches the 3-month mark , their immune system won’t be fully developed yet, making them prone to catching colds and other infections .

That doesn’t make it impossible to travel with your newborn, though. The CDC recommends that you ensure that the water you give them is clean and the hotel you stay in passes the safety standards .

Can a Baby Travel Without a Passport?

Even if your kid is a baby, you will need to get them a passport to go abroad .

They’ll need it to leave your home country and re-enter it. However, there are exceptions to the rule, like when traveling from the U.S.A. to Canada and vice-versa.

REMEMBER: Your children will eventually grow up, meaning they will have plenty more required documents to obtain.

Getting them a passport at a young age will give both you and the child an easier time handling such requirements. 

Can a Baby Travel With a Birth Certificate?

Families traveling with a baby from the U.S. to Canada won’t need a passport for their child. That’s GOOD NEWS if you find it difficult to head to your nearest embassy.

Minors below the age of 16 only need a birth certificate to leave and re-enter.

Check the passport and visa information of the place you’re going to travel to be sure.

Can a Baby Travel Without a Plane Ticket?

Luckily, there’s no need to worry about getting kicked out of the boarding gate because some airlines don’t require you to buy a plane ticket for your baby .

Some will give charge you a fee for a “lap child” especially for international flights. You might want to take advantage of this perk while your children are still young.

While most of them charge 10% of an adult’s ticket , some taxes could rack up a lot of money so stay cautious.

In the end, you can buy another ticket for your baby to keep them comfortable when you travel.

Can I Go Camping With My Baby?

YES! You can go camping with your baby!

However, you’ll need to make extra preparations like getting mosquito-repellant , checking the weather and temperature , boiling clean water , and other things.

However, if it’ll be your first time camping as well, don’t go and wait until your kid is a bit older.

Indeed, you won’t have to worry about breastfeeding and keeping everything incredibly clean.

Leaving the Nest Together

The thing about babies is that it doesn’t have to be stressful when you bring them to travel.

In fact, there are MANY families out there who get to have more fun when they bring their kids.

So remember to pack your baby travel essentials ONLY.

Don’t go pack everything you see without a thought and make sure to plan things thoroughly.

But most importantly…

Have a great time while you travel with your baby! After all, enjoying life is the secret to HAPPINESS!

About the author

Angelica Graham

A few years ago, Angelica found out about all the plastic and toxic ingredients that got into most children’s products. And this worried her to no end. Because of this, she began to research what the best ingredients and materials were for children and made it her mission to share this information with other mothers.

The Good Nursery is an independent website that provides content for informational purposes only. The content is not meant to be a replacement for professional service advice.

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Master Airplane Travel with Babies: Your Ultimate Stress-Free Guide

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Traveling with your little one can seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be! With the right preparation and strategies, airplane travel with babies can be a breeze. Embrace the adventure and make unforgettable memories as a family with our expert tips and tricks.

TL;DR: Key Takeaways for Airplane Travel with Babies

• Plan and pack smartly for a smooth journey
• Understand your airline’s policies on baby gear and seating
• Entertain and soothe your baby during the flight
• Master feeding and diaper changes at 30,000 feet
• Be prepared for potential challenges and how to overcome them

Also check out: Flying with infants

Preparation is Key: Planning and Packing for Your Trip

When traveling with a baby, organization is crucial. From packing the right essentials to anticipating your baby’s needs, thorough planning will set you up for success.

Create a Baby Travel Checklist

Start by making a comprehensive checklist of everything your baby will need during the trip. This includes items for feeding, sleeping, diaper changes, and entertainment. Don’t forget essentials like a favorite toy, blanket, or pacifier to provide comfort during the journey.

Packing Smart: The Art of the Diaper Bag

Organizing your diaper bag is essential for easy access to items during the flight. Invest in a spacious, well-organized bag with plenty of compartments. Use packing cubes, zipper bags, or clear plastic bags to separate items into categories for easy access when needed.

Anticipate and Plan for Baby’s Needs

Consider your baby’s routine and habits when planning your trip. Schedule flights around nap times, if possible, to make the journey more comfortable for your little one. Bring extra supplies like diapers, wipes, and changes of clothes in case of delays or unexpected messes.

Navigating Airline Policies: Baby Gear and Seating Arrangements

Understand your airline’s policies on baby gear and seating to ensure a smooth travel experience.

Car Seats, Strollers, and More: Know the Rules

Research your airline’s guidelines for bringing car seats and strollers on board. Some airlines allow you to check these items for free, while others may have restrictions on size and weight. Be aware of FAA-approved car seat models if you plan to use one during the flight.

Booking Baby’s Seat: Lap Infant vs. Separate Seat

Decide whether to book a separate seat for your baby or have them sit on your lap as a “lap infant.” While a separate seat provides more space and comfort, it can be more costly. Weigh the pros and cons and choose what’s best for your family.

Keeping Baby Happy: Entertainment and Soothing Strategies

Keeping your baby content during a flight is crucial for a peaceful journey. Here are some tips to entertain and soothe your little one:

Engage in Playtime

Bring a variety of small, quiet toys and books to engage your baby during the flight. Opt for items that are easily sanitized and won’t disturb fellow passengers.

Employ Comforting Techniques

Use soothing techniques like rocking, swaying, or gentle patting to calm your baby during the flight. A familiar blanket or stuffed animal can also provide comfort and security.

Download white noise or lullaby apps on your phone to help drown out plane noises and soothe your baby to sleep. Remember to use headphones to avoid disturbing other passengers.

Feeding and Diaper Changes at 30,000 Feet

Mastering feeding and diaper changes in the air can make your trip more comfortable and stress-free.

Feeding Your Baby on Board

Bring plenty of formula, breast milk, or baby food, as well as bottles, utensils, and bibs. Consider using pre-sterilized, disposable bottle liners for easy clean-up. If breastfeeding, pack a nursing cover for added privacy and comfort. Remember to feed your baby during takeoff and landing to help alleviate ear pressure.

Diaper Changing in the Sky

Not all airplane restrooms have changing tables, so be prepared to change diapers on your lap or the closed toilet seat. Pack a portable changing pad, plenty of diapers, wipes, and disposal bags. Bring extra clothes for your baby and yourself in case of spills or accidents.

Expect the Unexpected: Handling Challenges with Grace

Despite careful planning, challenges may arise. Be prepared to handle these situations calmly and confidently.

Dealing with Ear Pain

Babies are prone to ear pain due to changes in cabin pressure. Encourage swallowing by offering a pacifier, bottle, or breast during takeoff and landing. Consult with your pediatrician about using infant pain relievers if necessary.

Managing Meltdowns

If your baby becomes upset during the flight, stay calm and use soothing techniques to help them relax. Be prepared to walk the aisle or step into the galley for a change of scenery. Remember that most passengers are understanding and have likely experienced similar situations.

Handling Unsolicited Advice

You may encounter fellow passengers who offer unsolicited advice or comments. Politely thank them for their input and trust your instincts as a parent. You know your baby best!

Additional Tips for Smooth Airplane Travel with Babies

Here are a few more tips to make your airplane travel with babies even smoother:

Coordinate with Your Travel Partner

If you’re traveling with a partner, discuss your roles and responsibilities beforehand to ensure you work as a team during the trip. Having a clear plan can help reduce stress and make your journey more enjoyable.

Stay Organized with a Packing Checklist

Create a packing checklist to ensure you don’t forget any essentials for your baby. This can help you stay organized and make packing and unpacking easier. Cross-check your list before leaving home to ensure you have everything you need.

Choose Flights Wisely

When possible, book direct flights to avoid layovers and choose flight times that align with your baby’s natural sleep schedule. Red-eye flights might be a good option, as your baby is more likely to sleep during the journey.

Allow Extra Time at the Airport

Give yourself plenty of time at the airport to account for unexpected delays, such as security checks, diaper changes, or feedings. Arriving early can help you feel more relaxed and better prepared for your flight.

Keep Baby’s Identification and Travel Documents Handy

Ensure you have your baby’s identification, such as a birth certificate or passport, as well as any necessary travel documents, like visas or vaccination records. Keep these items easily accessible to avoid delays at check-in or security.

Conclusion: Embrace the Adventure of Airplane Travel with Babies

Airplane travel with babies can be a fun and rewarding experience with the right mindset and preparation. By following these tips and tricks, you’ll be well-equipped to handle any challenge and create lasting memories with your little one. Happy travels!

Frequently Asked Questions

• What age is best for a baby’s first flight? There is no one-size-fits-all answer, as it depends on your baby’s health and your comfort level. Consult with your pediatrician for guidance.
• How can I minimize the risk of germs on a plane? Bring sanitizing wipes to clean surfaces and items, wash your hands frequently, and use hand sanitizer when needed.
• What should I do if my baby gets sick during the flight? Inform the flight attendant, who can provide guidance and assistance, and consult with your pediatrician upon arrival.
• How can I help my baby adjust to jet lag? Gradually adjust their sleep schedule before departure, maintain routines during the trip, and expose them to natural light upon arrival to help reset their internal clock.
• What is the best way to transport baby gear at the airport? Use stroller and car seat travel bags to protect your gear, and consider a lightweight, collapsible stroller for easy transport.
• How do I handle a long layover with a baby? Find a quiet corner or an airport play area for your baby to stretch and play, and use the time for feeding, diaper changes, and rest.
• Should I bring a baby carrier on the flight? Yes, a baby carrier can be helpful for navigating the airport, boarding, and soothing your baby during the flight.
• Can I bring my breast pump and breast milk on the plane? Yes, breast pumps and breast milk are permitted by the TSA. Check their guidelines for specific information on storage and screening.

For more useful tips, check out our article on kids airplane activities .

Relevant Sources

• BabyCenter. (n.d.). Survey: Flying with a Baby. https://www.babycenter.com .
• Skyscanner. (n.d.). Child-Free Zones on Flights: Study Results. https://www.skyscanner.com .
• TSA. (n.d.). Traveling with Children. https://www.tsa.gov .
• FAA. (n.d.). Child Safety on Airplanes. https://www.faa.gov .
• American Academy of Pediatrics. (n.d.). Travel Safety Tips. https://www.healthychildren.org .

This post is also available in: English Deutsch

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One response to “Master Airplane Travel with Babies: Your Ultimate Stress-Free Guide”

Hey Deborah Green, a phenomenal discussion! Your interpretation of the link between psychological resilience and creativity was illuminating. How might this interplay offer an interesting lens for appraising an artist’s work? Also, from my own flamenco dancing experience, adversity does sometimes ignite sparks of creativity, but often I need quiet introspection. So there are different pathways layered in complexity there. Does indulging solitude relay more inspirations to you as well, Deborah? Perhaps the conversation pivots around introversion versus extroversion next? Anyway, the dialogue here was refreshing. Keep the good work going! 😊

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Home » Europe » Moscow

EPIC MOSCOW Itinerary! (2024)

Moscow is the heart of Mother Russia. Just the mention of this city conjures images of colorful bulbous pointed domes, crisp temperatures, and a uniquely original spirit!

Moscow has an incredibly turbulent history, a seemingly resilient culture, and a unique enchantment that pulls countless tourists to the city each year! Although the warmer months make exploring Moscow’s attractions more favorable, there’s just something about a fresh snowfall that only enhances the appearance of the city’s iconic sites!

If you’re a first-time visitor to Moscow, or simply wanting to see as much of the city as possible, this Moscow itinerary will help you do just that!

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Best Time To Visit Moscow

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Here is a quick look at the seasons so you can decide when to visit Moscow!

The summer months (June-August) are a great time to travel to Moscow to take advantage of the enjoyable mild temperatures. This is considered peak travel season. Bear in mind that hotel prices rise along with the temperatures!

If you’re planning a trip to Moscow during fall (September-November) try to plan for early fall. This way the temperatures will still be pleasant and winter won’t be threatening.

Russian winters (December-February) are not for the faint of heart as Napoleon learned to his peril. Some days the sun will be out for less than an hour, and snow is guaranteed. Although winters are exceptionally cold, this is when you’ll get a true glimpse of the Moscow experience!

The best time to visit Moscow is during spring  (March-May). The temperatures will begin to creep up and the sun begins to shine for significant portions of the day. Hotel rates will also have yet to skyrocket into peak ranges!

With a Moscow City Pass , you can experience the best of Moscow at the CHEAPEST prices. Discounts, attractions, tickets, and even public transport are all standards in any good city pass – be sure invest now and save them $$$ when you arrive!

Moscow is a large city with many accommodation options to choose from. Staying in a location that fits with your travel plans will only enhance your Moscow itinerary. Here is a brief introduction to a few great areas of the city we recommend checking out!

The best place to stay in Moscow to be close to all the action is Kitay-Gorod. This charming neighborhood will put you within walking distance to Moscow’s famous Red Square, thus cutting down on travel time. This will allow you to see more of the city in a shorter amount of time!

It’s surrounded by restaurants, cafes, bars, and shops. If you’re a first-time visitor to Moscow, or just planning a quick weekend in Moscow, then this area is perfect for you!

Another great area to consider is the Zamoskvorechye district. This area of the city offers a blend of new and old Moscow. It has an artsy vibe and there are plenty of fun sites you can explore outside of the main touristy areas of Moscow.

Of course, as in all areas of Moscow, it’s close to public transportation that will quickly connect you with the rest of the city and make your Moscow itinerary super accessible!

Best Airbnb in Moscow – Exclusive Apartment in Old Moscow

Modern and cozy, this apartment is in the heart of Old Moscow. Bordering the Basmanny and Kitay-Gorod districts, this two-bedroom flat is walking distance to the Kremlin and Red Square. Safe, quiet, and comfortable, this is the best Airbnb in Moscow, no question!

Best Budget Hotel in Moscow – Izmailovo Alfa Hotel

The Izmailovo Alfa Hotel is a very highly rated accommodation that provides all the components necessary for a comfortable trip to Moscow. There is an on-site restaurant, bar, fitness center, and an airport shuttle service. The rooms are modern and spacious and are equipped with a TV, heating/air conditioning, minibar, and more!

Best Luxury Hotel in Moscow – Crowne Plaza Moscow World Trade Centre

If you’re touring Moscow in luxury, the Crowne Plaza Moscow World Trade Centre is the hotel for you! Elegantly furnished rooms are equipped with a minibar, flat-screen TV,  in-room safes, as well as tea and coffee making facilities! Bathrooms come with bathrobes, slippers, and free toiletries. There is also an onsite restaurant, bar, and fitness center.

Best Hostel in Moscow – Godzillas Hostel

Godzillas Hostel is located in the center of Moscow, just a short walk from all the major tourist attractions and the metro station. Guests will enjoy all the usual hostel perks such as self-catering facilities, 24-hour reception, Free Wi-Fi, and security lockers. This is one of the best hostels in Moscow and its wonderful social atmosphere and will make your vacation in Moscow extra special!

Godzillas Hostel is one of our favourites in Moscow but they’re not taking guests right now. We’re not sure if they’re closed for good but we hope they’ll come back soon.

An important aspect of planning any trip is figuring out the transportation situation. You’re probably wondering how you’re going to get to all of your Moscow points of interest right? Luckily, this sprawling city has an excellent network of public transportation that will make traveling a breeze!

The underground metro system is the quickest and most efficient way to travel around Moscow. Most visitors rely exclusively on this super-efficient transportation system, which allows you to get to pretty much anywhere in the city! It’s also a great option if you’re planning a Moscow itinerary during the colder months, as you’ll be sheltered from the snow and freezing temperatures!

If you prefer above-ground transportation, buses, trams, and trolleybuses, run throughout the city and provide a rather comfortable alternative to the metro.

Moscow’s metro, buses, trams, and trolleybuses are all accessible with a ‘Troika’ card. This card can be topped up with any sum of money at a metro cash desk. The ticket is simple, convenient, and even refundable upon return to a cashier!

No matter which method you choose, you’ll never find yourself without an easy means of getting from point A to point B!

Red Square | Moscow Kremlin | Lenin’s Mausoleum | St. Basil’s Cathedral  | GUM Department Store

Spend the first day of your itinerary taking your own self guided Moscow walking tour around the historic Red Square! This is Moscow’s compact city center and every stop on this list is within easy walking distance to the next! Get ready to see all of the top Moscow landmarks!

Day 1 / Stop 1 – The Red Square

• Why it’s awesome: The Red Square is the most recognizable area in Moscow, it has mesmerizing architecture and centuries worth of history attached to its name.
• Cost: Free to walk around, individual attractions in the square have separate fees. 
• Food nearby: Check out Bar BQ Cafe for friendly service and good food in a great location! The atmosphere is upbeat and they’re open 24/7!

The Red Square is Moscow’s historic fortress and the center of the Russian government. The origins of the square date back to the late 15th century, when Ivan the Great decided to expand the Kremlin to reflect Moscow’s growing power and prestige!

During the 20th century, the square became famous as the site for demonstrations designed to showcase Soviet strength. Visiting the Red Square today, you’ll find it teeming with tourists, who come to witness its magical architecture up close!

The square is the picture postcard of Russian tourism, so make sure to bring your camera when you visit! No matter the season, or the time of day, it’s delightfully photogenic! 

It’s also home to some of Russia’s most distinguishing and important landmarks, which we’ve made sure to include further down in this itinerary. It’s an important center of Russia’s cultural life and one of the top places to visit in Moscow!

In 1990, UNESCO designated Russia’s Red Square as a World Heritage site. Visiting this historic site is a true bucket-list event and essential addition to your itinerary for Moscow!

Day 1 / Stop 2 – The Moscow Kremlin

• Why it’s awesome: The Moscow Kremlin complex includes several palaces and cathedrals and is surrounded by the Kremlin wall. It also houses the principal museum of Russia (the Kremlin Armory).
• Cost: USD $15.00
• Food nearby: Bosco Cafe is a charming place to grat a casual bite to eat. They have excellent coffee and wonderful views of the Red Square and the Moscow Kremlin!

The iconic Moscow Kremlin , also known as the Kremlin museum complex, sits on Borovitsky Hill, rising above the Moscow River. It is a fortified complex in the center of the city, overlooking several iconic buildings in the Red Square!

It’s the best known of the Russian Kremlins – citadels or fortress’ protecting and dominating a city. During the early decades of the Soviet era, the Kremlin was a private enclave where the state’s governing elite lived and worked.

The Kremlin is outlined by an irregularly shaped triangular wall that encloses an area of 68 acres! The existing walls and towers were built from 1485 to 1495. Inside the Kremlin museum complex, there are five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Kremlin Wall with Kremlin towers.

The Armoury Chamber is a part of the Grand Kremlin Palace’s complex and is one of the oldest museums of Moscow, established in 1851. It showcases Russian history and displays many cherished relics. Definitely make sure to check out this museum while you’re here!

The churches inside the Moscow Kremlin are the Cathedral of the Dormition, Church of the Archangel, Church of the Annunciation, and the bell tower of Ivan Veliki (a church tower).

The five-domed Cathedral of the Dormition is considered the most famous. It was built from 1475–1479 by an Italian architect and has served as a wedding and coronation place for great princes, tsars, and emperors of Russia. Church services are given in the Kremlin’s numerous cathedrals on a regular basis.

The Grand Kremlin Palace was the former Tsar’s Moscow residence and today it serves as the official workplace of the President of the Russian Federation (Vladimir Putin seems to have bagged that title for life) .

Insider Tip: The Kremlin is closed every Thursday! Make sure to plan this stop on your Moscow itinerary for any other day of the week!

Day 1 / Stop 3 – Lenin’s Mausoleum

• Why it’s awesome: The mausoleum displays the preserved body of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin .
• Cost: Free!
• Food nearby: Khinkal’naya is a charming Georgian restaurant with vaulted ceilings and exposed brick. It’s a popular place with locals and right next to the Red Square!

Lenin’s Mausoleum, also known as Lenin’s Tomb, is the modernist mausoleum for the revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin. It’s located within the Red Square and serves as the resting place for the Soviet leader! His preserved body has been on public display since shortly after his death in 1924.

It’s located just a few steps away from the Kremlin Wall and is one of the most controversial yet popular Moscow attractions!

Admission is free for everyone, you’ll only need to pay if you need to check a bag. Before visitors are allowed to enter the mausoleum, they have to go through a metal detector first. No metal objects, liquids, or large bags are allowed in the mausoleum!

Expect a line to enter the building, and while you’re inside the building, you’ll be constantly moving in line with other visitors. This means you won’t be able to spend as long as you’d like viewing the mausoleum, but you’ll still be able to get a good look. Pictures and filming while inside the building are strictly prohibited, and security guards will stop you if they see you breaking this rule.

The mausoleum is only open on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday – unless it’s a public holiday or a day scheduled for maintenance. The hours it’s open for each day are limited, make sure to check online before you visit to make sure you can fit this into your Moscow itinerary for that day!

Insider Tip: The Lenin’s Museum is there for people to pay their respect; remember to keep silent and move along quickly, it’s not intended for people to congregate around. Also, men are not allowed to wear hats and everyone must take their hands out of their pockets when inside the building.

Day 1 / Stop 4 – St. Basil’s Cathedral

• Why it’s awesome: A dazzling designed cathedral that showcases Russia’s unique architecture. This cathedral is one of the most recognizable symbols of the country!
• Cost: USD $8.00
• Food nearby: Moskovskiy Chaynyy Klub is a cozy cafe serving food items and pipping hot tea; it’s the perfect place to go if you’re visiting Moscow during the winter months!

Located in the Red Square, the ornate 16th-century St. Basil’s Cathedral is probably the building you picture when you think of Moscow’s unique architecture. Its colorful onion-shaped domes tower over the Moscow skyline!

The cathedral was built from 1555-1561 by order of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. It was designed with an iconic onion dome facade and enchanting colors that captivate all who see it. Fun fact: If you’re wondering why Russian churches have onion domes, they are popularly believed to symbolize burning candles!

This iconic cathedral has become a symbol of Russia due to its distinguishing architecture and prominent position inside the Red Square. It’s one of the most beautiful, wonderful, and mesmerizing historical cathedrals in the world!

The interior of the church surprises most people when they visit. In contrast to the large exterior, the inside is not so much one large area, but rather a collection of smaller areas, with many corridors and small rooms. There are 9 small chapels and one mausoleum grouped around a central tower.

Visiting the inside is like walking through a maze, there are even small signs all around the cathedral tracing where to walk, and pointing you in the right direction! The walls are meticulously decorated and painted with intricate floral designs and religious themes.

The church rarely holds service and is instead a museum open for the public to visit.

Insider Tip: During the summer months the line to go inside the cathedral can get quite long! Make sure to arrive early or reserve your tickets online to guarantee quick access into the cathedral!

Day 1 / Stop 5 – GUM Department Store

• Why it’s awesome: This is Russia’s most famous shopping mall! It’s designed with elegant and opulent architecture and provides a real sense of nostalgia!
• Cost: Free to enter
• Food nearby: Stolovaya 57 is a cafeteria-style restaurant with a variety of inexpensive Russian cuisine menu items including soups, salads, meat dishes, and desserts. It’s also located inside the GUM department store, making it very easily accessible when you’re shopping!

The enormous GUM Department Store is located within the historic Red Square. It has a whimsical enchantment to it that sets it apart from your typical department store.

A massive domed glass ceiling lines the top of the building and fills the interior with natural sunlight. There are live plants and flowers placed throughout the mall that give the shopping complex a lively and cheerful feel! A playful fountain sits in the center, further adding to the malls inviting a sense of wonder and amusement!

The GUM department store opened on December 2, 1893. Today, it includes local and luxury stores, including Fendi, Louis Vuitton, Prada, and many more! There are numerous cafes, restaurants, and even a movie theater inside!

For a special treat, head into Gastronom 1. This 1950s-style shop sells gourmet food items, like wine, freshly-baked pastries, cheese, Russian chocolate, and of course, vodka! Also, be on the lookout for a bicycle pedaling ice cream truck with an employing selling ice cream!

The ambiance is simply amazing, a trip to this idyllic shopping mall is an absolute must on any Moscow itinerary!

Insider Tip: Make sure to carry some small change on you in case you need to use the restroom, you’ll need to pay 50 rubles – or about USD $0.80 to use the bathroom in GUM.

Wanna know how to pack like a pro? Well for a start you need the right gear….

These are packing cubes for the globetrotters and compression sacks for the  real adventurers – these babies are a traveller’s best kept secret. They organise yo’ packing and minimise volume too so you can pack MORE.

Or, y’know… you can stick to just chucking it all in your backpack…

Novodevichy Convent | Gorky Park | State Tretyakov Gallery | All-Russian Exhibition Center | Bolshoi Theater

On your 2 day itinerary in Moscow, you’ll have a chance to use the city’s excellent public transportation service! You’ll explore a few more of Moscow’s historic highlight as well as some modern attractions. These sites are a little more spread out, but still very easily accessible thanks to the metro!

Day 2 / Stop 1 – Novodevichy Convent

• Why it’s awesome: The Novodevichy Convent is rich in imperial Russian history and contains some of Russia’s best examples of classical architecture!
• Cost: USD $5.00
• Food nearby: Culinary Shop Karavaevs Brothers is a cozy and simple place to have a quick bite, they also have vegetarian options!

The Novodevichy Convent is the best-known and most popular cloister of Moscow. The convent complex is contained within high walls, and there are many attractions this site is known for! 

The six-pillared five-domed Smolensk Cathedral is the main attraction. It was built to resemble the Kremlin’s Assumption Cathedral and its facade boasts beautiful snowy white walls and a pristine golden onion dome as its centerpiece. It’s the oldest structure in the convent, built from 1524 -1525, and is situated in the center of the complex between the two entrance gates.

There are other churches inside the convent as well, all dating back from many centuries past. The convent is filled with an abundance of 16th and 17th-century religious artworks, including numerous large and extravagant frescos!

Just outside the convent’s grounds lies the Novodevichy Cemetery. Here, you can visit the graves of famous Russians, including esteemed authors, composers, and politicians. Probably the most intriguing gravestone belongs to Russian politician Nikita Khruschev!

The Novodevichy Convent is located near the Moscow River and offers a peaceful retreat from the busy city. In 2004, it was proclaimed a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The convent remains remarkably well-preserved and is an outstanding example of Moscow Baroque architecture! 

Insider Tip: To enter the cathedrals inside the complex, women are advised to cover their heads and shoulders, while men should wear long pants.

Day 2 / Stop 2 – Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure

• Why it’s awesome: A large amusement area in the heart of the city offering many attractions!
• Cost: Free! 
• Food nearby: Check out Mepkato, located inside Gorky Central Park for a casual meal in a cozy setting. There are indoor and outdoor seating options and the restaurant is child-friendly!

Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure is a large green space in the heart of Moscow. The park opened in 1928, and it stretches along the scenic embankment of the Moskva River. It covers an area of 300-acres and offers a lovely contrast from the compact city center.

You’ll find all sorts of wonderful attractions, from boat rides to bike rentals to tennis courts and ping-pong tables, and much more! there are an open-air cinema and festive events and concerts scheduled in the summer months.  A wide selection of free fitness classes is also offered on a regular basis, including jogging, roller skating, and dancing!

Although many of the options you’ll find here are more suited for outdoor leisure during the summer, you’ll also a selection of winter attractions, including one of Europe’s largest ice rinks for ice-skating!

If you’re trying to decide what to do in Moscow with kids, the park also offers several venues designed specifically for kids. Check out the year-round Green School which offers hands-on classes in gardening and art! You can also feed the squirrels and birds at the Golitsinsky Ponds!

The park is very well maintained and kept clean and the entrance is free of charge, although most individual attractions cost money. There is also Wi-Fi available throughout the park.

With so many attractions, you could easily spend all day here! If you’re only planning a 2 day itinerary in Moscow, make sure to plan your time accordingly and map out all the areas you want to see beforehand!

Day 2 / Stop 3 – The State Tretyakov Gallery

• Why it’s awesome: The gallery’s collection consists entirely of Russian art made by Russian artists!
• Food nearby : Brothers Tretyakovs is located right across the street from the gallery. It’s a wonderfully atmospheric restaurant serving top quality food and drinks!

The State Tretyakov Gallery was founded in 1856 by influential merchant and collector Pavel Tretyakov.  The gallery is a national treasury of Russian fine art and one of the most important museums in Russia!

It houses the world’s best collection of Russian art and contains more than 130, 000 paintings, sculptures, and graphics! These works have been created throughout the centuries by generations of Russia’s most talented artists!

The exhibits range from mysterious 12th-century images to politically charged canvases. The collection is rich and revealing and offers great insight into the history and attitudes of this long-suffering yet inspired people!

All pictures are also labeled in English. If you plan to take your time and see everything inside the museum it will take a good 3-4 hours, so make sure to plan your Moscow trip itinerary accordingly! This gallery is a must-see stop for art lovers, or anyone wanting to explore the local culture and history of Russia in a creative and insightful manner! 

Insider Tip: When planning your 2 days in Moscow itinerary, keep in mind that most museums in Moscow are closed on Mondays, this includes The State Tretyakov Gallery!

Day 2 / Stop 4 – All-Russian Exhibition Center

• Why it’s awesome: This large exhibition center showcases the achievements of the Soviet Union in several different spheres. 
• Food nearby: Varenichnaya No. 1 serves authentic and homestyle Russian cuisine in an intimate and casual setting.

The All-Russian Exhibition Center is a massive park that presents the glory of the Soviet era! It pays homage to the achievements of Soviet Russia with its many different sites found on the property.

The center was officially opened in 1939 to exhibit the achievements of the Soviet Union. It’s a huge complex of buildings and the largest exhibition center in Moscow. There are several exhibition halls dedicated to different achievements and every year there are more than one hundred and fifty specialized exhibitions!

The Peoples Friendship Fountain was constructed in 1954 and is a highlight of the park. The stunning gold fountain features 16 gilded statues of girls, each representing the former Soviet Union republics. 

The Stone Flower Fountain was also built in 1954 and is worth checking out. The centerpiece of this large fountain is a flower carved from stones from the Ural Mountains! Along the side of the fountain are various bronze sculptures.

You will find many people zipping around on rollerblades and bicycles across the large area that the venue covers. It’s also home to amusement rides and carousels, making it the perfect place to stop with kids on your Moscow itinerary! Make sure to wear comfortable shoes and allow a few hours to explore all the areas that interest you!

Day 2 / Stop 5 – Bolshoi Theater

• Why it’s awesome: The Bolshoi Theater is a historic venue that hosts world-class ballet and opera performances!
• Cost: Prices vary largely between USD $2.00 –  USD $228.00 based on seat location.
• Food nearby: Head to the Russian restaurant, Bolshoi for high-quality food and drinks and excellent service!

The Bolshoi Theater is among the oldest and most renowned ballet and opera companies in the world! It also boasts the world’s biggest ballet company, with more than 200 dancers!

The theater has been rebuilt and renovated several times during its long history. In 2011 it finished its most recent renovation after an extensive six-year restoration that started in 2005. The renovation included an improvement in acoustics and the restoration of the original Imperial decor.

The Bolshoi Theater has put on many of the world’s most famous ballet acts! Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake premiered at the theater in 1877 and other notable performances of the Bolshoi repertoire include Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker!

Today, when you visit the theater, you can expect a magical performance from skilled singers, dancers, and musicians with the highest level of technique!

If you don’t have time to see a show, the theater also provides guided tours on select days of the week. Tours are given in both Russian and English and will provide visitors with a more intimate look at the different areas of the theater!

The stage of this iconic Russian theater has seen many outstanding performances. If you’re a fan of the performing arts, the Bolshoi Theater is one of the greatest and oldest ballet and opera companies in the world, making it a must-see attraction on your Moscow itinerary!

Godzillas Hostel

Godzillas Hostel is located in the center of Moscow, just a short walk from all the major tourist attractions and the metro station.

• Towels Included

Cosmonautics Museum | Alexander Garden | Ostankino Tower | Izmaylovo District | Soviet Arcade Museum

Now that we’ve covered what to do in Moscow in 2 days, if you’re able to spend more time in the city you’re going to need more attractions to fill your time. Here are a few more really cool things to do in Moscow we recommend!

Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics

• Hear the timeline of the ‘space race’ from the Russian perspective
• This museum is fun for both adults and children!
• Admission is USD $4.00

The Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics is a museum dedicated to space exploration! The museum explores the history of flight, astronomy, space exploration, space technology, and space in the arts. It houses a large assortment of Soviet and Russian space-related exhibits, and the museum’s collection holds approximately 85,000 different items!

The museum does an excellent job of telling the full story of the exciting space race between the USSR and the US! It highlights the brightest moments in Russian history and humanity and is very interesting and fun for all ages!

If you’re a fan of space or just curious about gaining insight into Russia’s fascinating history of space exploration, make sure to add this to your 3 day itinerary in Moscow!

The Alexander Garden

• A tranquil place to relax near the Red Square
• Green lawns dotted with sculptures and lovely water features
• The park is open every day and has no entrance fee

The Alexander Garden was one of the first urban public parks in Moscow! The garden premiered in 1821 and was built to celebrate Russia’s victory over Napoleon’s forces in 1812!

The park is beautiful and well maintained with paths to walk on and benches to rest on. The park contains three separate gardens: the upper garden, middle garden, and lower garden.

Located in the upper garden, towards the main entrance to the park is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with its eternal flame. This monument was created in 1967 and contains the body of a soldier who fell during the Great Patriotic War!

The park stretches along all the length of the western Kremlin wall for about half a mile. Due to its central location in the city, it’ll be easily accessible when you’re out exploring The Red Square.

It provides a bit of relief from the city’s high-energy city streets. Bring a picnic lunch, go for a walk, or just sit and people watch, this is one of the best Moscow sites to wind-down and relax!

Ostankino Television Tower

• Television and radio tower in Moscow
• Currently the tallest free-standing structure in Europe
• Make sure you bring your passport when you visit, you can’t go up without it!

For spectacular views of the city, make sure to add the Ostankino Television Tower to your itinerary for Moscow! This impressive free-standing structure provides stunning views of the city in every direction. The glass floor at the top also provides great alternative views of the city!

It takes just 58 seconds for visitors to reach the Tower’s observation deck by super fast elevator. The tower is open every day for long hours and is a great site in Moscow to check out! There is even a restaurant at the top where you can enjoy rotating views of the city while you dine on traditional Russian cuisine or European cuisine!

The tower is somewhat of an architectural surprise in a city that is not known for skyscrapers! To see the city from a new perspective, make sure to add this stop to your Moscow itinerary!

Izmaylovo District

• The most popular attractions in this district are the kremlin and the flea market
• Outside of the city center and easy to reach via metro
• Most popular during the summer and on weekends

Travel outside the city center and discover a unique area of the city! The Izmaylovo District is a popular destination for locals and tourists alike, and one of the coolest places to see in Moscow! The two main attractions we recommend checking out are the Kremlin and the flea market.

The Izmailovo Kremlin was established as a cultural center and molded after traditional Russian architecture. This colorful complex is home to several single-subject museums, including a Russian folk art museum and a vodka museum!

Next to the Kremlin is the Izmailovo open-air market, which dates back to the 17th century! The market is connected to the Izmailovo Kremlin by a wooden bridge. Pick up all your Russian souvenirs here, including traditional handicrafts, paintings, books, retro toys, and Soviet memorabilia!

You will find many hand-made and hand-painted options available at higher prices, as well as mass-produced souvenir options at lower prices!

Museum of Soviet Arcade Games

• Closed on Mondays
• Filled with old arcade games that visitors get to try out!
• The museum also includes a small cafe and burger shop

For something a little different, check out the Museum of Soviet Arcade Games! The museum features roughly 60 machines from the Soviet era, including video games, pinball machines, and collaborative hockey foosball! The machines inside the museum were produced in the USSR in the mid-1970s.

The best part is, most of the games are still playable! Purchase tickets and try the games out for yourself! The museum also has a neat little screening room that plays old Soviet cartoons and an area with Soviet magazines! This unique attraction is a fun addition to a 3 day itinerary in Moscow, and an attraction that all ages will enjoy! 

Whether you’re spending one day in Moscow, or more, safety is an important thing to keep in mind when traveling to a big city! Overall, Moscow is a very safe place to visit. However, it is always recommended that tourists take certain precautions when traveling to a new destination!

The police in Moscow is extremely effective at making the city a safe place to visit and do their best to patrol all of the top Moscow, Russia tourist attractions. However, tourists can still be a target for pickpockets and scammers.

Moscow has a huge flow of tourists, therefore there is a risk for pickpocketing. Simple precautions will help eliminate your chances of being robbed. Stay vigilant, keep your items close to you at all times, and don’t flash your valuables!

If you’re planning a solo Moscow itinerary, you should have no need to worry, as the city is also considered safe for solo travelers, even women. Stay in the populated areas, try and not travel alone late at night, and never accept rides from strangers or taxis without a meter and correct signage.

The threat of natural disasters in Moscow is low, with the exception of severe winters when the temperature can dip below freezing! Bring a good, warm jacket if you visit in Winter.

However, please note that Russian views on homsexuality are far less accepting than those in Western Europe. Likewise, Non-Caucasian travellers may sadly encounter racism in Russia .

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Now that we’ve covered all the top things to see in Moscow, we thought we’d include some exciting day trips to other areas of the country!

Sergiev Posad (Golden Ring)

On this 7-hour guided tour, you’ll visit several scenic and historic areas of Russia. Start your day with hotel pick-up as you’re transferred by a comfortable car or minivan to Sergiev Posad. Admire the charming Russian countryside on your drive and enjoy a quick stop to visit the Russian village, Rudonezh!

You’ll see the majestic Saint Spring and the Church of Sergiev Radonezh. You’ll also visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, one of the most famous Orthodox sites in Russia!

Lastly, you’ll swing by the local Matreshka market and enjoy a break in a nice Russian restaurant before returning to Moscow!

Day Trip to Vladimir and Suzdal

On this 13-hour trip, you’ll discover old Russia, with its picturesque landscapes and white-stoned beautiful churches! You’ll visit the main towns of the famous Golden Ring of Russia – the name for several cities and smaller towns north-east of Moscow.

Your first stop will be in the town of Vladimir, the ancient capital of all Russian principalities. The city dates back to the 11th century and is one of the oldest and the most important towns along the Ring! Next, you’ll visit Suzdal, a calm ancient Russian town north of Vladimir with only 13,000 inhabitants!

The old-style architecture and buildings of Suzdal are kept wonderfully intact. If you’re spending three days in Moscow, or more, this is a great option for exploring the charming areas outside the city!

Zvenigorod Day Trip and Russian Countryside

On this 9-hour private tour, you’ll explore the ancient town of Zvenigorod, one of the oldest towns in the Moscow region! As you leave Moscow you’ll enjoy the stunning scenery along the Moscow River, and make a few stops at old churches along the way to Zvenigorod.

Upon arrival, you’ll explore the medieval center, including the 14th-century Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery. Next, you’ll take a break for lunch (own expense) where you’ll have the chance to try out the Russian cuisine! Next, you’ll visit the Museum of Russian Dessert and sip on tea at a Russian tea ceremony.

The final stop of the day is at the Ershovo Estate, a gorgeous place to walk around and enjoy nature!

Day Trip to St Petersburg by Train visiting Hermitage & Faberge

On this full-day tour, you’ll enjoy a a full round trip to St Petersburg where you’ll spend an exciting day exploring another popular Russian city! You’ll be picked up from your hotel in Moscow and be transferred to the train station where you’ll ride the high-speed train ‘Sapsan’ to St Petersburg.

Upon arrival, you’ll start the day by touring the Hermitage Museum and the Winter Palace. Next, you’ll visit the Faberge Museum, where you’ll explore the impressive collection of rare Faberge Eggs! In the afternoon, enjoy a sightseeing boat ride and a traditional 3-course Russian lunch.

If you’re spending 3 days in Moscow, or more, this is an excellent trip to take!

Trip to Kolomna – Authentic Cultural Experience from Moscow

On this 10-hour tour, you’ll escape the city and travel to the historic town of Kolomna! First, you’ll visit the 14th-century Kolomna Kremlin, home to the Assumption Cathedral and an abundance of museums!

Next, enjoy lunch at a local cafe (own expense) before embarking on a tour of the Marshmallow Museum – of course, a marshmallow tasting is provided!  Your final stop is the Museum of Forging Settlements, where displays include armor and accessories for fishing and hunting.

Discover this beautiful Russian fairytale city on a private trip, where all of the planning is taken care of for you!

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Find out what people want to know when planning their Moscow itinerary.

How many days you need in Moscow?

We recommend that you spend at least two or three days in Moscow to take it all in.

What’s the best month to visit Moscow?

The best time to visit Moscow is over the spring, from March to May as temperatures are mild, crowds are thin and prices are reasonable.

What are some unusual things to do in Moscow?

I mean, queuing up to see an almost 100 year old corpse is pretty unsual! Check out Lenin’s Mausoleum if you fancy it!

What are some fun things to do in Moscow?

The Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics is a fun place to explore the famous space race from the perspective of the ‘other side’!

We hope you enjoyed our Moscow itinerary! We’ve made sure to cover all the Moscow must-sees as well as some unique attractions in the city! Our addition of insider tips, favorite food stops, and day trips from Moscow is an added bonus and will guarantee you make the most out of your exciting Russian vacation!

Immerse yourself in the modern and traditional Russian lifestyle! Get lost in museums, witness awe-inspiring architecture, and indulge in Russian cuisine! Spend the day strolling through all of the charming sites of Moscow, admiring the beautiful scenery and discovering the city’s fairytale-like enchantment!

And for transparency’s sake, please know that some of the links in our content are affiliate links . That means that if you book your accommodation, buy your gear, or sort your insurance through our link, we earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you). That said, we only link to the gear we trust and never recommend services we don’t believe are up to scratch. Again, thank you!

Alya and Campbell

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Maxi-Cosi Swift Lightweight Portable Playard, 1-Step Fold PlaypenWith Travel Bag, 2-Stage Mattress for Newborn to Toddlers, Essential Graphite

Playpen + Baby Rocker

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• PLAY. SLEEP. REPEAT. The Swift Play Yard is a 3-in-1 play and sleep space designed for quick and simple set-ups. From the cozy bassinet for baby, to a comfy snooze spot for your toddler, or a fun play yard any time, Swift is ready.
• THE LIGHTEST OF ITS KIND At about 18 lbs., Swift is 25% lighter than the leading competitor. It’s built to be easier on parents who already have so much to carry. But, it's also designed to be sturdy and supportive for your growing kiddo.
• YOUR NEW ULTRA-COMPACT TRAVEL COMPANION Use the smooth 1-step, 1-handed fold to close the play yard and move it from room to room, or use the convenient carry bag and take Swift with you when you travel.
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From the manufacturer

Play. Sleep. Repeat.

When it comes to family, it's all about routine. Playtime, nap time. Then do it all again. TheSwift is a stylish 3-in-1 travel play yard that can be used as a newborn bassinet, toddler sleep space and safe, sturdy play yard. With a lightning-fast fold, it is the quickest travel play yard to put up and down, at home or on the road, and lightweight at about 18 lbs. The Swift packs into a handy carry bag, so it’s ideal for taking with you on any adventure.

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The Swift Play Yard is a 3-in-1 play and sleep space designed for quick and simple set ups. From the cozy bassinet for baby, to a comfy snooze spot for your toddler, or a fun play yard any time, Swift is ready. At about 18 lbs., this play yard is 25% lighter than the leading competitor. The extra comfy, 2-stage mattress is a perfect fit for the play yard and unzips to provide a smaller one for the bassinet._Use the smooth 1-step, 1-handed fold to close the play yard and move it from room to room, or use the convenient carry bag and take it with you when you travel. Its sophisticated, modern color palette is thoughtfully intended to blend beautifully with your décor. Select color options feature EcoCare––our new premium, future-friendly, 100%-recycled fabric_made_from plastic bottles. The yarn produced is soft,_comfortable, and breathable––perfect_for your little one. With the Swift Play Yard, it’s time to Play. Sleep. Repeat.This product is designed with a firm, flat sleeping surface that meets the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s recommendations for safe sleep.

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Customers say

Customers like the weight, ease of installation, appearance and ease of folding of the playard. They mention that it's lightweight, portable, well designed and easy to fold up. That said, opinions are mixed on the sturdiness.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Customers find the installation process of the playard to be relatively easy. They mention that it's simple, top notch, and convenient. Customers also say it'll be easy to assemble, sturdy, and easy to maneuver.

"Man, this thing is great. Its SO EASY to set up and take down . It takes seconds. It also looks beautiful in the living room...." Read more

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Customers are satisfied with the appearance of the playard. They mention it's well-designed, has a soft gray color, and is portable. Some appreciate the pretty bag that it comes with.

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" Product looks great and is very easy to put up and take down, however when putting the bassinet cover on it was ripped on one corner so had to send..." Read more

Customers find the playard easy to fold. They mention it's lightweight, and can be set up and folded up with one motion. Some appreciate that it'll collapse to travel with or store.

"...Super simple and easy to fold up and get everything back in the storage bag with ease.The mat it comes with I also thought was good quality...." Read more

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"...higher. Great design on assembly which pops it open and very easy to fold up and FIT back in the Velcro bag!" Read more

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Customers find the playard lightweight, portable, and compact. They also mention it fits back in the Velcro bag.

"...The main thing is that its SO CONVENIENT! We love that its so portable and it comes with a pretty bag...." Read more

"Great portable bed, easy to assemble & lightweight ." Read more

"...on assembly which pops it open and very easy to fold up and FIT back in the Velcro bag !" Read more

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Customers like the cushion of the playard. They mention that it has good cushioning, is thicker than others, and is soft.

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Customers are mixed about the sturdiness of the playard. Some mention it's stoutier than expected, and thicker than others, while others say that the leg just broke while unfolding it while on vacation, and the bassinet cover ripped on one corner.

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2018 Primetime Emmy & James Beard Award Winner

In Transit: Notes from the Underground

Jun 06 2018.

Spend some time in one of Moscow’s finest museums.

Subterranean commuting might not be anyone’s idea of a good time, but even in a city packing the war-games treasures and priceless bejeweled eggs of the Kremlin Armoury and the colossal Soviet pavilions of the VDNKh , the Metro holds up as one of Moscow’s finest museums. Just avoid rush hour.

The Metro is stunning and provides an unrivaled insight into the city’s psyche, past and present, but it also happens to be the best way to get around. Moscow has Uber, and the Russian version called Yandex Taxi , but also some nasty traffic. Metro trains come around every 90 seconds or so, at a more than 99 percent on-time rate. It’s also reasonably priced, with a single ride at 55 cents (and cheaper in bulk). From history to tickets to rules — official and not — here’s what you need to know to get started.

A Brief Introduction Buying Tickets Know Before You Go (Down) Rules An Easy Tour

A Brief Introduction

Moscow’s Metro was a long time coming. Plans for rapid transit to relieve the city’s beleaguered tram system date back to the Imperial era, but a couple of wars and a revolution held up its development. Stalin revived it as part of his grand plan to modernize the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 30s. The first lines and tunnels were constructed with help from engineers from the London Underground, although Stalin’s secret police decided that they had learned too much about Moscow’s layout and had them arrested on espionage charges and deported.

The beauty of its stations (if not its trains) is well-documented, and certainly no accident. In its illustrious first phases and particularly after the Second World War, the greatest architects of Soviet era were recruited to create gleaming temples celebrating the Revolution, the USSR, and the war triumph. No two stations are exactly alike, and each of the classic showpieces has a theme. There are world-famous shrines to Futurist architecture, a celebration of electricity, tributes to individuals and regions of the former Soviet Union. Each marble slab, mosaic tile, or light fixture was placed with intent, all in service to a station’s aesthetic; each element, f rom the smallest brass ear of corn to a large blood-spattered sword on a World War II mural, is an essential part of the whole.

The Metro is a monument to the Soviet propaganda project it was intended to be when it opened in 1935 with the slogan “Building a Palace for the People”. It brought the grand interiors of Imperial Russia to ordinary Muscovites, celebrated the Soviet Union’s past achievements while promising its citizens a bright Soviet future, and of course, it was a show-piece for the world to witness the might and sophistication of life in the Soviet Union.

It may be a museum, but it’s no relic. U p to nine million people use it daily, more than the London Underground and New York Subway combined. (Along with, at one time, about 20 stray dogs that learned to commute on the Metro.)

In its 80+ year history, the Metro has expanded in phases and fits and starts, in step with the fortunes of Moscow and Russia. Now, partly in preparation for the World Cup 2018, it’s also modernizing. New trains allow passengers to walk the entire length of the train without having to change carriages. The system is becoming more visitor-friendly. (There are helpful stickers on the floor marking out the best selfie spots .) But there’s a price to modernity: it’s phasing out one of its beloved institutions, the escalator attendants. Often they are middle-aged or elderly women—“ escalator grandmas ” in news accounts—who have held the post for decades, sitting in their tiny kiosks, scolding commuters for bad escalator etiquette or even bad posture, or telling jokes . They are slated to be replaced, when at all, by members of the escalator maintenance staff.

For all its achievements, the Metro lags behind Moscow’s above-ground growth, as Russia’s capital sprawls ever outwards, generating some of the world’s worst traffic jams . But since 2011, the Metro has been in the middle of an ambitious and long-overdue enlargement; 60 new stations are opening by 2020. If all goes to plan, the 2011-2020 period will have brought 125 miles of new tracks and over 100 new stations — a 40 percent increase — the fastest and largest expansion phase in any period in the Metro’s history.

Facts: 14 lines Opening hours: 5 a.m-1 a.m. Rush hour(s): 8-10 a.m, 4-8 p.m. Single ride: 55₽ (about 85 cents) Wi-Fi network-wide

Buying Tickets

• Ticket machines have a button to switch to English.
• You can buy specific numbers of rides: 1, 2, 5, 11, 20, or 60. Hold up fingers to show how many rides you want to buy.
• There is also a 90-minute ticket , which gets you 1 trip on the metro plus an unlimited number of transfers on other transport (bus, tram, etc) within 90 minutes.
• Or, you can buy day tickets with unlimited rides: one day (218₽/ US$4), three days (415₽/US$7) or seven days (830₽/US$15). Check the rates here to stay up-to-date.
• If you’re going to be using the Metro regularly over a few days, it’s worth getting a Troika card , a contactless, refillable card you can use on all public transport. Using the Metro is cheaper with one of these: a single ride is 36₽, not 55₽. Buy them and refill them in the Metro stations, and they’re valid for 5 years, so you can keep it for next time. Or, if you have a lot of cash left on it when you leave, you can get it refunded at the Metro Service Centers at Ulitsa 1905 Goda, 25 or at Staraya Basmannaya 20, Building 1.
• You can also buy silicone bracelets and keychains with built-in transport chips that you can use as a Troika card. (A Moscow Metro Fitbit!) So far, you can only get these at the Pushkinskaya metro station Live Helpdesk and souvenir shops in the Mayakovskaya and Trubnaya metro stations. The fare is the same as for the Troika card.
• You can also use Apple Pay and Samsung Pay.

Rules, spoken and unspoken

No smoking, no drinking, no filming, no littering. Photography is allowed, although it used to be banned.

Stand to the right on the escalator. Break this rule and you risk the wrath of the legendary escalator attendants. (No shenanigans on the escalators in general.)

Get out of the way. Find an empty corner to hide in when you get off a train and need to stare at your phone. Watch out getting out of the train in general; when your train doors open, people tend to appear from nowhere or from behind ornate marble columns, walking full-speed.

Always offer your seat to elderly ladies (what are you, a monster?).

An Easy Tour

This is no Metro Marathon ( 199 stations in 20 hours ). It’s an easy tour, taking in most—though not all—of the notable stations, the bulk of it going clockwise along the Circle line, with a couple of short detours. These stations are within minutes of one another, and the whole tour should take about 1-2 hours.

Start at Mayakovskaya Metro station , at the corner of Tverskaya and Garden Ring,  Triumfalnaya Square, Moskva, Russia, 125047.

1. Mayakovskaya.  Named for Russian Futurist Movement poet Vladimir Mayakovsky and an attempt to bring to life the future he imagined in his poems. (The Futurist Movement, natch, was all about a rejecting the past and celebrating all things speed, industry, modern machines, youth, modernity.) The result: an Art Deco masterpiece that won the National Grand Prix for architecture at the New York World’s Fair in 1939. It’s all smooth, rounded shine and light, and gentle arches supported by columns of dark pink marble and stainless aircraft steel. Each of its 34 ceiling niches has a mosaic. During World War II, the station was used as an air-raid shelter and, at one point, a bunker for Stalin. He gave a subdued but rousing speech here in Nov. 6, 1941 as the Nazis bombed the city above.

Take the 3/Green line one station to:

2. Belorusskaya. Opened in 1952, named after the connected Belarussky Rail Terminal, which runs trains between Moscow and Belarus. This is a light marble affair with a white, cake-like ceiling, lined with Belorussian patterns and 12 Florentine ceiling mosaics depicting life in Belarussia when it was built.

Transfer onto the 1/Brown line. Then, one stop (clockwise) t o:

3. Novoslobodskaya.  This station was designed around the stained-glass panels, which were made in Latvia, because Alexey Dushkin, the Soviet starchitect who dreamed it up (and also designed Mayakovskaya station) couldn’t find the glass and craft locally. The stained glass is the same used for Riga’s Cathedral, and the panels feature plants, flowers, members of the Soviet intelligentsia (musician, artist, architect) and geometric shapes.

Go two stops east on the 1/Circle line to:

4. Komsomolskaya. Named after the Komsomol, or the Young Communist League, this might just be peak Stalin Metro style. Underneath the hub for three regional railways, it was intended to be a grand gateway to Moscow and is today its busiest station. It has chandeliers; a yellow ceiling with Baroque embellishments; and in the main hall, a colossal red star overlaid on golden, shimmering tiles. Designer Alexey Shchusev designed it as an homage to the speech Stalin gave at Red Square on Nov. 7, 1941, in which he invoked Russia’s illustrious military leaders as a pep talk to Soviet soldiers through the first catastrophic year of the war.   The station’s eight large mosaics are of the leaders referenced in the speech, such as Alexander Nevsky, a 13th-century prince and military commander who bested German and Swedish invading armies.

One more stop clockwise to Kurskaya station,  and change onto the 3/Blue  line, and go one stop to:

5. Baumanskaya.   Opened in 1944. Named for the Bolshevik Revolutionary Nikolai Bauman , whose monument and namesake district are aboveground here. Though he seemed like a nasty piece of work (he apparently once publicly mocked a woman he had impregnated, who later hung herself), he became a Revolutionary martyr when he was killed in 1905 in a skirmish with a monarchist, who hit him on the head with part of a steel pipe. The station is in Art Deco style with atmospherically dim lighting, and a series of bronze sculptures of soldiers and homefront heroes during the War. At one end, there is a large mosaic portrait of Lenin.

Stay on that train direction one more east to:

6. Elektrozavodskaya. As you may have guessed from the name, this station is the Metro’s tribute to all thing electrical, built in 1944 and named after a nearby lightbulb factory. It has marble bas-relief sculptures of important figures in electrical engineering, and others illustrating the Soviet Union’s war-time struggles at home. The ceiling’s recurring rows of circular lamps give the station’s main tunnel a comforting glow, and a pleasing visual effect.

Double back two stops to Kurskaya station , and change back to the 1/Circle line. Sit tight for six stations to:

7. Kiyevskaya. This was the last station on the Circle line to be built, in 1954, completed under Nikita Khrushchev’ s guidance, as a tribute to his homeland, Ukraine. Its three large station halls feature images celebrating Ukraine’s contributions to the Soviet Union and Russo-Ukrainian unity, depicting musicians, textile-working, soldiers, farmers. (One hall has frescoes, one mosaics, and the third murals.) Shortly after it was completed, Khrushchev condemned the architectural excesses and unnecessary luxury of the Stalin era, which ushered in an epoch of more austere Metro stations. According to the legend at least, he timed the policy in part to ensure no Metro station built after could outshine Kiyevskaya.

Change to the 3/Blue line and go one stop west.

8. Park Pobedy. This is the deepest station on the Metro, with one of the world’s longest escalators, at 413 feet. If you stand still, the escalator ride to the surface takes about three minutes .) Opened in 2003 at Victory Park, the station celebrates two of Russia’s great military victories. Each end has a mural by Georgian artist Zurab Tsereteli, who also designed the “ Good Defeats Evil ” statue at the UN headquarters in New York. One mural depicts the Russian generals’ victory over the French in 1812 and the other, the German surrender of 1945. The latter is particularly striking; equal parts dramatic, triumphant, and gruesome. To the side, Red Army soldiers trample Nazi flags, and if you look closely there’s some blood spatter among the detail. Still, the biggest impressions here are the marble shine of the chessboard floor pattern and the pleasingly geometric effect if you view from one end to the other.

Keep going one more stop west to:

9. Slavyansky Bulvar.  One of the Metro’s youngest stations, it opened in 2008. With far higher ceilings than many other stations—which tend to have covered central tunnels on the platforms—it has an “open-air” feel (or as close to it as you can get, one hundred feet under). It’s an homage to French architect Hector Guimard, he of the Art Nouveau entrances for the Paris M é tro, and that’s precisely what this looks like: A Moscow homage to the Paris M é tro, with an additional forest theme. A Cyrillic twist on Guimard’s Metro-style lettering over the benches, furnished with t rees and branch motifs, including creeping vines as towering lamp-posts.

Stay on the 3/Blue line and double back four stations to:

10. Arbatskaya. Its first iteration, Arbatskaya-Smolenskaya station, was damaged by German bombs in 1941. It was rebuilt in 1953, and designed to double as a bomb shelter in the event of nuclear war, although unusually for stations built in the post-war phase, this one doesn’t have a war theme. It may also be one of the system’s most elegant: Baroque, but toned down a little, with red marble floors and white ceilings with gilded bronze c handeliers.

Jump back on the 3/Blue line  in the same direction and take it one more stop:

11. Ploshchad Revolyutsii (Revolution Square). Opened in 1938, and serving Red Square and the Kremlin . Its renowned central hall has marble columns flanked by 76 bronze statues of Soviet heroes: soldiers, students, farmers, athletes, writers, parents. Some of these statues’ appendages have a yellow sheen from decades of Moscow’s commuters rubbing them for good luck. Among the most popular for a superstitious walk-by rub: the snout of a frontier guard’s dog, a soldier’s gun (where the touch of millions of human hands have tapered the gun barrel into a fine, pointy blade), a baby’s foot, and a woman’s knee. (A brass rooster also sports the telltale gold sheen, though I am told that rubbing the rooster is thought to bring bad luck. )

Now take the escalator up, and get some fresh air.

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21 Things to Know Before You Go to Moscow

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Out of the darkness: Babies born and couples tie the knot during total eclipse of 2024

Wade Lucas came into this world on a special day for our planet.

The newborn caught a once-in-a-lifetime solar eclipse three hours into his life as millions of people gazed at the sky hoping to catch a glimpse of the spectacle.

“What an exciting day for the world and what a cool story that our kid was born during the eclipse,” said Ashley Lucas, who gave birth to Wade at 12:07 p.m. Monday.

The sky darkened, Lucas said, encompassing the Ohio hospital room in an eerie darkness with a few dim rays of light peaking through. 

“It looked like a bad thunderstorm was about to hit, but it was sunny moments before,” Lucas, 35, said.

Lucas was scheduled to be induced on Thursday and had planned to watch the eclipse with her two older children from her Hamilton, Ohio home. Instead, she spent the day recovering from labor with her baby boy at the Christ Hospital Medical Center in Liberty Township, which was on the eclipse’s path of totality.

Her husband, Willie Lucas, along with some of the hospital staff, peered at the eclipse outside, while Ashley caught a glimpse from the window. 

Lucas said she was excited to share the story of the eclipse with her son when he was older and tell him: “The whole world was watching outside while we were so focused on you.”

And a bit of irony - Wade's last name, Lucas, is the Latin form of the Greek name Loukas, and it means "bringer of light," according to babycenter.com, which explains the origins and history of names.

"It's a fitting name for a new baby who will bring light into their family's life," the web site says. His first name, Wade, is generally thought to mean "at the river crossing" - thus, Wade's name can be loosely interpreted as "at the river crossing, a bringer of light."

Baby Sol born as namesake star eclipses over Texas

Sol – the Spanish word for “sun” – Celeste Alvarez entered the world Monday afternoon as her namesake shining star eclipsed over North Texas.

Sol’s mother, Alicia Alvarez, was due next week, Methodist Health System spokesman Ryan Owens said, but her baby instead arrived at 1:04 p.m. as the rest of the town was gazing at the sky.

The Alvarez family encountered some pre-eclipse traffic on their way to the hospital. But Owens said Carlos and Alicia Alvarez made it just in time for Sol’s birth, whose 4-year-old sister is named Luna.

New parents welcome baby during flurry of eclipse excitement

Hannah Marsden and Clayton Croarkin were consumed with the birth of their baby in Fort Worth, Texas, Monday afternoon while the rest of the town rushed outside to catch the spectacular sight in the sky.

“It was definitely very weird,” Marsden, 25, said, recalling the flurry of excitement as she returned from her surreal experience to the eclipse hubbub. "We get back to the room and everybody’s running outside to see the eclipse."

Marsden was excited to witness the once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon, but plans changed when she went into labor on Monday. She said she caught some of the eclipse footage on the TV in her windowless delivery room and heard recounts from others of how the town darkened in the middle of the spring afternoon.

Clayton Croarkin said the eclipse left his mind as he witnessed the more personal miracle of his son's birth, Case Croarkin, only remembering when the new family left the delivery room and saw a flurry of excitement as people rushed outside.

Dr. Lori Atkins was planning to watch the eclipse with her daughter but rushed to the Andrew Women’s Hospital at Baylor Scott and White All Saints Medical Center to deliver Case. After the delivery, Atkins said she caught the tail end of the eclipse, as the sun began to reappear and warmth returned to the Texas air. 

“I thought it was really fun to be a part of,” Atkins said.

Not just babies. Weddings, too.

Katie Prince and Micheal Spence, natives of southwest Missouri, celebrate their one-year anniversary on April 21. When planning for their wedding, they knew they wanted something "unique," so they decided to get married during the three minutes of totality in West Plains. The small ceremony was held underneath a tree outside of the city's civic center.

West Plains resident Paige Davis officiated the ceremony, along with at least four others throughout the morning and early afternoon leading up to the eclipse.

"I like to do weddings that are untraditional, so I thought it would be a really cool way for other people to experience one another on the eclipse," Davis said.

− Greta Cross at the Springfield News-Leader

Along the path of totality in Ohio

In Trenton, just north of Cincinnati, some marked the spectacle with their own life milestone - a mass wedding. The Solar Eclipse Mass Wedding Ceremony on Monday was officiated by Mayor Ryan Perry. 

Samantha Palmer and Gerald Lester donned their wedding garb - along with eclipse glasses - as they prepared to tie the knot. Trenton Community Park was bustling with families and dotted with brides and grooms.

− The Cincinnati Enquirer 

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9 Things That’ll Almost Definitely Sell Out: From Swatch to Solawave

For this week’s ” Don’t Dillydally ,”  we’ve surfaced a range of new things we’re sure will sell out, including buzzy tinned tuna, summer-ready sandals, and wristwatches that double as works of art.

The North Face x Hike Clerb

The North Face recently teamed up with Hike Clerb , a nonprofit organization dedicated to making space for Black and brown women in nature, to release a collection of outdoors-ready apparel. It includes jumpsuits , utility skorts , hats, and more, all adorned in spring-ready shades of periwinkle blue and butter yellow.

Warby Parker Summer 2024 Collection

Speaking of butter yellow, Warby Parker’s new summer 2024 drop includes this glamorous pair of oversize sunglasses in the sunshine-y shade “Yuzu Crystal.” And there are plenty more ’60s and ’70s-inspired designs to be had in the collection, from oval specs in a warm tortoise to wire-rimmed frames in polished gold .

Fishwife Albacore Tuna

Tinned-fish enthusiasts, myself included , have been waiting for this launch with bated breath — Fishwife just unveiled its new albacore-tuna offerings, which are available in both spicy and regular olive-oil marinades. They’re sure to be a perfect pantry staple that’s equally delicious spread over crackers or mixed into a lemony pasta.

Teva Hydratek Sandals

Teva, makers of some of our favorite stylish yet functional sandals , just launched it newest silhouette, intended for all your summer fishing, boating, and water-centric activities. The Teva Hydrateks are inspired by tree-frog traction and feature an innovative tread design that maximizes surface area to prevent slippage. A spongy top-sole and padded straps provide additional comfort and durability.

Lunya Floating Lily Collection

Lunya’s new Floating Lily collection reissues the brand’s washable silk favorites — from oversize tees to sleep masks to slip dresses — in this sophisticated lily pattern that will have you floating off to dreamland in no time.

Brooklyn Museum x Cold Picnic Cherry Blossom Collection

Cherry-blossom season only lasts for a few short weeks in spring, but if you want to enjoy them all year long, home-goods purveyor Cold Picnic recently teamed up with the Brooklyn Museum to release a collection festooned with the blooms, inspired by the museum’s  exhibition  of Japanese artist Utagawa Hiroshige. You can snag this knit blanket, a custom rug , or even reams of wallpaper .

Solawave Neck & Chest Rejuvenating Mask

Red-light-device brand Solawave, which Strategist contributor Diksha Basu credits for her skin’s glowy youthfulness, is expanding its range of at-home tools with its new Neck and Chest Rejuvenating Mask. The device uses light therapy to target areas where elasticity loss and sun exposure show up the most, helping to reduce the appearance of wrinkles, creases, hyperpigmentation, and sun spots.

Rachel Antonoff x Little Spoon

As if Rachel Antonoff ’s pasta-patterned puffer, made in collaboration with baby-food brand Little Spoon, weren’t already adorable enough, it’s also reversible — turn the jacket inside out to reveal a bunch of bitty radishes.

Swatch x Tate Gallery

Swatch recently teamed up with the Tate Gallery to reimagine some of the museum’s most well-known works of art as watches. The collection draws from paintings by Bourgeois, Chagall, Matisse, Turner, and more to bring mini-masterpieces to your wrist.

The Strategist is designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Some of our latest conquests include the best acne treatments , rolling luggage , pillows for side sleepers , natural anxiety remedies , and bath towels . We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.

• the strategist
• don't dillydally

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Watch: Hordes of baby penguins jump off 50ft ice cliff

T he mystery of why hordes of baby penguins congregate at the top of vertiginously sheer cliffs in Antarctica has finally been solved – they are there to jump off.

Filmmakers from National Geographic were astonished to see hundreds of fledgling emperor penguins leaping from 50ft ice sheets into the freezing water below.

It is known that at six months old, the chicks leave their colonies and march to the ocean to take their first swim, but they usually only dive from heights of 1-2ft.

Since 2009, satellite imagery has shown that some colonies are breeding and raising their chicks high up on ice shelves, and many have been spotted making their way to the edge of steep cliffs.

Now for the first time filmmakers have shown that chicks are leaping from the summit of the Ekström Ice Shelf at Atka Bay, often belly-flopping into the water beneath, before bobbing to the surface, completely unscathed.

It is the first time this moment has been captured on camera.

The footage was captured in January by Bertie Gregory for National Geographic’s documentary series Secrets of the Penguins which is due to air next year.

In the film, around 700 baby penguins were seen making their way to the cliff and loitering trying to pluck up the courage to make the jump. 

Once the first one took the plunge, the others soon followed suit.

Mr Gregory said: “I’ve only ever seen emperors jump in off the sea ice and that is a couple of feet maximum.

‘Pretty unbelievable to see’

“We know these chicks have grown up together and they stick together. 

“Those first brave jumpers seem to give the rest the confidence to follow. 

“Some of them are even trying to flap their wings.

“I had no idea that the chicks would be able to make such a giant leap and not just survive but happily swim off together into the Southern Ocean. 

“That is a pretty unbelievable thing to see.”

Mr Gergory and the production team lived and worked from a tented camp on the Ekström Ice Shelf near the main Atka Bay penguin colony for almost nine weeks.

The team worked for two months in minus 5C using drone technology to capture overhead views.

Emperor penguin chicks start to lose their fluffy baby down when they are five months old, replacing it with feathers which they waterproof using oil from their preen gland.

In January each year, the new generation leaves their colony en masse in a rite of passage that will take them to the sea for the first time.

The footage is reminiscent of BBC footage of barnacle goslings diving more than 400ft from their nests to reach their parents below.

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Middle East latest: Israeli war cabinet 'favours response' to Iran attack but is 'split on scale and timing'

The five-member cabinet, in which Benjamin Netanyahu, defence minister Yoav Gallant and cabinet minister Benny Gantz have decision-making powers, met earlier today to discuss the attack - which saw over 330 missiles and drones fired at Israel.

Monday 15 April 2024 01:05, UK

• Israel-Hamas war

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• Israeli war cabinet wants response but split on scale and timing  
• IDF approves plans for 'offensive and defensive actions'
• 'This is like a war,' Israeli President Herzog tells Sky News
• Analysis: What does Herzog's 'declaration of war' comment mean?
• Iran threatens US bases and larger attack on Israel if it retaliates
• Israel outlines 'initial price' Iran must pay
• Michael Clarke analysis : Israel's defence held against ambitious attack
• Podcast:  Iran attacks Israel, but what happens next?

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) says its forces, supported by US European Command destroyers, destroyed more than 80 one-way attack drones and at least six ballistic missiles on 13 and 14 April.

The weapons were launched from Iran and Yemen towards Israel in retaliation for Israel's attack on the consular section of the Iranian embassy in Damascus on 1 April.

Does Washington hold the key to de-escalation in the Middle East?

Or is the situation too far gone for the Biden administration to make any difference?

Here, our US correspondent Mark Stone examines whether one of the world's great powers can convince Israel not to retaliate... 

A short while ago, we spoke to a former Israeli minister of the interior, Ayelet Shaked.

She declared that Israel is "fighting a terror regime" in Iran, saying it is "funding terrorists all over the Middle East".

On Saturday night's attack, she declared: "Israel will retaliate in due time, in the shape and form that fits for us."

Israel will "do whatever we need in order to protect ourselves", she added. 

"The Middle East has its own rules, and Israel will respond," she added.

Asked if it would be wise, considering the war in Gaza and skirmishes with Hezbollah in Lebanon, to open up a new front with Iran, Ms Shaked said: "Last night was a wakeup call for the international community to wake up and understand that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon."

She said Iran has been getting close to getting a nuclear bomb over the last two years, and said: "Just imagine what [would have happened] if Iran had a nuclear bomb last night.

"So I think it's not the job of Israel, it's the job of the international community to take care of this specific threat."

Earlier, we reported on comments made by Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz, who said that the "incident is not over", with regards to Iran. 

Mr Gantz, himself a retired army general, said that Israel would exact a price from Iran in a manner and time "that's right for us". 

He described Iran as a "global problem" as well as a regional challenge. 

You can watch his full comments here... 

By Alex Rossi, international correspondent in Jerusalem

It's a new day in Israel but the unprecedented attack by Iran has left this country feeling shaken.

Schools and universities were closed for security reasons.

We met students Talia and Simona at a cafe in west Jerusalem. They said the crisis was all they'd discussed all day.

"I hope we'll be smart enough that it won't get worse and I think last night was a big win for us because our army saved us," Talia said.

The events of 7 October are still raw - but the attack on Saturday night has increased a sense of vulnerability.

"We were both very, very scared, we were on the phone but I think after 7 October I feel like we've already seen the worst," said Simona.

For many Israelis this is a pivotal moment - people go about their business as normal but this is the first time in history the nation has been attacked directly by Iran.

Israelis 'feel trapped'

Nelly Hayat, a mother of young children, was out with friends on Jaffa Street, a main shopping street in the city.

"The Israeli people, they feel trapped with what's happening," she said. "We woke up the kids at 2am, we ran outside because there was no bomb shelter in the house and you have to reassure the kids that everything will be fine even though you are frightened."

Israelis were expecting something - there had been numerous security warnings in the days leading up to the attack - but the size of it has shocked many and attention is now focused on how Israel will respond.

These images, taken in the early hours of this morning (Sunday), show Iranian people taking to the streets to celebrate Tehran's massive aerial offensive against Israel.

Iranians came out in numbers in front of the British embassy in the capital, brandishing Palestinian flags and chanting. 

Turkish, Jordanian and Iraqi officials have said today that Iran warned the US 72 hours before it launched its massive drone and missile attack on Israel, which helped avert mass casualties.

But a US official has categorically denied the claim.

Turkey's foreign ministry said it had acted as an intermediary between Washington and Tehran ahead of the attacks, with a diplomatic source adding that the developments last night were "not a surprise".

Although a senior US official said Washington had had contact with Iran via the Swiss, they did not receive 72 hours notice of the vast attack by Iran.

"That is absolutely not true," the official said. "They did not give a notification, nor did they give any sense of ... 'these will be the targets, so evacuate them'."

Tehran only sent the United States a message after the strikes has begun, with the intent being to be "highly destructive" said the official.

"We received a message from the Iranians as this was ongoing, through the Swiss. This was basically suggesting that they were finished after this, but it was still an ongoing attack."

Israeli forces have shot down a drone entering approaching its territory from the southeast this evening, the Israel Defence Forces has said.

In a statement, the military said that "in coordination with the Israeli Navy and the IAF, a Sa'ar 6-class corvette missile ship successfully intercepted a UAV that approached Israeli territory from the southeast".

It used the "C-Dome" Defence System to shoot down the drone, the IDF added.

According to Ambrey, a maritime risk management firm, the drone was launched from Yemen, and therefore likely by the Houthis, which is an Iranian proxy group.

France has revealed that it was involved in last night's air defence after Iran fired more than 330 missiles and drones at Israel. 

"We took our responsibilities...we carried out interception missions," foreign minister Stephane Sejourne told the France 2 television channel, without elaborating. 

Israel's chief military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said earlier that France was among the countries involved in defending against the Iranian attack, although it is unclear to what extent. 

Following Iran's attack on Israel yesterday, a UN Security Council session has been called, at Israel's request, and it is now under way in New York.

The UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, opened the session by saying: "The Middle East is on the brink. The people of the region are confronting a real danger of a devastating, full-scale conflict.

"Now is the time to defuse and de-escalate. Now is the time for maximum restraint."

He said Iran had written to the president of the security council claiming the attack on Israel was defensive following the attack on its consulate in Damascus, Syria.

Mr Guterres reminded members that "the charter of the United Nations prohibits the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state".

He also noted that attacks on diplomatic premises are not allowed.

He continued: "It's time to step back from the brink. It's vital to avoid any action that could lead to major military confrontations on multiple fronts in the Middle East.

"Civilians are already bearing the brunt and paying the highest price."

Mr Guterres said the responsibility of all members is to help secure a ceasefire in Gaza, the unconditional release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, and to deliver aid "unimpeded".

He also said the violence taking place in the West Bank must end.

"We have a shared responsibility to work for peace," he declared, which he said is being "undermined by the hour".

"Neither the region, nor the world, can afford more war," he concluded.

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Solar eclipse 2024: Photos from the path of totality and elsewhere in the U.S.

Images show the Great American Eclipse, seen by tens of millions of people in parts of Mexico, 15 U.S. states and eastern Canada for the first time since 2017.

Millions gathered across North America on Monday to bask in the glory of the Great American Eclipse — the moment when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun. 

The path of totality measures more than 100 miles wide and will first be visible on Mexico’s Pacific coast before moving northeast through Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois and upward toward New York, New Hampshire and Maine, then on to Canada.

Total solar eclipse 2024 highlights: Live coverage, videos and more

During the cosmic spectacle, the moon’s movements will temporarily block the sun’s light, creating minutes of darkness, and will make the sun's outer atmosphere, or the corona, visible as a glowing halo.

Here are moments of the celestial activities across the country:

Breaking News Reporter

Elise Wrabetz is a Senior Photo Editor for NBC News digital

Chelsea Stahl is the art director for NBC News Digital

More From Forbes

Planning a vacation here’s your 2024 summer travel insurance guide.

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The joy of a summer vacation. But do you have protection for your trip?

Planning a vacation this summer? Yeah, you and just about everyone else.

More than 9 out of 10 Americans say they'll travel more this year, according to a recent Nationwide Travel Insurance survey . Most of those trips will happen in June, July and August.

Not just that, but 40 percent of the respondents say they'll spend more this year than last year. So how do you protect your vacation investment?

Travel insurance is the standard answer, but what kind of insurance — and how do you find it? That's the question many Americans are wrestling with as they make their travel plans.

Protecting your vacation is a serious concern this summer, experts say.

“Travelers are beefing up their trip protection with security advisory and extraction protection," notes Dan Richards, CEO of The Global Rescue Companies .

It's not just that they're spending more. It's that there's more to lose. The ongoing war in Ukraine, the Hamas attacks on Israel, and other violent conflicts have made travel insurance a key part of trip planning.

This summer may break travel records, experts say.

Gmail And YouTube Hackers Bypass Google s 2FA Account Security

Apple confirms innovative iphone 16 pro upgrade, wwe smackdown results winners and grades after wrestlemania 40, it's going to be a busy summer for travel.

Overall policy sales for the 2024 summer travel season are up this year, but there's a spike in sales for policies in August, which is typically the busiest time of the summer. "Sales are up more than 25% over last year," says Stan Sandberg, co-founder of travel insurance site TravelInsurance.com .

Western Europe continues to be the most popular summer destination for Americans, with some notable hotspots. Travel insurance sales for Greece are up over 60% this year compared with 2023, followed by Norway and Portugal, which are up 57% and 52%, respectively, according to Sandberg.

Everyone's travel insurance needs are different, according to the pros.

What should you insure when you travel this summer?

Laura Heidt, the insurance desk manager for Brownell Travel in Birmingham, Ala., says there are some things every travel insurance policy should cover this summer.

"I always recommend people insure for the unexpected, such as flight delays, missed connections and medical coverage while out of the country," she says. "If you are willing to forgo the cancellation and delay coverages, which are typically the most expensive parts of a policy, you should still, absolutely, cover yourself with at least the medical component."

Heidt says she's seen a 10% boost in travel insurance sales for this summer compared with the same time last year, and many people are opting for the pricier "cancel for any reason" policies, which allow you to cancel your trip and receive a partial refund of your prepaid, nonrefundable travel expenses.

Travel insurance companies are seeing a similar trend.

"A majority of travelers choose a comprehensive travel insurance plan which includes coverage for trip cancellation, emergency medical, lost or delayed baggage and delay," explains Tim Dodge, vice president of marketing at Arch RoamRight .

He says this year, travelers are purchasing travel insurance on average within 11 days of their trip deposit to receive the additional benefit of the waiver exclusion for pre-existing conditions.

If you're traveling with kids, you'll need extra travel insurance protection.

Get a policy that's tailored to your needs

Travel insurance comes in all shapes and sizes. So you'll want to try a few on for size before you buy. You can actually do that, since most policies have a "free look" period that makes them fully refundable for the first week or two (depending on the policy).

"It's important to consider your specific travel plans and any potential disruptions in order to protect your investment," says Robert Gallagher, president of the US Travel Insurance Association (USTIA).

He says traditional plans offer coverage for unexpected cancellations, interruptions, delays, emergency medical expenses and lost or delayed baggage. For international travel, USTIA advises opting for a plan with emergency medical and medical evacuation coverage.

It also depends on who you're traveling with. For example, if you're traveling with your children, you'll want to consider a family-friendly priced travel insurance plan. But your destination also matters, says Carol Mueller, vice president at Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection (BHTP).

"For young families, I typically recommend the ExactCare plan due to its pricing of two children at no additional cost for every one adult on the policy," she says. "However, for families venturing abroad, I’d suggest considering a plan like BHTP's LuxuryCare, which is designed to meet the distinctive needs of a high-investment vacation.”

You have choices when it comes to family coverage. For example, Allianz’s OneTrip Prime plan also includes coverage for kids 17 and younger when traveling with a parent or grandparent.

Medical evacuations can be expensive.

Look beyond travel insurance for extra protection

Mike Hallman, CEO of the air medical transport and travel security program Medjet , says MedjetHorizon memberships are selling briskly. They offer 24/7 security and crisis response, as well as transportation to a hospital at home if you're injured. Travelers are skittish even if they aren't going bungee-jumping.

"With geopolitical tensions still growing — all the riots in France, Italy, Ecuador and other tourist destinations over the last year — and crime causing the threat level to be raised for the Bahamas and Jamaica, it’s no wonder," he adds.

He makes a good point. Travel insurance can cover many of the events you're likely to encounter, such as a missed connection, lost luggage or a medical emergency. But it's also important to know what isn't covered — and to make plans accordingly.

Beware of travel insurance "overconfidence"

The summer travel season is still a few months away, but insurance experts are worried. Yes, they've seen a general uptick in insurance sales, but some travelers remain unprotected.

"We've started to see early signs that travelers are exercising less caution and are slightly less likely to sign up for travel insurance," says Joe Cronin, CEO of International Citizens Insurance .

By comparison, travelers purchased plenty of medical insurance in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic. Cronin believes travelers were terrified of getting stuck with COVID-19 in a foreign country without insurance.

"To those who are thinking about traveling internationally without travel insurance, my recommendation is to spend a few minutes looking deeper before deciding," he adds.

Some types of insurance, such as a standalone medical policy, cost just a few dollars a day. A medical evacuation membership is also affordable. And even full-featured travel insurance policies can be cost-effective when you consider the benefits.

"Don’t put your summer travel memories, or your investment, at risk by forgoing the right vacation coverage," says Daniel Durazo, director of communications at Allianz Partners USA . "With international travel peaking during the summer season, an unprotected trip can leave travelers on the hook for costs resulting from an unexpected trip delay or medical emergency abroad."

Bottom line: Seriously consider travel insurance to protect your trip — and don't be overconfident. You never know what might happen this summer.

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