Family holidays are having a moment, and Sunset's family section reads like a cheat sheet for parents who want the trip to work for everyone — including the two-year-old. The standout story: one writer sent her son to a kids' camp at the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai on Hawaii's Big Island, built specifically for toddlers, and called it the best decision of the trip. It's a rare thing in resort childcare, where most programmes start at age four or five, and it turns a luxury Hawaiian stay into something that actually works for parents of very small children.
The rest of the coverage clusters around a few reliable themes. Disneyland features heavily, and more than once — Sunset's advice is that timing is everything, with repeated plugs for visiting the parks outside peak crushes, including a nod to the holiday season as an underrated window. If you're a Disney adult with kids in tow, the guidance boils down to: mark your calendar carefully, because when you go shapes the whole experience.
Flying with small children gets its own practical strand. One piece offers a checklist aimed squarely at fuss-free flights with toddlers — the kind of pre-trip prep the writer insists you can never overdo. Another covers toddler-friendly activities and food that hold up on the road, and a third makes the broader case that travelling with children can be more rewarding than going solo, provided you plan ahead.
There's domestic inspiration too. A Bay Area city — the one Sunset notes has also been named the happiest city in America — keeps topping the publication's family travel rankings, and there's a nature-first alternative for families tired of beaches: a garden-and-trails escape built around plants, hiking and lush places to stay, with no coastline required.
Why does this matter to travellers? Because family travel advice is usually either too generic or too aspirational. This collection sits in the useful middle: specific properties (a Four Seasons with toddler childcare), specific timing strategies for the busiest theme park in the world, and packing-level preparation tips you can act on before your next flight. It's aimed at parents of babies, toddlers and young kids — the stage where a holiday can feel like more work than home — and the common thread is that a bit of planning and the right base turn that around. If your next trip involves a car seat, a stroller and someone who naps at 1pm, it's worth a scroll.
