Take Your Kids Everywhere
I joined Instagram two years ago and quickly realized how great it was for not just travel inspiration, but family travel inspiration. I love seeing the adventurous places that people take their kids, and even booked a trip to Indonesia’s Borobudur Temple in August with my 10-year-old because of an Instagram photo.
So in the spirit of giving back, here are 25 Instagram accounts that inspire me. Some are the accounts of people I’ve met while traveling. Some I’ve stumbled across. Some I’ve found because people engaged with me on my photos. And some got my attention by using my #takeyourkidseverywhere hashtag.
My specific criteria:
- At least 1/3 of the photos have kids in them. There’s nothing wrong with accounts focused on lifestyle or great photography, and I acknowledge that my photos sans kids can get better engagement than my kid shots, but those accounts aren’t necessarily inspirational to me from a family travel perspective. This knocked a lot of otherwise excellent accounts off this list.
- The photography is excellent.
- Kids are in the photos without being the photos. It’s fine if you have up-close snapshots of your child eating ice cream, but I’m a lot more inspired by a shot of a kid eating ice cream overlooking an amazing vista.
- The accounts have at least 100 photos.
- The engagement is between 1% and 4% (for larger accounts). I don’t want to highlight accounts that appear to be buying followers or likes or otherwise playing games. And yes, it’s usually easy to spot.
- There aren’t too many quotes, collages, cartoon characters, large watermarks, borders, selfies, food photos or Snapchat filters. I looked through hundreds of galleries and those were the things that distracted me the most.
If there are accounts that inspire you that meet these criteria and that aren’t listed below, please let me know about them in the comments. And it it’s your account, that’s great, but follow me and interact with me on Instagram too. It’s social media, and it’s far more fun when it’s truly social. I’ve met up with people throughout the world because of conversations that started on Instagram, but never because of a terse “follow my account” posting.
The Worldwide Webers
They took their daughter to 30 countries before the age of one and documented it all. And they’re still going.
Travel Photo Bloggers
Perfect photography in stunning locations.
Simply Beautiful Life
Lots of kid photos from a very cool nomadic adventure.
Wanderlust Storytellers
An Aussie family traveling to gorgeous places throughout Asia.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BKnvJrgDqrb/?taken-by=wanderluststorytellers
Our Travel Edventures
The travels of a family of four with an emphasis on education.
Strollering the Globe
Great photography, cool destinations, and their kids are in virtually all of their photos.
Mom in Zurich
Great photography from a Switzerland-based traveling mom.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BKLPKESg_Mj/?taken-by=mominzurich
Simple Family Travel
Very good photography from throughout Europe, but this photo locked in their inclusion!
World of Travels with Kids
An excellent family travel gallery, more about the places than their kids.
yTravel Blog
I still haven’t met Caz and Craig, but between their newsletters and Instagram account I feel like I know them. Always great photography.
Hello Terumi
A fun assortment of outdoorsy destinations.
Meraki Family Travel
Wanderlust at its best. Some gorgeous photos.
Mum Pack Travel
Great photos from very cool adventures
Global Mouse
Really cool travels around the world and nicely documented.
Wandering Wagars
Great photos and use of light. Always fun to see where they’re going.
Family Adventure Break
Always excellent photography. This account makes me want to take my kids outside more! The only exception to my 100-photo rule, but they’re close.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BGiEmURh814/?taken-by=familyadventurebreak
Kestano Caravan
A beautiful Instagram gallery.
Pint Size Pilot
I love following Tara’s travels, and even met up with her this summer in Iceland.
Little Bali Love
This account does a great job of highlighting kid-friendly Bali – one of our favorite places.
Crazy Family Adventure
Traveling around the US in an RV with four kids full-time? Definitely crazy! Very well documented though.
Little Polar Explorers
So different from every other account. And so cool!
No Back Home
One of the only other parents crazy enough to let her child choose anywhere in the world to go! Always fun photography.
The Blonde Nomads
An adventurous Aussie family with perfect photography. I love their underwater shots.
Macs Explore
These guys always look like they’re having fun!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BJ_8hwghOpk/?taken-by=macs_explore
Travel Mamma
Some really creative shots. A fun gallery.
Travel Babbo
If you’re not following me, please do! I love taking my kids to unusual destinations and inspiring others to do the same.
More from Travel Babbo
Turkey: An Amazing Trip to Cappadocia with Kids- Organizing an Extended Family/Group Trip with Relatives and Friends
- Hiking in Sweden: The Icebug Xperience West Coast Trail
- An Amazing Week in the Faroe Islands (with Kids)
- Flying Around the World (Literally) for Spring Break at Six Senses Yao Noi
- My Worst Travel Experiences – The Beijing Taxi Scam
Brilliant. Love this. We aspire to one day being followed by you 🙂
Just followed you from @takeyourkidseverywhere Leezett. Great travel photos, but you need more kid photos!
Thanks Eric. I will get onto it 🙂
Eric, thank you so much for including our photographs in your list. We are constantly inspired by your travels and photographs. It’s so amazing to see all the incredible families that take their kids everywhere!
Would’ve loved to make the list @daytripsla
Your account is perfect Ralph! It easily could have made this list, but I never came across you. Following you now from both of my accounts so I won’t miss anything you post!
What a great list. Some new families I’m yet to meet
Thanks for sharing this! Always looking for more inspiration to take my toddler on more trips! Traveling with her can be a challenge, but soo worth it! @stephaniemagz
Following you now Stephanie. Great photos! And yes it’s challenging at the beginning, but that makes for really easy travels later on.
Thanks for the follow!!
I’m happy to see that I was already following some families and have more to follow! Take a look at our IG @aventurasnomadas
Thanks Lorena. I just followed you. Great colors in your photos!
Thanks Eric! 🙂
We would love to make the list one day! Just found you through the McEvoys (we met through Insta!) and I’m super stoked to follow along with you now. Thanks for the great list and more awesome families to interact with!
whoops! And we are @currentlywandering. 🙂
Hi Jess – I was following you at @takeyourkidseverywhere and am now following you from @travelbabbo as well. I had you in my top 30 – one of the final cuts when I decided to shrink my list to 25. Sorry! I love your account.
Aww… Thanks! Good to hear. Excited to keep up with your journeys!
I just read your article. I was following some families, (and you!) but Ive got more ideas. Good tips for my insta account @growinguptroppo Im fairly new to this and have a FB page too and just a new blog. If you have any feedback on my IG account that would be fantastic. No pressure though! Libby
Thanks Libby – following you now. First, you can do absolutely anything you want with your account, and I’m by no means the expert, so there’s no need to listen to me at all! In looking at your gallery, it looks really scattered. You have a lot of photos with text, collages and reposts. And you’re in Bali, one of the most colorful places anywhere, but your Bali photos look dark. Are you using IG filters? If so, you may want to stop, or use them only to bump up the colors a little but leave the contrast and vignetting alone. But again, everyone can do whatever they want to with their accounts – selfies, etc… My criteria in the post was subjective based on what I find inspiring on Instagram but others may disagree.
Thanks so much for featuring Simple Family Travel! What a surprise! We are brand new to the family travel online world and still finding our way, so a lovely surprise to be featured. Thanks!
I am truly honored to have Pint Size Pilot included among these fabulous accounts Eric ! I immensely enjoy the stunning photos from around the globe that you post on @travelbabbo . Exceptionally inspirational !
What a fantastic list! So inspirational. Thank you for sharing!
Hi Eric,
Love that sea turtle pic of Out Travel Edventures! So cute. Instagram has mad engagement. Time for me to get more active on that network. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Ryan
Excellent list! Hoping that one day we’ll be part of your selection! 🙂
I just discovered your website and it’s very inspiring…
Thank you!
Eric,
I love these lists you put together and I always follow these accounts – no questions asked. I appreciate that you take the time to curate them all. Great job to everyone listed!
-Carrick
Wow, thanks Carrick!
Awesome list Eric! I need to follow all of these for more travel inspiration!
What a great list! So much inspiration!
I would recommend you check out Love Taza. Her family travels with 3 little ones is so cool!
Superb. Love the outstanding criteria, too. Indeed, it should be obvious which travel bloggers do not have real engagement. Some gorgeous photos shown and I am sure in their IG accounts.
Great list here, was following most but still found quite a few new feeds to enjoy! Lots of inspiration as still just setting up a place to document upcoming family adventures at @happyplacehunters … Much work to do!
Thanks Caz – following you now. Great photos! You just need a lot more!
Hi Eric! What a great job you put together! I knew a couple of them like mumpacktravel that is a true inspiration for me, but I see there are so many other great families enjoying the world. I’m pretty new at blogging and Instagram, but I’m really enjoying it, its so inspiring and just keep me going, hope one day we can inspire solo moms to travel with their kids as well! @100housesgirl
Thanks Ceci – following you now. Welcome to Instagram and the family travel blogging community!
Hi Eric,
Thanks for including my Instagram in your post! All photos are taken from my phone. I still have so much to learn, but traveling comes first. And thanks for including my longtime friend Ronel (Simple Beautiful Life). She’s on a wonderful journey.
Kate
Love this list!! Just followed some new accounts I’d never come across!!! I have one based on travel and kids as well @redstonealexis 🙂 Best wishes to all these wonderful travelers!
Love this! Def already following a few and now adding a few more. Would love for you to check us out @martintolisten
Hi, just reading through your article! Thank you for including us 🙂 Our instagram picture isn’t showing for some reason? Also any chance you could change our name to – Wanderlust Storytellers 🙏🏻 Thank you! Found some great fellow travel bloggers to follow from this list! 🙂
Done! Did you delete photos? That’s the reason why I stopped deleting any photos from Instagram – too many broken links on roundups. Now I just repost them instead.
The Traveling Child @thetravelingchild is a great account as well- would love to make this list!
Great – just followed you from my @familytravel account.
Hi guys,
I think our site would fit in with your list! Travelling Australia with 3 kids under 10 in a campertrailer. Have a look – love to join your list.
Instagram – fiftytoeswalkabout
Thanks for the comment and for following me! I’m following you now from @familytravel. Excited to see your journeys.
Love the list. We live what all these families are promoting. We started out almost 2 years ago traveling with our kids. Love It! _travel_size_
Awesome Joy – just followed you from @familytravel!
Thanks so much for this article! I JUST started my Instagram account (@jeanplanstotravel) to share my past travels, and document future ones, mostly with my kids. I feared I was annoying my real-life friends with all my travel snaps from our recent trip to Japan, so I started a brand new account (to go with my in-progress blog). I’m having so much fun going through all my years of travel photos and sharing my favorites, and I can’t wait for my next trip (to Scotland, coming up) so I can share as I go.
I’ve followed all of the accounts (and yours too, of course). I think I will learn a lot from them as I go along. I’ve been traveling with my kids since they were babies, and they are teens now. It is the best way to travel! Of course, now that they are teens, they can be pretty picky about which photos of them I am allowed to share! They are brutal editors.
Very cool Jean! Just followed you. Yep, my kids are my harshest critics. If/when they like one of my photos, I feel pretty good!
Advice on sharing old photos: I used to post photos in random order too, but then I discovered that it was a lot more satisfying, and helped people plan trips more, to just post from one location for a week. So instead of posting from Scotland, Prague and Japan, I’d pick one, share one of your best photos from there every day, and then switch destinations in a week – even if you’re not posting live from there obviously. My engagement went up when I started doing that too.
Thanks so much for the advice. I appreciate it. And thanks for following me.
Glad to see a few Instagrammers I know and follow on this list. Hope I can one day make the cut! I’m @wanderdaughter. Cheers!
Thanks Astrid – following you now from @familytravel. Great photos!
This is a really useful collection Eric: thanks for sharing it with us all.
I was already following you as @istanbulplace and have now found some new kindred spirit #familytravel friends too.
We aspire to make your list one day too!@rhodeswelltravelled – I’m following quite a few of these accounts and now got some more to add to the list!
Great photos Sheriden! Just followed you from @familytravel. A new family travel Instagram post will be coming soon…
This was a really interesting read, thanks for sharing. As family travel lovers we have found some great pages to follow, from @kiwisinbarefeet.
I love your Kyoto photos! Haven’t taken my kids there yet. Following you now.
Awesome list thank you, lots f travel inspo and accounts we need to follow !! We’re From New Zealand, retired last year and now traveling with our kids @kiwi_and_free
Thank you for putting this list together. I was already following a ton of these, but there’s some new great ones here. I appreciate you taking the time to compile this! We’ve had our account @thetravelvlogfamily since May-ish! Hopefully we can make it on an upcoming list too!
We also create YouTube videos if anyone is interested in that! Do any of you have a YouTube channel? We’re The Travel Vlog Family!
Just followed you from @familytravel. Nope, I don’t have a YouTube channel. Or if I do, I never post to it. Happy to let everyone else do video! I’m happy with Instagram and still photography.
You got work with your strongest skill set! Followed you back!