The Ideal Family Travel Instagram Account
So, first: there is no perfect Instagram account! You can do anything you want with your account. Post once a year. Document your entire day. Have quotes on your photos. Only take selfies. Post lots of food (unless you show yourself surrounded by more breakfast than you can possibly eat in a less-developed country where people are hungry outside of the resort’s doors – there’s a special place in hell for those Instagrammers). But I love Instagram for travel inspiration, and specifically for family travel inspiration. I want to discover new destinations, and I want to follow photographers who show off what there is to do for families in those destinations. This list highlights those accounts.
In looking through literally thousands of Instagram accounts, these are the things that make family travel accounts worth following:
- They’re not personality-based.
- They show kids in at least 1/3 of their shots, but rarely show kids up close.
- They have excellent photography, with very few reposts and no stock photos.
- They’re posting from cool, interesting locations.
- They post often, and have at least 100 posts. There are some accounts that I almost featured, but they just haven’t posted enough in the past year.
- Their engagement isn’t so high that it’s suspicious. An account with over 25,000 followers doesn’t get 10% engagement without cheating or playing a lot of games.
- There are no distracting photos that don’t inspire travel – Starbucks cups, quotes, plates of food that don’t show off the location, too many lifestyle or product shots, pictures of the entire family at every destination, Halloween pics, multiple shots with Disney characters, etc… Again, you can have anything you want on your account. They just don’t inspire me to travel.
- They don’t delete their photos. PLEASE don’t delete Instagram posts! It leads to broken links if I or others feature you. But more importantly, people save posts all the time that inspire them. If you delete your picture, it deletes it from the Saved folders of everyone who wanted to remember the destination.
If I missed your account and it meets those criteria and you want to get featured next year, there are lots of ways to do that. Comment below. Follow me at Travel Babbo or Family Travel and comment on posts from time to time. Use my hashtags #familytravel and #takeyourkidseverywhere. Come to family travel events and conferences. Message me if we’re in the same place at the same time. I love the community of family travel writers/bloggers/photographers.
The Best of Inspirational Family Travel
I highlighted my favorite 25 family travel accounts last year in this post. I still follow and get inspired by every one of those. So check them out! The new accounts that are also inspiring me are:
Day Trips LA
Great photography that perfectly showcases kids exploring California and the west coast.
The Passport Family
Nicely documented travel around the world. They live up to their name.
Stuffed Suitcase
Great family travel photography. Even when she’s on trips without kids, she highlights family-friendly places and activities.
Petit Bivouac
A unique account with moody photos of them exploring the French Alps. One of my favorites.
Civil Matador
I highlighted @Vagabond3 this year in my non-family Instagram roundup since she didn’t include kids in quite enough photos to be on this family list. But her husband does! I love his style and their travels.
2 Travel Dads
So this account borderline goes against my selfie and Disney character guidelines, but they’re so damn likable, and they make travel seem like so much fun, that I have to include them.
The Cool Forest
Maybe the smallest account that I’m highlighting, but I love their travel photography, and the simple joy in their photos. You get the feeling that they would be the perfect neighbors.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BU5GIkhlbac/?taken-by=thecoolforest
TravelingMel
So many great photos documenting her family’s far-flung adventures.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZE01tEgBNhIIJ4N3nn3I8y_wM3BAP5sTENbNQ0/?taken-by=vierwinden
Boy Eats World
Several people now have told me that I should meet Aleney. In the meantime, it’s fun following their travel and foodie adventures on Instagram. Always great shots.
5 Globetrotters
Consistently gorgeous photos – especially from their beach destinations.
A Little At Large
I’ve added so many new Australian destinations to my travel list because of this account!
Wanderlust Crew
I have no idea how I missed these guys last time. A brilliant account showcasing fun travels and excellent photography.
Finding Our Park
An account that showcases one family’s quest to visit every US national park. I love that they stay true to their mission and never post anything but park shots, and have their son in almost every photo. Perfect family travel inspiration.
A Traveling Bond
I’ve always loved the feel of this account – simple photos documenting travels with her daughter. Yes you can take toddlers everywhere!
The Miles of Adventure Family
There are so many places I want to explore around the western US. This account inspires me to finally do it.
Full Suitcase
Excellent photography, great colors, fun adventures, and kids in most shots. And I loved finally meeting Jurga in Austria this year. One of my favorite accounts.
No Man Before
Gorgeous family travel photography from very cool adventures in California and around the world.
Outdoor Adventure Family
A unique account with excellent photography and some fun angles.
Affair with World
Who takes a 2-year-old to Mongolia? These guys! I love following their adventures.
Go With Nugget
One of the best curated family travel sites. Always inspiring. A great place to discover new accounts to follow.
In The River Valley
Gorgeous photography and mood, with their kids in virtually every photo.
Kirsty Lamour
So many magical photos from extraordinary destinations. One of the only accounts that successfully shows kids’ faces while still inspiring family travel.
Currently Wandering
Really cool outdoor adventures throughout North America.
Kiwis in Bare Feet
A Kiwi family that travels as much as we do! I love their Japanese adventures.
Travel Mamas
I’ve met Colleen at several travel conferences. Always great family travel inspiration!
Travel Babbo
48 countries with kids and counting. Only pure family travel inspiration, and never any selfies or Disney characters!
Family Travel
I love using my @familytravel account to highlight the best of family travel, and in the course of looking through #familytravel posts to be featured, I discovered several of the accounts above. Please keep tagging #familytravel. And follow along to see my new discoveries!
What accounts did I miss? Comment below! And I should note that 18 accounts barely missed making the final list. Some just haven’t posted enough kid photos lately so they’re a better fit for my next general Instagram roundup post. Some felt a little too posed/stock-like. And several were too much like personal photo albums (close-ups of kids, full family pics, etc…) to make them feel as inspirational.
More from Travel Babbo
When to Skimp on Travel and When to Splurge- Bodrum with Kids
- A Local’s Guide to the Best Ojai Restaurants
- South Greenland: Kid-Friendly Adventure in a Stunning Destination
- Ethiopian Airlines: The Flexible Airline (or, why you shouldn’t combine multiple tickets on one itinerary)
- Two Weeks on Lake Como with Kids (Which Was One Week Too Long)
I’m already following most of these accounts right now but today, my fav account is https://www.instagram.com/tapped_out_travellers/
I just discovered them today and they are a great up and coming. Def add them to your list
Thanks! I’ve followed them for a while and they were on my short list.
So many great accounts here that I didn’t know about! And, huge thank you for including me — makes me want to drag my kids out of school more often now to get more fun shots of them in the world!
Absolutely, I love your account. And I totally recommend pulling kids out of school for Instagram!
You made my day Eric by including us among so many great family travel accounts. I have to tell you that your last year’s post contributed a lot to my motivation to post more often and to post more pictures with kids, something I didn’t do much from the start.
PS It was nice meeting you in Kitzbühel as well. Happy travels!
Thanks Jurga! Happy travels as well! I’m sure I’ll see you somewhere next year. STS again?
Thanks for sharing these great Instagram accounts. Our kids have flown the nest now but some of our best travel memories are of family holidays past and remembering the places we visited and things we did through the eyes of our kids. It puts a whole new perspective on how you view the world.
The photography on these accounts is superb and they’ve given me lots of inspiration for my future travels.
All winning accounts here Eric. I love that Bali pic from the Passport Family. It captures the essence of the jungles around the area so well. Having been to Bali many times – and Ubud at least 3-4 times – I feel like I am there when viewing the photo. I need to get my IG tail in gear. Thousands of pictures to share from my travels. I have upped my game some but will ratchet it up 20 notches when we visit Thailand in February.
Ryan
What an honour to be included amongst some of these amazing big name accounts. Thank you so much for including our family adventures – we have a very exciting 2018 planned and I can’t wait to document more 😀
Hey Eric – Great round up of some excellent family travel IGer’s! Most of them I already followed, but always good to find a few more. Here are some of my favs
@likemiljian
@thiswildtime
@_georgiewatts_
@wolfandmoses
@thepinkdumpling
and of course it would be remiss of me not to plug my own account – @ourfamily_travels
Great to connect with such an inspiring community!
Thanks Brenda. Great accounts, but most seem to be personality-based and not purely travel inspiration?
Just went through and followed all the accounts I haven’t been following. I am now inspired to travel more with my family!
Lots of great Insta accounts here Eric. Maybe next year we’ll make it on your list.
https://www.instagram.com/theworldnus/
Following you now!
Accounts to aspire to! Hopefully we’ll make the cut next year 😉
Thank you for adding @travelmamas! I’m thrilled to be among such good company!
Thank you so much for sharing these accounts!!! I absolutely love following these accounts for inspiration! Now that we have our little daughter, we are constantly looking to get out and explore with her and these accounts provide such great inspiration!! Hopefully we can make the cut next year 🙂
@weexploreao
Excellent gallery Orsolya! Absolutely!
Thanks for putting together such a great list, we added a few new discoveries to our favorites. We probably won’t qualify because we don’t feature our kids enough in our photos but be assured they are right by our sides when 90% of them are taken @two_paddles
Hey Eric! We’d invite you to take a look at @kidtripster. Inspiration is what we do. 🙂
Thanks Shellie! Just followed you.
Hi Eric! Take a look at @crispy_trips
https://www.instagram.com/crispy_trips/
Following you now. But can you please leave your name next time? I’m guessing your name isn’t actually CrispyTrips. One of my pet peeves on Instagram and Twitter is when people don’t post their real names. Makes it a lot harder to connect and have conversations.
Hi Eric, I love the accounts you provided. Very inspiring!! I am Kathrin and started K in the Woods ( @kinthewoods) last year after my first baby. It is a platform for the modern adventurous family who loves to explore unique places, things beyond the ordinary. Please have a look probably you like it:) K
Thanks Kathrin! Just followed you from @familytravel!
These are all great and looking forward to following them! @theworldwidewebers and @littlekidnyc are also good ones to follow.
Thanks Jen! Worldwide Webers were on my first Instagram Family roundup. I love @littlekidnyc – thanks for bringing them to my attention.
Have you checked our Jones Family Travels? http://www.instagram.com/jonesfamilytravels
Absolutely! I’ve always followed Jones Family Travels from my @familytravel account.
That’s great! They do lots of fun stuff!
Also check out @traveltalesofus its super cool!
Following now, but always super skeptical of accounts with no names, no contact information and no associated website. The vast majority of IG accounts like that are simply grabbing photos from other sites to build a following with the ultimate goal of selling the account. If it’s your account, you may want to make it a little more personal.
This list was really helpful. Thanks! We’re relatively new to IG (since Dec ’17). We’re sorta learning as we go with daily posts of our 7 month family adventure, touring North America. You’re welcome to check out our journey if you’d like: @12summersfamily
Thanks Josh – just followed you.
Just followed all accounts I wasn’t already following! Hope to travel like all of them one day!
One can dream!
Thanks for the great post!
-@cainihelpyou
Loved this! Just added a bunch more to my follows. Thanks!
Ours is @worldschoolfamily
What an inspiring list. I’m definitely adding your hashtags to upcoming Instagram posts. Check us out @wegowithkids.
Awesome – just followed you!
Great list! I’m already a fan of a bunch of these (especially 2 Travel Dad’s) and now I’ve got a few new ones!
Would love to submit my own family travel IG for consideration for next year: http://www.instagram.com/Thespringbreakfamily
Thanks Montoya! Just made sure I was following you.
Hi,
Do you know @familyof5.swiss ?
Great blog about Switzerland !
Yes, I’ve followed them for awhile now from my @familytravel account. Excellent photography.