Last updated: September 2026.
For us, the easiest age to travel with a baby was roughly 3 to 10 months, with 6 to 8 months the sweet spot: R was more settled than a newborn, still portable, not yet walking and usually happy in a pram or carrier. But the ‘best’ age depends on the trip. Newborn travel can be simple logistically but hard on the parents; once babies become mobile, flights and restaurants need more planning; and toddler travel gets busier but also much more interactive.
If you’re deciding when to book your first trip, here’s how each stage compares.
| Age | What travel is like | Best trip type | Our take |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-3 months | Portable, but you’re in the fourth trimester | Short trips, close to home | Possible, not our default recommendation |
| 3-6 months | Settling into a routine, not yet mobile | Short-haul, city or beach | One of the easier windows |
| 6-10 months | Interactive, often not yet walking | Broadest choice of trip | Our sweet spot |
| 10-18 months | Mobile, with naps and food to plan around | Easy bases, family hotels | More planning, still very doable |
| 18 months+ | Busy but engaged | Trips with things to do | Different rather than worse |
Ready to choose where to go? Our guide to best holidays with a baby breaks down destinations and trip types by stage, from UK staycations to first flights abroad.
Why I care about this question
I was seven or eight years old, standing in the streets of Kathmandu in Nepal when I turned to my mum and said: “Mummy, it’s very different here.” It sounds simple. But that moment has stayed with our family for decades. Not because it was profound, but because it was the beginning of something: a curiosity about the world that has never left me.
People often say “they won’t remember” when justifying why young children shouldn’t travel, but I’d argue that’s missing the point. I don’t remember Kathmandu the way I remember other milestones, but it shaped me in ways that are far harder to articulate and far more lasting. That trip, and the many others my mum took me on, built something in me quietly: an ease with difference, a comfort in unfamiliar places, and an instinct to lean into the unknown rather than away from it.
My mum understood this instinctively. She has been travelling since she left home, and in her mid-sixties she shows no signs of stopping. She gave me the world before I had the language to appreciate it, and in doing so shaped who I became far more than she probably realises.
Those traits followed me into adulthood. I built a career in marketing in an environment that demands adaptability and cultural intelligence. I travel extensively, and when I became a mum myself, something crystallised: I wanted to pass the gift on deliberately, in the same way it had been passed to me. That’s why I started this family travel blog.
R took fourteen flights before he turned one, a Eurostar, and many road trips. Plenty of people raised an eyebrow, insisting “he won’t remember it”. And there it was, that same assumption my mum had quietly defied three decades earlier.
Do babies remember travelling?
No, and the “they won’t remember it” argument comes up almost every time someone sees a baby in an airport. On a surface level, it’s true. Your six-month-old is not going to come home from Seville with vivid memories of the orange trees.
But here’s what I now believe, both from our own trips and from everything I’ve learned writing about family travel: the memories matter far less than the exposure. Travel at a young age expands the sensory world and helps build adaptability. The quiet message being absorbed is that the world is big, and welcoming, and worth exploring.
Early experiences shape neural pathways, and babies exposed to varied environments, faces, sounds and stimuli are building cognitive flexibility long before they can articulate what they’re experiencing. So while they won’t remember the trip, the trip is still doing something.
Best age to travel with a baby: a breakdown by stage
0-3 months: possible, but you’re in survival mode
Newborns are actually easier to travel with than you might think. They sleep a lot, they’re not mobile, and they’re entirely contained. But you are probably not ready. The fourth trimester is relentless, you’re still figuring out feeding, and the mental load of a trip on top of new parenthood is significant.
There’s no single medical rule about a minimum age to fly. Many parents wait until after the 6 to 8 week check and first round of vaccinations before their first flight, partly as a personal comfort measure, and some airlines set their own minimum age for infants (often a few days old). If you’re planning to fly with a very young baby, it’s worth checking both your airline’s policy and with your GP or health visitor rather than assuming a fixed rule. If you’re a seasoned traveller and a confident new parent, a short trip at this age is doable, but for most people, this isn’t the moment.
If you do want to travel in those early weeks, my ten steps guide to planning a baby-friendly holiday covers how to approach it without overwhelming yourself. And don’t forget to order your little one’s passport well in advance.
3-10 months: the sweet spot
This is widely considered one of the easier ages to travel with a baby, and in our experience, it really is. Babies aren’t yet mobile, which means they’ll sit contentedly in a carrier or on your lap. They don’t need entertainment beyond you, and they’re not eating complex food. And crucially, they fly free or very cheaply as lap infants on most airlines.
The 6 to 8 month window in particular was our sweet spot: past the unpredictability of the newborn stage, vaccinations underway, alert and responsive, but not yet crawling or pulling to stand. R did some of his best travelling in this window, long-haul included. That’s our experience rather than a universal rule though, plenty of families find 3 to 5 months, or 9 to 10 months, works just as well for them.
If you’re planning a trip in this window, our round-up of short-haul destinations under two hours from the UK and our guide to best holidays with a baby are good places to start.
11 months to 2.5 years: the hardest age to travel with kids
This is the tough stretch. Once babies become mobile, crawling, cruising, then walking, the logistics of travel change dramatically. They want to move constantly, they can’t be reasoned with, they have big feelings about small things, and they’re too young to be entertained in one way for any meaningful length of time.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t travel. We absolutely did and still are, with some long-haul trips planned this year. But go in knowing it’s the hardest age to travel with kids by most measures. Shorter trips and accommodation with outdoor space can make things easier, and our best UK family hotels and best kinderhotels in Europe guides cover properties set up for exactly this stage, with kids clubs and childcare on hand. Toddlers on planes are a test of character, yours and theirs. Our travel toys guide and travel pram comparison both help at this stage.
Our guide to baby-friendly UK Airbnbs is a good starting point if you want somewhere with space to roam without the stress of a long journey. If you’re looking for something gentle while still boarding a plane, a long weekend in Jersey is brilliant for this age group.
3-5 years: the fun phase begins
Something shifts around age three. They’re potty trained, they can communicate what they want and need, they start really engaging with where they are, and they remember things. A three-year-old exploring a new city or on a beach in Mallorca is having a real experience they can talk about afterwards, and it’s exactly the age we’re planning to take R to Lapland. This is when family travel starts to feel reciprocal, when they’re not just along for the ride, but actually in it with you.
It’s also worth noting: this is still before most children start school, which means you have maximum flexibility before term times begin to dictate your calendar. Our guides to short-haul destinations under two hours from the UK and the best Easter breaks with a toddler are good places to start, both are built around destinations and timing that work well before school-holiday pricing kicks in.
5+ years: the dream phase (with a catch)
Older children are wonderful travel companions. They can carry their own bags, engage with history and culture, read menus, navigate, and have opinions worth including in the planning. International travel starts to feel educational in a tangible way. The catch is that school schedules now govern when you can go, which means peak season pricing and the end of spontaneous mid-term trips.
This is exactly why I’d argue for starting early, not instead of travelling when they’re older, but as well as. The child who travelled as a baby arrives at five with an existing ease in the world, and tends to be less thrown by the unfamiliar.
Travelling with a baby on a plane: what actually helps
If you’re nervous about your first flight with a baby, here’s what actually makes a difference. There’s no single best age to fly for the first time, most of the points above about 3 to 10 months apply here too, but here’s what helps whatever stage you’re at:
- Book the bassinet seat, bulkhead rows with sky cots are worth every effort to secure.
- Time flights around sleep where you can. Early morning or late evening flights often mean a baby who sleeps for a chunk of the journey.
- Bring more nappies than you think you need. Then bring more. For a full rundown of what to pack, our baby travel packing list has everything broken down by age and trip length, with a free printable checklist.
- Feed on take-off and landing to help with ear pressure. Breast or bottle both work.
- A carrier or a pram in the airport. Your hands will thank you.
- Lower your expectations for the destination. One big thing per day, not an itinerary. This is the biggest mindset shift that makes baby travel enjoyable rather than exhausting.
Stuck on what to bring to keep them occupied? Our baby travel toys guide breaks it down by age.
If you want a deeper dive into the logistics, we’ve written a full survival guide to flying with a baby covering seat selection, bassinet bookings, and how to survive a long-haul with a lap infant. If you’re flying British Airways specifically, our dedicated guide to BA with a baby covers bassinets, seat choice and luggage in more detail. The flight itself is rarely as bad as people fear. Babies are more resilient in transit than toddlers, and strangers are almost always kinder than you expect.
Is travelling with a baby a waste of money?
This is the question underneath the “they won’t remember it” argument. Travelling before your baby turns two is almost always the most cost-effective time to go. Under-twos fly free as lap infants on most airlines, or at a heavily reduced infant fare. They don’t need their own seat, their own ticket to attractions, and often not even their own meal at a restaurant. Costs rise steeply once they hit two and need a paid seat, and again once they’re school-age and you’re locked into peak holiday pricing.
So if the question is purely financial, the maths favour travelling early. If the question is about value, whether the experience is worth the investment, we’d say yes, not because they’ll remember every moment, but because exposure to the world seems to compound quietly over years into something you can’t put a number on.
The bottom line: what age to travel with kids
The 3-10 month window is a practical sweet spot for a lot of families: affordable, manageable, and enjoyable. But there isn’t a wrong time to start. The hardest phase (roughly 10 months to 2.5 years) is hard, not impossible. The toddler years are chaotic but full of magic. And every age from three onwards tends to get easier and richer.
What matters most isn’t the exact age. It’s the decision to go.
Allie, Jack & R x
