Frommer's Family Vacations in the National Parks

So much better than most Frommer's guides. This book does not insist that you "do" the National Parks the way the author recommends. It is geared toward families -- relatively normal families with normal gear and normal vehicles and normal amounts of time available. He gives age-appropriateness and difficulty levels for hikes and activities in the parks, useful information on how each park was formed and preserved, what makes each one special, and what there is to do. He suggests itineraries for long stays and short stays. The book is very informative and practical. His tips on what to see and what to skip are quite useful. He has great info on seasonal changes, so you can decide whether going at spring break sounds fun. There is very little preachiness about how horrible and insensitive normal people are (you know what I mean) -- compared to other travel books, this is much much better. We've used this book for 4 parks so far, and we're planning to hit a couple more next summer.

This book gets an A+ with one caveat. First, for the parks included in the book, the reviews are comprehensive and detailed. After trying to plan my southwest vacation using just the web (and getting that "glazed over" look in my eyes), I found this book helped me immensely. It's become my "travel bible". He really does focus on the family part of "family vacations". He presents a good arguement for the benefits of taking children on "natural" vacations, no matter what the age. The one caveat...he only reviews 16 national parks! (There are over 300 in the National Park System). Granted, reviewing smaller parks that don't qualify for "family vacation" status wouldn't make sense, nevertheless I was disappointed to see that none of the South Dakota parks such as Mount Rushmore and the Badlands nor Glacier in Montana, Shenandoah National Park in VA, or any of the Alaska Parks were included. Obviously, this book is so good that it has left me wanting for more. Before purchasing this book I would make sure that the park you want to visit is included.

This book was great on my family trip to the Grand Canyon. Not only did I learn a lot of history, but it was also very practical. It included things like safety, restrooms, facilities, when to go, and how much time to allot. It also offered reviews of camping accommodations and gave ideas on activities ranging from biking, nature walks, horseback riding, swimming, and tide pooling. My kids enjoyed everything I planned.