Best Family Vacations in the Southeast

Heading to Orlando? The mother of all family destinations offers theme parks, great resorts, and a multitude of other attractions. Find planning information about Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort and more.

Drawn by miles of Atlantic beachfront, a host of world-class golf and tennis facilities, and a wide choice of hotel and vacation rental options, families have long found Hilton Head Island to be an alluring vacation destination.

With 32 miles of spectacular, sugar-white beaches and a raftload of outdoor activities and family attractions, the neighboring towns of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach are premier family beach vacation destinations. 

A string of barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina, the Outer Banks stretch on for 130 miles. They make for a laid-back family getaway, with beaches, sand dunes (some 100 feet high), swimming, crabbing, kayaking in salt and freshwater marshes, and spying wild horses that live here. 

Yearning to get away from it all? The beautiful Sanibel and Captiva islands offer shell-strewn beaches, a laid-back vibe, terrific restaurants, chic shops, and an incredibly diverse array of wildlife. What you won't find here are amusement parks, traffic lights, billboard-lined highways, glaring neon, and tracts of high-rise condos. Amen.

Rich in both history and natural beauty and located just off the coast near Savannah, Tybee Island is famous for its seafood and spectacular uninterrupted three-mile beach. Families can explore salt marshes that teem with ​birds and wildlife unique to Georgia’s coast. 

Accessible by boat or by car off Virginia's Eastern coast over the Route 175 bridge, the small and serene Chincoteague Island is the gateway to the Assateague Island National Seashore—a nature refuge that is the home of herds of wild ponies made famous in the classic children's book Misty of Chincoteague.

With sand like powdered sugar and the brilliant turquoise Gulf of Mexico, Destin is a gem on the Emerald Coast. Put these kid-friendly attractions at the top of your to-do list.

The most-visited of all American national parks, Great Smoky Mountains National Park straddles North Carolina and Tennessee and offers breathtaking scenery and wildlife viewing as well as remnants of Southern Appalachian mountain culture.

Eighty-five miles south of Savannah, Sea Island is one of the barrier islands known as the Golden Isles, where families return for generations. Its most plush hotel, The Cloister, was built in 1928. Sea Island offers 10,000 acres of forest and marshland, five miles of private beachfront, and many outdoor and indoor activities for families. 

Bringing the kids to Daytona Beach? Planning a getaway to this family-friendly destination is a snap when you know where to play and eat with kids.

South Carolina is the No. 2 state for tourism after Florida, and Myrtle Beach is a big part of this picture, with a 60-mile stretch of beaches, dozens of affordable hotels, and several amusement park attractions. 

Looking for a super laid-back Florida beach with white-sugar sands and a vibe that's as kid-friendly as can be? In southwest Florida, you'll find down-to-earth Fort Myers Beach on a skinny barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico. Read on for a roundup of the most fun attractions for families in this beach lover's paradise.

Virginia Beach is a huge summer resort town and the largest tourist destination in Virginia. Drawn by 20 miles of unbroken beachfront, families have always flocked to here but in recent years the beach playground has gotten a facelift and a fresher, upgraded image. 

Tennessee's breakout destination is Pigeon Forge, just eight miles from the Smoky Mountains National Park and home to the Dollywood theme park, which just added a family-friendly resort and is unveiling the roller coaster everyone is dying to try. 

On the southern coast of North Carolina, Carolina Beach and nearby Kure Beach are less commercially developed than many other beach towns in the Southeast and offer a relaxed, family-friendly vibe. Both Carolina Beach and Kure Beach deliver a classic beach town experience, with lovely stretches of sand and fishing piers. Both towns have boardwalks: Carolina Beach Boardwalk offers seaside amusements and an arcade, while Kure Beach's boardwalk is part of a green, oceanfront park.

Fifteen miles from Atlanta, Stone Mountain Park is Georgia's top tourist draw, combining natural attractions with amusements such as a sky ride, scenic railroad, and laser light show. This is the largest outcropping of exposed granite in the world, with the world's largest sculpture, a Confederate memorial, carved into the stone.

– Edited by Suzanne Rowan Kelleher