How are inflation and global uncertainties affecting German travel families?
Are German families’ travel plans, travel budgets, and expectations for child-friendly accommodations for 2026 changing compared to previous years?

In November, we invited nearly 1,000 (exactly: 942) of our Little Travel travel families to take part in a survey via Instagram, Facebook, and our newsletter. We asked them what makes a child-friendly accommodation worthwhile for them and what their travel plans for 2026 looks like. Where suitable, we compared these survey results with our previous surveys from August 2023 on family travel trends for 2024 and from November 2020 on parents’ preferences regarding child-friendly amenities. With some surprising results!

Here’s what we can already reveal: German families are increasingly drawn to faraway destinations, autumn is becoming an extension of summer, and helpful amenities matter more than luxury in a family hotel.

Who are our Little Travel families?

We wanted to find out: How old are Little Travel children traveling with their families — and what is their budget?

A colorful mix of ages travels with Little Travel Society

More than half of respondents go on vacation with babies and toddlers (53%). Almost half — 46% — travel with school-age children or teenagers and are therefore tied to school holiday dates. Babies and teenagers are the smallest groups among Little Travel families, at 18% and 13% respectively — but we give them special attention with tailored blog articles (e.g. Vacation with teenagers, Vacation with a baby — where to go?, Winter: long-haul destinations with a baby, checklists for traveling with a baby, etc.) and topic-focused campaigns, as they have very specific needs. Our hotel recommendations also always include information on baby-friendliness as well as details on whether and which features are available for teenagers.

Budget for family-friendly accommodation in 2026: Growing willingness to pay for family hotels — savings are made on holiday homes

We wanted to know how much our families are willing to spend on a holiday home or apartment, an apartment with breakfast service, and a full-service family hotel. The results surprised us!

Compared to our survey in August 2023, Little Travel families are more budget-conscious when it comes to holiday homes and apartments. Families seem to be investing primarily in comfort, service, and stress reduction — and as of late 2025, there is a slightly higher budget for family hotels than there was in summer 2023.

When it comes to family hotels with full board, wellness facilities and the like, families’ budgets are quite varied — no surprise, since family hotel offerings differ widely. Around 40% are willing to spend up to €300 per night, almost a third spend €300–€400. And as many as 28% have an even larger budget of more than €400 per night. What’s particularly interesting is that willingness to pay for family hotels has increased compared to 2023 (see August 2023 survey: back then, 57% wanted to spend up to €300, and only 43% more than that. Today, 61% are willing to invest more than €300 per night).

For an apartment with breakfast, around 60% are willing to spend between €1,000 and €2,000 per week. 23% have an even larger budget of more than €2,000 per week. In  this case, too, willingness to pay has dropped significantly since August 2023 — in fact, back in 2023 almost half said they wanted to spend more than €2,000 per week.

Trend regions 2026 – Southern Europe remains German families’ dream destination, but long-haul travel and holidays at home are trending

The classic image of family vacation with sunshine, beaches, and Mediterranean living remains hugely popular! By far the largest share of respondents (76%) are planning a trip to Southern Europe in 2026.

After a slight post-Covid dip in domestic holidays (only 13% said in our August 2023 survey that they wanted to vacation in Germany), Germany is trending again. With 37% of responses, it ranks in second place. Coolcation in Northern Europe currently comes last for 2026, still with a significant percentage of interested families though (28%). Many families are more likely to use autumn for pleasant temperatures rather than spending the summer in the north — although the trend towards northern destinations could increase in the coming years.

The big surprise is the growing wanderlust among German families: 30% are planning a long-haul vacation with their children in 2026 — almost twice as many as in 2023 (16%)!

Trending family travel destinations in 2026: Germany, Mediterranean classics, and a long-haul destination

This question about specific countries and regions for 2026 shows the same pattern: vacations at home are a major trend among families, and with 16% of responses Germany has even taken the top spot (in 2023, Bella Italia was still in first place with 21% of answers to the open question “Where do you want to go next year?”, while Germany came second with only 6%).

The classic family vacation favorites — Italy, Spain, Austria, France, Greece, Croatia, and Portugal — remain in the top 10. Not much has changed here over the past two years.

What has changed: for the first time, a long-haul destination has made its way into the top 10. Thailand has snuck in as a family travel destination — German families’ wanderlust is clearly growing! Denmark and the Netherlands have become slightly less attractive. In 2023, both countries still ranked in the top ten with 3% of responses.

Popular long-haul destinations for families in 2026: Thailand leads the way, Sri Lanka on the rise

30% of travel families are planning a long-haul trip in 2026 — but where do they want to go?

Thailand has taken the top spot with 21% of responses. It is followed by South Africa, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, and Dubai. Interestingly, the USA — which was still in first place in 2023 with 19% of responses — has dropped completely out of the top 10 for German travel families. This trend is also reflected in official figures: international tourism to the USA declined noticeably from 2024 to 2025. Sri Lanka and Dubai are emerging trends for 2026, while Mauritius and South Africa remain perennial favorites.

Especially at the beginning of Trump’s re-election, German media reported on difficult entry experiences. Among other factors, these incidents are leading to greater hesitation among German families when it comes to traveling to the USA in 2026. Thailand, on the other hand, offers good infrastructure, easy entry requirements, affordable flights to Bangkok, and low living costs on site. These factors likely explain why Thailand has risen to the top of long-haul destinations for German travel families in our survey for 2026.

says Sonja Alefi, founder of the Little Travel Society.

Traveling with toddlers: Room-darkening options & rental mobility items are a must!

Who doesn’t know the problem? A beautiful room, cool interior design — but the curtains don’t darken the room enough for the little ones’ midday nap. That can make a vacation challenging, because a tired child is often a cranky child. That’s why more than half of parents with toddlers want proper room-darkening options, with bed rails coming in second place. Quiet, restful sleep is clearly a top priority for tired parents of babies and toddlers — even on vacation. Diaper bins and socket covers are practical, but rank lower in importance.

Rental products that make getting around easier and reduce the amount of luggage are very popular with traveling parents in 2026. Strollers, child carriers, children’s bikes, and child seats for bicycles are mentioned first. No surprise here: baby monitors were still a must-have for 73% of parents in 2020. Today, they are far less important at just 9% — parents mainly rely on apps instead. This once again shows that amenities in family-friendly accommodations need to keep pace with changing times.

The fact that parents increasingly value the rental of children’s mobility items such as carriers, strollers, or children’s bikes may also indicate that families are traveling by train more often and therefore prefer lighter luggage. A fascinating question — and one we will definitely include in our next survey!

Lucia Vaccarro Notte, Head of Sales and Cooperation Management at the Little Travel Society

Traveling with school-age children in 2026: A pool is a must-have

By a huge margin, parents of school-age children want a pool on vacation — with 80%, a pool is practically considered a basic amenity. That doesn’t mean that cool play areas, animals, or sports activities aren’t appreciated. Families were only able to choose one option, so the majority likely selected water fun as the most important basic feature.

Traveling with teenagers in 2026: Surfing, quad biking, and hanging out with peers

More than half of parents believe that cool activities for teenagers on vacation are more important than, for example, Wi-Fi or Instagrammable spots. A slightly heretical question: was that more the parents’ wish than the teens’? We’d certainly love to run a survey among teenagers themselves someday 😉

Our advice to hosts: since parents are the ones who book and pay for the vacation, an attractive leisure program for teens should definitely be part of the offer. Because if it’s exciting enough, even teenagers will put their screens down — a goal many parents share. At least that’s been my personal experience as a mother of three teenage girls while traveling.

reports Sonja Alefi, founder of the Little Travel Society.

Would you like to download the full survey with nearly 1,000 participants as a PDF? Click here.

This survey was largely conducted by Antonia Birk, our Social Media and Content Manager (photo: Lisa Hantke), with support from Janine Nickel (author & member of the social media team), Sonja Alefi (expert in traveling with children and founder of Little Travel Society), Lucia Vaccaro Notte (Head of Sales and Cooperation Management), and Chiara Coenen (Head of Project Development, Account Manager & author).

Now that traveling is back on track after two difficult years, we wanted to know what Little Travel families have on their travel bucket list for 2024. We asked, for example, whether they will go to the beach or hiking, whether they prefer a holiday home or a family hotel. And how much they will be willing to invest in their accommodation and how they plan to  save money on vacation in times of inflation?

 

End of August, we asked 2,028 of our Instagram followers about family trends for 2024 in an Instagram story. We asked our newsletter subscribers and Facebook followers the same questions (151 participants and 89 participants respectively). A total of 2,268 parents took part. Wow!

Before starting to present you the results we can already tell you two things: Bella Italia was mentioned most among all possible travel destinations and our Little Travel families have large families. But read yourself…

What makes Little Travel families special?

We wanted to know: How many kids do families bring with them on vacation on average and how old are they?

How many children travel with Little Travel families?

Little Travel families have more children than the German average.

57% have two children (cf.: on average in Germany, only 27% of households with children under 18 have two children, and in more than half of the families there is only one child under 18). Furthermore, 16% of the families who took place in our survey have 3 or more children (cf.: 8% of families on average in Germany have 3+ children). Therefore: Dear hosts, please plan the outlay of your rooms and offers not just for classic 1-2 kid families. Families with large children also want to spend their vacation at your place.

Families with children of all ages follow us

More than half of the respondents go on vacation with small children (52%). 35% of the Little Travel kids are school children. However, 12% of families also have teenagers in their family. Not only our Little Travel Society, but also our followers´children are getting older. Many of our followers discover us when they are planning their first trip with a baby. However, since the Little Travel Society has been around since the beginning of 2016, some of these babies have probably already grown into teenagers. We will learn from it! We will soon add more information for families with teens to our recommendations.

Family travel destinations for 2024 – Europe is very popular

Our families love our diverse continent. Most families (72% of respondents) will vacation in Europe next year. However, Germany also won’t be as empty as the classrooms during school holidays. Participations of our survey who named Europe as their travel destination will be vacationing in many different countries in Europe. As a single country, Germany will attract 13% of the holiday makers. 16% dare to go on a long-distance trip – after the pandemic, #wanderlust is back again.

Trending European travel destinations for Little Travel Society families in 2024

In 2024 Italy will be the absolute favorite country in this survey with 21%. The German-speaking South Tyrol in northern Italy was most frequently mentioned (4%). Sardinia and Tuscany followed a little behind.

France comes second. Corsica, Southern France and Brittany are the most popular French regions among Little Travel followers.

Not surprisingly, in Spain – third-placed country –  the islands are in the lead: The Balearic Islands with Mallorca and Ibiza are at the top, followed by the Canary Islands with Tenerife and Co. On the mainland, Andalusia was mentioned most often.

Also in Greece, the islands such as Corfu, Crete and Rhodes are also most popular.

However, even if mediterranean travel destinations are in the top three places for Little Travel families, a lot of more northern regions are in high demand when planning vacations for 2024.

Germany and Austria follow in fourth and fifth place with a total of 11%.

7% will head up to Scandinavia and 2% to Britain next year.

In Germany, a stiff sea breeze is trend – the North Sea and the Baltic Sea were mentioned most often, especially Sylt. In addition, not only the popular holiday regions in the south of Germany are mentioned – Little Travel families actually like to go on holiday all over Germany. Also in Austria, all states are visited equally.

Which long-distance travel destinations will Little Travel families chose for 2024?

14% of the answers to the open question “Where will you vacation in 2024?” related to long-distance travel destinations. The most popular is by far the US – an easy and safe long-distance travel destination for families – followed by Thailand, South Africa, Mauritius and the Caribbean. Many other countries and regions were also mentioned, such as Costa Rica, Bali, Canada, Australia and other countries in Latin America.

Summer holidays and beyond school holidays (!) are most popular travel times

In Germany there are at least five school holidays every year. Therefore, we wanted to know from our families when they will be going on vacation next year. As expected, the six weeks of summer holidays are the favorite time of the year for a family vacation. But don´t worry – not everyone squeeze into Italian Riviera in August. Due to different school holiday periods in the German federal states, in 2024 there will always be some kid on summer holiday somewhere in Germany from June 20th to September 9th. 15% of Little Travel families prefer not to travel during school holidays when everything is more expensive and more crowded. However, Little Travel families are also out and about during other holiday seasons – Easter, Whitsun and autumn holidays are almost equally popular. With 6% of the answers, winter holidays are only important for real winter fans and especially families who love skiing.

Little Travel families are frequent travelers

More than half of the families surveyed plan to go on vacation at least once next year. More than a third even wants to travel two or three times in 2024. At least 7% are frequent travelers and will even go on vacation 4 times or more often. This is significantly more frequent than in a Statista survey from 2011 which was carried out among German families about traveling.

In 2024, a beach vacation will be at the top of the bucket list for Little Travel families

Beach vacation is by far the number one choice for 2024 for Little Travel families. And we understand why. Children are often real water lovers and can spend hours splashing around and building sandcastles. However, we also have many sporty families among our followers: active vacations (hiking, surfing, bike tours, yoga vacations, etc.) together with skiing vacations sum up to 26% of the answers. Surprisingly, city trips (11%) are even one percentage point ahead of farm holidays. Our Little Travel families know that a well-planned city trip can be a lot of fun with children.

Holiday homes and apartments will be more popular than hotels in 2024

60% of those surveyed said they wanted to stay in a holiday home or an apartment with catering in 2024, while 40% chose a hotel. We suppose that saving money is also a reason during times of inflation can also be a reason for this.

This is how much Little Travel families plan to spend for their accommodation

We wanted to know from our families how much they are willing to spend on a holiday home/a holiday apartment, an apartment with breakfast and a family hotel. The results surprised us a little.

The majority of those surveyed were prepared to dig deep into their pockets for a chic holiday home or holiday apartment: our followers were prepared to invest between €2,000 and €3,000 per week (but: on Instagram most people moved the slider close to €2,000, not €3,000).

Interestingly, the same result was obtained for an apartment with breakfast: €2,000 to €3,000 (on Instagram again with the slider mostly in the lower range of €2,000). Travel families don’t seem to be willing to spend significantly more on the breakfast option.

When it comes to family hotels that already include full board and all sorts of family offers, opinions differ greatly when it comes to spending money. This can also be due to the fact that family hotel offers can differ widely. Exactly a third of our families are willing to spend between €200 and €300 for a night in a family hotel. 24% want to invest less than €200 per night. But almost 40% are willing to spend between €300 and €600. 3% are even of the opinion that €700 and more would be okay for a good offer.

Saving money: going on vacation less often instead of foregoing fun during one´s stay

Current inflation does not make things easy for both hosts and traveling families. That’s why we wanted to know: What’s the preferred way for families to save on vacation? By far the most (30%) of those surveyed, prefer to reduce their number of vacations. Others prefer to save money by choosing a cheaper accommodation or looking for a cheaper travel destination. However, most families don’t want to miss out on the fun while they are on vacation. From given answers, very few people chose the option to save on food or excursions (12% each).

If you would like to click through all the survey charts, you can click on this link.

A hugh “thank you” goes to our followers who took part in this survey. A great, exciting, very diverse group of travel addicts are following us!

Yours Antonia (Foto: Lisa Handke)
Social Media and Content Manager