Looking for memorable mother-daughter getaways? Here are the ten best places to travel with your mom this year.

My earliest memories of my mother involve a map. On road trips, she’d stretch a giant map past her petite frame, her arms tangled in paper folds. She’d shift the map, flip it, let the sheet blanket her knees (it really was a big map, or maybe I was a small person). My dad held the wheel, but my mom was the navigator. She was the one who set our family on any course with determination. 

While traveling with my mom (especially when it was just the two of us), I learned that she could be barefoot-in-the-sand carefree, laugh as light as the wind, bawk at tourist prices (we’re first-generation immigrants, and she’s a consummate thrifter. This was inevitable), be as unpredictable as a flash flood, try to bring everyone and their cat to Jesus (dogs, in my mom’s mind, already belong in heaven), and stomp past all the stop-signs her inflamed muscles put in place. Chronic pain stole her physical strength, but nothing could rob my mom of her perseverance. 

As a kid, I loved putting my tiny hands in hers and letting her guide me on mother-daughter getaways. She introduced me to the thrill of New York City, the giant museums of DC, and Team Personal Item Only (if you’ve ever flown Spirit Airlines, you know). 

So, to mark Mother’s Day, here are a dozen memorable mother-daughter getaways around the USA.

St. Augustine, Florida

In Florida, Orlando is the most obvious choice for a mother-daughter getaway, but St. Augustine can be just as special. My mom loved the ease of St. George Street on her feet, so we walked along this pedestrian path, passing windows flanked by wood shutters, two-story buildings pedaling ice cream and cold coffee, and museums that teased us in with signs that began “oldest”.

St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement in the continental United States. To get a feel for the city’s history and Spanish-influenced architecture, start your mother-daughter getaway with a walking tour. Then, grab brunch at Sunday, a local cafe where toast is prepped daily with homemade sourdough bread, before driving out to St. Augustine Beach (about fifteen minutes away) or relaxing in a salt cave in nearby Cordova Street.

Newport, Rhode Island

At first, Newport, Rhode Island, might seem like one of the most intimidating mother-daughter getaways. Here, Gilded Age mansions, called cottages by their owners (Vanderbilt heirs), bloat New England’s coast. You and your mom will swap glances and exchange whispers (“This is a summer home? A summer home!”).

But making the most of a mother-daughter weekend in Newport is easy. Think: morning mimosas on a fishing boat bobbing past Bowen’s Wharf, breaths of salt-slicked air at Cliff Walk, a mini road trip along Newport’s gently winding Ocean Drive (while listening to Taylor Swift’s The Last Great American Dynasty).

Nashville, Tennessee

Whenever I’m working out of 12South, Nashville’s shopping neighborhood, I notice moms battling crowds with their daughters (and their daughters’ twenty-something closest friends). Nashville may be known as a bachelorette destination, but it’s also one of the best mother-daughter getaways. 

The museums downtown (Ryman Auditorium, Country Music Hall of Fame) are easy to walk to. But you’ll want to leave Broadway, Nashville’s tourist strip, by mid-afternoon (my mom would freak out about Nashvegas if she knew). Mother-daughter-friendly options in Nashville include Centennial Park, 12South (for brunch at The Butter Milk Ranch and a stop by Draper James), and Cheekwood Gardens.

Washington DC

“Step back, doors closing” became the soundtrack of my Sundays as the metro shuttled my mom and me through DC. We’d spend entire afternoons watching the orangutan at the National Zoo or getting lost in the National Museum of Natural History. With bullheaded desperation, my mom also tried to get me interested in plants through the United States Botanic Garden. But alas, I only squealed for spring’s Tidal-flush of cherry blossoms.  

Washington DC is one of the most underrated mother-daughter getaways in the US. You can enjoy a classic high tea at The Watergate Hotel, window shop at CityCenter, glimpse Leonardo DaVinci’s Ginevra de’ Benci at the National Gallery Of Art, and treat yourself to cakecups at Baked & Wired in Georgetown, DC’s ultra-charming historic neighborhood. After dark, take a tour of DC by moonlight for a memorable mother-daughter night out.

Sedona, Arizona

Sedona is an area flocked to for spiritual rejuvenation, energy vortexes, and hikes among red, ruched rocks.

A few of my friends have traveled to Sedona on mother-daughter getaways and loved the experience. They reconnected with their moms while hiking beginner-friendly trails, day tripping to Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend, and touring Sedona off-road, every bump caking mud onto their shoes.

Santa Fe, New Mexico

My mom loved everything about The City Different: how Canyon Road framed so much of Santa Fe’s art scene, how her Salwar Kameez blended into billows of boho fabric, how loose tea leaves were boiled to draw out the scents of orange blossom, cardamom, and sandalwood, how old churches rose like loaves of bread in a semiarid steppe.

Santa Fe is one of the most memorable mother-daughter getaways in the US. Go to see paintings of open blooms at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, taste chili chocolate at Kakawa House, fall in love with anise-pressed biscochitos and honey-dipped sopapillas, and browse for books at Bee Hive.

Waco, Texas

Two silos landmark Magnolia Market, Chip and Joana Gaines’ family-friendly Waco wonderland. At 9 AM, a line hyped for icing-heaped cupcakes curls around Silos Baking Co (I love their Lemon Lavender flavor. My mom’s favorite is the Toasted Coconut). Food trucks arrive at noon, most Mondays to Saturdays. Post-lunch, mother-daughter duos begin to stroll into a little stretch of home goods and kitchenware shops.

The rest of Waco is perfect for a quick mother-daughter trip, too. Slants of light fall in the Beauty and the Beast-like hall of Armstrong-Browning Library. Waco’s bluffs, draped in green, can be seen every summer from Cameron Park. Conversations flow at Fabled, a busy bookshop where you and your mom can wind down, grab a coffee, and browse.   

Orlando, Florida

No list of mother-daughter getaways is complete without mention of Orlando, where magic is guaranteed. Here’s the thing about visiting Disney as an adult: you can take your days as slow as you want. You’re not trying to squeeze every last drop of Disney wonder out of your theme park ticket; you’re simply turning back a clock to reminisce. 

So make an RTW trip out of Epcot, where you and your mom can eat, drink, and shop worldwide (without ever leaving the US). Epcot’s rides aren’t thrilling by any stretch of the imagination, but there are ones that my mom and I love, like the Gran Fiesta Tour starring The Three Caballeros (her favorite) and Living With The Land (my favorite). 

Outside of Epcot, you’ll want to stroll through Disney Springs, Universal CityWalk, and Lake Eola Park.

Napa Valley, California

Napa Valley is the ultimate girls’ weekend destination. The rolling hills of Northern California’s winelands make for the perfect mother-daughter getaway, too. You and your mom will clutch hands and see vineyards, stretched out like fingers, from a hot air balloon flight or chat, eyes heavy from one too many sips of red wine, deep into the night. You’ll stumble back into queen-sized beds and wake to Napa inn-prepared breakfast spreads. 

New York City, New York

Common ground is easy to find in New York City (once you get off the subway, you’re walking on it). There’s a hum, excitement, and momentum to NYC that you can’t find elsewhere. My mom (with a coffee in her hand) and I strolled past the Hepburn-famed windows of Tiffany’s. We followed the scents of Manhattan’s food carts (and split gyro-topped rice plates smothered in spicy sauce). We felt time blur around us at Grand Central Station. She wandered into Sex & The City sights; I posed on the steps of The Met like Blair Waldorf. We went to The New York Public Library – once, twice, thrice. We flailed our hands, trying to hail a yellow cab. She snapped a photo of me spinning with a star-spangled street performer wearing a Marie Antoinette hoop skirt bigger than American dreams.

Which of these mother-daughter getaways would you go on? What are your favorite mother daughter trips? Let me know in the comments below!