10 Memorable Mother-Daughter Getaways In The USA

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

Orlando is one of the most obvious contenders for best mother-daughter getaways, but St. Augustine, Florida, can be just as special. My mom loved the ease of St. George Street on her feet, how wood-shutter buildings – pedaling ice cream, cold coffee, and European-inspired food – fenced in a sun-drenched pedestrian path. There were museums, too, which teased us in with signs that all began “oldest.” 

St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement in the continental United States. So, start your mother-daughter getaway with a late morning walking tour. You’ll get introduced to St. Augustine’s Spanish-influenced architecture, history, and industrialist ties. 

Later, grab brunch at Sunday, St. Augustine’s cutest toast-centric cafe. Then, drive out to St. Augustine Beach (about fifteen minutes away) and let soft sands slide between your toes, or relax 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. Gilded Age mansions bloat New England’s coast. These behemoth buildings, called cottages by their owners (think Vanderbilt heirs), widen eyes and drop jaws. But Newport’s palatial properties can also bond; you and your mom will swap glances and exchange whispers (“This is a summer home? A summer home!”).

There’s more to do in Newport after. Listen to The Last Great American Dynasty while gently winding along Ocean Drive. Breathe in salt-slicked air at The Cliff Walk. Sip morning mimosas on a fishing boat bobbing past Bowen’s Wharf. 

Nashville, Tennessee

Whenever I’m working out of 12South (there’s a secret second-floor balcony I love), 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. You’ll still want to leave Nashville’s tourist strip late in the morning (my mom would freak out about Nashvegas if she knew) and grab lunch in the Gulch. Stroll through Centennial Park early afternoon, pop into Draper James in 12South, or drive to Cheekwood’s manicured gardens. Just be sure to skip nighttime beer on Broadway and opt for sunset wine at Arrington Vineyards instead.

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’s red, ruched rocks jut along trails that range from easy to strenuous. All around is an area LA hippies flock to for spiritual rejuvenation and energy vortexes. 

A few of my friends have been to Sedona on mother-daughter getaways and loved the experience! They reconnected with their moms while hiking the trails, taking a bumpy, mud-in-your-shoes off-road Sedona tour, and heading out on a day trip to Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend. 

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

Chip and Joana Gaines’ Fixer Upper-fueled Waco wonderland, Magnolia Market, is a Silos-landmarked, flower-flecked square landscaped with families in mind. At 9 AM, a line curls around Silos Baking Co, hyped for icing-heaped cupcakes (I love their Lemon Lavender. 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 and kitchen shops.

Magnolia Market carries a HGTV designer’s curated coziness, Texas-sized ambitions, and shiplap stylishness. But the rest of Waco is perfect for a quick mother-daughter trip, too. Armstrong-Browning Library casts intimate slants of light in Beauty And The Beast halls. Spice Village’s sixty-plus boutiques rest beneath a wood-beamed roof. At Cameron Park’s Circle Point, you and your mom can enjoy Waco’s green-draped bluffs, snaking sidewalks, and Brazos River views. Wind down at Fabled, a busy bookshop with just enough seating to pause, loosen your legs, and make conversation-filled memories.

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 girl’s 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 finger-stretches of vineyards 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-graced 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 raised our hands like Hermione Granger in Potion’s class, 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!