United States – Hotels

Boston Family Hotel Rooms for 5 or 6 Kid-friendly Boston hotels that sleep 5 or 6 in one family room are listed below. (scroll down) Boston Hotel Family Rooms for Every Budget Large hotel rooms, family suites, and a hostel are included, for budgets from affordable to luxury. The price range of each hotel is…

Miami Hotel Family Rooms – Sleep 5 or 6 Below is an alphabetical list of Miami, Florida hotels that can accommodate 5 or 6 in one family room. The price / rate range of each hotel is indicated by the “$” sign. Please, see the corresponding $-symbol key in the sidebar. Click on the hotel…

Maui Family Hotels – Suites for 5, 6, 7, 8 Family friendly Maui hotels and condominiums which can accommodate a family of 5, 6, 7, or 8 in one room or suite are listed below. The price / rate range of each hotel is indicated. See the $-symbol key in the sidebar. The list includes…

Here is a quick list of hotels in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for families of five as requested by one of our visitors! Marriott Downtown: two double beds plus roll away, swimming pool. Courtyard by Marriott: located downtown, two double beds plus roll away, swimming pool. Radisson Blu Warwick:  located downtown, Deluxe room has room for five…

Like many a seasoned traveler, I have long avoided any and all air travel around the Thanksgiving holiday. However, there is always room for an exception–it turns out that if you want to be with your east coast college kids you will do the unthinkable and travel from one coast to another on the busiest…

The Syracuse New York area is well known for spectacular fall foliage. But the city is lovely and has plenty of things to do at any time of the year! We had the pleasure of visiting Syracuse twice in the past couple of years, once in early, frigid spring, with a bit of snow here…

It is hard to imagine Manhattan without its popular, elevated park: the High Line, which traverses roughly 20 blocks along the western side of the island, but this park has only been open since 2009. Our family visited shortly after the first section opened, at which time it was much shorter and seemingly unknown, as…

We took our three intrepid teens to New Orleans (“Nawlins”) last summer. Yes, I wrote summer, but we truly lucked out on the weather.  We were greeted the first day by sweaty gentlemen in red tutus and leotards—it turns out there was a fun run in support of local charities. Ladies were also sporting red eveningwear,…

Back from NYC again. The Club Quarters Hotel Wall Street located on William Street in the Financial District has a number of options available for families of 4, 5 or 6.  We have stayed in one of the larger rooms with a separate alcove with a queen bed and a pull out sofa.  A baby…

Dear Sleeps 5 Community – We have had a couple of recent submissions from areas that we do not yet have on our site.  But they looked great and we want to pass them along. Emilio Arroyo from the charming La Casa del Puente (Cantabria Mountains in Spain) writes: “We have Family Suites for 3-4…

Families still flock to the exuberant micro neighborhood in lower Manhattan known as Little Italy.  Some are searching for a cultural heritage, a romantic vestige of New York’s past, good food and or a festive atmosphere.  On our last visit our focus was GELATO–the gelato that carries us across the Atlantic and drops our taste…

NYC Hotel Sleeps 5: This last week, we stayed at a wonderful old historical inn located in the Financial District of New York City.  The tranquil Wall Street Inn is an unexpected oasis in the middle of the financial hubbub, close to historical sights like the Stock Exchange, Trinity Church, World Trade Center Site, Civic…

While NYC dazzles like a brilliant Christmas tree year round, the city really pulls out the stops for the holidays.  Sleeps5 would like to make a few recommendations for traveling shoppers. Toy Stores: Children’s General Store on the Upper Eastside:  These folks used to have a location in Central Station but alas it is no…

We have just returned again from NYC.  Various coincidences have taken members of our family there as many as five times this year—and the year is not yet over. Maybe it is my Pacific Northwest mossy roots or just an appreciation for green things growing amidst a rocky mountain range of skyscrapers and pavement, but…

Back again from NYC. I had some success finding inexpensive places to eat (or cheap eating strategies might be a better description), but still found it hard as a tourist to find myself at the right location when hunger struck. “Inexpensive dining” means different things to different folks. When I was in college and down…

I have written past blogs about our favorite budget options in NYC, but the more I go there the more things I discover. Here are some new favorites. Museums: If you have a specific museum you want to visit, check out their website. Almost all of them have either a “free day” or a donation…

We have been riveted here on the West Coast watching Hurricane Irene threaten our Eastern neighbors. Our family has especially been watching the charming little town of Manteo, North Carolina on historic Roanoke Island, where we vacationed just ten days ago. We have seen pictures of local denizens traversing the streets on boats instead of…

The Summer of 2011 is bittersweet for the Jacobsen family of five. Two of our members will be heading off to college in the Fall; leaving future family trips uncertain in their participation and consistency. Our children are not the little ones who once fit inside playpens meant for babies at some hotels. They are…

Oregon Museum of Science and IndustryAfter our filling breakfast at La Quinta (See prior post for a description of the many breakfast food choices, all included in the room rate.), we drove to OMSI, pronounced “AhmZee”. It stands for Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. Using our membership card to Seattle’s Pacific Science Center, we…

In the minivan, we left Seattle and stopped for lunch in Centralia. Lunch Burgerville Burgerville looks like a regular roadside burger place. But step inside, start reading the posters, signs, and menu, and you’ll soon realize it is a fast-food eatery promoting values: fresh, local, sustainable. I recall big posters that tell the stories of…

Three boys and luggage, loaded in the Toyota minivan! Spring Break is coming up. We live in Seattle, so a 3-day budget road trip to Portland, Oregon is easy. No airplane expense or hassles required. The picture to the right shows the 11-year olds in the middle seats, ready to spot landmarks, and the 15-year…

Granted, it is dark and rainy at one in the afternoon here in Seattle, but still the beleaguered citizens of Pugetopia can find their romantic venues. The photo above is of the Seattle skyline on a rare clear day. Taken a few years ago. This particular blog post may step away from our family-of-five tradition…

Portland on the Willamette River Our family stayed at the Embassy Suites-Downtown in Portland Oregon this past year. This is a really wonderful city–great places to eat, visit, shop, and grab a cup o’ jo.  Our hotel was right in the middle of it. Built in 1912, it has all the inherent charm of that…

OK, Oxnard is a rough name for any town, but it does happen to be right on the ocean in sunny Southern California.  Our family of five visited there late August 2010, staying at the Embassy Suites right on the beach.  Our room consisted of two bathrooms, two queen size beds in one room, a…

I was skeptical at first when my husband found this affordable hotel that could sleep the five of us in Carmel as Carmel is one of the most expensive towns to stay in whenever we travel down the coast.  The Carmel Mission Inn (www.carmelmissioninn.com) is located in Carmel Valley not Carmel-by-the-Sea.    It backs up…

In July, the Washington Post carried an article by Christopher Elliott, of Elliott.org.  The article precisely pertains to our Sleeps5 mission of helping families find a hotel room for their family of 5.  The title?  Outwitting Hotels’ Maximum Occupancy Rules.  Mr. Elliott describes a common scenario — to save money and decrease hassle, parents do…

What the heck was my family going to do for a summer week in Sun Valley, Idaho — a place identified with fishing, river rafting, mountain biking, rock climbing, hiking, and horseback riding?! This was my travel-planning problem. Let me explain. Zealous fans of the BBC show, Top Gear, my kids completely identify with a…

So these thoughts don’t have much to do with family travels, but have none-the-less been swirling around my head since a chance encounter at Pike Place Market. I live in Seattle and unlike the throngs of folks who fill the popular Pike Place Market, I actually shop there on a regular basis for groceries and…

Walla Walla is the center of the wine country universe in Washington State about a 4.5 hour drive from Seattle. The outsider may not know that there exists in Washington a Napa Valley-like area complete with bucolic scenery, upscale wineries, charming shops, a historic town, gourmet local food and an excellent liberal arts college. Walla…

Five for budget family travel to New York City: 1. Here is a great website set up primarily for Dads with lists of inexpensive or free things to do in NYC. (www.nyc.gov/html/hra/nycdads/html/things/borough_manhattan.shtml) 2. Something we like to take advantage of as well is the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Central Park. Children under 12 are…

Despite its urban feel, Seattle is surprisingly filled with an abundance of nature especially of the winged variety. If your family needs a reprieve from the hyper stimulation of the Science Center, the Waterfront and Pike Place Market, consider a lesser known but memorable tour through Seattle’s wild side. Starting at the University of Washington…

Visitors and natives like to joke about the rain. I’ve lived here since I was 13 and am used to the joking and the rain. And, though I’m proud to be part of a family with 5 generations born in super-sunny California, I now find Seattle’s frequently gray skies soothing. Whether it’s a sunny or…

Family Jacobsen has had many the quintessential road trip around and about the U.S.; our favorite has to be the Seattle to Disneyland Express. Express is probably the wrong word here since we usually take Highway 101, but with the carrot of Disneyland at the end we manage to make it there in decent humor.…

Seattle is home to our family of five, but it is also my favorite place to be a tourist. These are five of our favorite things to do: 1) Pike Place Market – Teenagers love it, old folks love it, kids love it. It never fails to entertain and we are regulars. Our teenage girls…

(I would like to reiterate that we visited schools for their historical value along with just exposing our kids to different kinds of schools and surroundings.) At this point in our trip Grandpa has flown back to his home in Kentucky. So we are now down to our immediate family of five. From Washington DC…

Day 6 – 10 of this family vacation was spent zipping around Washington DC with the exception of an outing to Gettysburg. In a previous blog entry, Washington DC: Things to Know Before You Go, I wrote about sightseeing, so here I will just note our college tour experiences. There are a number of great…

Our family of five plus Papa left Charlottesville late in the evening and drove on to Fredericksburg, Virginia, home of Civil War battlefields and the University of Mary Washington. The University has special significance for us because my mother graduated from this institution when it was the women’s division of UVA. My parents met here…

Day 3: We packed up our family of 5 plus Papa, checked out of the Rodeway Inn and headed off in our rent-a-van to Yorktown. Despite all our constant troubles of becoming lost in Williamsburg, getting to Yorktown is quite straight forward once you find the Colonial Parkway. This is a brick road with no…

Day two of the the college “tourcation” found us in Williamsburg, Virginia or circling Williamsburg as it may be. How we ultimately found our little hotel I can hardly say, but it helps to have GPS on your phone. The gas attendants are also very helpful and understanding about the circling problem, but I digress.…

This summer marked the first college tour/vacation (or as I am calling it now “tourcation”) for Family Jacobsen plus grandpa. My husband and I were blessed to have three children within 15 months: twins and a singleton. Seventeen years later we now have two high school juniors and one sophomore. Therefore, as any hopeful couple…

I placed the saltine between my toddler’s toes. Then I maneuvered his foot toward his mouth so he could take a bite of the cracker, proving that parents get very creative when trying to entertain a little one on a long trip. He thought the cracker-in-the-toes routine was hilarious. He also thought it was funny…

I love Washington DC. We have just returned from the bustling capital city. There was no end of entertainment for our family of five plus grandpa. Museums, gardens, monuments, cool buildings, and charming neighborhoods, DC has it all and most of it is free. Logistically there are a few things that need to be planned…

That while on vacations we all manage to get ready for each travel day with one hotel bathroom is a wonder to me. (Don’t worry, I’m not going to describe anything too personal!) The bathroom routine is made more difficult because three members of my family have a (probably unusually) high degree of modesty. I’ll…

I recently read an essay called Confessions of an Introverted Traveler by Sophia Dembling on WorldHum.com. The author defends being a traveler who also happens to eschew lots of social interaction. It really resonated with me. I love to be alone. I do not naturally strike up conversations with nearby human beings. I need down…

Hotels.com and Expedia are offering a great deal for the Omni Parker Hotel in Boston. The executive suite with a pullout sofa and rollaway is being offered at $239.00. This is a four star hotel located right on the Freedom Trail. Check it out! You might also like: 10 Tips for Budget Family Travel to…

Notice the logo used for this blog and our website, sleeps5.com. The image is of a family of ducks on their way. Even before Holly and I constructed our website we consistently utilized a duckling analogy to describe the image of traversing busy sidewalks in big cities with 3 children. You know – the mama…