UPDATED APRIL 2024. In honor of World Autism Awareness Day and celebrating families of all types, we are sharing our five best vacations for autism. Find out which resorts, destinations, and even cruise lines have specially trained staff and additional resources. You may be surprised!

Traveling with children is hard and we understand that traveling with children who have autism can be even more challenging. That's why we sat down with Kody, a former employee, who is an expert on traveling with children with autism. Not only has he always traveled with his little brother who has autism to many destinations over many years, he is a Certified Autism Travel Professional.

That means he went through an entire course dedicated to providing tips and resources for families traveling with a child or children with autism.

Cruises can be a wonderful way to have a family vacation, and Royal Caribbean Cruise Line takes it to the next level for families and guests with autism.

Royal Caribbean is the first autism friendly cruise line. All Royal Caribbean cruises offer priority check-in, boarding and departures, dietary accommodations and flexibility with the youth programs.

There are even select "Autism on the Seas" sailings available as well. These cruises offer extra staff who have been trained extensively on how to work with children with autism. There are normally over 30 Autism on the Seas sailings annually!

Here’s just a small look at everything Royal Caribbean Cruise do to help everyone be included:

• Priority check-in, boarding and departure
• Special dietary accommodations including gluten-free and dairy-free
• Adventure Ocean flexible grouping by ability for children 3 to 11 years old
• Adventure Ocean toilet-trained policy exception
• Pagers/phones for parents of children in Adventure Ocean program while signed in

If you never thought cruising would be an option—it truly can be! When you call our cruise team at 877-510-2929, make sure you mention “Autism of the Seas” if you’d like to see pricing and availability for those sailings.

All-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean are known for having the best of everything. That's especially true for families with a child or children with autism.

Beaches is the first all-inclusive resort company in the Caribbean to offer autism friendly kids camps. In fact, their kids camps are Certified Autism Centers. As part of Sesame Street and Autism: See Amazing in All Children, Julia now welcomes all children and their families to paradise with engaging activities like Amazing Art with Julia and enjoyable character experiences with them in mind.

So whether your autistic child is 16 months or 16 years old, you can trust Beaches for your vacation. At Beaches you can expect specialized service, engaging activities and custom dining options so that everyone can enjoy a memorable, award-winning Beaches Luxury Included® experience.

View our Beaches Resorts destinations online or call our agents at 855 GET AWAY.

Disney Resorts are popular destinations for so many families and they truly know how to make everyone at home—whether you’re going to Disneyland Resort in California or Walt Disney World in Florida, there are so many things Disney does to ensure your trip goes as smoothly as possible, including:

• Discount Advance Tickets for Disneyland
• Discount Advance Packages for Walt Disney World
• Stroller and Wheelchair Rental
• Strollers as Wheelchairs
• Rider Switch
• Accessible Attractions
• Disability Access Pass
• Break Areas
• Companion Restrooms
• Dietary Accommodations

There are a few reasons why this popular destination makes our best vacations for autism list. First, San Diego has over 70 miles of beautiful sandy beaches, which is normally rejuvenating for everyone.

Also, it's an easily accessible destination for most families. Whether you're flying or driving, it's easy to navigate. Another thing we love about San Diego for autism, is there are a number of world-class theme park like attractions, but they are generally not as busy as Disneyland Resort. It's a really good entry level theme park destination.

And of course, the best area theme park for guests with autism is Sesame Place San Diego. It is a Certified Autism Center and offers specialized services to guests with autism and other special needs. Read everything you need to know about Sesame Place San Diego here.

If you're looking for a tropical vacation, Hawaii is one of our top choices of vacations for autism. One thing that sets the Hawaiian islands apart is that you get a tropical escape with the comforts of home and no passport needed!

If your child has specific things they need, you will likely be able to find them in Hawaii. There's just enough familiarity with language and food that many families with autism are able to visit Hawaii and have wonderful vacations.

We recommend staying outside of the major hub of Waikiki on Oahu or visiting another island with a slower pace like Kauai.

Like we mentioned in the video above, no one knows your own child better than you do, so always trust yourself. We hope this inspires you to take your family on a vacation that will be exactly what you and your family needs.

If you’d like to call and talk to us at Get Away Today, we’d love to help you book the best vacation for your family. Give us a call at 855-GET-AWAY. You can also explore any of these destinations we talked about on our website.