Sports became the excuse to travel. But the cities, the food, the people, and the shared experiences became the real memories.
I’ve always enjoyed watching (and playing) sports. When the 2010 Olympics were in Vancouver, I found myself wandering the city, taking in the atmosphere, and was lucky enough to get men’s gold medal hockey tickets (yup, core memory seeing Sidney Crosby score that goal in OT). But my experiences with sports and my kids evolved a little slower. We went to Jordan for the U17 Women’s World Cup (and were one of the few fans cheering for the Canadian girls (the rest were their parents or Embassy workers!). And guess what, we have 2026 World Cup tickets too!
As my boys have gotten older, I’ve realized that sports have quietly become one of the best ways to connect travel with their interests.
Some of our recent memorable trips haven’t revolved around theme parks or traditional sightseeing at all. Instead, they’ve centered around hockey or soccer in cities around the world.
Sports travel gives kids something to genuinely look forward to while still opening the door to exploring new destinations, trying local food, wandering different neighborhoods, and creating shared memories together. We flew to Miami to see Messi play for Inter Miami and then spent some time exploring the Everglades in Florida.
Whether it’s watching baseball in the sunshine during spring training, planning a city break around a hockey game, or building an itinerary around a major sporting event, city breaks has quietly become some of our favorite trips (especially now that I have teen boys and their favorite trips have changed a lot from travel with young kids!)
Why Sports Travel Works So Well With Teens
Travel looks very different once kids become teenagers. The days of going where I want and then seeking out playgrounds, our next snack break or simple excitment with life start to fade. Over the last couple of years I have found that as my kids have gotten older, they want a different kind of engagement while traveling. They have even said no to certain trips if they didn’t think there was something to pique their interests.
For our family, sports unexpectedly became one of the best ways to do a city break!
A game instantly gives my boys something to look forward to and helps create excitement around a destination before the trip even begins. Whether it’s seeing their favorite team play, visiting a famous stadium, or experiencing the atmosphere of a passionate fan base sports create a built-in sense of anticipation that can sometimes be harder to find in the teen years.
What I also love about sports travel is that it naturally turns into much more than the event itself.
Some of our favorite memories have come from everything surrounding the game: wandering a city before puck drop, finding late-night food after a win, talking with local fans, exploring waterfronts or neighborhoods near stadiums and building entire weekends around shared interests that genuinely excite my boys.
Sports travel also works especially well for teens because it gives them a sense of connection to a destination in a way that feels more grown up. Instead of feeling like they are being dragged along on a “family vacation,” they become active participants in the experience.
And honestly, as a mom of teen boys, that excitement matters.
Some of their most memorable family trips in recent years have started with something as simple as “What if we planned a weekend around a game?”
Favorite Sports Trips We Have Taken
Tampa
- NHL, MLB, NFL
- Sunshine in March makes for outdoor activations all year long!
- walkability
Pittsburgh
- NHL, MLB, NFL
- underrated sports city
- passionate fan culture and tailgating all year long
Miami
- MLS, NFL
- The Messi effect
- pleasant weather for winter trips
Jordan
- This one for us was for the U17 FIFA Women’s World Cup so it was the perfect reason to plan a trip around. We got to see a couple games and then explore the rest of the country.
Sports Trips Beyond Stadiums
While the game itself may be the reason I book the trip, some of the best parts of sports travel happen completely outside the stadium.
I’ve realized that sports trips naturally create some of our most balanced city break teen trips. A hockey game or baseball series gives the trip structure and excitement, but it also encourages us to explore cities we may not have otherwise considered visiting.
Some of my kids favorite memories have come from the in-between moments like taking a walking through neighborhoods, finding a local restaurant with an epic meal, riding public transit through a new city or simply soaking up the atmosphere at a pre-game tailgate.
Sports has been the perfect way to make city travel appealing to our family. There’s an energy around game days that makes destinations feel more alive and engaging for older kids, especially when they know that the whole point of the trip is about to infold inside a stadium nearby!
Some of the destinations that surprised us most as family-friendly city breaks actually started as sports trips first and then turned into places we genuinely wanted to return to for the food, atmosphere and overall experience.
RELATED POSTS TO SPORTS TRIPS FOR FAMILIES:
