All listings featured in this story are independently selected by our editors. However, when you book something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
In the late fall of 2018, about 20 weeks pregnant with my first daughter, my husband and I traveled to Hawaii’s Big Island with my in-laws and his siblings. We ate fish sandwiches and swam at Hapuna State Park. We explored a black sand beach and took a 24-hour jaunt to Maui, drinking mocktails (me) and cocktails (him) on the open-air deck of The Four Seasons Maui with the smaller island of Lanai in the distance. I cried because my bikini barely fit with a growing bump.
Ten weeks later, I traveled to Sedona with my best friend, where we hiked the red rocks and saw psychics, a trip I’ll always remember fondly: my last before I became a mother.
Fast forward to just a few months ago, this time pregnant with my third child. My sister and I meandered down windy rural Connecticut roads spotted with antique shops and stayed at a quiet inn. We got massages at a spa you could have stayed all day at, ate farm-fresh food in a dining room restaurant, and slept in beds without toddlers in them that you dreamed about returning back to.
All of these travels were wonderful—and none of them were conventional babymoons.
Traditionally, the “babymoon” trip has been reserved as a pre-baby trip with a partner, one final celebration of the “just-the-two-of-you” years, before sleep deprivation and baby snuggles replace quality time and leisurely romantic dinners.
But in recent years, the babymoon has transformed into something more than that: an intentional push to break out of your usual routine, to reset, to reflect, to explore.
They can be big. They can be small. They can be local: a staycation at your favorite hotel. The best babymoons blend rest with wonder; they make you feel at home and deliver a hint of something else—awe, excitement, or novelty.
(Note that in the absence of complications, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists says that occasional air travel is safe for pregnant women, but some airlines require a note from a medical provider in the third trimester.)
These seven babymoon-friendly properties—from elegant New England inns to sprawling, take-up-part-of-a-coastline resorts—have something for every mom-to-be.
Chatham Bars Inn
The Cape’s grand dame, Chatham Bars Inn—right at the elbow-shaped curve of the peninsula—is a quintessential New England getaway. Dine al fresco at the main inn’s water-facing front porch and stay at the inn, one of 12 spa suites (each with its own sauna and spacious steam shower), or a standalone cottage within walking distance to strollable downtown Chatham’s boutique shops and cafes. There’s a pool and a beach, where a private launch will take you to a remote barrier shoreline, and all the good-for-the-soul stuff, too: saltwater, fresh air, and sunshine. While many Cape Cod hotels and resorts hibernate come winter, CBI stays open, welcoming guests with a roaring lobby fireplace, art and wildlife nature classes, and afternoon tea.
