20 Tips for Your Family Vacation to American Samoa with Kids

The beauty of American Samoa is that it’s much quieter than many tourist hotspots in the South Pacific. With very few accommodations, however, family rooms can get booked up pretty quickly during the peak seasons. If you’re aiming for a school holiday escape, be sure to book accommodation as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

June to August is a busy time for church conferences and a slight increase in tourists, while the holiday season of December and January attracts a lot of visiting families from overseas.

Check out The Best Time to Visit American Samoa: A Month-by-Month Guide for our advice on when to visit!

Tutuila is the perfect island for a family road trip; you’re never stuck in the car for too long until you come across an amazing viewpoint or beach to explore.

On the downside, not all vehicle rental companies provide baby or booster seats, or at least they have a very limited supply. If you need one, make sure to request one upon booking!

Get more vehicle rental tips, including the best type of car to rent, in our guide, What You Need to Hire a Car in American Samoa.

American Samoa is a fantastic destination for snorkelling, especially within the sheltered waters of its bays and lagoons - aim for morning or the wet season to avoid tradewinds. However, snorkelling masks and fins, especially for kids, are not available. Further still, you can only hire snorkelling gear from one place for adults, which have to be used in the Pago Pago Harbor.

In short, bring snorkelling gear for the whole family to truly make the most of the amazing underwater landscapes and the wildlife that resides in them!

See The Best Snorkelling in American Samoa: Top 10 Places to Snorkel for all the best snorkelling hotspots and quick tips for safe snorkelling.

A little bit of a safety tip: note that there are no fences around any swimming pools in American Samoa. You’ll want to keep an extra eye on little ones around the pool.

For more safety tips, head to American Samoa Safety Tips: Is it Safe to Travel to American Samoa?

While your kids are bound to learn a lot about American Samoa from cultural tours, get them excited for their trip away by educating them on American Samoa before you go!

Use a map and show them where you’re all visiting, and pull out some trivia from our 10 Fun Facts About American Samoa.

It’s important to assign roles between parents or between the whole family before jetting off to American Samoa.

Who is going to be in charge of the food? Who is going to choose the activities? Who is going to book the activities? Who is going to handle the airport check-in while the other watches the kids?

Communicate these roles early so you avoid hick-ups in Samoa, giving more time for everyone to enjoy themselves. Plus, assigning small roles to the children is a great way to teach responsibility.

There’s always a bit of downtime when travelling, especially at the airport if you’ve been savvy enough to check in on time (or during any stopover if you’re coming from far).

Games are an essential boredom-buster while getting the whole family bonding, so pack some travel-size games, like Uno and Connect 4 Grab & Go. They’ll also come in handy when you’re enjoying some downtime at your accommodation after a day full of adventures.

You may also want to pack a few snacks, but just note that once they are opened, you probably won’t be able to pass them through Quarantine once you land, so don’t go too overboard.

Ok, American Samoa isn’t Fiji. It's not even Samoa.

Kids’ clubs and babysitting services are very limited, so you will have to spend some time with your kids.

A small exception is Graceland, an indoor playground that offers a "4-hour drop-off", should you want some alone time. Find out more about Graceland in the 15 Best Things to Do on Tutuila with Kids.

All in all, American Samoa is definitely a destination best spent together as a family.

Speaking of together, a vacation to American Samoa is the perfect opportunity to bond and reconnect. Go explore and swim at some waterfalls, enjoy some snorkelling off the beach, be captivated by an “umu night” and much more.

Plan your adventures using our 20 Best Things to Do in American Samoa with Kids!

On the flip side, packing your itinerary to the brim with sights and activities is probably just going to exhaust everyone.

Allow a free day or two in your holiday to relax and enjoy more of the simple pleasures; a day by the pool or at the beach is plenty (and kids love hermit crab hunting)!

With a tropical climate and rain being a possibility no matter what time of the year you visit, it’s a good idea to have one or two rainy-day backups. There are some fantastic museums, cafes, cultural demonstrations and much more. Head to the 20 Things to Do in American Samoa on a Rainy Day for ideas!

Also on the subject, you’ll notice that Sundays are a little quieter in American Samoa, so have a look at what attractions are open in the 10 Things to Do in American Samoa on a Sunday.

When buying your travel insurance, look for insurance that covers children too. Most travel insurance companies have policies to cover kids for free if travelling with an adult so always inquire.

Better yet, check out our Exclusive Deal with Global Rescue to gain one of the world's most comprehensive travel protection memberships that covers the whole family. Not only do they offer insurance policy add-ons, but they actually do the repatriation and medical consultation work themselves.

If you’d rather jump into holiday mode than buy baby food or snacks for the family from the supermarket upon arrival, then bring a few snacks for the first couple of days in American Samoa.

You can bring food to American Samoa as long as it’s commercially prepared and packaged, and you avoid fresh fruit and vegetables – see Arriving in American Samoa: Airport Customs, Quarantine & Arrival Process.

On the subject, if there’s a particular brand of baby food that you want to stick to in order to avoid any stomach upsets, it’s best to bring it with you. Otherwise, American brands are available in local supermarkets. Learn more about self-catering in A Guide to Supermarkets & Food Shopping in American Samoa.

That’s right, kids’ menus are not available are every cafe and restaurant in American Samoa. Plus, the portions here are huge, so you sometimes have to get quite creative with what younger kids can eat.

Look out for “snack menus” or "entrées" instead, which are usually better portions for kids. Otherwise, sharing plates is also totally acceptable (and something that we do in American Samoa, even if we're only travelling with adults).

Check out some of the best places to eat across the islands in the 20 Best Restaurants in American Samoa.

Making sure that everyone in the family is drinking water regularly is absolutely essential to their health while in American Samoa’s tropical climate. However, tap water is generally not safe to drink, even if locals are drinking it.

Bottled water is readily available to buy throughout American Samoa. Otherwise, boiling water is another way to go.

So that there’s no stress over the issue, we recommend getting the family a few Lifestraw water bottles that remove 99.9999% of waterborne bacteria as you suck through its filtration straw. Plus, a reusable option is much kinder on the planet you’re leaving your kids.

Find out more about water safety in Is the Water Safe to Drink in American Samoa?

Although we have a full packing list in What to Pack for American Samoa, those with infants will need to consider a couple of holiday extras.

As mentioned, a core part of your American Samoa family holiday is spending some time in the water, so waterproof nappies/diapers are a must for the packing list! Normal nappies/diapers are normally readily available in supermarkets, if you’re not bringing your own.

Additionally, a baby carrier is the way to go, as most attractions are not stroller-friendly in American Samoa.

For an extra piece of protection while spending so much time in the water, we highly recommend that you get rashies (rash vest/swimming T-shirt) for younger ones that are more prone to sunburn, especially as sunscreen otherwise needs to be applied much more often when swimming (and no kid likes being pulled out of the water every couple of hours for a sunscreen slap-on).

We like Sharkskin for their rapid-dry rashies which have SPF 50+ protection, come in fully recyclable packaging and are saltwater, chlorine and UV-resistant so can be used for many more holidays to come.

We also recommend packing some reef shoes to protect little feet when standing on rocks or bits of coral. Speedo Kids and Toddlers Water Shoes are a great choice for little ones.

Perhaps the biggest health concern in American Samoa is the sun. While it makes for an awesome holiday by the beach, the UV levels are high and are especially harmful to unprotected sensitive skin.

Make sure you are quite strict on sun protection with child-friendly (and reef-safe) sunscreen, cover exposed skin where you can, use sunhats, stay in the shade when UV levels are at their highest (around midday) and drink plenty of water.

See The Best Sunscreens for American Samoa + Sun Protection Tips for more advice.

Note that not all medications are easy to find in American Samoa.

Pack all the essential medication and toiletries you might need, including the original box of the prescribed medication (with notes and the name on the prescription).

We have a whole list of things to pack in your travel first aid kit, just in case there are some accidents or illnesses, in What Medication to Pack in Your First Aid Kit for American Samoa.

Finally, while this is a little piece of shameless self-promotion, make sure you do your research!

A good place to start is right here on American Samoa Pocket Guide where we not only have The Complete Family Travel Guide to American Samoa but even complete lists of experiences in the 20 Best Things to Do in American Samoa with Kids.