For most around the world, summertime is time for kids to explore, play and learn a little bit outside of the classroom. It's also a time for family vacations, with most parents taking a few weeks off of work so that they can treat their family to a trip of a lifetime. Though some families decide to stay within their own country for their vacation, others choose to explore another piece of the world. During this exploration, it's very common for families to take a day or two to explore an internationally recognized theme park, creating fun for everyone involved.

In fact, there are literally thousands of parks around the globe and in 2017, over 475.4 million people visited the top 10 theme park brands worldwide, throughout the entire year.

But because it would take a few lifetimes to visit every single amusement park in the world, and the fact that not all of them are worth a visit, we've complied a list of the top theme parks in the world. In addition to a short summary detailing what you can discover at each theme park, we've also included their summer rates for both children and adults, giving you an idea of what you'll end up paying once you visit. This particular list, crafted by using past attendance rates, ranks the parks from the highest priced admission rates to the lowest.

An interesting fact: Theme parks, over the last few years, have steadily seen an increase of admissions, meaning that more and more families, couples and singles are choosing to visit one of the many theme park options available around the world. Theme park attendance has gone up 8.6 percent from 2016, which is an impressive amount. Each year however, Walt Disney World has still come out on top, holding on to its title as the most visited theme park in the world.

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Over the last few years, the Mediterranean has become a hot spot for visitors from around the world. One of the best ways to experience everything the region has to offer is through a cruise. Not only will you get to experience a few different countries in a short amount of time, but you'll get to skip finding a hotel and having to fly here to there, and there and back again. In fact, the only flight you'll have to take is to the starting country and then back out again. Generally, ports are near popular airports, making this both easy and cheap.

Each cruise line holds its own personality and is made to fit a certain type of traveler. This allows for each to have their own price category. There are many different cruise companies that cover the Mediterranean but for this assessment, we're going to focus on those that offer a 7 night or 7 day itinerary. With a quick read of the information below, you should be able to figure out with one is your best fit, as well as the best option for your price range. Click to read more

Finding a great destination in Europe in the month of July is quite easy, so narrowing down your choices is really the tricky part. This is the single most crowded month in most of Europe's most touristy cities, although July (and August) can be less crowded than you might expect in the largest business cities such as Milan and Paris.

Those with a Europe trip to plan for July should even consider the Nordic countries because this is part of the short time of year that they have decent weather and the long daylight hours can make up for the high prices. Here are our best 22 suggestions for where to go in Europe in the month of July. Click to read more

Finding the best places to go in July seems like it would be an easy task since almost everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere has its warmest and driest weather of the year this month. But it's actually not quite that easy, especially if you are looking for cheap destinations that also have good weather. Many of the most interesting cities in Asia are actually too hot in July, and many of the most interesting cities in Europe are too crowded and/or too expensive this month. But there is good news.

The list below contains 21 destinations that have lovely weather and are relatively cheap once you get there. You'll find some interesting choices in the Caribbean, which some people assume is too hot or rainy in July, as well as great picks in Europe and Asia for cities that are cheap year round and have clear and dry weather in July. Click to read more

The month of June is obviously very popular for Europe trips, and the weather is nearly perfect on the whole continent. You can even visit some of the more popular beach destinations without being overwhelmed by the local Europeans who book everything during July and August. June is actually one of the busiest months in cities like Paris and Rome, but still not so busy that you should avoid them.

Below we list the 20 best destinations in Europe for a June visit, along with reasons why each one is a top pick this month. Many of them are also close enough together that you can easily string them together into a little Europe tour of your own. Train rides of up to about 5 hours are generally wonderful and very scenic, not to mention faster than flying as well. Click to read more

Planning a first trip to Italy can be daunting. Unlike France, where Paris is the obvious focus, and the UK where London is the obvious focus, Italy provides so many options that you'll feel like you are missing something big no matter where you decide to go. I get a lot of questions about Italy itineraries on this site and I end up typing the same answers so frequently that I decided to create an article that should cover the topic for nearly all first-time Italy visitors.

Shorter versions of this can be found on my article discussing the best first-time Europe itineraries in general, as well as how to plan a trip to France and Italy. But the article below should be your best bet to at least plan the outline of your first Italy trip, and all of this will definitely make you want to come back again as soon as you can. Click to read more

Many of us start our exploration of Europe as backpackers or at least staying in budget hotels, but eventually we prefer at least a 3-star hotel with a few creature comforts. That is why we have created this list of all of Europe's top tourist cities ranked from cheapest to most expensive for those on an average budget and sharing a 3-star hotel room for two people.

The newly-updated index for 2019 below shows a price for each city and that can be used as a typical budget for normal daily expenses, but of course it doesn't include shopping and souvenirs. You'll notice that the cities at the bottom of the list will cost more than four times as much per day as those on the top of the list, so choosing which cities to visit can make a huge difference in your overall budget. Click to read more

By the time Easter rolls around, usually in March or as late as mid April, everybody who lives in the north is so sick of the cold that they are dreaming of spending a week on a warm beach. Fortunately, there are warm beaches all over the Tropics, and many of them are very affordable even during peak travel weeks such as Easter and Spring Break.

These days many universities and schools schedule their Spring Break on different weeks, mostly focusing on the middle of March. The second and third full weeks of March tend to be the most popular and the destinations listed below will usually be most crowded during those weeks. Click to read more

Those looking for ideal destinations in Europe for the month of May have nearly endless choices. The May weather is warm enough to be nearly perfect in all but the most northern cities, and yet tourist crowds are still small since many people can't get away until June or later.

Even though it's “warm” in most of Europe in May, the only places warm enough for sunbathing are in the far south and the Mediterranean. Those looking for a hot-weather destination in May should be thinking about Asia or the Caribbean. Click to read more

Since most of Europe is so far from the equator, most of the famous cities are still a bit chilly in April. Still, April can be one of the best months of the year to visit the busiest and most popular cities here. Temperatures are warm enough for enjoyable sightseeing, yet the crowd sizes are much smaller than you'll see starting in May and June.

Those looking for a warm-weather destination in April should be thinking about Asia or the Caribbean. Even so, Europe (more or less) does have a couple places warm enough for a bit of April sunbathing, and those are listed on top. Click to read more