The Go-To Vacation Spots Of Your Favorite Past Presidents

Can you imagine a more stressful job than being the president of the United States? We very much doubt it. But over the years, presidents have found ways to escape the immense responsibility that comes with the role – even if for just a little bit. A vacation haven has often been essential to keep a commander-in-chief sane. And this is where our American leaders loved to let their hair down.

Do presidents get vacations?

“Presidents don’t get vacations – they just get a change of scenery,” Nancy Reagan famously once said. At the time, she was sticking up for her husband after he received backlash for his regular visits to their vacation home in California. And there’s certainly a lot of truth in Mrs. Reagan’s words.

Always on duty

Just because a president and his family pack their bags and go on vacation, it doesn’t mean they get to temporarily shirk the responsibilities that come with being the leader of the Western world. Especially during the age of nuclear weapons, he may be called on to make crucial decisions at any time – day or night.

They can't just carpool

A modern presidential vacation is a mammoth affair. According to The Washington Post, the prez will take with him as many as 200 staffers. They’ll range from Secret Service guards to communications experts and military counsels. So it’s certainly not a question of simply chucking the kids in the back of the car and heading off into the blue yonder.

Who's in charge of the guy in charge?

But what exactly are the rules for presidential vacations? For most of us, it’s simply a matter of checking our entitlement and getting the time off approved by our bosses. Who makes the regulations about vacation time for the man in charge of everyone, though? The answer may surprise you.

It all comes down to good judgement

It turns out that there are no formal statutes on how long presidents can vacation in any given year, nor are there any stipulations about when a president can take a break, whether for a tropical getaway or a round of golf. So, ultimately, it comes down to the discretion and good judgment of each individual president. And those qualities can, of course, vary.

Out of pocket expenses

Then there’s another important question, close to all taxpayers’ hearts: who pays a president’s vacation bills? The commander-in-chief, many will be glad to hear, has to fork over the cash for the accommodation and meals of his own family. So at least on that level, a presidential vacation is like one of ours. But in other respects, it’s very different.

On the taxpayer's dime

For a start, there are those 200 or so staff members supporting the president, even when he’s vacationing. Taxpayers have to pick up the tab for their salaries, and it’s unlikely to be a trivial sum, either. Though, to be honest, those folks would be paid whether the president is on vacation or at work in the White House.

Air Force huh?

But one thing that really eats up the cash when a modern president goes on vacation is Air Force One. In 2014, The Washington Post reported that the presidential jet costs $180,000 for every hour it’s in use. Yep. Every hour! The Service also said that on average, a presidential getaway costs about $1 million more than if he were to enjoy a nice staycation at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Presidents' favorite getaways

Of course, vacations would have probably cost a lot less back in the day. There was no Air Force One, for starters. But it’s not just about money, now, is it? Few would begrudge a president some vacation time, especially when we know that they’re never truly off-duty. Either way, getting to know our presidents’ favorite destinations is really quite enlightening. Let’s see if any were secret fans of Disney World!

30. Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman was in the presidential hot seat from 1945 to 1953, and it wasn’t always a cheerful experience. “This great white jail is a hell of a place in which to be alone,” he wrote in his diary back in 1947. Thankfully, Truman found respite in the sunshine of Florida’s Key West – where he had a home dubbed the “Little White House.” He spent his time fishing, swimming, and rounding off his days with a few hands of poker.

29. Ulysses S. Grant

After his leading part in the Union’s Civil War victory, Ulysses S. Grant won the presidency in 1868 and held it for eight years. Grant’s vacation home of choice, both during his military and political careers, was a beach cottage overlooking the sands of Long Branch, New Jersey. Local businessmen had raised the money to pay for Grant’s summer house at 995 Ocean Avenue. Sadly, this historic building was demolished in 1963.

28. William McKinley

William McKinley served a single term as president after winning the election of 1896. His chosen vacation destination was actually a luxury hotel, the Champlain near the city of Plattsburgh, New York. McKinley and his wife, Ida, were able to take advantage of a ballroom, tennis courts, and a bowling alley. The property even had its own train station.

27. Warren G. Harding

Warren Harding was elected president in 1920 but only remained in the post until his untimely death in 1923. Not long after his poll victory, Harding traveled to Florida’s Palm Beach for a vacation in the sun. But he didn’t have the luxury of simply hopping on Air Force One. Instead, the newly appointed president made the trip at a relaxed pace along Florida’s coast aboard a houseboat. He then went on to visit Palm Beach several times and filled his leisure time with golf, fishing trips, and social events. 

26. Abraham Lincoln

President Abraham Lincoln’s leadership of the Unionists during the Civil War was obviously a time of intense stress. Even so, he still found time to get away from the White House. Lincoln’s favored retreat was a cottage at the Soldiers’ Home estate just three miles from the presidential mansion. Its location on a hill meant it got a nice breeze in the heat of the capital’s high summer – unlike the lower-lying White House. But the president’s time at the cottage wasn’t all fun and games. It was there that he completed work on the Emancipation Proclamation, for instance.

25. Chester A. Arthur

Chester Arthur came to the presidency when his predecessor James Garfield was killed in 1881. Two years later, Arthur decided to take a break from life at the White House. He set off on an expedition to Yellowstone, journeying first by railroad, then via a wagon, and finally on horseback. Arthur spent $50 – a handsome sum at the time – on fishing equipment for his jaunt. And his entourage was made up of a 75-strong cavalry outfit and 175 pack animals. Quite a vacation party, if you ask us!

24. John Adams

Founding Father John Adams was the first vice president of America and from 1797, the nation’s second president. And Adams spent many months in Quincy, Massachusetts while he was in office. The obvious attraction here was the farm he owned, Peacefield. At the time, though, Philadelphia was the U.S. capital, and many disapproved of how much time he spent away from the city.

23. James A. Garfield

James Garfield’s time in the White House was all too brief. Elected in 1880, he died in office in September 1881. A man named Charles J. Guiteau had shot and seriously wounded the president two months earlier at a train station in Washington, D.C. At the time, Garfield was en route to the first vacation of his presidency. Had the day ended differently, he would have traveled to New England with his family for their summer break.

22. Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon was president from 1969 until the Watergate affair ended his second term in disgrace and resignation in 1974. In happier times, though, the president enjoyed vacations in San Clemente, California. There his family stayed in an ocean-view home that became known as the Western White House. The White House Historical Association records that Nixon believed in getting away often to counter feeling “isolated from the reality of American life.”

21. George Washington

Perhaps with a keen sense of history, America’s first president used a residence known as the Deshler-Morris House as a vacation spot away from the Presidential House in Philadelphia. It had previously been home to William Howe, a British general during the War of Independence. But Washington’s most frequently used refuge from Philadelphia was his plantation Mount Vernon in Virginia. He spent time there whenever his presidential duties allowed.

20. Gerald R. Ford

Gerald Ford stepped into the presidential shoes after Richard Nixon’s ignominious resignation in 1974. And Ford’s main indulgence when it came to vacations was his winter ski trip to Vail, Colorado. Although a family affair, it wasn’t entirely normal. After all, most people are not usually accompanied on the ski runs by a small platoon of secret service officers, handpicked for their abilities on the slopes.

19. Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson served two terms as the seventh U.S. president from 1829 onwards. And he would get away from the hurly-burly of Washington by staying at his 425-acre estate The Hermitage near Nashville, Tennessee. During his time as president, Jackson even managed to get a large extension added to his mansion there. The president would also visit Chesapeake Bay, where he enjoyed taking a dip in the cold waters of the Atlantic. 

18. Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt occupied the White House from 1901, serving two terms as president. His Summer White House was Sagamore Hill, which is set on a 155-acre plot of land on Long Island’s north shore. The house was actually the president’s permanent family home and so provided a welcome respite from the hothouse political atmosphere of Washington. To relax, Roosevelt would stroll the beautiful grounds with his children and their cousins.  

17. Thomas Jefferson

America’s third president, Thomas Jefferson, served for two terms from 1801. When he wanted a break from political life in the capital – Philadelphia at the time – Jefferson would head for his Monticello plantation in Albemarle County, Virginia. And the Jefferson Monticello website gives an insight into the pleasure he got from constantly improving his mansion there. It quotes the president as saying, “Architecture is my delight, and putting up and pulling down one of my favorite amusements.”

16. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight Eisenhower is remembered for commanding the WWII Allied armies in Western Europe as well as for his two presidential terms. And he vacationed in various parts of Florida, including the Little White House in Key West where President Truman had also stayed. Eisenhower also liked to take breaks in Colorado, where he had fun playing rounds of golf.

15. Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon B. Johnson came to the presidency in 1963 in the aftermath of Kennedy’s tragic assassination, and he went on to serve until 1969. And when Johnson wanted time out from Washington, he would visit his ranch in Texas. It was here that he was first welcomed into the world, and so it’s no surprise that the spot held a fond space in his heart. The White House Historical Association quotes him as saying, “All my life I have drawn strength and something more from those Texas hills.” 

14. James K. Polk

James Polk served a single term as president from 1845 and is remembered as commander-in-chief during the Mexican War, which resulted in a massive territorial gain for the U.S. The hard-working Polk took fewer breaks from the White House than many other presidents – only 27 days, to be precise. On his first day off, Polk ventured out to George Washington’s Mount Vernon. He apparently would have liked something similar in Nashville for his retirement, but sadly he died just three months after relinquishing the presidency. 

13. Herbert Hoover

While serving his single presidential term from 1929, Herbert Hoover purchased a parcel of land in Virginia with the plan of building a beautiful place to get away. Rapidan Camp, as it was called, was made up of 164 acres and was set among the unspoiled landscapes of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Hoover and his wife, Lou, would invite friends and family to Rapidan to join them in horse-riding, fishing, and hiking.

12. Franklin Pierce

After winning the presidential election of 1852, Franklin Pierce served for a single term. He was also the first of half a dozen presidents to take a break on the Jersey Shore. Pierce escaped Washington in 1855 and traveled to Congress Hall, a hotel in Cape May. And he also spent quite a bit of time at his home in Andover, Massachusetts – making it his Summer White House.

11. Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson’s time as president ran from 1913 to 1921 – and so it was he who guided the country into WWI. Wilson made good use of the presidential yacht, the Mayflower, to get away from it all – or as much of it as he possibly could. And like many presidents, he also had a Summer White House. It was called Harlakenden House and was situated in Cornish, New Hampshire. The town was known as an artists’ colony, which would have suited Wilson’s landscape painter wife, Ellen.

10. Grover Cleveland

As every good history student knows, Grover Cleveland is unique among U.S. presidents as the only one to have served two non-consecutive terms. The first came in 1885 and the second in 1893. Cleveland’s Summer White House was at his property Gray Gables in the Massachusetts town of Bourne. A keen fisherman, the president often took his boat out on the adjacent Buzzards Bay to pursue his passion. 

9. William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft served as president for one term from 1909 and later as chief justice for nine years until 1930. Taft’s refuge from Washington politics was Stetson Hall in the Massachusetts seaside town of Beverley. His wife, Nellie, had chosen the 14-roomed property in 1909 – apparently charmed by its green shingles. It would be the Summer White House until 1912. 

8. Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge became president when Warren Harding passed away in 1923, and he continued in office until 1929. Coolidge’s Summer White House was the White Pine Camp in the Adirondacks of New York State. And the property stands by Osgood Pond, where Coolidge took advantage of the abundant fish – a little too often, some thought. Yes, critics said that the commander-in-chief spent more time catching pike and bass than attending to his presidential work. 

7. James Monroe

James Monroe served his two terms as president from 1817. And it was during his first four years in office that the president oversaw the construction of his hideaway from political life. He chose Oak Hill in Virginia to build his impressive, classically styled mansion. While on vacation before it was built, Monroe stayed close by in a rather modest timber house known as Monroe Cottage. 

6. Ronald Reagan

Serving two terms as president from 1981, Ronald Reagan sometimes felt rather trapped in the White House – as did many of his predecessors. “You can get a kind of a bird-in-a-gilded-cage feeling,” the White House History Association quotes him as saying. And so to escape the proverbial cage, Reagan would visit his ranch in California’s Santa Ynez Mountains. Once there, he would pass the time with horse-riding, timber chopping, and brush clearing. 

5. James Buchanan

Tensions were high during James Buchanan’s presidential term from 1857 to 1861. That’s because he governed during the build-up to the Civil War. It’s said he found hosting social events at the White House incredibly stressful, as Northern and Southern visitors would be at each other’s throats. All the more reason to have a presidential retreat! And for that, Buchanan chose the Soldiers’ Home not far from the White House. Funnily enough, his successor, Abraham Lincoln, used this location for the same purpose.

4. Benjamin Harrison

Benjamin Harrison became the 23rd president of the U.S. in 1889 and served for one term. For his perfect getaway, he picked Congress Hall in Cape May, New Jersey – a destination that proved popular with several other presidents over the years. Harrison, though, went as far as to declare the hotel his official summer residence. And he was supposedly a big fan of the seafood on offer, with oysters being a special favorite of his.

3. Franklin Delano Roosevelt 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt – or FDR, as he was often known – was America’s longest-serving president, occupying the White House for 14 years from 1933. But his time as commander-in-chief was no bed of roses. Firstly, there was the Great Depression, closely followed by WWII. That meant he had every reason to need time away from the daily grind. His chosen haven was a cottage in Warm Springs, Georgia, and he was at this vacation home when he died in 1945. At least he was in his happy place.

2. Rutherford B. Hayes

Rutherford B. Hayes’ single term in the White House came after his highly controversial election victory of 1876. He did his best to reunite a divided nation, declaring in his inaugural speech, “He serves his party best who serves his country best.” Hayes’ escape route from the trials and tribulations of the presidency led to his Spiegel Grove estate in Fremont, Ohio. The house, an impressive 31-room Victorian pile, sits in 25 acres of landscaped gardens. It was an ideal summer haven for a stressed-out president and his family.

1. John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy won the presidential election of 1960. But, of course, his term was cut tragically short by his assassination in Dallas three years later. Before that, Kennedy’s wife, Jacqueline, was able to provide an idyllic vacation spot in the form of her family home at Hammersmith Farm in Newport, Rhode Island. There, the Kennedy family could relax in the splendid 1887 mansion with its 28 rooms.