The Best Hotels for Families: Where We’ve Stayed With Kids, Plus Europe’s Top Picks

We live in Málaga with our two girls, Alaska and Atlas, and a lot of our family travel starts here. So when people ask me for the best hotels for families, I want to give them a list they can actually use: who each place suits, what the kids actually do there, and whether we have stayed there ourselves. I tell you which is which on every hotel, because you deserve to know.

Booking links are affiliate links: you pay nothing extra and we earn a small commission. If a hotel ever pays to be featured, we label it on that hotel. Hosted stays are labelled as hosted.

Price levels below are a general guide to how each place tends to price. Rates change with the season, so check live prices for your dates.

Quick comparison

Family hotels we have actually stayed at

These are the ones I can tell you about first-hand. Two of them were hosted stays through a partnership, and I say so on each one.

Mid-range

1. Finca Panda: Boquete, Panama

Best for: families who want space, cool mountain air and a working coffee farm.

For kids: the coffee tour on the farm, where kids follow the whole seed-to-cup process and finish with hot chocolate made from the farm’s own cacao.

Good to know: it is a small collection of casitas, so book early, especially December to April.

Our experience: we stayed in the two-bedroom Casita Catuai, which is ideal for a family of four. Each casita has a private jacuzzi and a fire pit, and breakfast is delivered to your door. The full story is in our Boquete with kids guide.

Check availability at Finca Panda →

2. Casa Acuario: Isla Carenero, Bocas del Toro, Panama

Best for: families who want to wake up over the Caribbean.

For kids: the water below the balconies is a natural fish tank. We snorkeled straight from our room every morning before breakfast.

Good to know: it is a four-room, family-run boutique hotel built over the water, so it fills up fast. It is not on Booking.com, so the link goes to their own site.

Our experience: we stayed here and it was one of our favorite stays anywhere in Panama. Gabriel, the manager, greeted us the moment we arrived, and we saw a manta ray and a starfish on day one. More in our Bocas del Toro with kids guide.

Visit Casa Acuario’s website →

3. Catalina’s Hideaway: Santa Catalina, Panama

Best for: families who want a remote Pacific eco-lodge and Coiba National Park.

For kids: monkeys in the trees outside your room, snorkeling trips to Coiba, and horseback riding on the beach at sunset, all arranged by the lodge.

Good to know: the last stretch of road is unpaved and needs 4WD if it has rained. It is not on Booking.com, so the link goes to their own site.

Our experience: we stayed here, and from the second we arrived it felt like a big hug. More in our Santa Catalina with kids guide.

Visit Catalina’s Hideaway’s website →

4. Posada Amazonas: Tambopata, Peru

Best for: families with kids old enough for guided jungle walks.

For kids: guided activities in the rainforest, and the lodge knows how to read the jungle for kids.

Good to know: it is an ecolodge inside protected rainforest, operated by Rainforest Expeditions and co-owned with the Ese Eja Native Community of Infierno.

Our experience: we added three nights here at the end of our Peru trip, and it was the best decision we made on that whole journey. Read our full Posada Amazonas review.

Check availability at Posada Amazonas →

5. The Westin Rusutsu Resort: Hokkaido, Japan

Best for: families learning to ski.

For kids: the resort’s Samurai Kids Park, with sledding and winter sports the whole family can enjoy.

Good to know: this was a hosted stay: we were working with The Westin Rusutsu.

Our experience: Alaska had her first ski experience here and she still talks about it. More in the best age to take kids to Japan.

Check availability at The Westin Rusutsu Resort →

6. Elounda Residence Resort & Waterpark: Elounda, Crete, Greece

Best for: toddlers to tweens who love water.

For kids: a pool with water slides, a kids’ pool with a water playground, and a kids’ club that runs from May to September.

Good to know: this was a hosted stay through a partnership. There is a free shuttle to Elounda village.

Our experience: we stayed here, and Elounda as a destination is one of the most underrated pockets of Crete for families. Go in May or early June, when the kids’ club is running and the island is still quiet.

Check availability at Elounda Residence Resort & Waterpark →

Budget-friendly

7. Casa Piccina: Ormea, Piedmont, Italy

Best for: families who want to live like locals in a mountain village.

For kids: the village itself: trails ten minutes from your door, a dairy farm, and a castle ruin you can walk up to at night.

Good to know: this is an apartment, not a hotel, hosted by our friends Majla and Marco. The link goes straight to the listing and is not an affiliate link.

Our experience: we stayed here, and it is where I would send you first. More in Ormea with kids and where to stay in Ormea.

See Casa Piccina on Airbnb →

Europe’s best family hotels on our list

We have not stayed at these yet. They are on our own family list because of what they offer children, and the facts below come from each hotel’s own site.

Splurge

8. Schloss Elmau: Bavarian Alps, Germany

Best for: families with children and teens who want a full programme.

For kids: a Kids Club and a Kids & Teens Club, family spas, and an outdoor adventure programme.

Good to know: it is a luxury retreat that has hosted two G7 summits, and it costs accordingly.

Our experience: on our list, not visited yet.

Check availability at Schloss Elmau →

9. Castiglion del Bosco: Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy

Best for: families who want space, outdoors and slow days.

For kids: a pool with vineyard views and hiking out the back door. No formal kids’ club is listed, so this is a slow, outdoors stay.

Good to know: it is a Rosewood property on a historic Brunello di Montalcino wine estate.

Our experience: on our list, not visited yet. We spent three months in Tuscany with the girls, and this is the slow Italy we keep going back for. If Italy is pulling at you, read what it is actually like to live in an Italian village with kids.

Check availability at Castiglion del Bosco →

10. Hôtel Royal Evian: Évian-les-Bains, France

Best for: families with babies and toddlers.

For kids: a Baby Club from 4 to 36 months, a Kids’ Club from age 3 and a Teens’ Club for 10 to 17 year olds, plus a children’s pool.

Good to know: it is a Belle Époque palace above Lake Geneva with the Alps all around.

Our experience: on our list, not visited yet.

Check availability at Hôtel Royal Evian →

11. Finca Cortesín: Casares, Costa del Sol, Spain

Best for: families who want a quiet luxury base on the Costa del Sol.

For kids: the hotel lists family experiences and a family suite, but no kids’ club ages, so check with them directly.

Good to know: it is in Casares, between Marbella and Sotogrande, about a mile from the Mediterranean.

Our experience: on our list, not visited yet. We live on this coast, so it is one I hope to tell you about first-hand.

Check availability at Finca Cortesín →

12. Naturhotel Forsthofgut: Leogang, Austria

Best for: families who want the Alps in summer or winter.

For kids: Rocky’s Club daily childcare with an outdoor programme, a family and kids spa area, and a natural swimming pond.

Good to know: it only takes direct bookings, so the link goes to the hotel’s own site.

Our experience: on our list, not visited yet.

Visit Naturhotel Forsthofgut’s website →

Mid-range

13. Safari Resort Beekse Bergen: Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands

Best for: animal-loving kids of any age.

For kids: you stay right by the Beekse Bergen safari park, with a playground and an indoor pool on site.

Good to know: it is easy to reach from most of Europe. It was not bookable on Booking.com when we checked, so the link goes to Beekse Bergen’s own site, where you can see the room and lodge types.

Our experience: on our list, not visited yet.

Visit Beekse Bergen’s website →

Which family hotel is right for you?

• Babies under 3: Hôtel Royal Evian, with its Baby Club from 4 months.
• Kids who live in the water: Elounda Residence in Crete, or Casa Acuario in Bocas del Toro.
• Nature and wildlife: Posada Amazonas, Catalina’s Hideaway, or Beekse Bergen for younger kids.
• Snow: The Westin Rusutsu, or Forsthofgut in the Austrian Alps.
• Living like locals: Casa Piccina in Ormea, or Finca Panda in Boquete.

What makes a hotel actually family-friendly?

The word “family-friendly” has lost almost all meaning. It can mean anything from “we have a children’s menu” to a dedicated kids’ club, shallow pool entry, cots at no charge, and staff who genuinely like small humans. The thing I look for isn’t a kids’ club. It’s whether the hotel treats your children as guests in their own right.

How we actually choose hotels with kids

• Free crib/cot: if they charge for it, they don’t actually welcome families
• Highchair availability: non-negotiable with a toddler
• Pool depth: a shallow area matters more than a big pool
• Kitchen access or travel kettle: early mornings with tired kids are easier with your own setup
• Cancellation policy: travel with children means travel with variables
• Check-in time flexibility: ask before booking, not when you arrive at noon with jet-lagged kids

For travel insurance, we use SafetyWing. It covers the whole family and we’ve actually used it.

Family hotels: frequently asked questions

Read more

• Panama with kids: the complete family guide
• Posada Amazonas review
• Ormea with kids
• Where to stay in Ormea
• Living in an Italian village with kids
• How to afford living abroad with kids

Xoxo, Marae: your travel mom bestie

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