The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
FANTASTIC FIVE
RESORTS WITH CLUBS FOR KIDS
If activity, entertainment, and a break from full-time parenting are what you’re after, these five clubs, tested by our experts (and their children) are exceptional. Your children will thank you for checking them in.
Sani Beach Club, Halkidiki, Greece
Best for: babies The 30-minute on-beach “babewatch” service – included in the price of your room – is justifiably legendary; when else does a new parent get the chance to swim unencumbered on holiday, while their child frolics happily nearby? If you’d like a bit longer away from your child in this luxurious resort – which comprises four hotels filled with baby-friendly facilities, several pools and 18 restaurants – the British-run crèche takes babies from the age of four months.
Rooms from £94 per night; telegraph.co.uk/sanibeachhotel
Pine Cliffs, Albufeira,
excluding lunch; telegraph. co.uk/pinecliffs
Club Med, Da Balaia, Algarve, Portugal
Best for: aspiring acrobats and parents seeking maximum childcare Club Med’s USP is its flying trapeze lessons – available at 25 of its 70 resorts. At Da Balaia, a newly renovated mini-club for under-10s includes its own pool and music room; other activities include swimming, kayaking and team sports. Kids’ clubs, available from four months to 17 years, run all day and into the evening. The cheerful, multinational staff often wear wacky costumes, adding to the cruise ship atmosphere – there’s also near constant (incredibly good) food, plus spectacular evening shows.
A seven-night all-inclusive holiday starts from £1,015 per adult and £605 per child, including flights. Children under six stay free; clubmed.co.uk
Mark Warner, San Lucianu, Corsica
Best for: Sporty pre-teens Perfect for watersportloving families, both holidaymakers and staff in this informal resort are almost exclusively British. Children from four months to 17 years are catered for in clubs divided into small age groups with activities including windsurfing, sailing and beach cricket. The resort is small with its own private beach, so parents see their children enjoying themselves, and young people don’t feel they’ve been shunted off. Parents can get out on the water or play tennis too, at no extra charge. This Corsican spot is one of six Mark Warner sun destinations around Europe: the operator has four resorts in Greece and one in Sardinia with similar set ups, although the Sardinian club doesn’t offer childcare for under-ones.
From £616 per adult and £208 per child, full board, including flights, transfers and kids’ clubs for children aged two and up; markwarner.co.uk
Delphina’s Resort Le Dune, Sardinia
Best for: Gourmets with primary-aged children With a 10,000-square-metre playground set among the dunes, a kids-only pool, Indian village and helterskelter, Village Fantasia is just one of many mini-club hang-outs – and children can go with their parents too. There’s an aviary for gathering eggs and a garden where they pick organic veggies for cookery workshops and the miniclub’s restaurant. There’s also tennis, mini-golf, trampolines, a riding school, kayaking, archery and a climbing wall. This midmarket resort has almost 500 rooms, six pools and 10 fabulous restaurants, yet feels surprisingly intimate.
A one-week stay for a family of four starts from £2,699, half board including BA flights from Heathrow and transfers, plus kids’ clubs for ages 18 months up with Sardatur (sardatur-holidays.co.uk)