The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
FIVE OF THE BEST Family-friendly hotels for a summer escape to the Med
Whether your children are looking for the full gamut of water sports while on holiday or simply help-yourself gelato and a swimming pool (or seven) – these are the best places for a fun-filled family break in the European sun.
NOBU HOTEL, IBIZA BAY, SPAIN Children are considered guests in their own right at this spectacular, sleek, five-star hotel on Talamanca Bay. The kids’ club is all about learning while having fun, educating young guests through interactive Posidonia-themed storytelling and special eco-focused days. They’ll learn how to make body scrubs with local ingredients, make sushi and tacos, and take over the decks for a spot of DJing. What’s more, children can attend flower power, white, mermaid and pirate day parties. For adults there’s a Six Senses spa, a John Frieda blow-dry salon, a nail bar, sea-view rooms, plus, of course, the acclaimed restaurant.
Double rooms from €490 (£430); telegraph.co.uk/tt-nobuibiza
AMARIN FAMILY HOTEL,
ISTRIA, CROATIA
Everything is child-orientated at this design hotel by the sea in Rovinj. On arrival children encounter a bouncy net installation, where they can jump about and glimpse the indoor pool, the kids’ gym and the garden pool. The grounds have rope climbing frames and slides, outdoor pools, volleyball nets and free scooters. There’s a kids’ club (painting, collage and hand-printing, and sports), cinema, spa with indoor pool and gym and 24-hour childcare, as well as two beaches, with water sports on offer and so much more. Double rooms from €109 (£96); telegraph.co.uk/tt-amarin
DAIOS COVE LUXURY RESORT & VILLAS, CRETE, GREECE
This village-like resort is close to the bustling town of Agios Nikolaos. Facilities include a crèche club supervised by Worldwide Kids, a game-stocked entertainment room and dozens of well-monitored water sports, as well as two tennis courts and several outdoor pools. It sits in a natural amphitheatre that descends in stages to a private sandy beach. Rooms, villas and suites have floor-to-ceiling windows with views over the dazzling Vathi Bay. There’s also a comprehensive
spa. Linked by a labyrinth of tunnels and corridors, the complex’s five levels are served by a funicular, which trundles guests between the different parts. Double rooms from €515 (£370); telegraph.co.uk/tt-daioscove
LE DUNE, SARDINIA, ITALY
Forte Village resort is a self-contained paradise with no less than 21 restaurants, and sports and children’s facilities to boot. Le Dune is one of the resort’s five-star hotels. Along with kids’ clubs and a children’s restaurant, there’s the enormous Acquapark with slides. There are also more than a dozen academies (these cost extra) that you can sign the kids up for, including magic, dance, chess, DJing, as well as rugby, tennis,
and a football academy. Other, more grown-up features include the Acquaforte spa with an extensive thalassotherapy area of six pools, plus a diving centre, tennis and padel courts, and a hairdresser. There’s a host of restaurants and bars (including karaoke), and nightly entertainment in the form of a 5,000-seater arena where you might see anything from Swan Lake by the St Petersburg Ballet Theatre to Sting. Deluxe bungalows from €780 (£698); telegraph.co.uk/tt-ledune
HOTEL ROYAL-RIVIERA,
CÔTE D’AZUR, FRANCE
This pink palace bears all the hallmarks of Riviera glamour, but it’s also kidtastic. The Royal Kid Programme gives children a passport at check-in, ageappropriate gifts and free ice-cream vouchers at the pool (parents have slightly more upmarket French gastronomy to choose from at the restaurants). One under-12 can stay in their parents’ deluxe room or suite for free, although interconnecting rooms and family-sized suites are available. Entertainment spans from the active (water sports) to the languid: chill out at the hotel’s private beach or beside the sparkling turquoise pool. Picture-perfect views over both Fourmis Bay and the Cap Ferrat Peninsula top it all off.
Double rooms from €210 (£189); telegraph.co.uk/tt-hotelroyalriviera
Annie Bennett, Jane Foster, Heidi FullerLove, Jan Fuscoe and Louise Simpson