Five resorts from the Maldives to Lake Lucerne, and what sets a family stay apart from a hotel stay with children
Luxury family resorts have to satisfy two groups at once. Parents expect the standard of a leading hotel, and children expect somewhere that feels like theirs: a club run by trained staff, a pool with a slide, and a room where nobody has to whisper. The best family friendly luxury hotels treat this as a design brief, not an extra.
This page is a short selection, not a ranking. It covers five resorts, from the Maldives to Lake Lucerne, each read against its own official website for children’s programmes, age groups, and room layouts. Details change, so we confirm them again before any stay.
Three things separate a resort that welcomes children from one that only admits them. The first is a supervised club with age groups, so that a four-year-old and a thirteen-year-old are not offered the same afternoon. The second is space: connecting rooms, suites with doors that close, or villas with several bedrooms. The third is childcare that can be arranged on request, from an evening babysitter to a nanny’s room in a villa.
Age is where most plans are decided. Clubs set minimum ages, and some ask that children are toilet-trained. Rosewood Mayakoba’s club starts at four, and Soneva Fushi offers one-to-one babysitting for children under four, so a family with a toddler will want to know this before comparing anything else. Luxury family vacations tend to go well when the youngest child’s age is settled first.
Soneva Fushi in the Baa Atoll of the Maldives is built around The Den, a screen-free children’s space of more than 1,365 m² with an eight-metre pirate ship, two pools, a cinema, and a room of more than 8,000 Lego and Duplo pieces. It is open to children and teenagers aged 4 to 17, with qualified childminders present at all times. For larger parties, the villas go up to 11 bedrooms.
Rosewood Mayakoba on the Riviera Maya runs the Rosewood Explorers programme, with a kids’ club for ages four and over. The Beachside Lagoon View Suites offer connecting rooms, subject to availability, and private residences range from two to six bedrooms. Two suite categories are for adults only, so the room choice matters.
In Greece, the Westin Resort at Costa Navarino is the destination’s family-focused resort. It has a crèche for ages 4 months to 3 years, the SandCastle club for ages 4 to 7 and 8 to 12, and an Aqua Park with six slides. For a beach holiday on a smaller scale, our guides to luxury beach resorts and private islands cover more options.
Family travel does not have to mean a beach, and luxury family resorts work just as well in the hills. Gleneagles in Scotland offers Little Glen Adventurers for ages 3 to 7 and The Den Adventurers for ages 8 to 12, with outdoor days built around the estate, and its family rooms include interconnecting options.
Bürgenstock Resort Lake Lucerne in Switzerland has a dedicated kids’ club, the World of Bürgenmutz, for ages 3 to 12, open daily from 10am to 7pm, and offers babysitting with 24 hours’ notice recommended. The setting above the lake suits families who want a quieter pace.
Families who prefer a private house can also look at choosing the right villa, and those drawn to the wild can read about luxury glamping, where several camps offer family tents.
The best family vacation spots are the ones that are open and running their programmes in your week. School holidays bring the strongest demand, and several resorts shape their children’s programmes around them. Gleneagles, for example, lists holiday programmes for Easter, May, summer, October, and the festive season.
Some resorts open only part of the year. In 2026, the Westin at Costa Navarino welcomed guests from 27 February and The Romanos from 8 April, so the dates for the year you travel need checking. Parts of a resort can also be for adults only, as at W Costa Navarino, which welcomes adults and guests aged 12 and over.
Tell us the ages of your children and your dates, and we will arrange the right resort
We choose resorts around your children’s ages and your dates, confirm what each club and room type includes, and request the layout you need, such as connecting rooms or a villa. We then arrange the flights, transfers, and ground transport, and plan the days so that children’s time, parents’ time, and family time each have a place, with one point of contact from the first message to the last day. Our guides to family concierge services, exclusive family holidays, and VIP airport assistance show how this works in practice.
A supervised children’s club with age groups, rooms or villas that give everyone space, and childcare that can be arranged, all at the level of service parents expect from a leading hotel
It differs by resort. Rosewood Mayakoba’s club starts at four and children must be toilet-trained, Bürgenstock’s club takes ages 3 to 12, and Soneva Fushi’s The Den takes ages 4 to 17
Not always. Rosewood Mayakoba keeps two suite categories for adults only, and W Costa Navarino welcomes adults and guests aged 12 and over, so check the property and the room
Soneva Fushi, Rosewood Mayakoba, and Bürgenstock each offer babysitting, usually best booked in advance, and we can request it for you with the stay
As soon as your dates are fixed, because school-holiday weeks are the busiest and connecting rooms and villas are limited
