Are these the best beach hotels for travelling with young families?

Travelling with young children changes your relationship with hotels completely.

Before children, it’s often about the room with the best view, the longest lunch, or whether you can spend an entire afternoon beside a pool without moving. Afterwards, you start noticing entirely different things – how far the beach is from the room when you’re carrying a sleeping toddler, whether dinner starts early enough for little ones, and if the hotel understands that family holidays should still feel like a holiday for parents too.

At More Travel, many of our most requested family recommendations come through Freya Talbot-Hill, our Experience & Marketing Manager, who spends much of the year travelling with her own young family. Over time, she’s developed a sharp eye for the sort of beach hotels that make travelling with children feel easy – not overly programmed resorts, but places where family life folds naturally into the rhythm of the stay.

The hotels in this edit are the ones she recommends most often for young families. Some are in Greece and the Balearics, where shorter flights and relaxed beach living make life instantly easier with little ones. Others are further afield – Mauritius, for example, where long sandy beaches, gentle lagoons and spacious resorts lend themselves brilliantly to slower family holidays.

What links them all is atmosphere. Hotels where children are welcomed warmly, where parents can still enjoy beautiful surroundings and excellent food, and where everyone settles into holiday mode instantly.

Amirandes, A Grecotel Resort to Live, Crete

If your ideal family holiday involves sleek cabanas, excellent sushi and children who disappear happily into football tournaments and outdoor cinema nights, Amirandes makes a very strong case for itself.

Part of the Grecotel Resort to Live collection (one of our favourite partners in Europe), the resort sits around 20 minutes from Heraklion airport and feels like its own little world once you arrive – all pale stone, huge reflective lagoons and sandy pathways lined with palms. The soundtrack is pure Mediterranean summer: cicadas during the day, DJs beside the firepits by sunset, children cannonballing into pools from breakfast onwards.

Freya often recommends it to younger families because so many of the usual holiday stress points disappear here. The beach is sandy and shallow, the resort is flat enough for buggies, and everything is within easy reach – no endless trekking across giant resorts carrying inflatable flamingos and somebody’s abandoned sliders.

The GrecoBaby setup is a lifesaver for parents travelling with babies – sterilisers, monitors, cots, buggies and all the bulky essentials that usually consume half the suitcase allowance. Older children are just as well catered for. One glance at the handy resort app and there’s beach volleyball, paddleboarding, football tournaments, trampoline classes, family discos and outdoor cinema nights all fighting for attention.

And despite the size, Amirandes never loses its holiday atmosphere. By day it’s all cicadas, saltwater and children living exclusively on ice cream and watermelon. By night, things sharpen slightly around the firepits and cocktail bars. Greek summer at full volume.

Puente Romano Beach Resort, Marbella

Puente Romano is Marbella at its most entertaining. Fashion lunches unfolding beside the sea, DJs starting before sunset, padel courts permanently busy, children weaving through it all with ice cream in hand.

Set directly on the Golden Mile, the resort feels less like a hotel and more like a small Andalusian village dropped beside the beach – whitewashed buildings, tropical gardens, fountains and pathways leading down to one of the liveliest stretches of sand on the coast. Families spend most of the day moving between the beach, the pools and the resort’s 20-plus restaurants, bars and beach clubs.

Freya recommends it for families who still want a sense of energy on holiday. There’s a brilliant kids’ club housed inside its own little villa complete with a cinema, escape room and pool, while teenagers have DJ workshops, sushi classes and one of the best tennis and padel setups in southern Europe.

Food is a huge part of the appeal here too. Sea Grill remains one of the best spots on the coast for seafood lunches beside the beach, while Nobu, Cipriani, COYA and Gaia bring a more polished evening crowd once the sun goes down. Despite the Marbella glamour, the atmosphere never feels off-limits to families.

The beach itself is another reason people return year after year. Wide, sandy and lined with chiringuitos, it has that easy Costa del Sol rhythm – coffees by the sea in the morning, long afternoons on the sand, children cycling along the promenade as the light starts to soften.

Four Seasons Resort Mauritius at Anahita, Mauritius

A little further afield, and following a seven-month refurbishment in 2025, Four Seasons Mauritius feels sharper, lighter and far more contemporary than many of the island’s older luxury resorts.

The setting still does most of the heavy lifting, of course. Villas scattered across tropical gardens and mangrove lagoons, Bambous Mountain rising in the background, bicycles parked outside every doorway, golf buggies weaving quietly between palms. But the redesign has shifted the atmosphere noticeably. The darker colonial look has gone, replaced with airy sand-toned villas, lined oak, creamy marble bathrooms and enormous indoor-outdoor living spaces that make family stays feel wonderfully uncontained.

And this is very much a villa resort. Every family gets space: private pools, shaded terraces, outdoor showers hidden amongst tropical planting and gardens large enough for children to disappear off exploring while adults stay horizontal nearby.

Children are exceptionally well looked after too. The Hobbit Village kids club has its own bakery, amphitheatre, paddling pool and playrooms, while older children rotate between watersports, golf, beach games and boat trips across the lagoon to Ile aux Cerfs – the resort’s white-sand island beach reached by a 20-minute boat ride.

The dining feels far more polished following the renovation as well. Families move between Indian, Italian and pan-Asian restaurants throughout the week, with the overwater bar and Rum Library pulling things in a more grown-up direction once the sun drops.

Mauritius has always done family travel well, but Four Seasons Anahita feels especially good for families wanting something spacious, outdoorsy and properly luxurious without becoming overly formal. Golfers disappear onto Ernie Els-designed fairways, children cycle freely around the gated estate, and most afternoons end somewhere between the pool, the lagoon and another round of Gourmet Pops lollies.

Ikos Dassia, Corfu

Ikos has become the all-inclusive brand parents mention slightly smugly at dinner parties. Usually because they’ve returned from a week where nobody signed a bill, organised a thing or heard the words “that’s extra”.

Airport transfers, dinner reservations, children’s clubs, beach drinks, watersports, post-swim ice creams – everything is handled before you’ve had time to think about it properly. Which is precisely why parents become so loyal to Ikos once they’ve done it once.

To be honest, we love all of the Ikos resorts, and choosing between them can become a holiday planning exercise in itself. (If you’re currently debating Corfu versus Mallorca versus Halkidiki, our guide on which Ikos resort is right for you will help.)

Set on Corfu’s east coast, Dassia stretches along a long sandy beach with calm, shallow water and enough pools, restaurants and activities to absorb children from breakfast onwards. There are splash areas for younger kids, football academies for older ones, OFSTED-standard childcare from four months old, and exceptional kids’ clubs.

The all-inclusive side is where Ikos separates itself from most family resorts in Europe. Eight à la carte restaurants, Michelin-designed menus, proper cocktails, beach service and the Dine Out programme – where dinners at local Corfiot restaurants are included as part of your stay – remove almost all of the usual all-inclusive clichés. Nobody is queueing for beige buffet pasta beneath fluorescent lighting here.

And then there’s the ease of it all. Children ordering another milkshake? Included. Fancy sushi tonight instead of Greek? Fine. Need a buggy, baby monitor or emergency baby food? Already sorted. By day three, you’ll feel visibly lighter.

Sani Resort, Halkidiki

Sani occupies a huge stretch of protected coastline in Halkidiki, spread across five hotels, a marina, pine forests and some of the softest sand in mainland Greece. It’s large, but not in a high-rise, wristband-heavy way. More low-rise white buildings hidden between trees, families cycling between beaches, and boats pulling into the marina by dinner.

The beaches are a huge part of why people love it here. Calm, shallow water, long sandy stretches and enough space that children spend most of the day barefoot between the sea, the pools and whichever ice cream stop has become essential by day two.

And there’s a lot included. Baby clubs, kids clubs and teen programmes run throughout the resort, alongside Chelsea Football Academy coaching, sailing lessons, watersports and the Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre. Older children disappear into their own worlds very quickly here.

The marina gives Sani a completely different feel to most Mediterranean family resorts. Evenings revolve around the restaurants and waterfront bars rather than one central buffet space, with more than 40 restaurants across the resort, ranging from easy beach lunches to sushi, Greek seafood and destination dining from Michelin-starred guest chefs.

The five hotels each feel quite different too. Sani Beach is the liveliest and closest to the beach clubs and marina; Porto Sani feels more tucked away and family-focused, while Sani Asterias sits closest to the water with a quieter, more polished atmosphere.

Anantara Koh Yao Yai Resort & Villas, Thailand

Thailand and young children can sound slightly ambitious on paper. Long flights, boat transfers, heat, jet lag. And then you arrive somewhere like Anantara Koh Yao Yai and remember why families keep doing it anyway.

Set on Koh Yao Yai – one of the quieter islands in the Andaman Sea – Anantara Koh Yao Yai Resort & Villas feels completely removed from the busier pace of Phuket and Krabi. You arrive by boat; there’s barely any traffic on the island, and most days revolve around long-tail boats, jungle greenery and beaches that still feel relatively undeveloped.

The family setup here is one of the best in Thailand right now. Suites come with bunk beds, tipi tents, toys, bottle warmers, baby baths and sterilisers already waiting in the room, while ground-floor family suites open directly onto the enormous family pool. The Grand Family Suites even include treasure maps and chocolate treasure boxes at check-in, which immediately earns the resort serious credibility with younger guests.

And then there’s the kids club – the largest in southern Thailand – complete with climbing walls, a huge ball pit, splash areas, gaming zones and a full programme of activities running throughout the day. Children can try everything from batik painting and kite-making to Muay Thai lessons and beach fishing with local guides.

What makes the resort feel special, though, is the atmosphere around all of it. Staff interact with children in a warm, natural way rather than the slightly rehearsed energy family resorts can sometimes drift into. The beach itself stretches out in front of dramatic limestone cliffs, with sunset turning the entire bay pink and gold by early evening. Thailand still delivers that sense of escapism few destinations manage quite so effortlessly – and Anantara Koh Yao Yai makes it feel remarkably easy with children in tow.

Bahía del Duque, Tenerife

Bahía del Duque is one of those hotels families return to year after year – partly because Tenerife is such an easy win with children, but mostly because the resort still gets the balance right. Set directly on Playa del Duque in Costa Adeje, the hotel stretches through tropical gardens down to the beach, with terracotta-coloured buildings, huge palm trees and enough pools that children immediately disappear into holiday mode.

The beach is a big part of the appeal. Calm water, soft sand and reliable sunshine almost all year round mean families aren’t tied to school-summer travel here. February half term feels just as alive as August, only with fewer lilo negotiations happening around the pool.

Children are very well catered for too. There’s a kids club, family pools, tennis courts and plenty of space to explore, but the hotel never feels dominated by organised entertainment or constant activity schedules. It still feels like somewhere adults genuinely want to stay.

Food is another reason people love it here. Long breakfasts outside, fresh seafood lunches by the beach, Spanish dinners that stretch later into the evening once everybody’s adjusted to holiday time. There are eight restaurants across the resort, so the week never slips into repetition.

And while newer resorts across Tenerife come and go, Bahía del Duque has stayed consistently good at what it does: relaxed beach holidays with proper sunshine, excellent service and enough atmosphere that families keep booking return trips before they’ve even flown home.

Planning a family beach holiday? A few things we always tell parents

Travelling with children changes the way people travel, but it doesn’t mean lowering the bar.

The best family beach holidays are rarely about packing every minute with activities or finding somewhere exclusively designed for children. More often, they’re about finding hotels that understand family life properly – enough space, good food, thoughtful service, beaches that work for little legs, and an atmosphere where everybody relaxes into the holiday quickly.

It’s also why booking through a travel advisor makes such a difference. Not every “family-friendly” resort gets the balance right, and small details matter far more than most people realise until they’re there – room locations, buggy access, beach conditions, flight timings, childcare setups, even which restaurants are easiest with younger children after a long travel day.

At More Travel, much of our family travel advice comes from lived experience. Freya travels extensively with her own young family, while the wider team spends a huge amount of time visiting resorts personally, understanding which hotels genuinely work for different ages, travel styles and budgets.

And perhaps most importantly, we help take some of the mental load out of planning it all. Flights, transfers, room types, childcare, restaurant reservations, airport lounges, special requests.

If you’re planning a beach holiday with children and would like help narrowing down the right resort, destination or travel style, we’d love to help. Get in touch with our team, and we’ll help shape something that feels exciting for the children and relaxing for everyone else too.