by Your Family for ALL4WOMEN

 

For most parents, traditional family hotels and resorts that offer them a break and have loads of activities for the kids to do, are the holiday go-to …

Our favourite kid-friendly resorts

There are those (very hardcore and ever-so-patient) parents who take their kids on big overland camping missions from a young age. We salute you.

For most parents though, traditional family hotels and resorts that offer them a break and have loads of activities for the kids to do, are the holiday go-to.

1. Fish River Sun (Eastern Cape)

The Fish River Sun between East London and Port Alfred is an old favourite among East-Coast holidaying families.

It offers a range of activities for young and old – from the Body and Skin Clinic, to the top-rated 18-hole golf course and watersports on the nearby Great Fish River.

However it is Kamp Kwena – the complimentary entertainment and activity programme for resident children between the ages of three and 12 years over weekends and holidays – which will have your children begging you to go back.

Activities are weather-dependant and facilities both indoor and out mean the kids will run wide open from sunrise to sunset. Oh, and make sure your stay includes a Saturday night – the seafood buffet is legendary.

2. Wavecrest (Wild Coast, Eastern Cape)

A long popular holiday destination of discerning travellers, the Wild Coast has seen a fair amount of commercialisation over the past decade. It remains a magical region however and Wavecrest Beach Hotel and Spa – situated where twin mangrove-lined estuaries meet and merge with the sea – is one of its gems.

It’s a full family affair with a spa for mom, tennis and squash courts, kayaks free for use, and, seemingly endless surrounding expanses of beach. If the kids’ jungle gym and sandpit doesn’t keep them busy for hours, the babysitters will.

Did we mention the pool(s)? It is the place where kids are allowed in the deck jacuzzi… and, if fishing is your game, this is the place, offering light-tackle action in the estuary as well as a variety of rock-and-surf options all within walking distance.

The food is good and the staff warm. What else could a parent ask for?

3. Kwa Maritane Bush Lodge (Pilanesberg National Park, Gauteng)

There are many things kids (and their parents, of course) are likely to remember from a Kwa Maritane bush break, but the underground hide overlooking the waterhole is bound to be at the top of the list.

Less flashy and, dare we say pretentious than the nearby Sun City and Lost City, it offers all the amenities – think games rooms, two swimming pools with baby pool and slide, tennis courts, bush-style mini golf, trampolines and a playground – as well as big five game viewing (either self-driven or on the back of open game-viewers)

Dinner and breakfast are classic family hotel buffet style and the traditional bush braais are a classic.

 

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