The location is unique; only a 15-minute drive from the city centre, directly situated on the beach and surrounded by immensely tall palm trees. Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort & Spa is the only hotel in Singapore that offers this golden combination. Read more....
There are hotels where children are just tolerated, then there are child-friendly hotels and then we have the super child-friendly hotels. Martinhal Cascais definitely qualifies for the last-mentioned category. Read more...
“If you look really carefully, you’ll find goats somewhere around here”, general manager Petra of Les Deux Tours Hotel squats down and gives this intriguing ‘task’ to our daughters. In the end, finding the animals turns out to be quite hard as the hotel grounds stretch out over a huge terrain with large palm trees and all sorts of hidden nooks and crannies. Not only good hiding places for goats but also for kids on a discovery tour. Read more...
It took a whole day before our daughters discovered the third swimming pool. That’s not as strange as it sounds because Tigmiza Suites & Pavillons is located in the middle of a palm oasis stretching over no less than 6 acres. Just 20 minutes from the chaos of Marrakesh, this is a place of retreat and relaxation. Built in the traditional Kabash style, the complex is pretty as a picture. Although it seems as if the sand-coloured buildings have been here for ages, the luxury boutique hotel was built only 10 years ago. This doesn’t mean the hotel has no soul. On the contrary. At the end of our first day, we can say – while we are enjoying our delicious Mojitos and special kid-friendly cocktails – that it feels like staying with relatives. Well-to-do relatives, that is, as the level of comfort is extremely high. Read more...
In Morocco, the term “Douar” means a small, traditional village [or] a group of rural dwellings consisting of dozens or sometimes even hundreds of houses. Le Jardin des Douars Hotel can be better described as an oasis. Situated in the hills not far from the seaside town of Essaouira, this splendid hotel is built in the local Ksar style and looks out over the luscious river Oued Ksob. Read more...
Jean and Victoria’s place is a lovely and excellent Riad (Moroccan villa) situated just 5 minutes outside Taroudant where you will find a real Moroccan experience. Read more…
A wilderness playground with a tree house, an old, bright yellow Mercedes, goats and donkeys and as eye-catcher in the lobby a shrine consisting of kitschy statues and images around a vintage poster of a young Arnold Schwarzenegger. Not your typical hotel description, is it? Read more...
“Dad, how many other people are sleeping here?” our oldest daughter wonders in amazement as she absorbs the room. We have just been welcomed by one of the butlers in, as turns out, our very own Riad. This isn’t your average hotel room, nor a suite, but an identical copy of a traditional Moroccan house. That’s not really surprising because we are in Marrakesh, one of the most beautiful cities in this North African country.
And we sleep in style indeed as the Royal Mansour hotel also serves as one of the official guesthouses of King Mohammed VI of Morocco. Read more...
Paris, the city of love. This stems from the romance of the old city and the fact that Paris has long been in demand as a honeymoon destination. The often tight hotel rooms certainly have contributed to this. Yet you cannot speak of tightness in the apartment we stay in, since it features 160 m2 inside and 90 m2 of a garden… Read more…
This family house in the Western Cape of Cape Town is truly amazing. It is a 4 bedroomed home with ocean views, in the exclusive & wind-free suburb of Fresnaye. Read more...
‘In the afternoon the baboons come down from the mountain to steal our grapes’, says Anton de Cock, one of the owners of the Blue Gum Country Estate. As we speak, we take in the splendid views of the imposing rock formations looming up in the late afternoon sun directly behind our family suite. As soon as they hear the word baboons our daughters’ faces light up immediately, and they run indoors to grab their binoculars. They had not yet checked baboons off from their Field Guide. Read more....
In the early 1990s Michael en Dorothee Lutzeyer acquired a farm on a stunning plot of land located between the villages of Stanford and Gansbaai. What started as a modest B&B ultimately grew into one of the most highly acclaimed five-star ecologically friendly accommodations in all of South Africa. The name Grootbos, an Afrikaans word meaning ‘Big Forest’, is derived from the nearby ancient indigenous and endangered Milkwood forests.
Just imagine: where else in the world can you sit on a terrace, sipping a cold drink in the shade of a huge parasol while watching whales frolicking about in the distance, spraying jets of water from their blowholes. Read more...
‘Well, that was a pleasant drive’, says our youngest daughter, who has clearly mastered the art of understatement, when we return to the main lodge of the Gondwana Private Game reserve after a two-hour game drive. It’s now around 8.30 am and we’re perfectly on time for breakfast. The terrace offers splendid views of one of the most stunning landscapes we have ever seen. The Langeberg mountain range and the Outeniqua mountains are just becoming visible when the last bits of fog disappear from around the mountain tops and we can now see the indigenous ‘Fynbos’ (fine-leaved plants) in every direction of our gaze. Almost at once, we spot a giraffe near the farthest row of fourteen suites built in a style clearly inspired by the traditional Khoi-San style of architecture. Read more...
After a warm welcome we are given a tour of the premises of what may very well be the most iconic hotel in Spain: the Marbella Club. Elated, we walk through the lovely, park-like estate with its many rooms and suites built in charming single-story architecture, interspersed with one gorgeous free-standing villa after another. All of this beauty remains entirely unnoticed by our children: all they have eyes for is the 5,000m2 Kids Club. Their mouths are hanging open in astonishment and excitement: ‘Dad, this looks like a children’s village. No, it’s more like a children’s city!’ Read more...
Take a stroll down the artificial pier curving into the Mediterranean Sea for a stunning view of this amazing resort right on the beach. At the end of the day, as soon as dusk approaches, hundreds of twinkling lights create a fairy-tale atmosphere.Our path illuminated by the first soft rays of moonlight and the still-warm sand beneath our feet, we return to the resort to nestle ourselves on the outdoor terrace of the Sea Grill restaurant with a glass of good wine. The children continue doing what they’ve been doing all day: playing to their heart’s content on the almost deserted beach. We watch them play, assuring one another that everything is fine. Read more...
Searching for the right family vacation spot often feels like a grand adventure. What we're after is a mix of comfort, fun, dining, and of course, activities that our teenagers would love. Right now, we’re immersing ourselves in a gem on the Dutch coast – the Vesper Hotel in Noordwijk. Read more…
How about celebrating your birthday at the five-star Okura hotel in Amsterdam? It’s a 78 metres tall building, rising high in this part of borough Amsterdam-Zuid (Old South) and flat surroundings. Nice detail is, that when completed in 1971, it was the second-tallest building in the city of Amsterdam. Read more…
If you’re looking for a child friendly hotel with a historic character, you will surely love Masseria Torre Coccaro as much as we did. The property is a genuine masseria and this is reflected in the old buildings and beautiful “village square”. Read more...
The last rays of sunshine caress the cream-coloured buildings of Borgo Egnazia. Soft music resounds through the narrow streets of what resembles a traditional Apulian village. Walking towards the central square, the Piazza, the heart of the Borgo, the music grows louder and, at the point where the buildings give way to the Piazza, we briefly imagine ourselves to be on the set of a film by the Italian director and film maker Federico Fellini. People from all ages have gathered here, glasses in hand, some seated on the chairs at the centre of the square and other on a semi-circular low wall that appears to embrace the Piazza. Everyone has their gaze trained on a group of opera singers who are presenting a fantastic small-scale opera production, without any need for scenery or other decorations. Even our children hold their breath, watching the performers with their mouths open in astonishment. Read more...
This is one of the most special places we have stayed as for it’s an unique experience to stay in a traditional trulli house. The trulli’s at Trulli Paparale have been beautifully restored, with attention to detail, making it very comfortable. Read more...
