Five-star hotels, small riads and boutique hideaways, with the Airbnbs we love coming soon. Every stay here has welcomed us and our two kids. No guesswork: if it is on this page, we would book it again tomorrow.
5 stays
Hotel, Mijas, Costa del Sol, Spain
A resort just outside Mijas, among golf courses and green hills, with a kids club so good our children gave it a nickname. Parents get one of the biggest spas on the coast and a breakfast that sets up the whole day.
Hotel, Deià, Mallorca, Spain
Restored 16th and 17th century manor houses in the artists’ village of Deià, between the Tramuntana mountains and the sea. Calm, grown-up and beautiful, and our family of four fitted in one room.
Boutique hotel, Atlantic coast north of Essaouira, Morocco
Dar Danse, the Bubble on the Beach, is a small family-run hideaway on a wild stretch of Atlantic coast near Zaouia Akermoud, about 45 minutes north of Essaouira. Solar powered and built from local stone. We stayed three nights with a two-year-old and a three-year-old, all four of us in one sea-view room, and left already planning to come back.
Riad, Medina, Marrakech, Morocco
A five-room riad in the quiet, local north of the Marrakech medina, made by an architect who first used it as his family’s holiday home. Hand-painted furniture, carved plaster, vintage lamps and a pinball machine turned into a mirror: part 1960s Marrakech, part Scandinavian calm. It feels like staying in a friend’s house, with a cook in the kitchen and mint tea on arrival.
Hotel, Marrakech, Morocco
A garden estate on the edge of Marrakech, built like a Moroccan village of earth-coloured riads among olive and orange trees and thousands of roses. After the medina and the coast, it was the perfect last stop: space, pools and calm, just outside the city.
Five tests, with our kids as the toughest jury.
Staff and hosts greet children with a smile, not a sigh. Family friendly in practice, not only in the listing.
A kids club they want to join, or a garden, beach or animals that keep them busy, plus a terrace or a quiet pool for the grown-ups.
A pool or a beach, ideally both. Most of a good family day happens in swimwear.
Fresh, generous and relaxed enough that nobody rushes a five-year-old through pancakes. In an Airbnb: a great bakery around the corner.
Space for a family of four without being pushed into a suite, or a home with real bedrooms.
Tell Yohanna about your family and she will point you to the right place.