Chinese New Year is coming and you’re planning to be a better mother and take the kids for a quick break. If carrying hot and grumpy children through a packed amusement park is not your idea of a holiday, opt for a relaxing trip to a resort near home where families can enjoy the opportunity to play and rest together in safe and scenic surroundings.
By: Ng Lin-Li
With open spaces, friendly hosts and fun activities for children, family-friendly resorts provide wonderful opportunities for you to truly chill out and bond with your family at the same time. Here is just a small selection of the many great resorts available in Southeast Asia for family travel.
Conrad Bali Resort & Spa
Surrounded by the beach, beautiful lagoons, gardens and waterfalls, the Conrad Bali Resort & Spa makes for a scenic and relaxing destination. After swimming and playing with the kids on the beach or in the pools, take a break and have the children enjoy the Kura Kura Club (for ages 3-12), where supervised activities like face painting, cookie making and treasure hunts are regular features.
Cultural activities like making kites, learning Balinese dance, and art and craft are also available. The award-winning Jiwa spa offers not only invigorating treatments for adults, children eight years of age and above can enjoy the spa experience with their parents. The kids’ treatment ends with a special children’s bubble bath play menu with flavours such as Double Chocolate Fudge, Banana Split and Milk Bath. Children below 12 years of age stay for free at the resort.
Holiday Inn Phuket
Besides a lovely tropical environment, proximity to the beach, themed pools and a sizeable Kid’s Club, Holiday Inn Phuket brings family-friendly to another level with their Family Suites. Adults get a modern and comfortable space with a king-sized bed, and children get their own en suite room, complete with their own TV, video, electronic games, toy box and PlayStation where they can play and relax. The kids’ rooms have a “Pirate” theme, complete with beds that look like boats.
Another variation of this is the Kidsuite (which costs slightly more than a standard room), where you can choose between a “Jungle” or “Pirate” theme, with bunk beds for the kids. Massages, Thai cuisine cooking lessons and gym sessions are available for adults taking a breather, while the kids are busy at the Kid’s Club.
Shangri-La Tanjung Aru Resort in Sabah
The Shangri-La Tanjung Aru Resort, a 2 ½ hours flight from Singapore, offers possibly the largest Kids Club facility in Malaysia with a large range of scheduled children activities and professional child care (meanwhile, adults can escape to the luxurious Chi spa for pampering).
With a grand view over the sea and a private beach, and a partnership with sister resort Shangri-La Rasa Ria, the resort offers a wide variety of activities that children and adults can enjoy together like watching orangutans up close, horse riding, playing water volleyball, snorkeling, feeding the koi or watching the sunrise over Mount Kinabalu.
Keep the young ones happy at the complimentary Kids Club with its many toys and games or arrange for private babysitting for children above the age of 4. Children below 12 years of age stay for free at the resort.
Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort & Spa
With three spacious swimming pools set in lush greenery, you can spend a fun and exciting day with your children around the pools making use of the ample sea loungers, large waterslides and water games facilities. Have lunch or drinks by the pool with poolside service and not worry about getting the kids dressed up.
Need an afternoon nap or massage? The Kidz Paradise (for ages 4-12) at the Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort & Spa has friendly staff on hand to engage your children in scheduled art projects such as batik painting, plaster of Paris sculpturing, sand art, Thai toy making, and games like fun badminton, a scavenger hunt and mini soccer.
Kidz Paradise is in a separate building complete with a shaded garden playground, climbing frames, ropewalk, sandpit, toys and games. Children below 12 years of age stay for free at the resort.
Main photo from Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort & Spa. Other photos from Conrad Bali Resort & Spa, Phuket Holiday Inn, Shangri-la Tanjung Aru Resort and Hilton Phuket Arcdia Resort & Spa.
Have some favourite family resorts that you would recommend? Leave a comment here!
