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| Elephant at Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket |
ALL PARENTS of tiny tots have a deep craving. Sleep. The sort of deep theta sleep you read about in psychology manuals. A who-the-hell-cares-if-the-house-is-on-fire sort of sleep that energetic singles would never comprehend. Young parents crave a few days (or months, more likely) of rest and relaxation - preferably near a sandy white beach or within ambling distance of a cool, blue pool. But for mum and dad to kick back, junior needs to be entertained, too. The great thing is that, at Asia’s family-friendly resorts, adult pampering and kiddie fun are no longer mutually exclusive.
This guide to child friendly resorts in Asia is by no means definitive, but it is broadly indicative of child-friendly distractions available, not always at a wallet-bludgeoning price. Free cots or extra beds for small kids are a given at most of these places, and kids’ clubs are ubiquitous. But these days, tots in tow can expect all sorts of extra diversions - from conquering the flying trapeze and swimming with elephants to snoozing in boat-shaped beds and special kids’ ambassadors to pander to every whim. It’s playtime.
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So where to find these resorts for kids and tiresome children? With plenty of sunshine and beaches, warm seas and traditionally family-oriented locals, Southeast Asian destinations are hugely popular and packed with resorts that welcome kids. Including your screaming toddler. Phuket, Thailand has, of course, more resorts than you can shake several large beach umbrellas at - and there are a myriad options for families with kids.
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| JW Marriott Phuket children's pool |
The super-child-friendly Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket (www.starwood.com/phuket) is part of the integrated Laguna Phuket resort complex, which has a reputation for its family-oriented atmosphere. Children get a welcome gift on arrival, special goodie-packed backpack, toys, safety kits and “tippy cup” to be filled with free drinks at each meal.
The aptly named Very Important Kidz (VIKC) Club has indoor and outdoor recreation areas, games and a funky ‘Cyber Zone’. Resident baby elephants Ning Nong and Yum Yum’s twice-daily visit to the hotel and beach, with thrilling photo opportunities, are always a highlight. Family fun includes mini-treks, elephant rides and water sports. Swimming and building sandcastles on the beach never lose their appeal.
But there’s more. All the hotel’s departments have special “VIKC ambassadors” (identified by their special logos) to assist with child-related requests. There’s also an express meal service for children, special kids in-room dining menu, discount on food and drinks for children – not to mention the free, unlimited ice cream! More kiddies’ perks are special laundry prices for children’s clothes. Not surprisingly for this children’s paradise, strollers, bottle warmers, cribs and protective bed rails are readily available. Baby-sitting is Bt100 per child per hour, up to Bt200 for three children per hour, minimum two hours.
Nine to 14-year-olds can hang out at Camp Laguna, with year-round programmes including rock climbing, abseiling, Ultimate Frisbee, beach volleyball and parachute games. There are also “Family Challenge Programmes” for parents and kids. Some rock-climbing on a 15-metre, three-sided tower, anyone?
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| Allamanda Laguna playground |
Children lucky enough to celebrate their birthday during their stay at the Dusit Laguna Resort (http://phuket.dusit.com), another one of the five hotels making up the Laguna development, are treated to a complimentary birthday party. Another bonus is that children under four eat and drink for free when ordering from the kiddies' menu. Little ones are kept happily occupied at the Busy Bee Kids Club, while older children are entertained at Camp Laguna. Babysitting costs from Bt150 per child, per hour. More family fun is laid on at neighbouring Allamanda Laguna Phuket (www.allamanda.com) , where a complimentary half-day kids' club programme, including meals, is included in your stay for up to two children aged between four and eight.
If your tot is ready to graduate from the climbing frame to something a tad more challenging, the JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa’s (www.marriott.com) new circus training programme, run by a US circus entertainment and performance company, may appeal. Children are divided into three age groups (four to five years, six to seven years and eight to 12 years) for the three-hour sessions, to learn acts such as the swinging trapeze, juggling, pyramid building, tumbling and clowning. (Bt 900, approx US$23, for one day of training; Bt 4,000, US$100, for five days.) Safety equipment included, of course. Young artistes can show off their new skills at a “grande finale” circus show on Friday nights.
This child-friendly resort is integrated with the Marriott's Phuket Beach Club, with self-contained villas with separate children’s bedrooms and bathrooms and their own flat-screen TV. While the little ones frolic in their own space, teens have a large movie screen, play station, table tennis and computer section (with “safe” Internet access) at their disposal. The resort’s large main swimming pool has a separate section for families, including a shallow bubble pool and a water slide, and with the property located next to a protected sea turtle nesting area, the Kids Club offers some unique educational programmes.
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| Kids' suite, Holiday Inn Phuket |
Just like home, or better – the dedicated family and kids’ suites at the Holiday Inn Phuket (www.phuket.holiday-inn.com) . Adults have their private space in the family suite, while children bunker up in their own fun, pirate-themed “room”. The “kids’ suites” come in eye-catching colours, with boat-shaped beds and play stations, TV sets, games and toys. “Superior Rooms” with connecting doors are fitted with two large queen-sized beds, sleeping two adults and two children. Babysitting is Bt150 per hour (English is spoken).
The Holiday Inn doesn’t charge for children under 14, and breakfast is free for the whole family. There’s a kids’ club for children aged six to 10, two children’s swimming pools, a toddler pool with water spouts and kids’ activities such as water guns, sliders and a cave. Teenagers will happily withdraw to the “parent-free” Club 12 Plus, with Internet, play stations and even a karaoke and DVD corner.
Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort (www.lemeridien.com/phuketbeachresort) assures "children wanting a little break from their parents" of fun activities and sports at The Penguin Club, open 9am to 7pm daily for children from three to 12 years old. (Under-threes may attend with adult supervision.) The facilities are free, but there is also a special membership programme including t-shirt, cap and badge for a small fee. Baby-sitting is available - just book a day in advance.
The Crowne Plaza Karon Beach Phuket’s (www.crowneplaza.com) large two-bedroom Family Villas with outdoor patios are a drawcard. The hotel says, perhaps with some justification, its club for children and teenagers, the Zone, is the biggest in Phuket. It has separate areas for children of different ages – Star Kidz for toddlers and young children, Sun Kidz for older children and Teenies for teenagers. Families can bond over candle-making, t-shirt dyeing and batik painting. Connecting rooms are available, but while baby cots are free of charge, an extra bed for a child costs Bt1,225 (subject to availability). Babysitting is Bt200 per hour per child under four; Bt150 per child for over-fours. Babysitters speak English.
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| Swimming with RaRa, Sheraton Krabi |
The Novotel Beach Resort Panwa Phuket (www.novotelphuket.com) is well set up for families and couples. There are 17 pairs of “communicating” rooms, with the second room available at half-price. Children’s meals, too, are discounted by 50 percent. The kids’ club has a playroom, nap room and special children’s toilets. Under-threes must be supervised by parents. Babysitters (available 24 hours; Bt100 per hour per child) speak mostly Thai with a smattering of English – but the hotel assures us this has never been a problem.
Budding biologists, golfers and artists will find something to do at the Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort & Spa (www.phuketarcadia.hilton.com) , where nature walks, a putting range and finger painting are among the attractions. The goodie bags on arrival don’t hurt either. For the rest, there are no less than three swimming pools, a game room and outdoor play area, as well as bicycle tours and Thai dancing classes. The Kidz Paradise Club caters for five to 12-year-olds (children of four and younger must be accompanied). You’ll pay half for connecting rooms for kids, and Thai and English-speaking babysitters come at 150 Baht (nett) per hour.
Along the idyllic Krabi coast, it’s an elephant’s life at the Sheraton Krabi (www.sheraton.com/krabi), where much-loved pachyderm RaRa appears on the beach every day at 3pm to swim with the children. Mask-making, origami and batik painting at the Sairung Kids Club for four to 12-year-olds might not quite match up after this. Yes, there are connecting rooms, complimentary extra cots and beds for under-12s, toys and potties, and babysitting (English spoken; Bt300 nett per hour).
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| Camp Hyatt, Hyatt Regency Hua Hin |
Six Senses Resorts & Spas says it treats child guests like “junior VIPs”. Both the Evason Phuket Resort & Spa (www.sixsenses.com/evason-phuket) and Evason Hua Hin Resort & Spa (www.sixsenses.com/evason-huahin) in Hua Hin have Just Kids! clubs for children from four to 12. Kids (and parents, who finally get to spend the night unsupervised!) can look forward to nightly themed “sleepovers’, where they (the children, of course) pitch tents, set up sleeping bags and get to roast marshmallows over the camp fire.
Still in Thailand, the Hyatt Regency Hua Hin (http://huahin.regency.hyatt.com) features Camp Hyatt, running half-day (Baht 840) or full-day (Bt 1,220) cultural and educational programmes, including lunch and refreshments. There’s also a playroom for children aged three to 12 (parents must accompany under-threes). Reserve an English-speaking babysitter a day in advance (from Bt150 per hour). You can order baby food at the hotel restaurants, and the youngest members of the family will be comfortable in the booster seats and high chairs on offer. A special “Family Plan” for families travelling with two or more children brings discounts of 30 percent or more for a second interconnecting room.
At first glance, bustling Bangkok may seem to be the last place to take a child, but the Bangkok Marriott Resort & Spa (http://marriott.com/property/propertyPage/BKKTH) on the river outside the city is a cool oasis and a splendid Thailand city resort choice for families. The Changnoi Kids Club caters for children from three to 12. Under-12s get a complimentary extra bed if they stay with their parents. Babysitters speak Thai and English (one child, Bt150 per hour; two children, Bt200; min two hours). No toys or potties are provided, however.
For families wanting something smaller and more intimate, Rocky Resort (www.rockyresort.com) in Koh Samui, with 30 bungalows and villas, has several family rooms, two swimming pools and secluded beaches with very few passers-by. The child-loving staff will help keep a watchful eye on tiny tots, and the resort will happily arrange babysitting.
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| Balinese dance, Conrad Bali Resort & Spa |
Bali‘s warm climate, gentle and child-loving locals and balmy seas make it a great family destination, with even luxury hotels tapping into the market. Don’t worry about lugging heavy bags of baby products to the beachfront Conrad Bali Resort & Spa (www.conradhotels.com) – the resort will provide baby robes, baby oil, powder, nappies and soap, as well as a baby bath and potty. Two of the in-house restaurants have kids’ menus (and so does room service).
The Kura Kura club (for children from age three) starts the day’s activities at the Kids’ Pavilion with its turtle ponds and indoor and outdoor play areas. Attractions include island legends storytelling and splashing around in the lagoon pool. Who could go wrong with sprawling hectares of gardens and a beach? If your boy is a future Federer, there’s tennis coaching for a minimal fee. For children who MUST head indoors, the Games Zone has computer and video games, a pool table and more. There’s also a toddler area for under-threes.
Also in Bali, Indonesia, the Nusa Dua Beach Hotel & Spa (www.nusaduahotel.com) caters for families with special “Family Rooms” sleeping two adults and two children. Connecting rooms are also available (but aren’t discounted). Children under 12 pay half at all restaurants and theme buffet dinners. The babysitting service is Rp30,000 per hour (sitters speak English and Bahasa Indonesia). But you don’t go to Bali to sleep: there’s a great-for-kids beach garden and lagoon pool, as well as a children’s pool and outdoor playground. In addition, the Gecko Kids Club welcomes children aged three to 10.
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Kids' area at Crowne Plaza Phuket |
Golf and tennis lessons, kite-decorating and flying, basic Indonesian language lessons, hat and mask-making are some of the offerings by the Ritz-Carlton Bali’s (www.ritzcarlton.com) The Ritz KidsR programme. Children aged four to 10 can join for half or full days (from US$12 and US$17, respectively). Parents or minders must accompany under-fours. (Babysitters speak English, Bahasa Indonesia and Japanese; Rp55,000 per hour; minimum two hours).
Child guests under 12 eat for free when accompanied by paying adults at the Grand Hyatt Bali. Other kids' facilities here include the Camp Nusa club for children from three to 13, a toddler pool and water sport for all ages. Baby cots come free and some rooms have extra day beds available. Babysitters speak English and Bahasa Indonesia (Rp15,000 per hour, per child).
Club Med (www.clubmed.com) villages everywhere have a well-earned reputation for their activity-driven family holidays. Guests can choose all-inclusive holiday packages (rooms, all meals and drinks, a wide range of sports, nightly entertainment and travel insurance included). Never a dull moment for adults, and the little people are kept busy at The Petit Club Med (for two to three-year-olds), Mini Club Med (four to ten-year-olds; workshops range from circus acts to rollerblading) and the Juniors’ Club Med (for teens from 11 to 17).
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| Pelangi Beach & Spa Resort KiKi Club |
Adding weight and zest to the child-friendly resort category is Club Med’s new, free-of-charge Baby Welcome service for babies up to 23 months at the Club Med villages at Bali, Ria Bintan, Cherating Beach, Lindeman Island, Phuket, and Kabira. Conveniences include priority check-in and ground floor rooms, bottle warmers in restaurants and the main bar, baby cots, tubs, potties or “toilet reducers”, baby chairs in restaurants and baby strollers. The service must be pre-booked. Family Festivals will be run in June 2006 at award-winning Club Med Cherating Beach (Malaysia), which has recently undergone a major upgrade, and at Club Med Ria Bintan (Indonesia), as well as at Club Med Bali in July 2006.
Malaysia - and in particular the islands of Langkawi and Penang, and the coast of Sabah – have a number of child-friendly options. In laidback Langkawi there’s little to do but kick back and relax on the beach and around the pool. For scavenger hunts on the beach, mini golf, swimming lessons, fishing and boat-making head to the Pelangi Beach & Spa Resort, Langkawi (www.pelangibeachresort.com), where KiKi Club members between four and 12 are entertained for free from 9am to 9pm. (Toddlers under four are welcome with a parent’s supervision.) Kids love the club’s mascot, a five-foot fluffy bird with bright yellow beak. There’s the usual playground and children’s pool, as well as baby chairs, drawing sheets and toys at restaurants, and you can even request a baby car seat. Babysitting services are available through housekeeping (English, Bahasa Malaysia and Mandarin are spoken; RM8 for two hours; extra charges after 11pm).
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| Splash out at Grand Plaza Parkroyal |
It might sounds like accommodation for an Olympics squad, but the “Starfy’s Team Village” on the beachfront at the Golden Sands Resort (www.shangri-la.com), Penang, welcomes kids and adults alike – and no-one has to have national colours to take part in the swimming, boating or archery events. Children from four to 12 can while away the time at the Starfy's Star Kids Club.
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Rainy weather? Indoor activities include t-shirt painting, paper mask and shell and bead jewellery making. Guests in “Superior Hillview Family Rooms” are entitled to an extra complimentary sofa bed or cot. All guests may request baby baths, prams and potties. Baby-sitters speak Bahasa Malaysia, English, Chinese and Tamil (RM7 an hour; Rm20 after 11pm, plus taxi fare).
The Grand Plaza Parkroyal Penang (http://penang.parkroyalhotels.com) has extensive facilities for kids not least of all its signature Koko Nut Club that distracts tiny tykes with all manner of activities from colouring and leaf painting to pool games, movies, mask and t-shirt painting, stick puppets and more. The club caters for children from four to twelve years of age. Babysitting in-room runs at around RM10 per hour. At the Koko Nut children’s club the kids are of course looked after as part of the service. Staff speak English, Bahasa (Malaysia), Hokkien, and Mandarin (Putonghua). The Grand Plaza Parkroyal Penang is a good child friendly hotel choice. It has been popular with families for years –through various incarnations and name changes.
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| Creative space, Tanjung Aru Kids Club |
The Shangri-La Rasa Ria (www.shangri-la.com) in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, has had rave reviews from families – and no wonder considering its setting on a long sweep of beach and the South China Sea and surrounded by lush forests. Kids are thrilled to meet their closest animal cousin, the orangutan, at the rehabilitation nature reserve set within the resort’s grounds. (Be prepared to be pestered into foster-caring for an animal – it’s for a good cause: fees go to care and food for the foster animal at the reserve.) There’s a Kids Club offering the usual entertainment, banana boat rides for thrills, a kids’ pool and horse riding. Ground-floor rooms are particularly good for families – kids can run straight into the resort’s extensive gardens.
Sister resort the Shangri-La Tanjung Aru (www.shangri-la.com), closer to the city centre in Kota Kinabalu, but also on the beach, is not to be left behind. It offers a Kids Club that is among the largest in Malaysia. Hand-painted walls highlight features of Sabah, from the jungle to the sea. There’s a toddler section with padded walls and soft toys, a creativity area for painting, crafting and other skills, a computer and TV room - and a welcome coffee area for parents to relax. When tiring of the beach or playground, with swings, seesaws, slides, a sand pit and toy cars and bikes, tots can feed the fish during regular sessions at the resort’s three koi-filled ponds. Or head to two large swimming pools with a safe corner for smaller children, or the wading pool. All restaurants have children's menus. Baby-sitters are RM30 for three hours. Just shout for potties, cots and other baby equipment. How’s that for a family friendly escape?
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| Club Med Cherating Beach, Malaysia |
Despite their high-end appeal, all Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts (www.fourseasons.com) have a child-friendly policy, providing cots, strollers, high chairs, play pens, bottle warmers, soothers, bibs and other baby necessities on request. In addition, guestrooms can be “child-proofed” with protective covers over electrical outlets, and wooden step stools are available so that little hands can reach the sink. Child-sized bathrobes and tiny tables and chairs complete the picture. Four Seasons’ "Kids for All Seasons" programme is aimed at children aged five to 12, introducing them to local folklore, history and cooking, as well as marine and animal life.
Back to Langkawi, where the Moorish Four Seasons Resort Langkawi (www.fourseasons.com/langkawi) recommends its lower-level pavilions (villas) for families: not only are they safer, but they also come with gardens, perfect for playing and running. A limited number also have connecting rooms available. Kids will relish the chocolate milk and cookies on arrival, and in-room children’s amenities include “top to toe” bathrooms sets, colouring books and pencils. Special children’s toilet seats and high chairs (in the restaurants) are welcome extras. As with most resorts, cots and extra beds for under-12s are free – but babysitting doesn’t come cheap at US$24 per hour per baby. Sitters speak English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil.
Bringing up a young yogi? Among the activities offered by the free Kids for all Seasons Club (children aged four to 12) is children’s yoga, where animal poses help children “meditate on the beauty of nature”. Games, music and storytelling are incorporated. Morning walks with a naturalist are no less spiritual. For the sporty, there are tennis lessons and more.
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| Adventure, Shangri-la's Mactan Island Resort |
Tokyo isn’t generally viewed as a child-friendly holiday destination, but at the Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo (www.fourseasons.com/tokyo)at Chinzan-so kids are VIPs, welcomed by "Berry" the Four Seasons bear with gifts of toys, a cartoon character face cloth and paper for drawing. Parents get a list of kids' shopping, events and play ideas, and the babysitters speak English.
The Shangri-la's Mactan Island Resort & Spa (www.shangri-la.com) in Cebu, the Philippines, describes its three-level Adventure Zone indoor playground for children aged four and above as "designed to challenge agility, balance and nerves" in an environment that couples the excitement of an adventure playground with the safety of a nursery" (from Php250 per child for two hours). There's also a Toddler's Zone for children of three and younger. The resort is undergoing renovations until July 2006, to add new deluxe family rooms. Baby-sitters speak fluent English (about US$4 per hour until 6pm; US$6 after 6pm).
Bali again, where family walks through the gardens with 1,500 hand-carved stone sculptures, beach exploration and playing in the surf are must-do’s at the 35-acre Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay (www.fourseasons.com/jimbaranbay). Budding Nigellas and Jamie Olivers can join the resort’s pastry chef for cookie and ice-cream-making lessons in the kitchen during the holiday season.
The concierge at the Four Seasons Hotel Singapore (www.fourseasons.com/singapore) has games, books and laser discs to lend to kids, and hotel restaurants provide a children's menu, colouring books, crayons and “magic boards” for drawing. The housekeeping department will provide baby items at no charge – anything from bottles, bottle warmer and nappies to blankets and crib liners. Special arrival gifts and foam letters spelling out your child’s name in the bathroom are thoughtful extras. Dads may have to be restrained from the Sunday brunch children’s table, which has an electric train running around it!
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| Coco Beach Resort playground |
Clean, safe Singapore is that rare combination: a business destination that is also child-friendly. Children can slide and fly at the island state’s Rasa Sentosa Resort, Singapore (www.shangri-la.com), where the children’s pool has waterslides and there’s a flying trapeze on the beach for adventure-seekers over four (US$5 per swing). On terra firma, there’s a playhouse. The Kids Club, with popular daily beach and pool games, is free for hotel guests between four and 12. (Children staying all day get lunch, too.) Toddlers have their own playroom (parents must accompany them). A shaded toddlers playground with water and sand stations, slide and play area is in the pipeline too. Single guestrooms can comfortably house two adults and two children, but connecting rooms are available too. For parents’ nights out, there are English-speaking babysitters.
Vietnam’s inviting beaches and friendly locals are increasingly luring foreign families to its shores. The Coco Beach Resort (www.cocobeach.net) quite rightly describes its wide beach with soft sand as its “biggest playground for kids” - but there’s also a constructed version with swings, seesaw, slide and climbing ladder, and a wading pool for tiny tots.
All of Coco Beach’s rooms are bungalows or two-bedroom villas on stilts. Protection nets are available to keep the balconies safe. Nice touch. In the villas, each bedroom has its own bathroom, and there’s a living room and big terrace with sofa and armchairs to wallow in. Staff will gladly wash and sterilise baby bottles and heat up baby food. Family meals are easy at the Paradise Beach Club restaurant, where kids can play on the beach once they’ve eaten (there’s a kiddies’ menu) while parents linger, watching them from the table. Babysitters speak only Vietnamese (US$2 per hour).
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| Victoria Hotel Phan Thiet |
Still in Vietnam, the Victoria Hoi An (www.victoriahotels-asia.com) and Victoria Phantiet (www.victoriahotels-asia.com) both offer baby cots and extra beds for children, as well as connecting rooms (even at the bungalows). Here’s your child’s chance to feed an elephant. It’s one of the scheduled children’s activities, along with sand castle building, kite-making and more. Apart from the usual toys, drawing and other activities, the Victoria Hoi An’s kids’ club also has a library – and a quiet room for sleeping if all that playing gets too much. The club coordinator speaks fluent English and some French, and babysitting is available.
The Sunrise Beach Hotel Nha Trang (www.sunrisenhatrang.com.vn), Vietnam, says its spacious guestrooms can easily accommodate free extra beds for a child. The special kids’ pool is only 50cm deep, and for safety there’s a barrier set up between the adult and children’s pools. The hotel’s Sunrise Kid's Club is a modest playroom with toys for children up to 12. There’s a babysitting service (from US$5 per hour) from a pool of minders (speaking basic English) employed by the hotel’s housekeeping department.
If it’s the azure waters of the Maldives you’re longing to plunge into, rest assured that five-star style doesn’t necessarily exclude your offspring. The Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa (www.hilton.com/worldwideresorts) is a brilliant child-friendly resort with 22 interconnecting beach villas. Cots and extra beds can be placed in all rooms. There’s a children’s pool, babysitting services (US$10 per hour; sitters speak English) and, yes, a kids’ club for two to 10-year-olds, with the mellow approach of offering activities “depending on the children’s ages and what they want to do”. The resort is quite happy to order specially requested items (such as toys or potties) from Male.
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| Kids Co Centre, Mandarin Oriental Macau |
Macau, a hop and a skip from Hong Kong, is undergoing something of a renaissance as a cultural destination and family getaway. It’s not all casinos. Infant in tow? The Mandarin Oriental, Macau’s (www.mandarinoriental.com/macau) new “Mandarin Baby Pit Stop” is a tailor-made cabinet with free basic baby care items such as nappies, wipes, a baby bath, baby lotion, shampoo and powder and soft toys. Milk bottles, electric bottle warmers and sterilizers and bottle brushes, baby carriers and push chairs are also available on loan. For little ones aged three to six, the “Pit Stop” contains storybooks, crayons and drawing books, mini pillows and slippers and even special children’s toilet seats. All hotel restaurants have children's menus, and crayons and drawing sheets are handed out to keep tiny hands occupied until meals arrive.
Flying trapezes seem to be all the rage – you’ll find one here too, as well as rock-climbing, an adventure playground with an inflatable pirates ship and even a computer games corner with high-speed Internet access “for education and safe web surfing”. The Kids Co centre for children aged three to 12 is open 9am to 8.30pm daily. Connecting rooms are available, and baby-sitters speak Cantonese, Mandarin or English (HK$50 per hour, 8am to 12am; HK$100 per hour, plus HK$15 taxi fee, after midnight).
Kids receive smiles and balloons around every corner at the Westin Resort, Macau (www.westin-macau.com) , where the Westin Kids Club offers half and full-day programmes (from HK$50 per hour) for children aged three to 12, kids are welcomed with a gift bag and toy, and drink refills come free at the Café. There are high chairs and cots on request, and the swimming pool, with adjacent tots’ wading pool, is the main attraction in summer. Interconnecting rooms and rollaway beds are available; so are babysitters and childminders.
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| Making friends at The Empire Hotel, Brunei |
The Empire Hotel & Country Club (www.theempirehotel.com) in Brunei is one of the world's largest resorts, with huge guestrooms to match. You may not be able to bag the Emperor Suite where former US President Bill Clinton has stayed, but all ages will enjoy the 180 hectares of gardens and beachfront location. Facilities for kids aged three to 10 include a playground with a shallow pool, water slide and activity room. The E Kids Club has its own “rainforest mascots” to encourage environmental awareness among children. (Rainforest excursions are organised by the hotel.) Bear in mind that Brunei is a “dry” Muslim country - but visitors are allowed to bring in a limited quantity of alcoholic drinks.
Finally, once the kids’ club has lost its appeal and the welcome gifts and toys are discarded, it’s quality time together that matters most. Go for it!
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