Hotel Monte Puertatierra

Best Family-Friendly Resorts in Europe to Book This Summer

"Cádiz, Spain Arriving here with children feels akin to smuggling a toddler into a nightclub: very much not the done thing. The hotel is a grown-up hideaway of stepped lawns and terraces, winding paths and olive and citrus trees sunk into a cleft between dusty hills. Tables for two sit beneath draped vines, and garden nooks are set with day beds for afternoon snoozing. In other words, a retreat where wheeling swifts are the only thing dive-bombing the saltwater pool. For a few weeks a year, however, they elbow out the couples to let families in, with activities that stretch from circus skills and mobile-making to trampolining and pool games, all overseen by a tomboyish childcare whizz and her team. There’s an imaginative children’s menu plus all the pool inflatables, bubbles, and glitter they could ever want (and someone else to clear it up). Complimentary babysitters will relieve you of your charges for an hour or two so you can drink wine and read a sentence of your book before dozing off in the shade. These weeks are the brainchild of the hotel’s owners, Lee and Amelia Thornley, who run the design studio Bert & May and, being parents themselves, are well-versed in the challenges of family vacations. The nine-room finca has been deliciously restored in a restrained, rustic style, with tactile plaster walls, antique dressers, stone arches, iron balustrades, and airy rooms with balconies and bathtubs. For larger families there’s the new two-bedroom villa, The Stables, set away from the hotel but with a direct phone line to reception, so room service can be ordered. Or there’s a three-bedroom casita with its own pool and terrace, and—better yet—a yurt for grumpy teens. This is a supremely clever choice for anyone with a phobia of big, all-singing-all-dancing resorts. Price: Rooms from around $276 per night Book now at Booking.com" - CNT Editors, Issy von Simson