Kid-Friendly City Hotels

Family travel with kids requires hotels that work well for everyone. Our year living abroad took us to over thirty hotels in many cities, and I am now quite adept at finding hotels that work well for us and our 7- and 10-year-old children. While my recent hotel searching experience is with European hotels, I think my advise is global.

Here are my top seven tips for picking a great kid-friendly city hotel:

1. Walking to the Coliseum

   Determine your top sight-seeing activities and search for hotels within walking distance. Being able to walk out of your hotel and be near activities and restaurants is key to everyone’s happiness. When in Rome, the Coliseum was our number one priority. We stayed within a few blocks which made for excited and fresh kids the morning we visited. It’s also easy then to pop back in for afternoon naps or quiet time before heading out for more.
2. Read hotel reviews from other guests. My favorite website for this is TripAdvisor, which is also great for restaurant ideas. You can put in an attraction, landmark, train station, etc., and it will map hotels nearby. I also recommend Darn Good Digs, a great resource for budget friendly small hotels and B&Bs around the world, all nominated by travelers themselves. Some other things to consider:

• Hotels outside of the USA have much smaller rooms, few connecting rooms, and few rooms with two double beds. A double in Europe is actually two twin beds pushed together. For our family of four, we request a triple (three twin beds), a suite, which have various configurations, or if we can find it, a king bed with a roll-away cot.
• Consider trading quaintness and character for a business-class hotel. Though perhaps sterile in décor and atmosphere, you may be more likely to find two double beds, in-room movies and perhaps even an indoor pool! If we are traveling to two or three hotels on a trip, we try to balance charming local hotels with one business-class hotel.

Look for rooms with nooks and crannies so you and the kids can have your own space. Our daughters have relaxed and played in walk-in closets, bathrooms and the extra deep space created between windows and curtains. Kids love small spaces for building forts, pretending and layering pillows all around to read or listen to music.

Search for hotels with common areas the kids can use without you. Like the above mentioned nooks and crannies, you tend to find areas like this in smaller bed and breakfast type hotels and inns. In Marrakesh, Morocco, the common courtyard in the center of our riad was right outside our room. Our daughters would frequently take their journals or coloring out to a café table and spend a half hour or more by themselves. Though we could hear and see them from our room, they loved the independence and we loved the quiet time in our room.

Make sure breakfast is included. Kids wake up hungry; adults wake up wanting coffee, well, at least this adult does! If the hotel serves breakfast, both of these needs are met sooner, making for a happier start for everyone.

Recommendations from my daughters:

Let your kids play with the bathroom toiletries and accessories. Girls love hanging out in the bathroom playing beauty shop with the shower caps. Boys… I have no idea!

Request extra blankets and pillows for building forts or making corners cozy for reading.

Bonus Tip: I have discovered that traveling off season and with children has its perks. Upgrades for our family of four have happened many times when hotels find their suites empty and a family who would appreciate more space. Hotel La Fuente in Ronda, Spain was a favorite, especially after being given the tower room suite.

If you haven’t realized, I highly recommend down time in your hotel each day. A short vacation from your vacation makes for a great kid-friendly vacation!

What tips do you have for kid-friendly hotels?

This post was originally posted by me, Dee Andrews, on the blog Sieze el Dia.