When the end of the year is just around the corner, that means it’s time to start planning your family getaway for the holidays. We’ve outlined some of our favorite spots to spend the end of the year with the kids. You all deserve a break.
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Thailand has a great choice of luxury hotels to stay at. Our top recommendations are the Four Seasons Chiang Mai, and Howie’s HomeStay in Chiang Mai, which is one of the most luxury private lodging experiences, but executed in a personal way. Howie and his wife, Jerri, only take one booking at a time – which means that you and your family rent out their entire house that they have made into a luxury hotel for you. The rooms are independent pavilions, interspersed among five acres of tropical gardens and water streams.
You can also use this trip to visit the Elephant Orphanage, as well as volunteer with children from local orphanages, such as with the Children’s Shelter Foundations of Thailand, an“NGO Aid Project for children and youths in the hilltribes.”
Crested Butte, Colorado
Not only is Crested Butte the ultimate winter adventure family town in the Rocky Mountains, but it is also the place where Eleven Experience have mastered the concept of the ultimate family vacation. The Public House Lofts are both a beautiful and luxury place to stay, as well as means through which you can get to off-the-beaten-path tourist spots, perfect for independent-minded travelers. The Sopris House, located on the same block as downtown Crested Butte, is within walking distance to all restaurants and shopping, but still with easy access to the National Forest and wilderness. And the Scarp Ridge Lodge is the refurbished Croatian Hall where coal miners would gather for drinking and dancing in the mining heydays – so it already feels like a home. And, all three properties are spacious, beautiful, luxury, and everything to make you comfortable during your skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, and ice climbing this season in Colorado.
Soneva Fushi, The Maldives
This is the mecca for family trips all year round. When you step off the seaplane, they literally take your shoes away from you: you store them in a bag, and retrieve them when you depart. Your primary form of transportation becomes your bike, you disconnect from the outside world, stop reading the news, and take a breather along with your whole family. Soneva Fushi offers fifty-seven villas, most of which have private pools, either a sunrise or sunset view, and each one is located directly on the beach.
But perhaps the main attraction of Soneva is The Den – the resort-within-the-resort kids club. Not only does it have every imaginable art and craft, toy, and class for children, but it also has a rotation of weekly programs, such as yoga, meditation, cooking, recycling, and even marine biology classes. Soneva Fushi also comes equipped with a resident marine biologist, an observatory with an astronomer, dolphin cruises, and movie nights.
Paradise Island, The Bahamas
Luckily, the hurricane didn’t impact every part of the Bahamas, and the best way to show your support is to support their tourism. The Four Seasons Ocean Club has you covered – Atlantis may be right next door, but you can have the luxe accommodations of the 5-mile-long playground for celebrities and discerning travelers. This is the place where the low-rise villas are surrounded by 35 acres of Versailles-inspired lawns and gardens. Breakfast is served on your private balcony, the Balinese-style spa is always open to give you a restorative treatment, and Ocean Club Golf Course is the perfect place to clear your head with a round of golf.
Greenough, Montana
Nothing says the end-of-year family vacation like The Resort at Paws Up, the 37,000-acre private cattle ranch in the heart of Montana. Accommodation ranges from Safari-Style Tents to private Luxury Homes. But the family activities are where The Resort really shines – from archery, arena lessons, ATV tours, and canoeing, to cattle driving, dinner on the Wagon, fly-fishing, a tour of a ghost town, Go-Karting, hot air ballooning, and paintball, it’s pretty much a given that The Resort at Paws Up has it all. And the fact that it’s all just a little bit more beautiful in the winter, is just a healthy outdoorsy bonus.
