From waking up next to giraffes to sleeping in a luxury treehouse in the New Forest, these are 23 of the most unique family stays across the UK and Europe, hand-picked from hundreds we’ve researched for families like ours.
Looking for a family holiday your kids won’t stop talking about?
Not every family hotel is memorable. Plenty have a good pool or a decent breakfast, but every so often you find somewhere so good you’re already planning the next visit before you’ve even unpacked.
These are the 23 stays we keep coming back to when friends ask for something a bit different.
And if you’re just after a great family hotel built around proper childcare rather than something totally unique, our guides to the best UK family hotels and the best kids clubs in Europe are worth a look too.
At a glance:
In this guide:
| Experience | Best for |
|---|---|
| Safari stays | Animal-mad kids |
| Treehouses | Nature-loving families |
| Farm stays | Babies and toddlers |
| Castle hotels | Fairytale-obsessed kids |
| Fairytale hideaways | Bucket-list trips |
| Quirky stays | Something different |
Best safari hotels in the UK & Europe
1. Chessington Safari Hotel
One of the easiest bucket-list stays if you’ve got younger children. Rooms range from standard to fully themed, among them a wood-panelled Gruffalo Room with its own separate children’s sleeping area, and many look straight out over the Wanyama Reserve where real zebras, giraffes and ostriches roam.
Book the Gruffalo or Room on the Broom rooms and you get a named parking spot right by the entrance and 2pm check-in, two hours earlier than everyone else. Tiger rooms come with a padlocked cupboard of collectible badges that kids can only unlock by solving clues hidden around the room, and the loo flush roars or tweets depending on which themed room you’re in. Every evening the Rangers Club runs free interactive entertainment in the hotel with Gruffalo meet-and-greets, games and a mini disco, and families can also use the Savannah Splash Pool, a 15-metre pool with a sauna, steam room and spa pool. Extras like children’s quizzes, family discos, character breakfasts, evening access to the reserve and Treetop Adventure, and early morning priority on selected rides all stretch the magic beyond the theme park gates. Great for preschoolers.
2. Gambledown Farm safari tents, New Forest
We’ve stayed here ourselves with kids, using it as a base for a day at Peppa Pig World.
The farm features five safari tents on a working farm near Southampton, each with its own shower and loo, comfy furniture and beds, plus a travel cot and high chair available. There’s a fire pit with a stew ready to cook on arrival, a local meat fridge to raid in the common area (with plenty of toy tractors to enjoy), and a Saturday pizza night the kids loved (pack hot water bottles if it’s chilly). It’s a short drive from Peppa Pig World and Paultons Park, and works well for children as young as toddlers.
3. Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve, Kent
Run by the conservation charity the Aspinall Foundation, this is a breeding sanctuary for endangered animals rather than a traditional zoo, and profits go back into conservation work.
Families can choose from glass-fronted treehouses (self-catering, sleeping four plus a cot, with a golf buggy included so you can explore the 600-acre reserve), Hog Deer Creek’s shepherd’s huts (built for two adults and two children), or Giraffe Cottage, which sleeps eight over two floors. On site there’s a Dinosaur Forest, multiple play areas and a Treetop Challenge, and every overnight stay includes a safari truck ride out into the reserve.
4. West Midlands Safari Park lodges
Nine themed lodges, each with floor-to-ceiling windows looking straight into a different habitat: lion, tiger, elephant, cheetah, giraffe, rhino, hippo, red panda or white lion.
Elephant lodges sleep up to six with the option to add a cot or extra bed for younger children, and Cheetah lodges have a king-size bed with twin bunks above, built with kids in mind. Every stay includes dinner and breakfast cooked on site, exclusive after-hours wildlife encounters, daytime admission to the Park, and Theme Park ride wristbands during the summer season.
5. La Flèche Zoo Safari Lodges, France
Lodges and suites here face different species depending on which you book, among them polar bears, Arctic wolves, lions, tigers and lemurs, with sizes ranging from around 38m² up to 120m² and space for five or six guests. The Arctic Lodge is the standout for families: an underwater-view parental bedroom looking into the polar bears’ pool, plus a separate cabin-style children’s bedroom of their own. Dinner and breakfast are delivered straight to the lodge, and every stay includes zoo entry plus extended viewing hours before opening and after closing, when the animals tend to be more active. On the morning of your second day there’s also an exclusive guided tour with the zoo’s educators, who bring guests up close to red pandas, penguins, Sumatran tigers, giraffes and hippos as part of the daily educational activities. The zoo itself spans around 18 hectares and is home to 1,500 animals from 160 species. Best for school-age children.
Best treehouse hotels in the UK & Europe
6. Chewton Glen treehouses, Hampshire
Probably Britain’s most famous luxury treehouses, tucked into 130 acres of New Forest grounds.
Kids reach their own hidden bedroom through what looks like a bookcase, and the treehouses themselves sleep up to 12 with bunk beds for the children and a hot tub for the grown-ups. The resort’s kids’ club runs from its own purpose-built treehouse, The BeeHive, reached by two curved wooden staircases with rope handrails and finished with bee-shaped door handles and twig coat hooks, overlooking a children’s garden. Sessions run three times a day (10.30am-12.30pm, 2-4pm and 5.30-7pm) with activities from felt-making to raft building included in your stay, and there’s a paid babysitting service in the evenings if you fancy dinner alone, with under-5s eating free at the restaurants. There’s a bug hotel and treasure hunts to explore as a family, plus croquet, tennis and an award-winning spa for the grown-ups once bedtime hits. Ideal for a special occasion rather than a budget break.
7. Arctic TreeHouse Hotel, Finland
Modern Scandinavian suites with huge windows looking out over snowy forest, and a genuine chance of the Northern Lights.
Kids get their own “nest,” a cosy cubby-house bed built into the suite, and rooms can interconnect for bigger families, with the two-bedroom Glasshouse suites sleeping up to six and private saunas in every suite. Reindeer sleigh rides, husky safaris and tobogganing are all on the doorstep, with snowmobiling for older children, and a visit to the husky farm doubles as a great family photo opportunity. You can also book a Lappish Christmas feast with your own personal elf, or a bedtime story told under the Northern Lights. SantaPark is just a five-minute drive away, with elf workshops and a magic train ride for younger children. We’ve written a full guide on the best age to visit Lapland with kids if you’re weighing up when to go.
8. Cedar Hollow Treehouse, England
Three C.S. Lewis-inspired stays set within 12 acres of private woodland in Shotover Country Park, right next door to the writer’s own former house and garden: the treehouse itself, a faun’s cave and a cosy beaver’s den. You reach the treehouse across a rope bridge, and kids step through a genuine Narnia wardrobe to find a private treetop zipwire on the other side, plus an escape room built into the stay. There’s an indoor swimming pool, a private tennis court and a woodland sauna, so there’s plenty to do beyond the room itself, and welcome gifts of local honey and dark chocolate are left for every stay. It won Silver for Best Self-Catering Accommodation of the Year 2026 at the VisitEngland awards. It’s just outside Oxford, so easy to pair with a day out in either the Chilterns or the Cotswolds.
9. Sleepy Owl Devon, Hartland
Two treehouses (Nest and Hideout) plus a converted barn, set in North Devon’s UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Each retreat has a separate kid’s bedroom, decorated with colourful lights and canopies above the beds, and comes with a telescope and stacks of board games for all ages, plus a highchair, cot, baby bath and child-friendly bowls and cutlery.
It’s a short drive to family attractions like The Big Sheep and the fishing village of Clovelly, and we’ve covered more days out nearby in our North Devon family guide.
10. Nymetwood Treehouses, Mid Devon
Two Scandi-style treehouses on the northern edge of Dartmoor: Blackcap, up on the hillside with sweeping countryside views, and Starling, tucked into the woods with its own private hot tub and sauna.
Both were hand-built over two years by a local artisan on the family’s own 20 acres of woodland, meadow and orchard, in Mid Devon’s Dark Sky Zone, so stargazing from the outdoor copper bath is a real highlight here. Each has a fully equipped kitchen, a modern shower room and a snug bunk room for the kids (up to two children can be added to a booking), plus a welcome hamper of bread, butter, milk, eggs and marshmallows for the firepit already waiting on arrival. Starling also has its own private spa deck with a hot tub, sauna and cold shower, exclusively for guests staying there. The owners run it alongside raising their own young family, and it shows in the details: perfect for a couple’s escape, but with space for little explorers too.
Best farm stays for families
11. Country Kids Resort, France
One we’re really excited to try in April next year! Set on a restored 1800s dairy farm in the Occitanie countryside, this all-inclusive resort takes just seven families a week, all arriving on the same day, so it never feels crowded.
Days include a tractor ride out to the petting farm, drop-in childcare and babysitting, and kids’ play areas with two zip-lines, trampolines, a treehouse and a mud kitchen, while toys, bath toys and even small bathrobes are already waiting in your accommodation on arrival. The crèche and kids’ club run unlimited access from 3 months up to 12 years, so there’s no need to book, and you can drop off or collect whenever suits, with staff even happy to take early risers off your hands for a lie-in. Two nights of babysitting are included in every stay, and baby listeners in each apartment (plus the on-site bar) mean parents can relax over dinner or a drink nearby. There are three pools, including one just for adults, and the resort runs at just seven families a week, all arriving on the same day, so lasting friendships form fast among both kids and parents over daily tea time at the bar. It’s run by parents, Laure and Sylvain, with over a decade of experience hosting families. Ideal for babies, toddlers and younger children. We’ve mentioned it before in our guide to the best European resorts with kids clubs.
12. Moar Gut Nature Resort, Austria
A car-free, 10-hectare nature resort in the Hohe Tauern National Park, run by four generations of the same family since 1995.
Childcare is included and runs from 9am to 9pm, seven days a week, for children from just 30 days old right up to teenagers, based in the Nature Children’s Farm, an almost entirely plastic-free space built from wood, linen and sheep’s wool that’s won BIG SEE Interior and Green Product Awards. Inside there’s a doll’s kitchen, reading nooks, a theatre stage, a painting studio and a cinema, plus a central climbing frame made from hemp ropes with a slide that leads straight into a ball pit of 40,000 golden balls. The resort’s mascot, a resident cockerel called Gusti, does a daily dance performance in the theatre, turns up for ski meadow visits, and has his own audio stories and bedtime tales that follow kids through their stay. Salzburg’s first baby spa, the Lillee Baby Spa, is run on site by a midwife and offers baby floating, baby massage and baby yoga from three weeks old. Every morning, kids can also help feed the resort’s own alpacas, goats, sheep, ponies and donkey on the adjoining organic farm, and there’s an indoor riding arena for pony rides too. Farm stay meets proper hotel. We’ve covered it in more depth in our guide to the best kinderhotels in Europe.
13. Cotswold Farm Park Holidays, England
Stay on Adam Henson’s working farm with unlimited access to one of the UK’s best-known rare-breed farm attractions, so there’s no need to buy separate day tickets while you’re there. Accommodation ranges from six luxury lodges with their own hot tubs overlooking the hills and animal paddocks, to Sunflower and Songbird safari tents, new Shepherd’s Huts, camping pods and touring pitches. Kids meet the animals by day and can join in with bottle feeding lambs during February half term, an Easter trail with arts and crafts, and the summer Flower Festival, grown from Adam Henson’s own wildflower seeds, before heading back to your accommodation at night. It won a Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Award for 2025, putting it in the top 10% of stays worldwide.
Best castle hotels for families
14. Warwick Castle
Spend the night inside one of England’s most famous castles. The Knight’s Village lodges sleep up to seven (with room for a travel cot in the smaller Woodland Lodges), and every stay includes free parking, breakfast and a second day’s admission to the castle itself.
The Knight’s Village has its own riverside playground with turrets to climb, rope bridges to cross and a slide, plus a dinner-show duel between two knights in the banqueting hall each evening. Down by the river from 6.30 to 8.30pm there’s sword fighting, archery and plate spinning taught by real-life Knights, followed by a bedtime story read by one of them at 7.45pm. During the day, look out for Zog the dragon, whose live shows retell the Julia Donaldson story around the castle grounds. Dungeons, towers and falconry fill the rest of the days. For a real splurge, the Tower Suites put you up inside the castle’s actual 14th-century tower.
15. Augill Castle, Cumbria
No kids’ club here, but proper thought’s gone into family stays: family suites and interconnecting rooms, a self-contained Coach House cottage sleeping 8 with a spare room for two more kids, a library stocked with toys and a dressing-up box, and a 12-seat private cinema. Children get a teddy bear waiting on their bed on arrival, and there’s a treehouse and nature trails to explore in the grounds alongside the playground. Communal Friday and Saturday dinner parties round the big oak table welcome kids too, Sundays are pizza night with a berry and lemon tiramisu to finish, and there’s a small galley kitchen for warming bottles or simple snacks. It’s been run since 1997 by owners Simon and Wendy Bennett, who restored the derelict Victorian folly (built in 1841) into the relaxed, unstuffy castle it is today. There’s also a kids’ cookery school during half terms and school holidays, and you can hire the whole castle for a bigger family gathering.
16. Dromoland Castle, Ireland
Rooms with two double beds work well for a family of four, and children under 12 stay free sharing existing beds with adults. There’s real thought gone into younger guests: junior robes and slippers on arrival, board games, an outdoor bug hotel, and bedtime treats like lollipops, cookies, warm milk or a teddy bear at turn-down. A woodland fairy trail lets kids post a letter to the fairies, and go-karts, children’s bicycles and an indoor pool keep them busy between meals. During school mid-term breaks, Easter and the festive season, the Kids Club runs from midday to 6pm with arts and crafts, treasure hunts, meeting the Birds of Prey and woodland walks led by the resort’s own Sustainability Officer.
Add archery and falconry on the grounds, and it’s an easy, worthwhile stop if you’re already touring the west coast, sitting right on the route of our own 10-day Ireland road trip.
17. Rosewood Schloss Fuschl, Austria
A fairytale lakeside castle in the Salzkammergut, 30 minutes from Salzburg, right in Sound of Music country.
Two-bedroom suites work well for families, with interconnecting rooms, cots for every room, and pools that are kept child-friendly until 4pm. Children 14 and under stay free in their parents’ room on existing bedding. There’s a new Rosewood Explorers kids’ programme designed to keep younger guests engaged, alongside the setting-led activities: herb foraging with an alpine expert, fishing lessons, paddleboarding and kayaking on Lake Fuschl, plus a private beach. In December, St Nicholas visits for an afternoon of treats and photos with the kids. The 1,500m² Asaya Spa has eight treatment rooms, indoor and outdoor pools, three saunas and a steam room for parents once the kids are settled. Better suited to families who want quality time together outdoors than one looking for a packed kids’ programme.
Best fairytale stays in Europe
18. Märchenhotel Braunwald, Switzerland
You reach this fairytale hotel by mountain funicular, into a completely car-free Alpine village.
Childcare runs from 9am to 9pm, and the evening ritual is why families keep coming back: a Fairy or Fairytale Uncle has told a bedtime story here every night for more than 40 years, after which the kids eat in the King’s Hall, where a model train called Emma delivers their dinner along glowing tracks. There’s a giant Märlibaum tree with rope bridges and a hidden bird’s nest to climb, a 25-metre slide that runs straight through the llama and alpaca enclosure, and a Rabbit Castle linked to the garden by its own tunnel, home to named rabbits and guinea pigs the kids get to know. Breakfast eggs arrive by the world’s first egg-carrying gondola lift, cows are milked in front of the breakfast buffet each morning, and llama walks run twice a week. There’s also an indoor pool with a slide straight down to the kids’ area, a climbing wall and go-karts, and family rooms come with bunk beds and separate curtain systems so little ones can sleep while parents stay up. About as magical as family hotels get, and one we’ve featured before in our kinderhotels guide.
19. Efteling Bosrijk, Netherlands
The holiday village attached to the Efteling fairytale theme park, built with young families squarely in mind.
Cottages come with stairgates already fitted and a welcome pack of books and toys for the kids, and in the evenings Mr Sandman (Klaas Vaak) comes round the village to tell bedtime stories. Cottages also have their own Efteling TV channel and nightcaps laid out for the whole family, and there’s a musical well outside some of the houses that kids can play. The Badhuys indoor water playground has a baby pool, a toddler pool and a 130cm-deep pool, and there’s a small farm where children can pet the animals. The village is car-free (you get 30 minutes to unload at check-in and check-out), so kids can run between the playgrounds safely, and a pizza delivery menu and supermarket order list make self-catering easy if you don’t fancy going out. Staying on-site includes park tickets and early entry before the gates open to day visitors.
20. Châteaux dans les Arbres, France
Four treehouses and two floating cabins on a 26-acre estate in the Dordogne, each one styled after a real local château and built from chestnut and oak by owner Rémi’s treehouse company, Nid Perché. Every treehouse has its own hot tub and terrace, and breakfast arrives each morning in a basket sent up by pulley. The Hautefort treehouse has its own kitchen and sleeps up to six, making it the easiest choice for families, and one baby can stay free. Look for the room with bunk beds or three double beds if there’s a group of you. There’s a heated outdoor pool (open May to September), table tennis, pétanque, complimentary bikes and marked woodland trails on site, and it makes a brilliant base for a wider Dordogne family trip: canoeing the river past real châteaux, the Monkey Forest at Rocamadour, and the boxwood gardens at Marqueyssac are all close by.
Best quirky places to stay
21. Falkensteiner Family Resort Lido, Italy
A striking modern resort in South Tyrol’s Val Pusteria with a rooftop Sky Adventure Park that includes a year-round ski slope, trampolines and a zip line, plus a private natural lake with its own sandy beach and a pirate ship moored on the water.
Families with younger children get a dedicated Baby Land from 6 months with a 24-hour baby kitchen, and rooms come with cot, changing mat, buggy and carrier included as standard. Some family suites have a sliding door separating a dedicated children’s sleeping nook (the Falky Nest) from the parents’ side, so little ones get their own space without needing a second room. Baby Land and Falky Land (ages 3 to 11) both run six days a week, roughly nine hours a day, and kids get their own mini bathrobes and flip-flops plus visits from the resort’s mascot, Falky. There are three water slides, including a 120-metre family flume, a wave slide and a mini slide in the baby pool, alongside the year-round rooftop ski slope, a trampoline world, a winter ice rink and a zip line. Excursions can be arranged for llama hikes and pony riding, and there’s an adults-only spa for parents once the kids are settled.
22. Seabank, Selsey, West Sussex
A beachfront villa built from two 19th-century railway carriages, properly set up for families: sleeps 4 adults and 4 children across 2 double and 2 twin rooms, with a cot available and toys, games, DVDs and books provided. A brilliant stop if you’ve got a train-obsessed child.
23. Four Sisters Boatel, Edinburgh
A permanently moored, four-star houseboat tucked into Lochrin Basin on the Union Canal, a 10-minute walk from Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile. She sleeps up to 6 across two double cabins, a set of children’s bunk beds recessed into the hallway, and a sofa bed in the lounge, with a full galley kitchen, bathrobes for everyone, and fishing rods and nets for lazy afternoons on deck. There are no tides or currents to worry about since she’s static, so it’s a gentle first taste of boat life for younger kids. A brilliant, central alternative to a hotel for a city break.
Final thoughts
Family holidays aren’t only about where you go. Where you stay matters just as much, sometimes more.
Whether your kids dream of feeding farm animals, spotting giraffes from bed, or sleeping under the Northern Lights, these are the stays that make the accommodation part of the adventure rather than just somewhere to sleep. We’ll be updating this post with real photos and honest verdicts as we tick more of them off.
Allie, Jack & R x
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For wildlife-mad kids, Port Lympne or the West Midlands Safari Park lodges are hard to beat. For castle-obsessed children, Warwick Castle is just as memorable.
Chewton Glen, Cedar Hollow, Sleepy Owl Devon, Nymetwood Treehouses and the Arctic TreeHouse Hotel in Finland are all worth a look.
Yes. The UK has several strong options, and La Flèche Zoo in France is one of the best safari lodge experiences on the continent.
