Austria is where the kinderhotel concept really started, and it’s still home to some of the best in Europe. If you’ve read our guide to the best kinderhotels in Europe, you’ll know we rate this style of hotel highly, but Austria has enough brilliant properties to deserve its own closer look.
Not every kinderhotel offers the same kind of holiday. Some are set up brilliantly for babies and toddlers, with dedicated baby care and every bit of kit you could need. Others lean into adventure, with huge outdoor grounds, animals and activity programmes built for older children. And a few sit at the luxury end, where the wellness and food are as much the point as the kids’ club.
We’re visiting two of these ourselves in January 2027: POST Family Resort and Naturhotel Forsthofgut. We’ll update this guide with our own experience of both once we’re back.
If you’re trying to work out which Austrian kinderhotel suits your family, here’s where we’d start, including the one we’d pick if you’re travelling with teenagers.
In this guide
The best kinderhotels in Austria at a glance
| Hotel | Best for | Baby care from |
|---|---|---|
| POST Family Resort | Active families | 2 months |
| Naturhotel Forsthofgut | Luxury | 2 years |
| Moar Gut | Babies and luxury | 1 month |
| Dachsteinkönig Familux Resort | An all-rounder | 7 days |
| Alpenrose Familux Resort | Teens and the classic Familux experience | 7 days |
| Almhof Family Resort | Skiing and active families | 3 months |
| Die Seitenalm | All-inclusive family holidays | From age 1 |
Childcare ages and hours change fairly often, so it’s worth checking current terms directly with the hotel before booking.
POST Family Resort, Unken (best for active families)
POST stands out on this list because its offer goes well beyond a good kids’ club. The 4-star superior resort, run by the Unseld family, was Austria’s first family hotel to have its own thermal bath, and the adventure park spans roughly six hectares: a 5,000m² natural bathing lake with an 80-metre slide, playgrounds, a climbing and bouldering tower, trampolines, tennis, minigolf, a riding stable and a petting zoo. Indoors there’s 800m² of bright playrooms, including a craft room, gym and soft play area, and this year the hotel has added an indoor “Salt Box” playroom and a padel court.
The Baby Club takes children from 2 to 23 months, running 9am to 8pm daily, with childcare across the resort totalling 11 hours a day. It’s built around a dedicated Sebra nap room, Moonboon spring cradles, hypoallergenic goat-hair carpets and individual cubbies for each baby’s things, and there’s a buggy garage of Joolz strollers plus Wildride carriers for babies over six months. Parents are welcome to drop in and use the space too.
Winter is properly catered for too. A free shuttle bus runs from right outside the hotel to two family ski areas, Almenwelt Lofer (10 minutes away) and Heutal (15 minutes), together offering around 60km of slopes, and there’s a free on-site ski meadow for 3 to 4 year olds with a magic carpet, rope tow and artificial snow. There’s also a small natural ice rink with free skate hire. Food runs on a gourmet full-board basis, with meals rated at a clearly 5-star level even by hotel-review standards.
We’re staying at POST in January 2027, so a full review with our own take on the baby provision and the winter set-up will follow after that.
Best for: active families, children who love animals and the outdoors, and anyone travelling with a mixed-age group.
Naturhotel Forsthofgut, Leogang (best for skiing and overall luxury)
If POST is the active choice, Forsthofgut is the one to look at if you want the hotel itself to feel like a luxury hotel first and family resort second. The estate has been in the Schmuck family since 1617, originally as a forestry business, and Christoph and Christina Schmuck now run it as a fifth-generation 5-star hotel with around 110 rooms and suites.
The waldSPA, Europe’s first forest-inspired spa, covers 5,700m² and splits into a 3,500m² adults-only zone with an infinity pool, whirlpool and sauna landscape, and a separate waldSPA Family & Kids area with heated pools, a 70-metre waterslide and a water adventure workshop. Outside, the 30,000m² garden holds a natural bathing lake and the miniGUT children’s farm, plus year-round riding stables with horses, ponies and alpacas.
This isn’t the one we’d pick specifically for baby childcare. Rocky’s Club runs from age two, 9am to 9pm, seven days a week, free of charge, and includes supervised lunch and dinner. For younger babies there’s a 24-hour parent-child lounge (unsupervised) rather than formal care, plus a baby package with cots, changing kit, home-cooked food, buggies and carriers, and a nanny can be arranged separately.
For winter, the hotel sits right on the Skicircus Saalbach-Hinterglemm-Leogang-Fieberbrunn, one of Austria’s largest ski areas at 270km of slopes, with genuine ski-in, ski-out access.
Food is a real strength here, with breakfast served at the Genussmarkt from 7:30 to 11am, an afternoon tasting called küchenGRUSS from 3 to 5pm, and a five-course gourmet dinner each evening with a choice of three kitchen lines, alpine, regional and vegan.
We’re staying here in January 2027 too, which should be a good test of its winter credentials.
Best for: luxury-loving families, toddlers and older children, skiing families, and parents who don’t want to compromise on the hotel experience itself.
Moar Gut, Grossarl (best for babies and nature-led, wholesome luxury)
Moar Gut already features on our best kinderhotels in Europe list, and it’s just as strong a pick within Austria specifically. It’s run by three generations of the Kendlbacher family, and with only 46 suites across the car-free grounds, it stays noticeably smaller and calmer than most of the resorts on this list.
Childcare starts from the first month of life, running 9am to 9pm daily at no extra cost. The Natur Kinderhof spans 1,000m² over two levels, with a separate baby and toddler area, a large parent-child space and a supervised outdoor play area, all built from natural materials. In 2024, Moar Gut opened Austria’s first Baby Spa, offering baby floating, baby massage and basal stimulation therapy, and completed a major renovation adding an interactive gaming room and an underground indoor trampoline hall.
Beyond babies, there’s a genuine working organic farm with a petting zoo, 14 Icelandic ponies and a riding hall, and parents have an adults-only Natur Spa with its own mountain lake and a heated 25-metre outdoor pool.
In winter, there’s a children’s ski lift right on the hotel grounds plus an on-site ski and sports shop, alongside access to the wider Grossarl ski area. All meals are included on a full-board basis: breakfast, lunch, an afternoon cake buffet, a six-course gourmet dinner, a children’s buffet, a baby buffet with purees, and an all-day non-alcoholic drinks fountain, plus tea, coffee and cocoa until 5pm.
Best for: babies and toddlers, families who want a nature-led holiday, and anyone after something more intimate than a big purpose-built resort.
Dachsteinkönig Familux Resort, Gosau (best all-rounder)
If you want the classic, everything-under-one-roof kinderhotel experience, Dachsteinkönig is the benchmark. It opened in December 2016 as part of the Familux group and has 105 family suites plus 12 chalets, each chalet with its own private sauna.
Childcare runs from 7 days old through to 16 years, up to 13 hours a day, seven days a week, with around 20 to 25 trained caregivers, many of them qualified kindergarten teachers, split across five age-group rooms including a Baby Club. That’s an unusually wide range for one hotel.
Indoors, there’s a 2,000m² play area with a cinema and theatre, a two-storey soft play zone, a bowling alley, a go-kart track and a gym, so a bad-weather day isn’t a write-off. The pool complex has four slides, including a 100-metre tube slide, plus a 30°C outdoor pool that runs year-round and a 35°C indoor children’s pool. Parents get their own sauna area with six different saunas, and the all-inclusive board covers breakfast, lunch and afternoon buffets, a themed dinner with live cooking stations, and non-alcoholic drinks throughout the day. The ski lift for the Dachstein West area is about 100 metres from the front door.
Best for: families with children of different ages, babies through to teenagers, and anyone who wants the most comprehensive all-round kinderhotel experience in one place.
Alpenrose Familux Resort, Lermoos (best for teens and a Tyrolean base)
If you like the sound of Dachsteinkönig but want a Tyrolean base instead, Alpenrose is the other Familux property to compare it against. It’s a 4-star superior hotel directly opposite the Lermoos Grubigsteinbahn, and childcare here is extensive: 25 trained Kids Coaches cover children from 7 days old through to 16, 90 hours a week, 8:30am to 9pm, seven days a week, split into age groups including a Mini Club (3–5), Adventure Club (6–9.9) and Teenie programme (10+).
The hotel underwent a major expansion of its children’s facilities in 2020, and arriving guests are greeted by a saltwater aquarium with tropical fish in the lobby. It’s the sister property to Dachsteinkönig, so the same emphasis on extensive childcare, pools, activities and parent-focused wellness applies, just with a different Tyrolean setting.
The ski area is a genuine 100 metres from the hotel, part of the Tiroler Zugspitz Arena’s 120km of slopes, with a practice slope for 2.5 to 3.9 year olds in the hotel grounds and a ski school shuttle for older children. Food is served on an Ultra-All-Inclusive basis: breakfast, lunch and afternoon buffets, an evening gourmet set menu with a choice of dishes, a salad and cheese buffet, and non-alcoholic drinks throughout the day.
Best for: teenagers, thanks to its dedicated Teenie programme, and families who like the Familux format and want a Tyrolean base.
Almhof Family Resort, Gerlos (best for Alpine adventure)
Almhof is worth considering if the mountains are the main draw for your trip rather than the hotel itself. Run by the Kammerlander family and surrounded by 60,000m² of alpine meadow between the Hohe Tauern national park and the Zillertal nature park, it offers 84 hours of childcare a week over seven days for children from 3 months, running 8:30am (winter) or 9am (summer) to 9pm. Baby care for the 3-months-to-3-years group covers around 72 hours across six days, while children from age 3 get cover all seven.
The wellness tower is the standout here, with 11 saunas, a 110-metre water slide and a second “Ferrrari” triple slide. In winter there’s a free 300-metre ski tow right on site, with the wider Zillertal Arena ski area beyond it, and it sits firmly in the activity and mountain category rather than trying to compete with Forsthofgut on design or Moar Gut on nature-led luxury.
The all-inclusive board is generous too, covering a breakfast buffet, snacks and fruit through the day, lunch, afternoon coffee, cake and ice cream, and a multi-course dinner each evening.
Best for: active families, skiing trips, and anyone building their holiday around the destination rather than the resort.
Die Seitenalm, Radstadt (best for an all-inclusive family holiday)
Die Seitenalm is a good option if you want something a little different from the ultra-luxury properties further up this list. It’s a family-run, all-inclusive resort at 1,150m above sea level, 3km above the historic town of Radstadt in the Salzburger Sportwelt (Ski amadé) region, and it’s a big set-up: the 40,000m² outdoor grounds hold 28 weatherproof attractions, including archery, a climbing rock, a giant trampoline, a covered sand play house and a pedal go-kart track, alongside tennis, football and beach volleyball. Indoors, roughly 550 to 600m² of themed play worlds, the Happy Club, a chill-out room, a craft garage, a children’s cinema and a witch’s house, cover the wet-weather days.
Childcare currently runs 77 hours a week, Monday to Sunday, from age one, with a separate Baby Lounge for the youngest guests and teen animation for 40 hours a week during school holiday periods. Children can meet the animals at the hotel’s own mini-farm, and in winter there’s an on-site kids’ ski area with a 180-metre button lift and an 18-metre magic carpet, plus free ski lessons for 3-year-olds.
Meals are included throughout the day: a breakfast buffet, a warm lunch snack, an afternoon cake and snack buffet, and a five-course dinner in the evening with a children’s buffet alongside it. Coffee and tea run all day too, from Julius Meinl and organic Sonnentor.
Best for: all-inclusive family holidays, animal lovers, younger children, and families who want plenty of facilities without going straight for the ultra-luxury end of the market.
What is a kinderhotel?
If you’ve not stayed in one before, it can be hard to see why you’d choose a kinderhotel over a normal family-friendly hotel. The difference is that a proper kinderhotel is built around family life from the ground up, not a standard hotel with a kids’ club bolted on.
You’ll typically find:
- Childcare across several age groups, sometimes from just days old
- Dedicated baby care and equipment
- Children’s food included as standard
- Indoor and outdoor play areas
- Pools and waterparks
- Organised activities
- Family-friendly room layouts
- Parent-only wellness facilities
- Seasonal activities such as skiing, riding and hiking
The best ones understand something important: parents need a holiday too. That’s the whole point of the childcare hours. You can have breakfast together, hand over for a few hours, get a swim or a treatment in, meet back up for lunch and spend the afternoon together.
Are kinderhotels worth it?
They’re not the cheapest way to holiday in Austria, but you’re paying for a lot more than the room. Depending on the hotel, your stay can include extensive childcare, meals, baby equipment, pools, activities, entertainment, wellness and organised excursions.
For families with babies and toddlers especially, that adds up to a different kind of holiday. A trip where one parent watches the baby while the other eats breakfast in peace isn’t much of a break. At a good kinderhotel, you can actually get time off together.
That said, it won’t suit everyone. If your children are older and don’t enjoy organised activities, or you’d rather spend the week exploring than using the hotel’s facilities, a conventional family-friendly hotel might make more sense.
The best kinderhotels in Austria by age
Travelling with a baby: start with Moar Gut, then Dachsteinkönig, then POST. Look closely at how young childcare starts, whether babies can nap during sessions, what equipment is provided, and how easy it actually is to leave your baby for a few hours.
Travelling with a toddler: POST, Moar Gut, then Dachsteinkönig. This is the age where flexible, well-run toddler facilities make the biggest difference to how relaxing the trip actually feels.
Travelling with primary-school children: POST, Dachsteinkönig, then Forsthofgut. At this age we’d prioritise sheer amount of things to do.
Travelling with teenagers: Alpenrose, Dachsteinkönig, then POST. Look for sports, adventure and space designed specifically for them, not a scaled-down version of the toddler club.
Want a luxury-first holiday: Forsthofgut, Moar Gut, then Dachsteinkönig, in that order.
Our verdict
Austria is one of the best places in Europe for a kinderhotel, but we wouldn’t choose one purely on the size of the kids’ club or the height of the waterslide.
If you want an active family holiday, start with POST. If you want luxury and wellness alongside excellent children’s facilities, Forsthofgut is worth a serious look. For the most comprehensive all-round experience, Dachsteinkönig is hard to beat. For a baby-first holiday, Moar Gut deserves to be near the top of your list. And if you want a more traditional all-inclusive resort with plenty of activities, Die Seitenalm is worth adding to the shortlist.
The best kinderhotels don’t make you choose between a brilliant holiday for the children and a relaxing one for the adults. They give you both.
We’ll be updating this guide with our own experience of POST and Forsthofgut after our stays in January 2027.
Allie, Jack & R x
It depends entirely on the hotel. Several on this list, including Moar Gut, Dachsteinkönig and Alpenrose, take babies from days or weeks old. Others, like Forsthofgut, only start formal childcare from age two, so it’s worth checking before you book if you’re travelling with a very young baby.
Usually, yes. All seven hotels here include childcare hours as standard rather than charging separately, though some, like Forsthofgut‘s nanny service for under-2s, offer paid extras on top for anything outside the included programme.
Most run on a full-board or all-inclusive basis, covering breakfast, lunch, afternoon buffets and a multi-course dinner, plus non-alcoholic drinks throughout the day and use of the pools, spa and childcare. Exactly what counts as “all-inclusive” varies a fair bit though, so it’s worth checking the small print on drinks and ski school, which aren’t always covered.
Yes, most of the hotels on this list sit on or near a ski area, and several, including Forsthofgut, Dachsteinkönig and Alpenrose, are within a couple of hundred metres of a lift. Most also run free or paid ski school for children alongside the usual childcare programme.
Based on age of admission and dedicated baby facilities, Moar Gut is our top pick, followed by Dachsteinkönig and POST.
We’re staying at POST Family Resort and Naturhotel Forsthofgut in January 2027, and we’ll publish full first-hand reviews of both once we’re back, linked from this page. For the other five, this guide is built from each hotel’s own facilities, childcare structure and pricing rather than a personal stay, so treat it as a detailed research-based comparison rather than a review.
Not necessarily. Most of these hotels are self-contained enough that you could manage without one, especially with a baby or toddler, though a car makes it easier to explore beyond the resort or reach a wider choice of ski areas.
This post contains affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
