Family holidays

Choosing by your children's age

Age comes first. Each hotel sets the age groups of its club, and many start at 4: Sabaro states them on every hotel page.

Under 4. Few hotels look after toddlers. The Robinson Club Soma Bay, a German holiday club on full board, has a club from birth, Roby Baby. At Club Med Marrakech La Palmeraie, Baby Club Med takes children from 4 to 23 months and Petit Club Med those aged 2 to 3, at extra cost; clubs are included from age 4. At the Fairmont Royal Palm in Marrakesh, the Baby Room welcomes under-3s free of charge with a parent or nanny, and babysitters are booked 24 hours ahead. Elsewhere, the question is mostly equipment: the Mandarin Oriental Marrakech supplies cots, bottle warmers and sterilisers, and Riad Laaroussa in Fez a cot and childcare.

From 4 to 12. This is the age of kids' clubs. On the Red Sea, the Four Seasons in Sharm el-Sheikh has its free Kids For All Seasons; the Rixos Premium Seagate its Rixy Kids Club, next to the Aquaventure water park and its 23 slides; the Jolie Ville in Luxor a club for 4 to 12-year-olds. In Morocco, the RIU Land club at Riu Palace Tikida Taghazout splits children into 4-7 and 8-12; the Fairmont Royal Palm has a 500 m² club for 3 to 12-year-olds, open 9 am to 6 pm; the Royal Mansour Marrakech its Jardin de Lila for ages 4 to 10. In Dubai, the Kids For All Seasons club at the Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach takes 4 to 12-year-olds free of charge from 10 am to 7 pm, the Jumeirah Circle at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel is free for guests, and Little Nomads at the Mandarin Oriental Jumeira welcomes 3 to 10-year-olds by reservation. In Muscat, the club at the Mandarin Oriental takes 4 to 12-year-olds from Thursday to Monday, the Cool Zone Kids' Club at the DoubleTree Al Waha takes 4 to 8-year-olds from 9 am to 6 pm local time, and the Kempinski has its supervised club.

For families who come first for fresh water and slides, two Hurghada hotels are built around a water park: the Steigenberger Aqua Magic, with six slides and a 400 m lazy river, and the Pickalbatros Jungle Aqua Park, with 81 slides, 45 pools and a park reserved for children from age 4.

In Dubai the park comes with the room: every night at Atlantis The Palm or Atlantis The Royal, at the tip of Palm Jumeirah, includes unlimited entry to the Aquaventure World water park and the Lost World Aquarium, plus a daily session at the Atlantis Explorers Club, the ten-zone kids' club, at Atlantis The Palm. The Theme parks page also covers Legoland Dubai, designed for ages 2 to 12.

Teenagers. A few hotels run a programme for them: the Chill Teens' Club at Anantara The Palm, the teens' club and 29-seat cinema at Jumeirah Zabeel Saray, in Dubai; Chill Pass for 14-17s at Club Med, ROBS for 13-17s at Robinson during the main school holidays, the Teens Club for 10-17s at Rixos, the Hangout at the Fairmont Taghazout Bay, a 13-17 programme at the Sofitel Tamuda Bay, and the Jabal Teens Club at the Anantara Al Jabal Al Akhdar, in Oman's mountains. At this age, the activity matters as much as the club. At Robinson, children try diving from 8 and can take the Junior Open Water, the first junior diving certificate, from 12. In Taghazout, Paradis Plage has its own surf school. In Dakhla, Dakhla Attitude puts under-15s in private kitesurfing lessons. The Diving, Surfing and Kitesurfing pages cover these activities.

The room. Sabaro checks the size and capacity of every family room. The Steigenberger Aqua Magic has nearly 300 family rooms with a separate children's room. At the Four Seasons in Sharm el-Sheikh, two children aged 12 and under stay free in their parents' room, space permitting. The Fairmont Royal Palm has a 124 m² Family Suite for four. The Banyan Tree Tamouda Bay and the Mandarin Oriental Marrakech put families in villas with a private pool. In Dubai, the Family Suite at the Ritz-Carlton on JBR has two bedrooms over 150 m² and sleeps up to six.

Sea, temples or desert

The Red Sea in winter. The Red Sea is at its coolest in February and March, around 22 °C in Hurghada and 23 °C in Marsa Alam; the Atlantic at Agadir stays between 16.6 and 17.8 °C from December to March. Reefs often start right off the beach: at the Hilton Marsa Alam Nubian, on Abu Dabbab Bay, you snorkel over seagrass beds visited by turtles and dugongs.

Morocco in summer, spring and autumn. Agadir, Taghazout and Tamuda Bay, on the Mediterranean, suit summer holidays: the sea at Agadir is above 19.5 °C from July to October, and the Tamuda Bay season runs from June to September. Marrakesh is best in spring and autumn, with average highs of 24 to 29 °C from March to May; in July, the temperature tops 35 °C on about 23 days out of 31. The resorts of the Palmeraie and south of the city, Club Med, Fairmont Royal Palm or Mandarin Oriental, offer the space and pools the medina lacks.

Temples with children. In Luxor, average highs exceed 39 °C from May to September; even in winter, Sabaro advises visiting early in the morning and keeping the afternoon for the pool. The Jolie Ville, on a Nile island south of Luxor, has four pools, some sixty hectares of gardens and a mini-farm; the Hilton Luxor is 2.4 km from Karnak. On the Nile, the Oberoi Zahra and Oberoi Philae take children from age 7. The trip idea Nile cruise and Red Sea in 10 days is built for this audience: three nights on board, two in Luxor, four in Soma Bay.

Dubai from October to April. In Dubai, the family season runs from October to April: from November to March the air reaches 24 to 31 °C and the sea drops to 22 °C in January; in summer the heat tops 39 °C and you only go out early in the morning or in the evening. The stay is built around a beach resort: on Palm Jumeirah, Atlantis for the water park, Jumeirah Zabeel Saray and its 56 m² family room, or the Anantara and its lagoons, under phased renovation until spring 2027; in Jumeirah, closer to the centre, the Four Seasons, the Jumeirah Beach Hotel and its five pools, or Jumeirah Al Qasr, where you get around by abra on the canals. The neighbouring Wild Wadi water park is temporarily closed, according to the hotel. Two breaks round off the beach: a night in the desert at Bab Al Shams, with a free kids' club for ages 5 to 12 and a family pool, and two days in Hatta, in the Hajar Mountains, at the JA Hatta Fort Hotel, whose 90 m² family room sleeps four adults and two children; at Hatta Wadi Hub, most activities are open from age 6.

Oman by road, October to April. Oman is toured by car, with short legs: the Jebel Akhdar is 2 hours from Muscat, the Wahiba Sands just over 2 hours. The family season runs from October to April; from December to February Muscat's average high is 25 to 27 °C and the sea 24 °C. Start with a beach base in Muscat: the DoubleTree Al Waha's pool with lazy river and slide from about €300 a night; or, on a tighter budget, the Barceló Mussanah on the Batinah coast, with a 1,200 m² water park and two-bedroom apartments, at around €120 a night. In town, the National Museum has spaces for children, and a two-hour dolphin-watching boat trip costs around €30 per adult, less for young children. On the Jebel Akhdar, at about 2,000 m, the air is 10 to 13 °C cooler than in Nizwa: the Anantara has a kids' club and a teens' club, and Alila Jabal Akhdar a kids' club and a 3 km butterfly trail. In the Wahiba Sands, the Thousand Nights Camp puts families in air-conditioned sand houses, with a pool and a play area. At Ras al Jinz, the reserve's eco-lodge has bunk-bed rooms, and the turtle tour costs 6 rials for a child aged 6 to 12, free under 6. In the wadis, flash floods remain possible from October to March: the guide Oman's wadis explains how to stay safe.

The desert and touring stops. On the road through southern Morocco, smaller houses welcome families. L'Ma Lodge, in the Skoura palm grove, has a suite for five, a play area and a heated pool. Riad Madu, at the foot of Erg Chebbi, has family suites and a camp in the dunes run by the same family. Dar Rihana, in the Dadès gorges, has a family suite and triple rooms. The guide Choosing a desert camp in Morocco helps you choose your night in the dunes. In Egypt, Adrère Amellal in Siwa welcomes children of all ages, free up to 5 in the parents' room, in a candlelit eco-lodge; Lazib Inn in Fayoum, about two hours from Cairo, has family suites and two family pools.

Before you go

Children's documents. Each child travels with their own identity document. The accepted document and the visa depend on nationality, for children as for adults. For Morocco:

For Egypt:

Details are in our guides Morocco entry requirements and Egypt visa.

Rules specific to minors also depend on nationality and country of residence: consent from the other parent when the child travels with only one parent, proof of parentage (birth certificate), an exit authorisation when the child travels without either parent. Before you leave, check France Diplomatiediplomatie.belgium.beDFAE (eda.admin.ch)mae.gouvernement.luGOV.UK (FCDO)ireland.ie (DFA)Auswärtiges AmtRegeringen (UD)Udenrigsministeriet (um.dk)RegjeringenOdyseusz (MSZ)MZV ČRBMEIANederland WereldwijdViaggiare Sicuriexteriores.gob.esPortal das ComunidadesUlkoministeriö (um.fi).

For Dubai, minors enter only with a parent or guardian, and it is wise to carry the other parent's written consent when the child travels with only one parent. Document and visa by nationality:

See the Dubai visa and entry guide and, for the regional context, the guide Dubai and the regional situation.

For Oman, each child travels with their own document; Sabaro recommends a passport valid for at least 6 months after your return. A minor travelling alone or with only one parent should carry a parental authorisation in English or Arabic. Document and visa by nationality:

See the guides Oman visa and Oman and the regional situation.

Swimming in Morocco. Most Moroccan beaches are unsupervised and drownings are frequent, because of tides and currents. With children, Sabaro advises swimming in front of the hotel, where it indicates, and switching to the pool on days with a swell.

Coral on the Red Sea. Water shoes protect children's feet on reef beaches. Clean any coral cut carefully, however small: toxins on the coral's surface can infect it.

For a holiday among adults, the Adults-only hotels page presents the other side of the selection.

Tunisia: a Mediterranean beach

Tunisia is a few hours' flight from Europe's main cities, direct or with one stop. It stays on UTC+1 all year round: 1 hour ahead of London in winter and the same time in summer. The sea is warm from June to October; the Saharan south is best visited from October to April.

Near Tunis. In Gammarth, on the Carthage coast, the Four Seasons has a kids' club, Kids for All Seasons, and a teens' club, rooms of at least 60 m² and a 500-metre beach. The Residence Tunis welcomes 3 to 12-year-olds at the Dolphin Club; its beach is open only from mid-May to mid-October.

The Sahel and Hammamet. In Sousse, the Mövenpick sits on the beach of the corniche, with a kids' club, 20 km from Monastir airport; at Port El Kantaoui, the Iberostar Selection Diar el Andalous has a kids' club organised by age. In Mahdia, the Iberostar Selection Royal El Mansour has 48 m² family rooms, a kids' club and a pool heated in winter. In Hammamet, the Hasdrubal Thalassa & Spa Yasmine Hammamet puts a family of four in its two-bedroom suites, without a kids' club.

Djerba. The all-inclusive Iberostar Selection Eolia has a club with programmes up to age 17; the Radisson Blu Palace a kids' club and an indoor pool; the Hasdrubal Prestige family suites.

In the desert and on the north coast. In Douz, The Residence Douz welcomes 3 to 12-year-olds at the Gazelle Kids Club, which has an observatory for stargazing. In Tozeur, The Mora Sahara has a three-bedroom villa. In Tabarka, La Cigale has three-bedroom duplex villas.

Documents. For Tunisia, each child travels with their own document. Document and visa by nationality:

See the guide Visa and entry requirements for Tunisia.

Turkey: Istanbul, Bodrum and Cappadocia

Turkey is a few hours' flight from Europe's main cities, direct or with one stop. It stays on UTC+3 all year round: 3 hours ahead of London in winter and 2 hours ahead in summer. The sea is warm enough for swimming from June to October; Istanbul and Cappadocia are best visited from April to June and from September to October.

In Istanbul. On the Bosphorus, the Mandarin Oriental Bosphorus has a kids' club and an indoor pool; the rooms of the Four Seasons at the Bosphorus, at least 45 m², take two adults and a child. On the Golden Horn, Aliée Istanbul has a children's area. For the beach, the Princes' Islands are about 1 hr 30 min away by ferry; the Princes' Palace, on Büyükada, has its own private beach.

In Bodrum. The Mandarin Oriental, Bodrum has a children's pool, a water sports centre and two- or three-bedroom apartments; Six Senses Kaplankaya children's activities and two-bedroom family rooms; Susona Bodrum villas with four to seven bedrooms. Most hotels on the peninsula open from April or May to October.

In Cappadocia and on the coast. The Exedra, in Ortahisar, has a heated pool open even in winter; Sultan Cave Suites, in Göreme, terraces facing the balloons. Near Ephesus, Kırkınca has six cottages around a pool, away from the village of Şirince. In Antalya, the Akra has six pools, including a heated indoor one.

Papers. For Turkey, the document depends on nationality:

See the guide Turkey visa and entry requirements, which also covers the rules for minors.