Family travels: Are hotels, restaurants and cafés ready for your children’s visit?

Research is a key to success

 When preparing for a weekend outing or a longer trip with kids, it makes it easier knowing that your destination is expecting you.

But are all hotels, restaurants and cafés always ready for families with kids? Do you always get the best service?

 

Hotels

Finding a good place to sleep on holidays is important, especially if you are bringing young children. They need a baby crib.

Baby cribs

When booking, check if the room is big enough for an additional baby bed. You can always decide if you want to bring your own. Most hotels offer baby cots for free until the age of 2. When booking, write a note to the hotel manager. I recommend confirming via email or phone again before departure.

Be aware that all hotels that advertise baby cribs in their website may not always have enough. Make sure when you check in and before you go on excursions that the bed is there. If needed, change hotels during the day and before it is too late.

During our trips we found some excellent family hotels, some good ones, but also some less desirable ones. Novotel, Mercure and Marriott hotels are known to make your stay with your children enjoyable.

Plan early, talk to your friends, ask questions to the hotels’ manager and read as many reviews as you can.

 

What makes a good family hotel for a weekend or a short stay?

• There is a bed is in your room when you check in.
• The breakfast buffet has a good selection of children’s favorite food.
• There are toys in the hotel lobby or there is a playroom.
• There is a lift going to the breakfast dining room and not just steps as the only way to reach it.

 

What makes a good family hotel for a longer vacation like a skiing vacation?

• There a plenty of qualified babysitters and babysitting especially during eating hours.
• There is a nice large, clean and safe play area for children.
• The food is always available for the children in the dinning room area or there is at least a microwave.
• There are enough high chairs or seats in the dining room.
• Gates block all dangerous areas in the hotel like steps and swimming pools areas.
• The hotel offers baby phones, toys and a wide variety of activities for children.

Finding a good hotel with babysitting and activities for your children with spa facilities for you and gourmet cooking may be hard, but it is possible.

Again start looking for your dream hotel early to get the best avaibilities.

Austria offers good family hotels. Just type the word “Family hotels” or “Kinderhotels” and you will get some good info. Click here for hotels in Europe:

 

Restaurants, cafés, brasseries

 

Again, if you already know where you are staying, check in advance possible evening restaurants and lunch cafés where you can eat with your family.

Restaurants:

Stay away from very busy restaurants loaded with tourist buses if you know your children can’t sit still and wait patiently. Find a quiet restaurant. Make reservations and tell the restaurant you have a stroller and children. Find out if they have high-chairs if you think you need one.

After having been rejected twice for dinner during our shopping at the Christmas market in Colmar in France, we finally found a family friendly restaurant. It was a restaurant in the Michelin Guide, offering wonderful Alsatian dishes and not minding our young child sitting in a stroller.

 

Cafés & Brasseries:

It is quite difficult to find family friendly cafés in Europe. We looked for one hour in Salzburg last year in the middle of the winter and it was either not accommodating for a stroller, too smoky, too small or it had too many steps. 

Many cities in France and Germany have opened kidscafés (children’s cafés) to suit families better and accommodate their strollers. Some offer babysitting while you eat and shop.

Here are a few children’s cafés:

 

Poussette Café (Paris 9ième Arrondissement)

6 rue Pierre Sémard
75009 Paris, France
Tel: 00 33 1 78 10 49 00

Le Petit Bazar

128 avenue Émile Zola
75015 Paris, France
Tel: 00 33 1 76 90 7317

 

Kindercafé Zebulon

Grempstr. 23
60487 Frankfurt – Bockenheim, Germany
Tel: 00 49 069-77 35 54

Kidsbar
Alte Frankfurter Str. 39
61118 Bad Vilbel, Germany
Tel: 00 49 06101-30 45 44

Some starbucks cafés are good as they often have wide alleys where you can push your stroller; they have cozy and quiet areas for mothers to breastfeed or feed their children.

I also like Migros and Coop restaurants cafeterias in Switzerland as they have microwaves and a play area for the little ones.

If you have found some good family hotels or restaurants while traveling, let me know.

• Family friendly hotels and restaurants
• family travels
• Poussette cafés
• traveling with kids