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We've all been there: you're jetlagged, tired out and a stranger
in a strange place. All you want to do is to stretch out and do
absolutely nothing. But duty calls… the kids need attention,
they're bored and fidgety and hungry on top of that. Do you have
the energy? Is there any help available?
Actually, there is and help comes in the form of some of the most
kids-friendliest people in the world. Thais love kids and several
hotels here in Phuket have fabulous set ups to ease the burden off
tired mums and dads. With the combination of loving carers/childminders
and great hotel children's facilities you just can't lose for winning.
Here's a selection of some of the best kids-friendly
hotels in Phuket
One of the most kids-friendliest hotels in Phuket. Great for older
kids and those who have difficulty growing up!! A huge range of
activities, some organised and others freeform. There's a water
park in the grounds offering lessons in sailing, kayaking, and windsurfing,
with water basketball and waterpolo among the organised activities.
There's also badminton, darts, a fitness club for the parents, games
room, snooker, squash court, table tennis, tennis and volleyball,
the list is endless.
For the smaller ones, a supervised Kids' Club with programs for
eight to12-year olds and four to 12-years olds offers sports and
creative activities, island excursions and dinner options. Children
under four must be accompanied by a parent at the kids' club. All
activities and the kids' club are free, but meals are charged to
the room, and outside excursions are a nominal fee. The hotel has
a lovely children's wading pool for toddlers and a larger pool with
a water slide as well as a lazy river you can float through.
Camp Laguna - Bang Tao Beach
Located next to Laguna Beach Resort on seven acres of lushness,
Camp Laguna offers half or full-day programs in January, April,
August, October and December. There's a wide variety of indoor and
outdoor activities for kids aged eight to 18, providing opportunities
for kids to make new friends, challenge themselves and make their
visit to Phuket something quite special. Although the camp serves
the five hotels in the Laguna complex, if you and your kids are
staying at another hotel they are welcome to join. It's open to
all.
Camp Laguna Activities include rock climbing and abseiling on a
15-metre, three-sided tower, two high ropes courses, leisure sports,
like Ultimate Frisbee and Capture the Flag, arts and crafts, including
papermaking and batik prints as well as environmental activities
such as orienteering. Transport from your hotel, equipment and drinks
are included in the cost. You will need to register at the hotel
tour desk on arrival.
Here there is a good selection of both indoor and
outdoor activities, suitable for all the family. A hotspot for children,
the VIK (Very Important Kids Club) provides daily children's entertainment,
plus games and crafts to keep the young ones enthralled and excited.
There is also a playground for outdoor fun and of course, there's
Asia's longest freshwater swimming pool to frolic in - all 323 metres
of it.
Ning Nong and Yum Yum, the resort's baby elephants, pay their daily
visits to play with the little ones and the young at heart. VIK
Club is complimentary for in-house guests aged four-12 years.
This resort features a swimming pool with a waterslide (open daily
from 10:00 am to 6:30 pm), bike rental services, baby sitter services,
and a Kids' Club.
The Kids' Club is open for children aged between three to twelve
years old. It features a wide range of activities, such as a jigsaw
puzzle challenge, paints and brushes, traditional Thai games, a
tumbling tower competition, paper crafts, board games challenge,
crazy treasure hunt, bowling fun, story telling, greeting card creation,
mask making, and cartoons and movies. Activities such as beads creation,
cap painting, plaster painting, and T-shirt painting have charges
ranging between 150 to 250 baht. The activities program at the Kids'
Club changes everyday. Kids' Club hours are 09:00 to 21:00.
The Kids' Club also offers scuba lessons free of charge for children
above the age of eight. Scuba lessons are conducted on Wednesdays
and Saturdays at 16:00 at the resort's swimming pool.
An all-suite hotel in the Laguna Complex (see Sheraton) which provides
a kitchenette, Satellite TV, baby-sitting services, free resort
shuttle, three pools, an outdoor Jacuzzi, a kids' club and a marine
centre.
The Allamanda Kids' Club is open 09:00-17:00 and offers activities
including arts and crafts, co-operative team sports and games, pool
games, TV - cartoons and videos, sandcastle making. Cameron the
Caterpillar - over 55 feet of inflatable fun and entertainment,
is a big hit with the younger kids.
The resort also shows kids movies every Friday night with a special
children's meal included for around 200 baht per child. Monthly
theme nights combine a supervised activity-packed evening for kids
with a dinner treat for parents, all at special rates.
Sports facilities can be used at the other nearby Laguna resorts.
As an alternative to traditional water sports, try the paddle boats
on the lagoon. Away from the water, top-quality American mountain
bikes are also available for hire, available at the Marine Centre,
100 baht per hour.
When it comes to looking after your little ones there are many
plus points for this hotel.
- No additional charge for an extra bed for children under
12 years old.
- 50% discount is offered for any given rate on a second room
(From May to October only)
- Kids' food and drink at restaurants. Children under four
can enjoy free food and beverages while children from four
to twelve years old have 50% discount off all food and beverages.
A kids host provides special care in the restaurant. Paint and
cartoon pictures are provided for children over dinner. Birthday
parties are arranged for younger guests who are celebrating during
their stay at Dusit Laguna. A trained babysitter is available
on both an hourly and daily basis (150 baht per hour and 800 baht
per day) and baby amenities are available upon request. Children
aged eight-18 years also can join Camp Laguna, which operates
during the months of August, October, December, January, April.
There are daily supervised activities at Kid's Corner. Sports and
fun games include Junior Olympics, waterpolo, treasure hunt, pool
basketball, swimming lessons, table tennis, ring toss, bingo and
many pool games.
Crafts include T-shirt painting, bracelet making, face painting,
nature arts, paper caterpillar, stone painting, paper dress making,
fancy cards, flower garland making, clay time, Origami, junior chef,
mask making and painting competitions. In addition, there are activities
that explore the surrounding natural beauty such as pony riding,
lagoon fishing and beach activities.
The Holiday Inn enjoys a great location in the heart of Patong
Beach within strolling distance of shops, street markets, local
entertainment, restaurants and the beach. It also features specially
themed rooms just for families and is most definitely kids-orientated.
The kidsuite provides a children's themed 'room within a room'.
Furnished with bunk beds, TV and video, electronic games, toy box
and Playstation, and specially decorated (you can choose from jungle,
circus, or pirate themes) kidsuites give children aged four-to-twelve
their own space. For a little more than a standard room, kidsuites
can accommodate a maximum of two adults and two children less than
12 years of age, allowing all the family to enjoy their holiday.
The resort also offers family suites which consist of two connecting
rooms; one standard room connected to another specially designed
children's room. Designed in a pirate theme, the kids room has beds
set in 'boats' plus a treasure chest containing toys, and themed
furniture. Your kids have their own room with TV, video, electronic
games, toy box and Playstation. Family-suites are for a maximum
of two adults and two children under 14 years. It's a great concept
as it ensures that everyone gets a holiday!
Holiday Inn also offers good children's menus, friendly and efficient
staff, a kids' club with lots of activities and a babysitting service.
Ideal for families who want to be close to the beach and to the
local attractions
Le Meridien Phuket has a great freeform pool which winds its way
around the hotel and provides hours of fun for kids. The Penguin
Club, supervised by Le Meridien staff and open from 09:00 to 13:00
and 14:00 - 19:00 every day has a range of activities for the little
ones.
Activities for kids aged from three to seven encompass fan painting,
stories and movies, necklace making, card making, mobile making,
board games, jigsaws, umbrella painting, a dressing race, limbo
dance, video games, paper cutting, sponge animals, swimming lessons,
skipping rope racing, treasure hunt, tennis coaching, minigolf,
pool games, badminton, sandcastles, beach games, hotel circuit,
kite flying, football, blow painting.
Activities for kids aged eight-twelve include fan painting, kids
aerobics, umbrella painting, mini water polo, outside drawing, football,
treasure hunt, basketball, beach games, hotel circuit, kite flying,
swimming and windsurfing lessons, tennis tournament, ball games,
golf coaching, archery, sailing lessons.
Club Andaman has all the entertaining and fun activities that you
can find for kids, with lots of toys, PlayStation, a Video dance
game, table tennis, fun and educational games and videos. Children
aged two years and up only. Open 08.00 - 18.00. A babysitting service,
also for children aged two years and up, is available after 18.00
for a small fee.
This resort is what we'd call kids-dedicated rather than just friendly.
Siam Adventure club is the centerpiece for all hotel services, tours
and adult and kids fun. From the moment guests check in they are
introduced to a team of 'rangers', who look after all the activities
in-house as well as excursions. Rangers surprise the little ones
and whisk them away to discover all the fun stuff in the hotel.
The Dino-Pool is overlooked by a Magic Castle featuring a long
waterslide. Two life-sized Dinosaurs stand guard over the hotel's
smaller guests while they play in the pool and sunburn is no danger
here: an oversized 'mushroom' makes the toddler pool a shady place.
There is also a multi-activity station KidzClub. Kids between four
and 14 can join in the fun here, with a ball room, slides, dress
up games, a wealth of toys to discover and a safe environment in
which they can let themselves go. At the hotel's 'Corner Store'
guests can purchase the same toys that they have played with in
the KidzClub.
As for kids' accommodation, the hotel provides three children-themed
rooms; the Castle Theme suite, the Underwater Room and the Outer
Space room. These theme rooms come with respective themed DVD libraries
and a 32" flat screen LCD TV with international channels.
The Castle Bar & Grill serves up a good repertoire of food
and is adjacent to the KidzClub, Dino-Pool and a host of other attractions
for kids.
Mövenpick does a pretty thorough, Swiss job of making sure
its young guests are well looked after. The resort's Play Zone boasts
special facilities designed for two distinct age groups (four- seven
and eight - twelve years old). A club filled with varieties like
a Playstation room, an Internet room, two DVD-lounges, a reading
room, table tennis, billiards, sporting events and arts and crafts
activities.
Play Zone
The Play Zone, Phuket's largest club for children, provides a fully
supervised indoor and outdoor entertainment area for children from
four to twelve years old. During the day, children under four can
have special one-on-one care. After 18:00, in-room baby sitting
is offered for children of all ages. There are a wide variety of
activities in the Play Zone, each tailored to a specific age group.
Hourly, half-day, and full-day packages are available, with longer
stays including lunch and dinner. Reassuringly, a nurse is stationed
within the Play Zone.
The Play Zone is divided into three sections, each custom-made for
a specific age group.
Room One (ages four to seven)
The first room features a large play room, a ball pit and jungle
gym, a nap room, mini-kitchen, DVD lounge, and specially designed
bathroom with children's sized fixtures. Activities include treasure
hunts, kite making, Legos, board games, and Thai dancing.
Room Two (ages eight to twelve)
The second room has a DVD lounge, PlayStation, two 'tournament
rooms' with over 30 different games, a play mat and crash pad, sports
equipment for soccer, badminton, and tennis, as well as board games
and books.
The Games Room (over twelve)
The Games Room is divided into indoor and outdoor sections. It
is unsupervised and free for everyone to use. The indoor section
includes computers with Internet access, a DVD lounge, and a library
of magazines, books and newspapers. There is also a large selection
of popular board games. The outdoor section has billiard, foosball
and table tennis tables, and a playground with a 'jungle gym'.
The Hilton Arcadia is Phuket's biggest hotel and is set in lovely
green sprawling grounds - something that kids of all ages love.
It features four swimming pools, two with slides, and each pool
is distinct and loads of fun. There is a babysitting service, a
childcare center with lots of kids activities, including batik and
painting as well as cartoons and computer games. Outside the childcare
center is a shady playground where younger guests can climb, shoot
hoops and generally let off steam to their hearts' content. Kids
can also rent out DVD's to watch in their rooms and dining out at
the hotel is no problem as there is a kid's menu. Talking of food,
the Hilton Arcadia also features an ice cream parlour on the beach
road and talking of the beach, it is right across the road from
the western face of the hotel. With this much space to explore and
enjoy kids will never feel boxed in.
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The Marriott's kids' club includes indoor air-conditioned areas
and outdoor play areas with easy access to the children's pool and
waterslide. The kids' club has separate areas for young teens and
smaller children. A wonderful on-site Deli, for more casual eating,
lots of tempting snacks are available. The little ones have a colourful
cubbyhouse with a climbing frame, wooden toys, karaoke, a dolls
house, computers and even their own pint-sized furniture. The fully
supervised Little Turtles Activities Program operates daily from
09:00 to 17:00 and includes movies, games, swimming activities,
hair beading, and also a variety of activities where smaller guests
can make jewellry, sandcastles, pictures, baskets, decorations and
much more.
Teenagers can also enjoy special facilities which include a large
movie screen, Playstation, pool table, table tennis and another
section of computers which are hugely popular, with limited Internet
access to avoid any viewing of inappropriate sites. The main swimming
pool is enormous with a separate section that caters especially
for families, including a shallow bubble pool and a waterslide.
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