Where to Stay With Kids: The Best Family Resort Areas in Dubai, Bali, Bangkok and Beyond

A family resort is not a hotel with a kids' club added on. The things that make a trip work with children are structural: a safe, calm beach or a shallow pool, a room with somewhere for the kids to sleep that is not your bed, food that arrives quickly, and a location where you are not spending an hour in traffic to reach anything. Those come from the area as much as the property. This guide covers the destinations we compare most, area by area.

What to look for in any family resort

A family room or suite with a separate sleeping area. Two connecting rooms or a one-bedroom suite with a sofa bed costs more than a standard double but less than two rooms, and it is the difference between a holiday and a shared bedroom.

Shallow water. A dedicated children's pool, and a beach with calm, gradually deepening water. Many famous beaches (Seminyak in Bali, the Santorini caldera side) are not that.

Flexible food. All-day dining, a children's menu, half-board or all-inclusive where it saves money, and a kitchenette if you have toddlers.

Age-banded kids' clubs. A club for 4 to 12 is standard; the useful ones split by age and run a few hours in the evening so parents can eat together.

Dubai: Palm Jumeirah, the Marina and JBR

Dubai is one of the easiest long-haul destinations with children: clean, safe, English-speaking and built around pools, malls and water parks. The large resorts on Palm Jumeirah are the all-in option, with private beaches, water parks and aquariums on site, and prices to match ($350 to $800 a night for a family room). The Marina and JBR give you a public beach with a lifeguarded swimming zone, a promenade of casual restaurants, and family apartment hotels at $150 to $300 that include kitchens. Downtown is better for teenagers who want the Burj Khalifa and the malls than for small children.

Best months: November to March. Watch for: the extra fees (Tourism Dirham, municipality fee, service charge, VAT) that add 20% or more; compare totals.

Bali: Nusa Dua, Sanur and the Ubud outskirts

Nusa Dua is Bali's purpose-built resort enclave and the most family-friendly beach on the island: calm, clean, swimmable water, large resorts with kids' clubs and multiple pools, and security at the gates. Family rooms run $150 to $400 a night. Sanur, on the east coast, offers a similar sheltered lagoon with cheaper, smaller hotels ($60 to $150) and a relaxed promenade for bikes and scooters. For a second base, a private-pool villa on the outskirts of Ubud gives children space to run and parents a jungle view, often for $120 to $250 including breakfast and a driver to the sights. Seminyak and Canggu are better for adults than for children.

Best months: May, June and September. Watch for: the 21% tax and service added to quoted villa prices, and the lack of public transport; budget for a driver.

Bangkok: Siam, Sukhumvit and the Riverside

Bangkok with children works better than its reputation suggests, provided you stay beside a Skytrain station. The Siam and Ratchaprasong area puts you next to malls with aquariums, play zones and air-conditioning for the hottest hours, with family rooms at large hotels from $120 to $250. Sukhumvit around Phrom Phong has parks, playgrounds and Japanese family restaurants. The Riverside hotels are the splurge: resort-style pools, river boats to the temples, and a calmer pace, from $200 to $500.

Best months: November to February. Watch for: traffic; a hotel five minutes from a station is worth more than one near a landmark.

Maldives: speedboat resorts in the Malé atolls

With children, choose a resort reached by speedboat (15 to 60 minutes) rather than seaplane; it is cheaper, works with late flights and avoids a second transfer with tired kids. Pick a beach villa over an overwater villa for shade, direct sand access and no open water under the deck. A good family resort in the Malé atolls runs $500 to $1,000 a night for a two-bedroom beach villa; half-board or all-inclusive is usually worth it because there is nowhere else to eat.

Best months: February to April for calm seas; May to October for 30 to 40% lower prices. Watch for: resorts that are adults-only or that restrict children from certain villa categories; check before booking.

Santorini: Kamari and Perissa, not the caldera

The caldera villages are built on cliffs with hundreds of steps and no beach, which makes them beautiful and impractical with small children. The east- and south-coast beach towns of Kamari and Perissa have long, flat black-sand beaches, conventional family hotels with pools from $90 to $200, and buses to Fira in 20 minutes. Visit the caldera for a sunset dinner and sleep by the sea.

Best months: June and September, when the sea is warm and the crowds thinner. Watch for: black sand that gets very hot by midday; bring water shoes.

Europe's cities: pick the park

In London, Kensington puts you between Hyde Park and three free museums with excellent children's galleries. In Paris, the 7th arrondissement near the Champ de Mars or the 5th near the Jardin des Plantes gives you green space and quiet streets. In Rome, Prati is calm and close to the Vatican, and the Villa Borghese gardens above the Spanish Steps have bikes, boats and a zoo. In New York, the Upper West Side has Central Park and the Natural History Museum on the doorstep.

Keeping the cost sensible

Apartments over hotel rooms. For stays of four nights or more, a two-bedroom apartment or aparthotel is usually cheaper than a family suite and the kitchen pays for itself at breakfast.

Shoulder season. Children adapt to weather better than adults. The weeks either side of school holidays, where your schedule allows, can be 30 to 50% cheaper.

Compare family rooms across sites. Family suites and connecting rooms show some of the largest price differences between Booking.com, Agoda, Expedia and Trip.com in our comparisons, because they are inventory that is often sold through different channels. Check all four.

Look for kids-stay-free policies. Many chains let children under 12 share a parent's room at no charge; booking sites usually flag this on the room row. Enter the children's ages when searching so the prices and room options are accurate.

Below are the hotels from our comparison we would book with children in the areas above, with indicative prices from up to four booking sites. Prices shown are for a standard room; check the family room or suite rate for your dates on each site, as that is where the gaps between sites tend to be widest.