All in the Family: A Guide to Spring Break 2017

By Heidi Mitchell on February 17, 2017

The top 13 locations to bring your brood this spring.

Courtesy Paws Up

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No matter where you live, by March you’ll be itching for a getaway—somewhere you can bond with your kids and reconnect with your partner at the same time. Long-lead planners may tell you that it’s too late to do something major, but we’re here to tell you they’re wrong. Whether you’re into snow sports, guided bike adventures, urban culture, or just sun-soaked beaches, there are dozens of family-friendly spring break destinations that still have availability, great weather, and whatever else it is you seek.

Spring Skiing in Beaver Creek

Beaver Creek is just a two-hour drive from Denver, which means you can, with a little luck, hit the slopes on Day One. Better yet: This season, the 1,800-acre alpine resort has a 49-inch base as of early February, receiving six feet of fresh snow in January alone. New family private lessons let parties of up to five have a crackerjack instructor all to themselves so newbies can learn the terrain (and move up from “pizza” to “French fries” quickly). Opting for a private mountain guide will take families to virgin terrain on expedited lift passes. Bring walkie-talkies to keep track of everyone—or just make a plan to rendezvous in the village at 3 p.m., when 45,000 freshly baked cookies are passed out gratis. Warm your toes at the ski-in/ski-out Osprey (a Rock Resort), a 47-room boutique hotel steps from the village, with its own spa. Rooms, from $279; beavercreek.com.

Courtesy Beaver Creek

A Week in the Woods at Virginia’s Primland

Virginia gets overlooked as a holiday destination too often, but now that Primland and its sprawling 12,000-acre woodlands have started welcoming guests, watch the Blue Ridge Mountains hit next year’s “must-visit” lists. Families who’ve been trapped indoors all winter can rejoice in dozens of outdoor activities: ATV courses, rifle shooting, archery lessons, golf, fly-fishing, even turkey hunts. Spend the night in cabins built with big groups in mind, and join other families for outdoor or communal dining before heading over to the observatory to command a telescope that can track any constellation in the Northern nighttime sky. Rooms, from $324; primland.com.

Courtesy Primland

Off the Mainland Without a Passport

Puerto Rico has it all: beach, food, culture, rainforest. San Juan heaves with beautifully restored colonial buildings lining plazas and parks, and nearby Condado District delivers a retro vibe that’s a little louche Miami, a little sophisticated Spain. Park your brood in adjoining rooms at the Condado Vanderbilt, an oceanfront oasis with four pools and seven dining venues (kids will love the roasted-pork quesadillas and the BBQ sliders, served poolside). Bonding is easy during walks in nearby El Yunque, one of the last remaining rainforests in North America, followed by refreshing dips in the Atlantic. Rooms from $425; condadovanderbilt.com.

The Country Club Lifestyle in Sea Island, Georgia

Remember those old clubs your grandparents belonged to? Sea Island is all that—the waiters in white, the ice cream parlor, the sporting center—updated for modern moms and dads. Kid-friendly activities include a junior naturalist program, where young ones can learn about the diverse ecosystems on the island; or they can go full-prep while sailing or horseback riding on the beach. As part of a $40 million expansion, The Cloister recently debuted 63 new rooms, though the island’s villas are ideal for large families. Spend an afternoon trying to locate all the oak trees planted by presidents from Coolidge to Clinton. Rooms at The Cloister and the Lodge at Sea Island, from $395; seaisland.com.

Caribbean Tried and True at Mustique

Skip the crowds at busy Caribbean ports and instead head to Mustique, a 1,400-acre private island that’s part of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Clubby and safe, the island is home to the 15-room Cotton House, as well as dozens of gorgeous five-bedroom villas for bigger families. Give your kids a long leash: with loads of staff around (and no non-guests allowed on dry land), Mustique is as close to Utopia as parents can get. Kite-flying competitions, treasure hunts, tennis or pony camp, beach picnics, drive-in movie nights, five beaches… a week is never enough. Rooms from $700 a night, villas from $5,000 per week; mustique.com.

A Teenage Right of Passage in the Bahamas

Disney and Atlantis—two brands synonymous with youth and pure joy. Like the former, the latter theme park can be inundated with spring breakers in March and April. Which is why smart families head to The Cove Atlantis, a stand-alone property with its own zero-entry pool, Mosaic restaurant, and multibedroom family suites. It’s just a short walk to the crazy endeavors at the Atlantis water park, where you can watch your kids slide down the Mayan Temple or the near-vertical Leap of Faith that swooshes them through a shark tank. Bring everyone’s adrenaline down on the perfectly arced Bahamian beaches and at the eight-million-gallon marine exhibit. Rooms from $569 per night, including water park passes; atlantisbahamas.com.

Explore Mayan Culture in Mexico

Andaz Mayakoba is the newest hotel to open its doors at the Mexican resort development Mayakoba, and the 590-acre preserve on which it stands is teeming with kid-friendly diversions. Along with mangroves to boat in and secluded beaches to search for shells on, the resort has hired “cultural insiders” from the region to introduce kids of all ages to the ancient wisdom of the Maya people. (There’s also a modern one—a “Tacology” class). Off property, the 500-hundred-year-old ruins of Tulum are just a short ride away (pack a swimsuit and some sunblock), and the pre-Columbian pyramids of Chichen Itza sit about two hours inland. Rooms from $450; mayakoba.andaz.hyatt.com.

Go Glamping in Montana

Adventurous parents who prefer staying in a Four Seasons rather than camping in the four seasons are met halfway at Montana’s 37,000-acre Paws Up. Luxury tents that make up eight little private camps are fitted with running hot water, heated floors, even televisions. Your kids won’t need to turn them on, of course—this working ranch ensures they are the opposite of bored. Sign under-12s up for the immersive Kids Corps of Discovery and they’ll run to the campfire to tell you about cannonballing from a rope swing into a lake, mining for sapphires, and kayaking on the river. Staff can set up special entertainment for families, like hot-air balloon rides, ATV tours, rappelling, or picnicking as far away from a cell tower as possible. Tents from $1,255, based on double occupancy; pawsup.com.

Sneak in Some Culture in Bike-Friendly Amsterdam

In Amsterdam, everyone gets around by bicycle—making it easy to sneak European culture into your kids’ vacation diet (just like kale in a smoothie). Make your home at the Pulitzer Amsterdam, one of the world’s few stylish hotels that caters to kids. Family rooms sleep four and include breakfast; the Pause is the hotel’s 13,000-square-foot park-like hideaway with a giant swing and hand-carved wooden rocking horses; staff can arrange bikes and helmets for exploring the Dutch city. Steer your brood to the Van Gogh Museum, the NEMO Science Museum, and the Royal Zoo and they’ll forget they “hated” cultural institutions. Rooms from $295; pulitzeramsterdam.com.

Find Zen in the Turks and Caicos

Turks and Caicos rivals Thailand for the world’s best beach, and the top resort on the Caribbean archipelago is arguably COMO Parrot Cay, set on its own private island. It’s not typically a family getaway—it focuses on healthful living and a fantastic spa with farm-fresh food—but during school holidays, kids are more than welcome. Staffers take young ones on snorkeling tours, cruises to the Rock Iguana Sanctuary, and kayaking on the newly opened Bonny Creek waterway where leatherback sea turtles and yellow-crowned herons are everywhere. Kids can also plant and name a coconut tree on the working plantation, and come back to visit it with their kids when they’re all fully grown. Rooms from $650; comohotels.com.

Art and Architecture in Barcelona

Explore buildings designed by Antoni Gaudi by scooter via the Majestic Hotel & Spa’s new program. Adults and kids can pick out the folding two-wheeler of their choosing and set off with helmets and backpacks filled with necessities, as well as an iPad uploaded with maps and itineraries. Immerse your family in architecture and history without them even realizing they’re on a learning tour. Kids studying Spanish? Test their skills with the Spanish-language version and see if they can follow directions around Barcelona to La Sagrada Familia, Casa Mila, and back to your spacious room on the iconic Passeig de Gracia. Rooms from $267; hotelmajestic.es.

Puglia By Bike

If your kids are adept on bikes and old enough for a ride through the countryside, then sign up for DuVine’s custom departures through Italy’s Puglia region. The six-day itinerary takes in all the highlights of the area, like the olive groves and vineyards lining the Adriatic Sea, the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Alberobello (where a local shows you around his hobbit-friendly conical home, called a trullo), and a real farmer teaches you how to make mozzarella. It’s not all bike riding, of course; along the way, you can swim in sea caves, harvest ingredients from the kitchen garden for a cooking class, and ride horses through the countryside. And for the ultimate humblebrag, the whole family spends a night in one of those hobbit-friendly trulli. Six-day, five-night tours, from $3,995 per person, all-inclusive except international airfare; duvine.com.

Americana in Asbury Park, New Jersey

The first new hotel to open in Asbury Park, N.J., in more than 50 years will have you feeling like you’ve time-traveled back to the carefree 1950s, where kids ran free and every day was a beach day. Designed with big kids in mind (and by the talented Anda Andrei), the stylish hotel includes an ice rink, live music nightly, bunk bed rooms, and sleeping tents. Beyond the property, this boardwalk town recreates all the things your parents did when they were young: play at the Pinball Museum, brave the cold waters of the Atlantic, shop and eat hotdogs and ice cream on the boardwalk. This is pure Americana, revived for hipster parents and their preternaturally cool offspring. Rooms from $125; theasburyhotel.com.

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