Luxury family travel, & the key to a happy family holiday

Verdura Golf & Spa Resort. Copyright Gretta Schifano

My teenage son loved staying at Sicily’s Verdura Resort so much that he asked me if we could live there. We stayed at the Rocco Forte resort for just three days on a family trip to the Italian island a few summers ago, and all four of us adored the place. It’s beautifully luxurious, but also friendly and welcoming. It was my daughter’s birthday while we were there, and they made her a cake with her name on it. We ate it sitting at a table beside the infinity pool. When we stayed at Verdura each of us was happy and relaxed. And that last point, I think, is the key to a successful family holiday, whatever your budget.

Luxury family travel

ITC Luxury Travel have produced two new luxury family travel brochures: Kids in the Med and Kids Beyond the Med. Each brochure features high end resorts, such as Verdura, which excel when it comes to welcoming families and keeping everyone happy. ITC say that all of the places which they feature offer ample children’s provision, comfortable family-friendly accommodation and excellent service, as well as ‘something special’.

Luxury family travel brochures

My kids have been looking at these brochures, and are very keen to go to most of the places which are featured, which do, indeed, look special. My son’s favourite (apart from Verdura, obviously,) is Porto Elounda Golf & Spa Resort in Crete, because it has an Arsenal Soccer School Camp. My daughter picked out Sani Resort in Halkidiki. She says: ‘It looks luxurious but laid back too.’ I like the sound of Jumby Bay in Antigua: a private island (with a spa) where endangered turtles nest on the beach. Or maybe Elephant Camp in Thailand, where guests help to care for Asian elephants – I’d be very happy with either option.

Verdura resort, Sicily. Copyright Gretta Schifano.

To be honest, all of the resorts in the brochures look marvellous, and I think that my family would enjoy staying at any of them. The Kids in the Med brochure features places in well-known coastal destinations, such as Ikos Oceania and Ikos Olivia in Halkidiki, (which I visited on a blogger trip and would definitely recommend to families), as well as city hotels such as Hotel Savoy in Florence, and also some villas. Kids Beyond the Med covers Caribbean, USA, Indian Ocean, Middle East and Far East resorts such as Beaches in Jamaica and Turks & Caicos, ranch holidays in the States, and The St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort in Abu Dhabi.

Ikos Oceania private beach. Copyright Gretta Schifano

ITC Luxury Travel

ITC Luxury Travel is an independent, privately owned company which was established in 1974. The company is a member of ABTA and also has a 24-hour emergency team for its customers. ITC say that they can always get a better price than you can source direct, and that they never sell what they haven’t seen. CEO Jennnifer Atkinson has two young children and says: ‘As any parent will tell you, if the kids aren’t happy neither are you, so our focus has been on handpicking resorts with the very best facilities for children and teens, whilst also living up to our high standards as a luxury tour operator.’

Jennifer, and ITC Luxury Travel, really seem to understand that the key to a successful family holiday is to cater for each member of the family. It’s a tricky thing to do, but I think that the hotels, villas and resorts which are featured in ITC’s new family travel brochures can pull it off.

Kids Club, Ikos Oceania. Copyright Gretta Schifano

You can look for your perfect family holiday in the new ITC luxury family travel brochures online here – prepare to be tempted!

You can read my posts about Sicily’s Verdura Golf & Spa Resort here and my posts about Ikos Olivia here and Ikos Oceania here.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by ITC Luxury Travel. All opinions, words, images and hyperbole about Verdura are my own.