The Best Family-Friendly Hotels in Thailand
Since starting a family, my holiday wish list has changed somewhat. Of course, I still love an intrepid adventure, but other things have become important to me now that I’m a parent—and finding the best family-friendly hotels in Thailand has been one of my personal projects. The criteria? Black-out curtains, for one. Or a little outdoor space in a hotel room, so you don’t spend your vacation scarfing room service in the bathroom thanks to your kids’ early bedtimes.
I spent almost four months in Thailand with my toddler earlier this year—a ploy to avoid choosing the best time to visit Thailand. It’s a country that I’ll be heading back to every year, not just for the brilliant family-friendly hotel options, but for the genuine adoration of kids everywhere you go, even when they’re having a meltdown at a restaurant and tipping all their food onto the floor. The stays below are my picks for the best child-friendly hotels in Thailand—places where ‘family-friendly’ means so much more than a kids' menu, cot, or baby bath tub, as helpful as those things may be. And let’s face it, parents on holiday can use all the extra help they can get.
For more inspiration on where to stay in Thailand, visit:
The Best Hotels in Bangkok
The Best Hotels in Phuket
The Best Hotels in Koh Samui
How we choose the best family-friendly hotels in Thailand
Every hotel on this list has been selected independently by our editors and written by a Condé Nast Traveler journalist who knows the destination and/or has visited that property. When choosing hotels, our editors consider properties across price points that offer an authentic and insider experience of a destination, keeping design, location, service, and sustainability credentials top of mind.
Six SenseshotelSix Senses Yao Noi
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Gold List 2022 
Readers' Choice Awards 2019, 2020, 2023Family-friendly doesn’t have to equal a kids' club with soft play, and the Six Senses on the sleepy island of Koh Yao Noi will prove this. Just getting here is an adventure for kids—the small island is located partway between Phuket and Krabi, so you’ll zip across turquoise waters, arriving by boat.
Sustainability and wellness are at the forefront of a Six Senses stay, and you’ll see this in the activities they arrange for kids. They pull in the six dimensions of wellness (social, environmental, physical, spiritual, emotional, and intellectual) to help children reconnect with nature and learn life skills through play. Much of this is done through the Junior Eco Warrior Program, a complimentary rotating roster of activities running from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily, for children aged between four and 12.
Activities go far beyond painting and cooking classes, although there’s plenty of that, too. There may be trips to the beach to use recycled timber to build Hornbill Villas, learning how to save the birds from extinction, or wildlife walks through the mangroves, spotting the resort’s resident monitor lizard on the way. There are also composting classes, and trips to the hotel’s farm, collecting eggs from the chicken pen and pausing to see the goats, who happily await a friendly pat on the head. All this leaves time for you to make the most of the spa or relax over a child-free breakfast.
The hotel’s real showstopper is the infinity pool with views of the limestone karsts of Phang Nga Bay. It’s a sociable spot, but most villas—dotted across the jungly hillside—come with pools (some more shady than others). Dining here is a delicious, romantic experience, and the hotel can help you book the occasional babysitter.
Banyan Tree KrabihotelBanyan Tree Krabi
Readers' Choice Awards 2023Another brilliant option for long, relatively lazy—as lazy as you can be with kids—days on the beach is the Banyan Tree Krabi. Its setting is a real crowd-pleaser, strung along the sandy shores of Tubkaek Beach, where shallow water is perfect for paddling youngsters. If that’s a bit tame, then the small waterpark should do the trick, complete with a slide and huge water bucket that fills with water and tips onto those below, plus the outdoor play area with its zipline, rope bridge, cave, and climbing wall. Nearby is the small but no less fun kids' club. The light-filled space is free for those between four and 12, although parents can hang around while younger children enjoy it. Activities include canvas painting, bracelet making, and kids' yoga. There are books, train tracks, and cars to play with, too.
As for rooms, you could opt for a villa or suite on the hillside—all come with pools—but the better choice for families are the garden suites and villas, which have more outdoor space for pottering and playing. Children probably won’t be noting decor, but parents will certainly love the soothing palettes of bright white and navy, plus the stop-in-your-tracks views across the water feature in the reception area and the very serene spa.
InterContinental Khao Yai ResorthotelInterContinental Khao Yai Resort, an IHG Hotel
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Hot List 2023Train-obsessed toddlers and tweens will be overjoyed at InterContinental Khao Yai, a railway-themed resort just a few hours north of Bangkok. It’s worth a short detour, not just for the joy on your kid’s face, but to spend some time in the Thai countryside and Khao Yai National Park, which, with its jungle, fruit orchards, waterfalls and caves, is the perfect antidote to Bangkok.
Although themed hotels are at risk of feeling a little tacky, this is far from the case here thanks to the creativity of hotel designer Billy Bensley, who has upcycled dozens of train carriages rescued from scrap yards across the country and transformed them into quirky, elegant restaurants, bars, and suites inspired by various Asian railway journeys.
It’s the parents who will appreciate the outdoor bath marble-clad bathrooms, but children will adore the bunk beds and kids' club, which is also housed in a railway carriage. Inside is a stash of LEGO, wooden toys, trains, and board games, while a daily schedule of activities includes lakeside treasure hunts, Thai dancing lessons, koi fish feeding, and origami craft sessions. And while dining spaces may feel grown-up thanks to leather bench chairs, tiled tables, and paneled walls, the novelty of dining in a train carriage will not wear off for younger guests.
Kimpton Maa-Lai BangkokhotelKimpton Maa-Lai Bangkok
$$ | Readers' Choice Awards 2023, 2024Sometimes, a family-friendly stay is less about the activities and children’s clubs and more about making things easier for parents, and Kimpton Maa Lai does just that. While it doesn’t have a kids' club—and several Bangkok hotels do—this is a city where exploring with kids isn’t such a bad thing, sampling fruits, whizzing around on tuk-tuks, and being dazzled by bright lights.
Back at the hotel, carpeted suites (ideally for crawlers and tentative walkers) are kitted out with whatever you need, including baby bath tubs, potties, large wooden cots, baby washes, and an XL Winnie the Pooh. Teens will be overjoyed by the buffet breakfast—surely one of the largest in the city—with pancakes, waffles, dim sum, every cereal and juice imaginable, and more. After a morning of sightseeing, there’s a large infinity pool for some respite from the city heat, and younger kids will love hanging out in the lobby and café area, watching dozens of manicured dogs passing through (the hotel is also pet-friendly!).
Courtesy Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & ResorthotelAnantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort
$$ | Readers' Choice Awards 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025Families would be happy at any of the Anantara hotels in Thailand, but the Anantara Golden Triangle, a Bill Bensley-designed mountain sanctuary surrounded by a 160-acre bamboo forest and located on the northern border with Laos, is particularly special. Not just for the rooms with lush views, but for the ethical elephant encounters. The camp is home to 20 of the gentle giants that have been rescued from logging camps, and guests are given the chance to spend time observing them, learning about their lives and rehabilitation with the elephant’s mahout, or handler, and getting within inches of their long eyelashes, fruit-seeking trunks, and huge feet.
While the hotel’s teak-floored bedrooms are elegant spaces perfectly suited to the jungly settings, it’s the Jungle Bubbles that will really elevate a stay here. The transparent inflated domes are kitted out with everything you’d expect in a luxury hotel room, but with the best view of all—elephants happily roaming the gardens, with moonlit dining tables for meals set up steps away.
Prefer a beachy hotel from the brand? Try Anantara Koh Yao Yai, with its huge kids' club—complete with epic soft play—and family pool with numerous speedy slides.
hotelThe Ritz-Carlton, Koh Samui
$$$ | Readers' Choice Awards 2023, 2025You’ll have your pick of brilliantly child-friendly hotels on the small island of Koh Samui, but the Ritz Carlton? It may just clinch the top spot. It’s not just for the suites with pools, which are strung along a series of wave-lashed rocks (your terrace with views is the perfect relax-while-they-nap spot), but it’s for the kids club, a huge, two-story-high space crammed with toys and activities, from a mini soft play with a ball pit and slides, to craft stations and reading nooks. The team here are highly engaged and genuinely adore children (which is not a given at some hotels, despite the job spec), and there’s a playground surrounded by forest and a mini golf course outside, plus Muay Thai classes for sporty older kids. The main pool, close to the beach, is a sociable spot for all the family to make friends, and if you’re tag-teaming childcare and need a few hours to yourself, then the sprawling Spa Village, with its adults-only pool and plush cabanas, is a very peaceful retreat.
The resort is vast—a golf cart is needed to whiz you around kind of vast—but that means there are plenty of spots for little legs to burn off energy. A huge hall for breakfast is filled with dozens of buffet stations, which is a great option for weaning, fussy eaters or kids with big appetites, and essentials like cots are provided—not travel cots, but proper sturdy large cots, proving that little guests are as thought about as the adults. For more inspiration on where to stay, visit the best hotels in Koh Samui.
Getty ImagesRainforest Camp, Khao Sok
Parents be warned: While kids may enjoy a luxury hotel stay and the beaches of Phuket, it’s their time at Rainforest Camp in Khao Sok, a region to the north of Phuket, that they are guaranteed to talk about for years to come. Aimed at families with children aged seven and up, the luxury glamping retreat is home to 20 safari-style tents that float over the emerald-green waters of Cheow Lan Lake—the perfect playground for canoe trips, kayaking tours, and guided hikes spotting birds, bugs, and other creepy crawlies in the world’s oldest rainforest, which surrounds the site.
Typically, most guests spend their time between two glamping retreats, the other being Elephant Hills Camp, where children are kitted out in ranger shirts and get to spend time learning about rescued elephants. Whichever you choose (ideally it’d be both), you’ll be fully immersed in nature—where iPhones and TV screens will be long forgotten thanks to board games and a soundtrack of jungle noises and lively evening meals, with freshly made noodle dishes and just-picked mangoes for dessert.
This article was originally published on Condé Nast Traveller UK.
