8 Best Original Kinderhotels in Europe for a Family Holiday

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I’ve stayed at a Kinderhotel with my son and loved it. Here are the 8 best Original Kinderhotels in Europe, with childcare ages, pools and prices.

Last winter I took my son on a holiday we both would never forget. It was to the winter wonderland of the Tyrolean Alps in Austria, and it was his first trip to the mountains. The memory of him arriving seeing the town covered in a metre of snow is something I’ll always cherish.

We stayed at Baby & Kinder Hotel Laurentius in Fiss, and I can’t tell you how special it was. One morning he ran off to the kids’ club while I squeezed in a few ski runs, and by the afternoon we were racing each other down the pool slides. It turned into the best father-son trip we’ve ever had, and the hotel was a big part of the reason why.

Laurentius is a Kinderhotel, and if you’ve never stayed in one, it isn’t the same thing as a family-friendly hotel. This isn’t just a crappy kids’ club and a beige buffet with extra chicken nuggets; it’s so much more than that. At a proper Kinderhotel, childcare is part of the stay, the suites have separate rooms for the children, and the pools, play areas and dinners are designed so parents get a holiday too.

The best of them belong to Original Kinderhotels Europa, a hand-picked group of around 20 hotels in Austria and Italy that are checked against strict quality standards. I haven’t tried to cover every member. Instead, I’ve picked eight that each stand out for something different, from hotels right by the ski slopes and huge water parks to lakeside summer breaks and a five-star splurge.

So, if you’re looking for your next family holiday to Austria or Italy, then this is the guide for you. Select one of these Kinderhotels, and you’ll be all set for a holiday that you’ll bang on about for years to come!

The best Original Kinderhotels at a glance

What is an Original Kinderhotel?

Plenty of hotels in the Alps call themselves a Kinderhotel, but only around 20 can call themselves an Original Kinderhotel. Original Kinderhotels Europa is a members’ group that hand-picks its hotels and keeps checking them against its own quality seal, so the name carries a guarantee rather than just a marketing promise. So many other hotels cash in on the name Kinderhotel, but these guys are the original – that’s why I only wanted to cover these ones.

Premium and Premium Plus

Every member has to meet the Premium standard as a minimum. That means a 4-star hotel with an indoor pool, a toddler paddling area and slide, plus a sauna for the adults. Qualified childcare has to run all day, six days a week, for at least 40 hours, with at least two trained childcare or baby staff on site.

The Premium Plus hotels add extra services on top of that. Only four members currently hold it, and three of them feature in this guide: Laurentius, Almhof and Löwe & Bär.

Baby Perfect

Baby Perfect is the group’s seal for families with babies. Hotels need a separate baby area with a sleeping room and a baby kitchen, at least eight hours of baby care a day for five days a week, freshly prepared baby food and an indoor baby pool kept at 33°C or warmer.

All eight hotels in this guide hold it, but don’t assume they’re identical. The youngest age they’ll look after a baby varies from a few days old to around six months, and childcare hours, board and opening seasons differ from one hotel to the next.

Baby & Kinder Hotel Laurentius – Best Overall Kinderhotel

Laurentius is the hotel that sold me on Kinderhotels, so it had to come first. It sits in Fiss, the middle of the three villages that make up Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis, around 50m from the slopes of a ski area with 214km of runs. Cooper was too young to ski, so the hotel was a much bigger part of our holiday than it would be on a normal ski trip.

It’s lively, with up to 120 children staying at peak times, but that’s the point. Nobody tuts when your toddler kicks off at breakfast.

Childcare is free every day from 8.30am to 9pm, with a baby club for under-threes and a kids’ club for children up to 15. There’s around 1,500m² of play space across three indoor areas, including an old swimming pool that’s now a climbing and trampoline zone. Cooper’s favourite was the triple racer slide in the family water world, where three lanes run side by side so you can race each other down. He’d have done it for hours if I’d let him.

Parents get a proper holiday too. The adults-only S’PAnorama spa has an infinity pool on the roof, and I swam there one evening in the dark while it was snowing. Dinner is five courses every night, with a kids’ buffet that opens earlier, and the food was genuinely delicious.

Every family suite has a separate children’s room and a baby monitor. In summer, the Super.Summer.Card gives you free use of 11 cable cars across the region. Suites start from around €198 per person per night on full board.

Verdict: The best all-rounder in the collection, especially for babies, toddlers and primary school-age children. You can read my full Familienhotel Laurentius review or check availability on the official Laurentius website.

Kinderhotel Felben – Best for Babies and Toddlers

Kinderhotel Felben sits on the edge of Mittersill in Salzburgerland, with the Hohe Tauern National Park on the doorstep and a working organic farm in its own grounds. That farm is a big part of its charm. Children help the carers feed the animals and clean the stables, and pony rides are part of the childcare programme from Monday to Saturday.

What earns Felben this spot is how young it starts. Babies can be looked after from three weeks old, Monday to Saturday, in a dedicated baby room for under-twos. There’s a HiPP baby menu, a kids’ buffet every evening and a five-course dinner for parents, all included in the all-inclusive package. If you’re nervous about travelling with a very young baby, it also helps that Mittersill has its own hospital and paediatrician.

The hotel was refurbished in 2026, including all of its rooms, the restaurant and the play areas. Inside there are 10 play rooms spread across 820m², and outside there’s an 8,000m² adventure playground. The 500m² pool area has a 56m tube slide and two children’s pools, while parents have a 700m² wellness area with saunas, a steam grotto and massages.

In winter, toddlers can take their first ski lessons on the hotel’s own practice slope, and a free ski bus runs from the hotel to the Kitzbühel ski area. In summer, the Tauern Cycle Route and the national park are right on the doorstep. Packages start from around €140 per person per night.

Verdict: The best choice for families with a baby or toddler, especially if you’d prefer a gentle farm setting to a big resort. Check availability on the official Felben website.

Almhof Family Resort & SPA – Best for Swimming and Water Parks

If your children judge a holiday by the pool, Almhof in Gerlos is the one to book. Almi’s Waterworld has five pools, three whirlpools and a 110m slide, the biggest water offer I found across the whole collection. There’s a baby whirlpool for the youngest swimmers and a large open-air family whirlpool with views across the valley.

Gerlos is part of the Zillertal Arena, one of Austria’s largest family ski areas with around 150km of slopes. Almhof has its own ski lift and practice slope next to the hotel, a children’s ski school from the age of two and a toboggan run where you’re towed back up to the top. In summer, the five side valleys around Gerlos are perfect for family hikes.

Indoors, there’s a trampoline park of more than 500m², an Alpine village play area called ALMI-opolis and a family entertainment centre with an iWall and virtual reality games. Childcare runs in age groups, with a baby club from Sunday to Friday, a daily club for three to six-year-olds until 9pm and an action programme for over-10s. Babies can be looked after from three months old.

It’s all-inclusive, and in winter that even covers lunch at partner huts on the slopes. Parents get their own adults-only wellness tower, and the spa scored 92 points in the Falstaff Spa Guide 2026.

Verdict: The pick for water-loving kids of every age, with a brilliant set-up for first-time skiers on top. Check availability on the official Almhof website.

Kinderhotel Kröller – Best for Older Children and Teens

Most Kinderhotels are built around babies and toddlers, which can leave a ten-year-old feeling short-changed. Kröller, in the same village as Almhof, has gone the other way. Its Captain K Playworld opened in August 2025 and packs 500m² with games aimed squarely at older children and teenagers.

There’s an iWall where kids control their own avatar, rhythm-based cycling and running challenges, a ninja warrior course, a trampoline park, dodgeball, a mini football pitch and even a go-kart track. When the weather’s good, the teen programme heads outdoors for archery, flying fox zip lines, canyoning, paragliding, climbing and barbecues by the reservoir.

Younger siblings aren’t forgotten. Childcare starts from six months old, with separate groups for babies, toddlers, children and teens, and there’s bowling, movie nights and a carousel too. The hotel has been in the same family for four generations and grew out of an old farmhouse, which explains its long history with riding holidays.

It’s all-inclusive, with soft drinks, coffee and tea all day, and in winter you can have lunch at a ski hut on the Zillertal Arena slopes. While the kids are busy, parents can head to the parents-only sky sauna or the bar. Kröller doesn’t publish package prices, so you’ll need to request a quote, and it’s worth checking which teen adventures are included before you book.

Verdict: The best choice if you’ve got school-age children or teens who’ve outgrown soft play. Check availability on the official Kröller website.

Familienparadies Sporthotel Achensee – Best for Outdoor Adventures

Sporthotel Achensee is the most outdoorsy hotel in this guide. It sits at the foot of the Christlum ski area in Achenkirch, at the entrance to the Karwendel Nature Park and close to the Achensee, the largest lake in Tyrol.

In summer, that means hiking and biking straight from the door, plus swimming, stand-up paddleboarding, kiting and climbing around the lake. The hotel also has its own small swimming lake and its own riding stable with Haflinger and Icelandic horses. During the school holidays, children aged six and over can join taster rides, taster golf with a children’s golf pro and a football camp.

Winter is just as active. The Christlum slopes are only a few steps away, the cross-country trails start outside the hotel, and the hotel runs its own ski school for children from three, finishing with a big race every Friday. There’s also ski guiding for parents who want to get to know the area properly.

Back at the hotel, there’s a mini club with an indoor adventure playground, a swimming school and a wellness area for parents. It’s all-inclusive, and the largest family suite has two separate children’s bedrooms across around 80m². Packages start from around €197 per person per night.

Verdict: Ideal for active families who want horses, a lake and mountains on the doorstep, summer or winter. Check availability on the official Sporthotel Achensee website.

Familienhotel Post am Millstätter See – Best for a Relaxed Lakeside Holiday

If you’d rather swap ski lifts for lake swims, head south to Carinthia. Familienhotel Post sits in the village of Millstatt on Lake Millstatt, where the warmer climate on the southern side of the Alps often stretches summer well into October.

The lake is the star here. From mid-May to the end of September, the hotel runs a beach club for children right next to its bathing area, and there’s a free pirate boat trip twice a week in search of buried treasure on the far shore. The family behind the hotel have fished the lake for more than 200 years, so children aged four and over can join a net-fishing trip, and the catch ends up on the dinner menu.

The hosts are also one of the four founding families of the Kinderhotels group, and they’re very hands-on. They lead hikes, mountain bike tours and children’s climbing themselves, and there’s a 100m² sports hall with a climbing wall for rainy days.

It’s a slower, more personal kind of Kinderhotel than the big Tyrolean resorts. Full board plus covers breakfast, lunch, afternoon cake, a five-course dinner and drinks from the fountain all day. Parents get daily yoga and fitness sessions, plus an adults’ spa at the sister hotel, Villa Postillion, right on the lake. It’s also the best value in Austria among the hotels in this guide, with packages from around €92 per person per night.

Verdict: Perfect for a gentle summer holiday by the water, especially with younger children. Check availability on the official Familienhotel Post website.

Leading Family Hotel Bär – Best for a Luxury Family Holiday

The Bär is the most upmarket hotel in this guide. It’s one of two family hotels in Serfaus run by the Heymich family, now in their third generation, and the only one of the pair with five stars. Its sister hotel, the four-star superior Löwe, is also in Serfaus and shares the same Original Kinderhotels membership.

Serfaus is car-free, and the village’s underground railway carries you from near the hotel to the cable cars for free. That makes ski days with small children far less of a slog, in a ski area I rate as one of the best I’ve been to for families.

Childcare covers everyone from babies one week old to teenagers aged 17. The kids’ club has 1,000m² of play space, including a five-storey soft play, and there’s a theatre with a 3D children’s cinema. The water park has a 96m speed slide over two floors, an indoor pool with a toddler area and an outdoor pool heated all year, plus a 1,500m² sandy beach club in summer and autumn.

Parents are just as well looked after. The adults-only Bär Spa has a Finnish sauna, bio sauna, laconium, steam bath, ice grotto and whirlpool, with treatments across eight rooms and a 130m² gym. The kitchen is listed in Gault&Millau, and every family suite has a separate children’s bedroom. Prices aren’t published, so you’ll need to request a quote.

Verdict: The one to book for a special family holiday where nobody has to compromise. Check availability on the official Löwe & Bär website.

Family Hotel Adriana – Best Kinderhotel Outside Austria

Family Hotel Adriana brings something different to this list: Italian sunshine, with Lake Garda within easy reach. It’s in the Ledro Valley in Trentino, about 3km from Lake Ledro, and the Michelotti family have run it for generations.

This is a summer hotel at heart. From May to September there are three heated outdoor pools, two of them designed for children, plus a covered mini pool with hydromassage for cloudier days. Bikes are free for the whole family, including child seats, and from Monday to Friday the team leads family hikes to viewpoints around the valley. Between June and September, there’s a weekly walk to a mountain hut for a traditional Trentino polenta lunch.

The Baby Club looks after babies aged four to 36 months from 11am to 9pm every day except Sunday, and the Mini and Kids Club runs seven days a week. Children have their own supervised lunch and dinner with entertainment, so parents can enjoy a quieter meal.

The facilities are more modest than at the big Austrian resorts, and the evening family spa costs €120 extra per room. But it’s by far the best value in the collection, with packages from around €62 per person per night on three-quarter board. Outside summer, it also opens for themed breaks around Advent, New Year and Carnival.

Verdict: A great-value summer choice, especially if you want to combine a Kinderhotel with a few days around Lake Garda. Check availability on the official Adriana website.

How to choose the right Kinderhotel

Every hotel in this guide meets the same baseline standards, so the right one comes down to your family rather than the star rating. These are the things I’d think about first before booking.

Your children’s ages – This matters more than anything else. Check the youngest age each hotel will look after a baby, how many hours a day childcare runs and whether there’s a proper programme for older children. Laurentius, the Bär and Felben take the youngest babies, while Kröller and Almhof are much better for teenagers.

Summer or winter – All the Austrian hotels open in both seasons, but they feel very different in each. In winter, it’s worth choosing somewhere close to the slopes with its own ski school, like Laurentius, Almhof or Sporthotel Achensee. In summer, Post and Adriana come into their own, and many Tyrolean hotels include a summer card that covers the local cable cars.

What you want to do – Some families want a water park, others want horses, lakes or hiking. Use the overview table at the top to match the hotel’s standout features to the things your children will actually love.

What’s included – Most of these hotels are all-inclusive or close to it, but the details vary. Laurentius is full board, Post has full board plus, Adriana is three-quarter board, and extras such as ski school, riding lessons and massages usually cost more.

Getting there – If you’d rather not hire a car, the Bär and Sporthotel Achensee are the easiest to reach by public transport, while the Italian and Carinthian hotels are much simpler with a car.

Are Kinderhotels suitable for babies and toddlers?

Yes, and they’re probably the easiest way to have a proper holiday with a baby. Every hotel in this guide holds the Baby Perfect seal, so you’ll find baby equipment, HiPP food and a warm baby pool as standard. Where they differ is how young they’ll look after your baby and for how long.

Sporthotel Achensee and the Post both offer baby care but don’t publish a minimum age, so ask before you book.

Before booking anywhere, I’d check:

• whether you need to stay in the hotel while your baby is in childcare
• how naps work, and whether there’s a separate sleeping room
• whether a parent needs to be present at mealtimes
• which baby essentials are provided and which cost extra, such as nappies
• whether you can book cots, bed rails and bottle warmers in advance

When I was at Hotel Laurentius, I was able to drop off my son at kid’s club all day if I wanted (and if he wanted). They had options for lunch and dinner too which was a nice addition.

How much does an Original Kinderhotel holiday cost?

Original Kinderhotels aren’t cheap, but the price covers far more than a room. Most rates include all your meals, drinks, childcare, the pools and the spa, so the real comparison is with a regular hotel plus restaurant bills and paid childcare.

Prices are usually quoted per person per night, with lower rates for children that depend on their age. They also change a lot with the season, the room type and how long you stay. As a rough guide, these are the lowest package rates each hotel was advertising.

Many Kinderhotels sell their stays as packages rather than nightly room rates, whether that’s a week of skiing in January, a baby and toddler week or a short autumn break. I’ve converted these into a per person, per night figure so you can compare them side by side, but the price you’re quoted will depend on your dates, your room and your children’s ages. It’s always worth checking exactly what each package includes, as some add extras such as ski lessons, lunch on the slopes or a free night.

The cheapest rates are almost always outside the school holidays, in early summer, September and the quieter weeks of January and March. If you want to compare several hotels at once, the Original Kinderhotels website has a collective request form that sends the same enquiry to multiple hotels.

When is the best time to visit?

The best time depends on whether you want snow or sunshine, and most of these hotels are very good at both.

Winter (mid-December to early April). This is the time to go for skiing, tobogganing and snowy walks. Laurentius, Almhof, Kröller, Sporthotel Achensee, Felben and the Bär all have ski schools or slopes close by. Christmas, February half-term and Easter are the busiest and most expensive weeks, while Advent and January are quieter and often cheaper.

Summer (June to September). The Tyrolean resorts switch to hiking, biking and cable car rides, and several include a summer card that covers the local lifts. This is also when the Post and Adriana are at their best, with lake swimming, outdoor pools and long, warm evenings.

Spring and autumn. Most hotels close for a few weeks between the seasons, usually in April and May and again from early November to early December, so check opening dates before you book. Late autumn can be great value, but be aware that in Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis the cable cars and mountain restaurants are already closed by then.

How do you get to the hotels?

The map below shows where each of the eight hotels is, which helps if you’re planning to combine a stay with a city break or a road trip. Five are in Tyrol, so Innsbruck is the most useful airport for most of this list, while the hotels in Salzburgerland, Carinthia and Italy are better reached through Salzburg, Klagenfurt and Verona.

Most of these hotels can arrange airport or station transfers, so ask when you book. If you’re travelling by rail, you can check train times and book tickets with Omio. In the Achensee region, your booking confirmation also works as a free ticket on the local buses from Jenbach station.

FAQs

Is childcare included in the price at a Kinderhotel?

Yes. At every Original Kinderhotel, the kids’ club and baby care are included in your stay, with no hourly charge. Extras such as ski school, riding lessons, swimming courses and private babysitting usually cost more, so check what’s covered when you book.

From what age will Kinderhotels look after babies?

It varies from hotel to hotel. Laurentius takes babies from just a few days old and the Bär from one week, while Felben starts at three weeks, Almhof at three months, Adriana at four months and Kröller at six months.

Are Original Kinderhotels worth the money?

I think so, especially if your children are young. The nightly rate looks high at first, but it covers meals, drinks, childcare, pools and a spa, and you get proper time to yourselves without leaving the hotel.

Are Kinderhotels good for teenagers?

Some are much better than others. Kröller and Almhof both run dedicated programmes for older children, and the Bär’s childcare goes up to the age of 17. At hotels built mainly around babies and toddlers, teenagers may find there’s less to do.

Can you visit a Kinderhotel in summer?

Absolutely. The Austrian hotels open from around June to October, with hiking, biking, outdoor pools and free cable car cards in some regions. If you want lakes and warm weather, the Post on Lake Millstatt and Adriana near Lake Garda are at their best in summer.

What I really think about Kinderhotels

Laurentius gave Cooper and me a holiday where we both had a brilliant time, together and apart, and that’s exactly what the best Kinderhotels do.

The right one for you depends on your children’s ages, your budget and whether you’re dreaming of snow or sunshine. A baby and a teenager need very different things, and so does a ski week compared with a summer by the lake.

Whichever hotel catches your eye, check the latest prices, childcare hours and what’s included before you book, as they change from season to season. Then let someone else do the cooking, hand the kids over to the club for a few hours and enjoy having a proper holiday too.

If you’re heading to Tyrol, have a read of my full Familienhotel Laurentius review for a closer look at what it’s really like to stay there, and my guide to things to do in Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis with kids in winter for ideas beyond the hotel, from tobogganing to playgrounds on the mountain.

If you have any questions at all, or if there’s anything I can help with, let me know in the comments below.