Journeys
Travel for three generations
Three generations, sometimes four. Different energies, different mobility, different ideas of what a holiday is for.
The mistake is to plan for the lowest common denominator. The work is in designing for parallel use: a villa with the right number of rooms and the right distance between them, or a safari camp that offers both walking and game drives. A trip that works lets each generation have its own version of the holiday, without the logistics becoming a second job for one of the parents.
Stays with room for everyone
33 stays I know have houses, villas or suites of two bedrooms or more: For Several Generations. 84 have a children’s club, family suites or rooms set aside for families: For Families.
Age rules
Some stays set a minimum age, from 12 at some safari camps to 16 at some wellness retreats. I check it before I suggest anywhere, so nobody finds out at the door.
A few of the stays with room for everyone
Amanzoe, Porto Heli, Peloponnese, Greece: Amanzoe sits on a hilltop above Porto Heli on the eastern Peloponnese, with olive groves falling away towards the island of Spetses and the Argosaronic Gulf.
Argos in Cappadocia, Uçhisar, Cappadocia, Türkiye: Argos sits in Uçhisar, a small village in the UNESCO-listed landscape of Cappadocia, on a slope looking across Pigeon Valley to Mount Erciyes.
Cameron Highlands Resort, By the Golf Course, Brinchang, Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands, Pahang, Malaysia: Cameron Highlands Resort stands on a hilltop beside the Cameron Highlands golf course, in the cool hill country of Pahang, almost a mile above sea level and among tea plantations and woodland trails.
Cap Maison Resort & Spa, Smugglers Cove, Saint Lucia: Cap Maison is a small hotel on a clifftop at Cap Estate, at the northern end of Saint Lucia, above Smugglers Cove and close to Rodney Bay.
Carillon Miami Wellness Resort, North Beach, Miami Beach, Florida: Carillon was built in 1958 by Norman Giller, a pioneer of Miami Modern architecture, and named after a niece of its founders, Doris and Alfred Kaskel.
Casa Akai, La Punta Estates, Punta Mita, Mexico: Casa Akai is an eight-bedroom house in La Punta Estates at Punta Mita, on Mexico's Pacific coast, with views across the Bay of Banderas to Puerto Vallarta and Nuevo Vallarta.
Domaine de Manville, Les Baux-de-Provence, France: Domaine de Manville began as a farm estate created in 1908 by Louis-Alexandre Blanc de Manville, and opened as a hotel in 2015 under its local owners, Edith and Patrick Saut, whose beekeeper grandfather once kept hives on the land.
Eagles Villas, Ouranoupoli, Halkidiki, Greece: Eagles Villas rises on a hillside of the Athos peninsula in Halkidiki, near the fishing village of Ouranoupoli and within sight of Mount Athos.
Eden Roc Cap Cana, Cap Cana, Juanillo, La Altagracia, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic: Eden Roc Cap Cana sits within the Cap Cana estate at the eastern tip of the Dominican Republic, between the Caribbean and a landscape of palms and lagoons, and Virtuoso notes that it is the only member of Relais & Châteaux in the country.
Eliamos Villas Hotel & Spa, Spartia, Kefalonia, Greece: Eliamos Villas Hotel & Spa stands on a hillside above the sea at Spartia, on the south coast of Kefalonia, looking out over the Ionian Sea and the olive groves around it.
Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora, Motu Tehotu, Bora Bora, French Polynesia: Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora occupies Motu Tehotu, a coral islet on the outer rim of the lagoon, facing Mount Otemanu across calm, clear water.
Four Seasons Resort The Nam Hai, Hoi An, Vietnam, Ha My Beach, Hoi An, Vietnam: The Nam Hai lines a kilometre of Ha My Beach on Vietnam's central coast, a short drive from Hoi An.
Grace Hotel, Auberge Collection, Imerovigli, Santorini, Greece: Grace Hotel sits high on the caldera cliffs at Imerovigli, about 15 minutes from Oia, and steps down a terraced hillside towards the Aegean.
Hapuku Lodge + Tree Houses, Kaikōura, South Island, New Zealand: Hapuku Lodge sits ten kilometres north of Kaikōura on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island, between the Kaikōura Ranges and the Pacific.
Questions families ask
How long does it take to design a trip? One to three weeks from formal brief to first proposal, for most journeys. Complex multi-country trips with peak-season availability constraints can run four to six weeks. The timeline doesn't reduce the work, it concentrates it.
Can I use my points or card benefits? For flights, yes. Many households book long-haul flights on points, and that sits comfortably alongside everything else I arrange. Hotels are different. The benefits that come with booking through the practice apply to rooms booked through the network portal. A points stay, or a room booked through a card's own hotel programme, usually sits outside that. So for each hotel it is one route or the other, not both. If you hold a card with its own hotel programme, tell me in the first conversation and I will say which route gives you more at each property.
What happens if something goes wrong during the trip? You have my mobile number, my WhatsApp, and the direct numbers of the people looking after you, at each property and on the ground. Most things that go wrong are resolved by a call from me to the right person. The time difference between London and most destinations is workable, and the relationships are the point. Travel insurance with cancellation cover is required on every trip and arranged separately.
How responsive will you be during the trip? Highly. I keep WhatsApp on UK hours during business days, and usually answer messages within the hour during most waking hours of yours, including time-shifted destinations. For trip-critical issues, meaning flight cancellations, illness, anything that requires me to act, I'm available at any hour.
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When you’re ready