Top Family Resorts

Every year, the opulent travel magazine Travel + Leisure surveys readers for the "World's Best Awards" in several categories. Readers are also asked to rate resorts for family friendliness, and the result is the "T+L Family 50": fifty choice resorts, including "Top 20 Resorts in the Continental US + Canada." continued below...

Travel + Leisure Family Magazine:
"T + L Family 50" - Top Resorts for Families

The family resort winners in Travel + Leisure's annual poll are grouped in several categories, starting with the "Top 20 Resorts in the Continental US + Canada" , and the top 10 of these properties are listed below. As in 2004/2005, several Disney resorts made the cut,including at Disney World; and this year, one of them even nabbed the top spot.

And the Top 10 in the US and Canada are:

1. Disney's Wilderness Lodge Resort - one of the luxury resorts at Disney World

2. Four Seasons Resort Whistler: Whistler, BC, is a top ski resort that's also a popular summer destination too

3. Disney's Grand Californian Hotel: on-property at Disneyland

4. Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa: another luxury pick at Disney World, in the style of a classic Victorian beach resort.

5. Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge: it's a hat trick for the luxury resorts at Disney World. This one is fun and fascinating. Note that all the luxury resorts at Disney World have kids' clubs.

6. Keltic Lodge Resort & Spa: this one's in Nova Scotia, in Canada's Maritimes, perched on a cliff over the Atlantic Ocean

7. Jenny Lake Lodge, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming: .small, "rusticly elegant"; summer months and early fall only

8. Tides Inn: on Chesapeake Bay, in Irvington VA.; member of Leading Small Hotels of the World.

9. Wickaninnish Inn, Tofino, BC: on beautiful Long Beach, on Vancouver Island.

10. Disney's Vero Beach Resort: a Disney pick again, but not near any theme park. Vero Beach is on Florida's "Treasure Coast", and this resort has 71 acres on a barrier island.

See the full list of 20 Top Resorts in the Continental US and Canada, at the T + L Family site. Listings indicate price, whether or not the property has kids' club, all-inclusive pricing, spa for kids, and more.

The T + L Family 50 includes some other categories, too.

• Hawaii's picks include the opulent Grand Wailea Resort & Spa on Maui, and the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Kolaha Coast on the Big Island, a unique luxury property with unusual grounds (and waterways), that also got a nod as "least expensive in Hawaii."

• The 10 picks in Mexico, Central and South America included the exotic Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge, the only property within the famous ruins of the ancient Incas.

• In the Caribbean, Bermuda and Bahamas, top spot went to Four Seasons Nevis.

  Spot #2 was an interesting choice: the Maho Bay Camp on St. John in the US Virgin Islands, which was also tapped for "Least Expensive in the Region". Guests can stay in studios, or in upscale "tent-cottages".

  Casa de Campo made the list again, in spot #10: a giant resort in the Dominican Republic, second-home to many wealthy families, and a place with polo on-property.

Read all the names, with links to websites, at Travel + Leisure: T + L Family 50.

See also: T+L Family's Top Resorts for 2004/2005.
* photo of Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge (c) Teresa Plowright