Vacationing with a Toddler? Save Money (and Your Sanity) at These All-Inclusive Resorts

Traveling with a toddler? Nothing gets you into vacation mode faster than a resort designed with toddlers in mind.
Beaches Turks and Caicos (Photo: Beaches Turks and Caicos)
Beaches Turks and Caicos (Photo: Beaches Turks and Caicos)

Traveling with a toddler isn’t always easy. For every moment of delight or discovery, there’s often a corresponding mood swing or meltdown. Jet lag, changes in routine and even the novelty of a new hotel room can raise the overall stress level for little ones. That’s why the best vacations for toddlers often involve staying at an all-inclusive family resort that caters to toddlers and parents alike. 

With accommodating staff, creative kids clubs, and activities to stimulate their budding curiosity—plus important extras like travel cribs and nightlights available on request—there’s nothing quite like a toddler-friendly all-inclusive resort to help ease your little one into vacation mode. 

Here are the best all-inclusive resorts for toddlers in the U.S. and abroad where the fun is built right into the package price.

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1. Flathead Lake Lodge

Bigfork, Montana

At Flathead Lake Lodge, horseback riding is one of many toddler-friendly activities (Photo: Flathead Lake Lodge)
Toddlers can get in on the horseback riding action at Flathead Lake Lodge (Photo: Flathead Lake Lodge)

Owned and operated by the same family for three generations, Montana’s Averill’s Flathead Lake Lodge is a back-to-nature dude ranch-style family retreat in the shadow of stunning Glacier National Park. As a guest, you’ll stay for a week at a time at this toddler-friendly all-inclusive resort, which is open from June to September. Horseback riding is at the heart of the experience here, though the crystal-clear lake provides plenty of options for kayakers, sailors, and swimmers too. 

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Supervised programs for toddlers, kids, and teens are led by a team of enthusiastic young adults. Toddlers participate in arts and crafts, pony rides, and scavenger hunts. If you’re on vacation with a baby, the little ones are invited to join the fun accompanied by a family member or a trusted local sitter that the ranch recommends. Many toddler activities coincide with adult trail rides, allowing parents to enjoy time in the saddle. 

There’s no roughing it at Averill’s Flathead Lake Lodge and its fully equipped cabins. Meals are served three time each day. Fine wines are poured at dinner. And the lodge will even do your family’s laundry, delivering it back neatly folded.

2. Onyria Marinha Boutique Hotel

Cascais, Portugal

At Martinhal Cascais's supervised kids club, toddlers can play in teepees filled with stuffed animals (Photo: Martinhal Cascais)
Toddlers can enjoy music, cooking, and art classes at Onyria Marinha’s supervised kids club (Photo: Onyria Marinha Boutique Hotel)

Portugal is already one of the best family vacation spots in Europe, but you can give your Portugal family vacation an even bigger upgrade by staying at a toddler-friendly all-inclusive resort. Once a summer retreat for Portuguese nobility, the coastal village of Cascais is now home to the Onyria Marinha Boutique Hotel, where style and practicality blend into a resort experience perfect for families with toddlers. You can book a half-board option that includes a bountiful buffet breakfast and a choice of either lunch or dinner.

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Toddlers ages six months to three years are catered to in a supervised kids club with a ball pit and a teepee filled with stuffed animals. Children ages three and older may enjoy sensory-stimulating toys, music classes, puppet shows, painting, and pasta-making. Thematic programming during the holidays adds a festive note. The resort’s Baby Concierge provides useful items such as cribs, door protectors, potty chairs, bottle sterilizers, and safety gates. 

The children’s menu features easy-to-eat favorites and homemade purees for the toothless. After toddlers finish their meal, the play area is stocked with art supplies, wooden blocks, and puzzles, plus a childminder who ensures that parents may enjoy a leisurely meal of their own.  

3. Beaches Turks and Caicos

Grace Bay, Turks and Caicos

Beaches has an exclusive partnership with Sesame Street (Photo: Beaches Resorts)
Beaches’ exclusive partnership with Sesame Street brings beloved characters to life on vacation (Photo: Beaches Resorts)

No one does Caribbean family vacations better than Beaches Turks and Caicos, which is the largest of the three Beaches Resorts in the Caribbean. This toddler-friendly all-inclusive resort is located on a pristine stretch of Grace Bay where sugar-white sand and azure waters beckon. 

Beaches has an exclusive partnership with Sesame Street that encourages little guests to participate in activities like Baking with Cookie Monster, Puppet Making with Bert and Ernie, and Move and Groove with Zoe and Rosita. Bedtime tuck-ins and parades with Sesame Street characters are a big hit with small kids.

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There’s no minimum age for child care at Beaches Turks and Caicos. At the resort’s Kids Camp, certified nannies are all members of the International Nanny Association. There’s a designated infant program for ages zero to two and a toddler program for ages three to four, plus programs for older kids and teens. After-hour childcare is available on demand.

4. Club Med Quebec Charlevoix

Charlevoix, Quebec, Canada

Club Med Quebec infuses nature into its toddler-friendly programing (Photo: Club Med)
In Canada, Club Med Charlevoix shines a spotlight on nature as part of its toddler-friendly programing (Photo: Club Med)

Situated above the St. Lawrence River in Eastern Canada on 300 acres of greenery, Club Med Quebec Charlevoix is a four-season getaway with excellent skiing in the winter; hiking in the spring, summer, and fall; and plenty of toddler-friendly things to do year-round.

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At the resort’s Petit Club Med, toddlers ages two to three can enjoy developmentally appropriate activities like gymnastics, arts and crafts and gentle hikes. There’s a nap area when kids need to snooze. And private childcare is available to suit your family’s specific needs. Kids clubs for babies, big kids and teens and tweens are also available. 

5. Tyler Place Family Resort

Highgate Springs, Vermont

Water fun at Tyler Place Resort (Photo: Tyler Place Resort)
Tyler Place Resort offers parents plenty of time to play with their kids but also gives them some adult-only time (Photo: Tyler Place Resort)

One of the best all-inclusive resorts in the U.S. for families, Tyler Place (open May through September) embraces the idea that a great family vacation balances adult-only time with child-parent togetherness. For families with toddlers, it’s a vacation paradise. 

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Age-specific toddler programs have a low caregiver-to-child ratio. Junior Toddlers ages 12 to 18 months enjoy music, movement and finger-painting at the resort; toddlers ages 18 to 30 months engage in water play and rhyming games; and preschoolers ages 30 months to three years old form a separate group with peers and counselors. While toddlers are busy, adults can bike, hike, swim, or simply unwind in a hammock. At night, a parent helper can tuck your child in, freeing you to enjoy dinner. 

Private cottages and spacious suites are equipped with footstools and diaper bins. If you forget to bring a stroller or baby bike seat, don’t worry: this toddler-friendly all-inclusive resort has plenty of loaner gear. Meals and activities are included in the rate. 

6. Woodloch Resort

Hawley, Pennsylvania

Woodloch encourages parents and toddlers to play together (Photo: Woodloch)
The all-inclusive and toddler-friendly Woodloch Resort encourages parents and toddlers to play together (Photo: Woodloch Resort)

Nestled in the Poconos Mountains of Pennsylvania, family-owned Woodloch Resort (also called Woodloch Pines Resort) is retro in all the right ways. Many employees have worked at the popular family resort for decades, and its service-with-a-smile ethos makes it an especially good choice among toddler-friendly resorts in the U.S.

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Children are divided into two age groups: Scouts (ages seven to 10) and Cubs (ages six and younger). The toddler-age cubs may play with modeling clay, ride in bumper boats, go on hayrides, or spend time in the petting zoo. Cubs and Scouts are not drop-off programs, as Woodloch encourages parents to participate alongside their children. When you need some “me” time, babysitters are available in-room or to accompany your child to programs. 

The natural beauty of Woodloch tempts visitors to spend time outdoors. In summer, the lake attracts swimmers and splashers. In winter, ice skating and snow tubing are popular. Three hearty meals are included. Finicky eaters will find ample choices, with kid-pleasing dishes like mac and cheese and chicken fingers available. 

7. Blackberry Farm

Walland, Tennessee

Fun hotels for kids (Photo: Blackberry Farm)
Camp Blackberry gives kids a chance to learn about gardening on vacation (Photo: Blackberry Farm)

If you think all-inclusive resorts are no place for sophisticated families, Blackberry Farm may change your mind. Nestled in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, this all-inclusive resort is a favorite with high-profile celebs who crave the privacy that a 4,200-acre retreat affords. Guest suites and cottages have wood-burning fireplaces, glass-enclosed porches, and wooden swings. 

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The land has been farmed for centuries according to time-tested agricultural practices. For children who think fruit grows in a supermarket produce aisle, it’s an excellent place to connect them to their food source. Rolling pastures overflow with heirloom vegetables, earthy mushrooms are yours to forage, and a windfall of wild blackberries may stain your fingers. Kids aged four and older may join drop-off Camp Blackberry, and private babysitters may be hired for younger toddlers. 

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Allison Tibaldi
Allison Tibaldi has written for publications including CNN, Business Insider, FamilyVacationist, HGTV, USA TODAY, and Travel Weekly. As a former early childhood educator, she is interested in the way kids experience the world, and thinks that travel is the best education for young minds. Tibaldi is based in New York City.