Where Family Adventures Come with Space to Breathe
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Hidden gems are what many of us start dreaming about when life becomes too busy, especially when it comes to holidays. Because sometimes, you don’t want to sightsee. You don’t want to queue for an attraction, fight for a sunbed, or weave your way through a crowded old town behind somebody waving an umbrella in the air.
You simply want to get away from it all. Somewhere to rest, relax, and unwind, yet with plenty to keep the kids entertained.
As a father myself, I know a family holiday has to work for everyone. Children need adventures, freedom, and new things to discover. Parents need the chance to stop organising everyone else for five minutes, relax properly, and remember what being on holiday actually feels like, with quality time to reconnect as a couple.
That combination isn’t always easy to find. But look beyond Europe’s busiest resorts and famous tourist hotspots, and some wonderful alternatives begin to appear.
Welcome to Europe’s hidden gems.
Where Can Families Find Hidden Gems in Europe?
Take Lake Bohinj in Slovenia. Nearby Lake Bled attracts much of the attention, while Bohinj offers families mountains, forests, clear water, walking trails, and a wonderful feeling of space.
Northern Spain provides another example. Asturias offers dramatic beaches, green countryside, mountain scenery, small towns, and traditional villages without the crowds associated with many of Spain’s Mediterranean resorts.
Then there’s Portugal’s Alentejo, where rolling countryside, historic towns, local food, and a wonderfully unhurried pace make it perfect for families who would rather explore than queue.
These are the sorts of hidden gems I love. They don’t necessarily give you less to do. They simply give you more room to enjoy doing it.
Why Are Hidden Gems So Good for Family Holidays?
For me, the attraction is freedom. There’s something rather wonderful about waking up on holiday and realising you don’t have to race anybody to a sunbed, book breakfast for a particular time, or join hundreds of other tourists heading towards the same attraction.
Good hidden gem holidays let you slow everything down. Perhaps you explore a local market in the morning, swim in the afternoon, and enjoy a long family meal in the evening.
That slower rhythm can be particularly good for families with younger children. Instead of constantly getting them ready to go somewhere, they can simply play and explore.
And parents get something they desperately need too: time to rest, relax, and reconnect.
That philosophy is what persuaded Laure and I to take on Country Kids in 2015. We wanted to take the very best of all Europe’s hidden gems and wrap it in one unique destination.
How Did We Create Our Own Hidden Gems Experience at Country Kids?
Family holiday time is incredibly important, and yet it’s often usurped by our busy lives, isn’t it. We wanted to create a space where multi-generational holidays give you time and space to be a real family.
We wanted the tranquillity of the countryside, the freedom of a small resort, wonderful French food, plenty of adventures for children, and genuine relaxation for their parents. Most importantly, we wanted families to feel that somebody else was taking care of things for once.
Country Kids sits in the beautiful countryside of Occitanie in southern France. Around us you’ll find hiking trails, local markets, vineyards, water sports, horse riding, and landscapes that invite you to explore at your own pace. Montpellier and Béziers airports are around 45 minutes away, yet when you arrive here, you feel wonderfully removed from the bustle of everyday life.
You can explore as much as you like. But if you don’t want to, you don’t have to.
Because everything you could wish from a hidden gem is right here.
What Makes Country Kids One of France’s Hidden Gems for Families?
Country Kids is deliberately small. We welcome no more than seven families at any one time, with a maximum of around 35 guests enjoying our private hamlet and 30 acres of gated, car-free countryside, and unique accommodation.
Freedom for children and peace of mind for parents.
We have outdoor swimming pools, including our family pool heated to 30°C, with a waterslide and toddler paddling pool. Around the grounds you’ll discover tennis, basketball, pétanque, mini golf, football, table tennis, playgrounds, swings, climbing frames, zip-lines, trampolines, a treehouse, a huge sandpit, and – always a favourite with younger guests – our petting farm.
Our crèche and kids’ club welcomes children from three months to 12 years. Depending on the day, your children might feed the animals, head into the forest, make pizza or ice cream, go on a treasure hunt, play water games, create nature-inspired art, or join our disco evenings.
These are hidden gems holidays where children certainly aren’t short of things to do.
Can Hidden Gems Give Parents a Proper Holiday Too?
Our approach is very different to most resorts, and deliberately so.
We call our approach Absolutely Everything Included because traditional “all-inclusive” never seemed quite enough to us. Parents shouldn’t spend their holiday constantly planning meals, organising activities, booking childcare, or wondering what something else is going to cost.
Here, we take care of as much as possible.
There’s gourmet dining, drinks, flexible childcare, spa and wellness experiences, and our bespoke concierge service. Each family member can also choose two additional activities, with possibilities including private swimming or tennis lessons, yoga, a personalised family photoshoot, water sports, horse riding, electric biking, and wine tasting.
There’s even an adults-only relaxation area with a private pool, whirlpool, plunge pool, and sundeck. Yep, parents deserve a holiday too, don’t they?
Why Are Our Hidden Gems Family Holidays So Easy?
One of the biggest luxuries we can give parents isn’t champagne or a spa treatment. It’s removing the stress.
Our weekly programme is full of possibilities, including animal feeding, adult and family yoga, swimming lessons, children’s activities, social dinners, evening entertainment, and babysitting.
But this isn’t a holiday resort where you’re expected to join everything. Laure and I sit down with you and help create a week that suits your family.
Want to spend the afternoon beside the pool? Perfect.
Fancy heading out to explore? We’ll help arrange it.
Want the children happily occupied while you disappear to the adults-only pool and do absolutely nothing? I can thoroughly recommend that option!
Can Hidden Gems Be More Sustainable?
We believe they can, and our countryside location has made us increasingly conscious of our responsibility to protect what surrounds us.
Around 80% of the food we use is sourced locally, while all the ‘domaines’ (wineries) represented in our wine cellar are local. Most of our employees and external contractors also come from within approximately 30 kilometres of Country Kids.
We’ve eliminated single-use plastic water bottles, use water from our own natural spring, recycle extensively, and collect leftover food from our apartments to feed our pigs on our farm. Since 2021, we’ve halved the weight of our general waste.
It’s not about pretending we’re perfect. It’s about continually looking for ways to make a luxury family holiday a little kinder to the place that makes that holiday possible.
FAQs About Hidden Gems and Family Holidays
What are the best hidden gems for families with young children?
Look for destinations that combine peace and space with plenty to do close by. For younger children especially, good childcare, safe places to explore, swimming, nature, and simple activities can be far more enjoyable than spending every day travelling between tourist attractions.
Are hidden gem family holidays suitable for babies and toddlers?
Absolutely, provided you choose somewhere designed with younger families in mind. At Country Kids, childcare is available from three months, and our accommodation includes family essentials such as cots, safety gates, baby monitors, highchairs, baby baths, changing equipment, bottle sterilisers, and plenty more.
Will children get bored somewhere away from the crowds?
Not if you choose carefully. Our philosophy is that peaceful shouldn’t mean boring. Country Kids combines the tranquillity parents crave with pools, sports, our farm, kids’ club, forest adventures, creative activities, games, and excursions for children.
Can parents really relax on hidden gem family holidays?
That should be part of the point! At Country Kids, flexible childcare, evening babysitting, our spa, adults-only relaxation area, concierge service, and ‘Absolutely Everything Included’ approach are all designed to give parents genuine time to themselves.
Why do so many families return to Country Kids?
I think it’s because they find a combination that is surprisingly difficult to recreate elsewhere. Children have freedom, parents have freedom, and families still have plenty of time together.
And the numbers suggest we must be doing something right. Six out of 10 families who stay with us return year after year.
Are You Ready to Discover the Best of Europe’s Hidden Gems?
If you spend most of your year rushing around, perhaps your holiday should be the one time when you don’t.
Come and experience our little corner of southern France, where the children can make friends, explore, swim, laugh, and have adventures while you rediscover the pleasure of slowing down.
Get in touch with Laure and me and tell us what your perfect family holiday looks like. We’ll take care of the rest. Because sometimes the holidays we remember most aren’t found in the places everybody knows. They’re found when we step away from the crowds and discover the hidden gems.
Looking forward to seeing you here,
Sylvain
