This year, FTF’s annual awards honor successful family retreats. In the hectic 21st century workaday world, adults and kids are endlessly busy with jobs and school, meetings and homework, personal trainers and afterschool activities. Weekends are full of household chores, more homework (for parents and kids) and separate relaxation activities. Sometimes it’s hard for families to keep track of everyone’s schedules, and although many try, most are no longer successful at eating dinners together regularly.
When it’s time to get away from this routine, more and more adults are in search of a vacation where they can spend precious family-together time. This doesn’t mean sleeping in the same hotel room and going separate ways during the day, but securing family bonds by experiencing both new and favorite pursuits together.
FTF “Top 10 Getaways for Family Togetherness” have been selected for focusing on the kinds of activities that put the “family” back in family vacations. By offering a variety of outdoor adventures, watersports, cultural learning opportunities, crafts, classes, spa treatments and old-fashioned fun, kids, parents and even grandparents can reunite, create memories and, hopefully, return home inspired to find ways to nurture these connections.
Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello
Quebec, Canada
800/441-1414
Walk into the lobby of the Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello, located on 65,000 acres of land between Montreal and Ottawa on the Ottawa River, and you’ll see a gorgeous, massive central fireplace ablaze with warmth in the winter months. Add to this cozy vision the fact that this chateau’s 10,000 cedar logs were all cut and set by hand, and you will begin to get an idea of the atmosphere at this luxurious property, which attracts visitors of all ages from around Canada and the world.
Le Chateau Montebello provides a comfortable place to stay and many opportunities to play, both indoors and (especially) outdoors. Recreation activities surround the hotel in the warmer months as well as in winter, making it an ideal destination for family fun—in fact, Travel + Leisure Family magazine named it the best family-friendly resort in Canada.
Just what makes this place a magical winter wonderland for families? Maybe it’s the fact that cross-country skiing on groomed trails is unlimited and at no extra charge. Maybe it’s the opportunities to snowmobile, dogsled, or go on a sleigh ride together. New this winter are snowshoe trails and a tube sliding area, and good old-fashioned toboggans are available for rent. Families may also choose to ice skate in one of the outdoor rinks. All of these options give the phrase “playing in the snow” an expanded meaning.
But when the snow melts away, other activities come to the fore—horseback riding, canoeing or kayaking, bike riding, croquet, or fishing at the nearby Fairmont Kenauk. Wild bear observation trips are available to guests over 7-years-old, while guided nature hikes and pontoon boat tours are other choices for warmer months. If all else fails, an afternoon at the indoor heated pool may be in order at any time of the year.
Adults may want to tackle one of Land Rover all-terrain driving lessons or excursions based from the property. There’s also a top-rate, eighteen hole golf course and plenty of tennis, with two outdoor and six indoor courts, rentals, and lessons. Parents can also steal away for maple-infused treatments at the newly upgraded Spa. The Children’s Activity Center offers supervised crafts and movies, plus a special plan that includes buffet breakfast and children’s dinner, a welcome gift, three hours of daycare, an evening film, and craft activities. Le Chateau’s restaurants welcome families with a wide selection of delicacies, from caribou or snails at Aux Chantignoles to an outdoor barbeque in the summer.
Le Chateau Montebello features 211 rooms, including some one-bedroom suites and junior suites with Jacuzzis. Guestrooms come in different classes that can hold up to three, four, or five people, and some connecting rooms are available. Baby accessories, cribs, rollaway beds (CDN$35/N) and sofabeds (in some room classes) are also available upon request. Whether you’re coming in from the snow or the sun, the rooms emphasize comfort, and pets are welcome too with their own sets of regulations.
The 2006 Family Fun package, available in spring, includes accommodation for two adults and two kids 12-years and under, daily buffet breakfast, family admission to a nearby wildlife park, a one-hour sleigh ride, and more for CDN$190/N per person. Le Chateau really does take its family-friendly status seriously, so be on the lookout for relevant packages year-round.
