Greece › Kos Family Hotels
By Santorini Dave
See Also
The beautiful kid-friendly pool at the Astir Odysseus Kos Resort and Spa.
The 10 Best Hotels & Resorts for Families in Kos
1. Astir Odysseus Kos Resort and Spa
Fantastic, 5-star hotel with immaculate, modern, 2-story, seafront ‘Maisonettes’ (family of 5) with shared pools, living rooms, sofabeds, private decks (opening out to the pool), minibars, coffee & tea making facilities and great views. Has a kids’ club, playgrounds, 3 restaurants, 3 bars, multiple pools & sunbeds by the beach and lots of sports activities. 5 km from the town center. Hotel Phone: +30 22420 49900
2. Neptune Luxury Resort
Beachfront, 5-star resort with elegant family apartments (family of 4) with kitchenettes and mini-fridges. Has a kids’ club, mini-water land, kids’ dining & disco, playground and kids’ swim lessons (fee). Excellent facilities with a sail & surf center, chip & putt golf course, an icecream parlour, an amphitheater with entertainment, 4 restaurants and 4 pools (including an Olympic-sized pool). 18 km from Kos town. Hotel Phone: +30 22420 58900
3. Dimitra Beach Resort
Lovely, modern beachfront hotel with its own private beach, a 10 minute drive (7 km) from Kos town, with very ‘white,’ fresh 2-bedroom deluxe family suites (sleeps 4) with sitting areas, in-bathroom speakers, coffee/tea facilities and furnished balconies with pool & sea views. Has multiple pools, restaurants & bars, kids’ playground and a kids’ club. Offers b&b, half board and all-inclusive options. Not a lot to do/see in the surrounding area. Hotel Phone: +30 22420 28581
4. Jonathan Studio Apartments
Set a 10-15 minute walk away from the village center, this hotel has bright quadruple rooms (sleeps 4) with small kitchens, refrigerators, coffee machines and balconies with sea/ garden views. Has an outdoor swimming pool, baby pool and gardens. Children up to 3 years old can stay free of charge. There’s a beach across the road & a supermarket nearby. Hotel Phone: +30 210 3355000
5. Ilios and Irene
Set in a quiet part of Mastihari, this aparthotel has simple apartments (group of 4 people) with kitchenettes (mini-fridges, toasters, kettle, electric hobs) and balconies with seaviews (some). Has breakfast (fee) & no pool; there’s a pool at the Half Time bar a short walk away. Many traditional tavernas and bars are all within walking distance. Hotel phone: +30 2242 059212
6. Royal Bay
Family run, 4-star, seafront resort in the Kefalos area, with truly spacious, immaculate, modern family rooms (family of 4) with balconies & spectacular sea views. Opt for sea/pool facing rooms (away from the road). Has a breakfast buffet, kids’ club, swimming pool, pool bar & kids’ pool. Plenty of restaurants in the area. Hotel Phone: +30 2242 071312
7. Elga Hotel
Great value-for-money, family-run aparthotel, in a good location, a short walk away from the main square, beach, shops, clubs and bars with simple, spotless 2-bedroom apartments (group of 4) with kitchenettes (mini-fridge, small cooking stove), tea/coffee facilities and big balconies. Opt for pool-facing rooms on the higher floors for less noise and nicer views. Has a huge outdoor pool and bar. Hotel Phone: +30 2242 091125
8. Grand Blue Beach Hotel
Located on a steep hill (uphill walk back from town but has a buggy service), this modern hotel has a good location a 5 minute walk from the beach and a 10 minute walk from the Kardamaina town center. Has spacious, 2-bedroom family rooms (family of 4) with coffee/tea facilities, bathtubs, refrigerators and sea views. Has multiple pools, restaurants, pool/snack bars, kids club & play area and evening entertainment. Also has an all-inclusive option. Hotel Phone: +30 2242 091252
9. Grecotel Kos Imperial
Top class, super family-friendly, 5-star beachfront hotel, 4 kms from Kos town. Has a variety of dreamy family stay options – Petit family & family bungalows and family guestrooms with garden/pool views, beachfront sea view bungalows and bungalow suites & villas, all for up to 4 people, with private pools (some) and 2-story maisonettes (family of 5) with garden, pool & side sea views. All of them have refrigerators (no coffee/tea facilities), bamboo furniture, floor-to-ceiling glass doors and marble bathrooms. Offers an all-inclusive option. Has a private beach, lovely garden, spa, 3 saltwater pools with waterfalls & a kids’ pool, multiple restaurants & bars, baby, kids, junior and teens clubs, free kids dining (mini-buffets from morning to evening), and kids’ cooking classes. Hotel Phone: +30 22420 58000
10. Pavlos Hotel
Modern hotel, a short walk away from the beach and town center, that offers clean and good-sized superior one-bedroom apartments (space for a group of 5) with living rooms, kitchens (cooking hobs, fridges, filter coffee machines, microwave ovens), bathtubs and two balconies. Surrounding area has bars, shops, stores and cafes. Has breakfast, a garden and an outdoor pool with pool bar. Hotel Phone: +30 2242 023151
I'm Santorini Dave. I started this site in 2011 with a short article on tips for visiting Santorini with kids. We're now a small team of writers and researchers dedicated to providing the best travel content on the internet. We focus on 
We’re visiting Kos and Rhodes with 2 kids (ages 7 and 13). We’ve been to Rhodes before and have a decent idea what’s there. But on Kos, what are the best beaches for kids (shallow, calm)? And we have 10 days to split between the two islands – how should we divide our time? Is one island more kid-friendly than the other? Or does 5 and 5 sound about right?
Thanks
Ari
Both Kos and Rhodes are kid friendly if you are talking in terms of water parks, beach activities, animation at hotels, and general abundance of things to do. They are both big islands, so there are many options for adults and children alike. Five days in each is a good balance. Kos and Rhodes are similar (yet different) friendly rivals and complement each other in providing a wide range of holiday choices. Both islands appeal to children equally: the only advantage that Kos may have is that it is a bicyclist’s paradise. An easy and cheap activity that you and your family can do is ride bicycles up and down the north coast as far as Mastichari
Kos beaches are on a par with Rhodes, but you have to know where to look as they are not obvious at first sight. The best beaches on Kos cut a gentle swathe along the mid-south west coast, about 6 km long starting from about the 10km mark west of the airport with ‘Exotic Beach’ and then progressing through ‘Magic Beach’, Sunny Beach’, ‘Paradise Beach and finally ‘Camel Beach’. These are all sandy, sheltered beaches each sporting a theme and all of them with snack bars, water sports, umbrellas and loungers. You can’t stay here (the nearest hotel is the very child friendly five-star luxury hotel known as the Blue Lagoon Village signposted off the main highway as you drive from the airport). All these beaches are medium shallow, sandy and typically protected from the prevailing north winds that affect Kos in Summer. Unless you have a hire car the only way to get to these beaches is to use the cross-island buses that run frequently between Kos Town and Kefalos.
Another child-friendly area is the hotel stretch that runs east from Kos town in a location generally known as Psalidi. One hotel here is pitched unambiguously at children and has its own water park! Look at the website of the Kipriotis Aqualand Hotel. It not on the beach, but rather up on the hillside overlooking the beach. A beach hotel option here for families that is worth considering is the Oceanis Beach and Spa Resort which has its own beach and family/child activities as part of the varied animation programme. The Kipriotis Village Resort might be a better compromise option as it is on the beach and has a very varied adults’ and children’s activity programme including an enormous pirate’s galley in the middle of the main pool that kids love to play on all day.
A more low-key area and less expensive option (and not far from the abovementioned themes beaches) is over at Kamari, the beach annex to the southern village of Kefalos. There are a number of small family-owned hotel or studios here and the scene is generally laid back. In summer, you can take can day excursion boat to the volcanic island of Nisyros, visible to the south east.
North coast beaches are generally more exposed to the weather (the wind in the case of Summer) and are not as enticing. While Tingaki and Marmari are very popular tourist resorts, they might not be quite as appealing for children as, say an all-in hotel in an established resort (Psalidi) or in more demure accommodation with a quiet, family beach scene over at Kefalos. The little north coast port of Mastichari is often overlooked by visitors, but it actually has a rather nice scene: a quite decent beach and the usual gamut of shops, cafeterias, restaurants and low-key accommodation. You can always take a day trip to the adjacent and northerly lying island of Kalymnos from where you could take a cab to Masouri (on the west side) and a little taxi boat to the offshore island of Telendos that has some rather nice beaches. Finally a day trip from Kos to the island of Pserimos would be a great activity for the kids too.