The thing most families get wrong
Families compare programs on the hotel and then discover the holiday was decided by the children's programme. A five-star resort where your seven-year-old is bored for eight days is a worse holiday than a modest hotel where they are happily occupied — and considerably more expensive.
If you are travelling with children, judge the program on the children first and the property second.
The children's programme: what to actually ask
"Kids' club" covers everything from a supervised full-day programme with qualified staff to an hour of crafts after lunch. Four questions separate them:
- What hours does it run? Morning only, or through the day with a break? Does it cover the evening so parents can eat?
- What are the exact age bands? A club that lumps 4 to 12 together works for nobody in the middle.
- What is the staff-to-child ratio? And are the staff seminary and yeshiva students for the week, or professionals?
- Does it run on yom tov and Chol Hamoed? This is the one that catches people. Those are the days parents most need it, and coverage varies.
Ask for the actual daily schedule. Programs that are proud of their children's programme will send it without hesitation.
The teenage gap
Thirteen to seventeen is the age group most likely to have a miserable eight days. They are too old for the children's club and not interested in the adult programme, and unlike younger children they will not simply be swept along.
Programs with a real teen track — separate activities, their own excursions, their own space — are worth paying more for if you have teenagers. Programs without one are worth avoiding, however good the hotel.
Rooms
Connecting rooms and family suites sell out first, every single year. Often months before the program is otherwise full. A program can have plenty of standard rooms left and nothing that sleeps your family together.
If you need a specific configuration, that alone should move your booking to December or January. Also ask:
- What the room actually sleeps, and on what — a sofa bed for a teenager for eight nights is a long time
- Whether cots are available and free
- Whether adjacent rooms can be guaranteed if connecting ones are gone
Food
Two things matter beyond kashrut standard:
Fussy eaters. Pesach narrows the menu for everyone, and a non-gebrokts kitchen narrows it further, since so much familiar Pesach baking uses matzah meal. Ask whether there is a children's dining option or an earlier, simpler children's meal.
Allergies. Ask specifically, ask whether it costs extra, and ask who in the kitchen is responsible. Programs with a separate gluten-free kitchen say so prominently, because it is expensive to run.
The Seder itself
Formats differ more than people expect:
- One large communal Seder — atmospheric, and hard with a three-year-old
- Family tables in a communal hall — the most common, and usually the best compromise
- In-room or private Sedarim — offered by some programs at a supplement
- A shorter children's Seder alongside the main one, at a few programs
With young children this single detail shapes the most important night of the trip. Ask before you book, not after.
Chol Hamoed
Four days that either work or drag. Ask what is organised, what it costs, and whether it suits your children's ages. Programs in Orlando sell heavily on park excursions; programs in Israel on organised coaches to sites that are otherwise painfully crowded; island programs on the fact that everything is nearby.
Narrowing it down quickly
Every listing here shows whether a program has a kids' club and a teen programme as a filter, before you click. Use them on the Pesach page, or let the 60-second quiz ask about your party and narrow the catalogue for you.
And when you are comparing two programs on money, remember that child pricing moves the total more than the adult rate does — our cost guide works through why.
