Easter has a way of catching you off guard. One moment you’re deep in the grey stretch of January, convincing yourself that spring is coming, and the next, the long weekend is two weeks away and you haven’t booked a thing. We’ve all been there. This is your shortlist. We’ve spent the past few weeks researching and ruthlessly editing down the options so that you don’t have to. What’s left are 15 escapes that genuinely deliver: the kind of places where the food is worth travelling for, the beds are worth staying in, and the surroundings make you remember why you bother getting on a plane in the first place.
Whether you’re after sunshine with the family, a romantic few days somewhere quietly beautiful, or just a long weekend that feels nothing like your normal life: there’s something here for you. All that’s left to do is choose.
1. Mazagan Beach & Golf Resort, Morocco
If there is one destination that consistently earns a place at the top of my family travel recommendations, it is Mazagan Beach & Golf Resort on Morocco’s wild Atlantic coast. A short direct flight from most UK airports, this five-star sanctuary sits between shimmering ocean and a fragrant eucalyptus forest, offering laid-back luxury in equal measure for parents craving calm and children desperate for adventure. The Easter Dream Family Escape package is frankly exemplary: two connecting rooms for up to six guests, a grand daily buffet breakfast, complimentary sports activities, and dedicated Kids’ and Teens’ Clubs that hold coveted Worldwide Kids accreditation through the Luxury Childcare Association. Little thrill-seekers will love their daily trampoline sessions, while adults can look forward to quad-biking across the dunes.
The Seaside Serenity offer layers up to 20% savings on rooms, spa treatments and activities including horse riding, zip-lining and laser tag. With Easter rates starting from just £154 per night, this is luxury that resolutely refuses to be guilt-inducing.
2. Culloden Estate & Spa, Belfast
There are few hotel settings as quietly magnificent as Culloden Estate & Spa, its twelve secluded acres of gardens and woodland suspended above the silvery expanse of Belfast Lough.
This Easter, the Estate’s specially curated Easter Retreat package delivers everything a discerning traveller could wish for: a 15% discount, a generous noon check-out and a complimentary room upgrade that makes lingering over a late breakfast feel positively obligatory.
After a leisurely stroll through the grounds or a restorative session in the award-winning spa, guests descend on the elegant Stuart Suite for the hotel’s legendary Easter Sunday buffet: a carefully crafted seasonal feast accompanied by an Easter Egg Hunt, an utterly charming alpaca stroll through the gardens and live performances that bring real occasion to the weekend. Garden rooms start from £270 per night including breakfast, while suites begin at £790; a price point that, once you have experienced the calibre of hospitality here, feels entirely justified. Belfast has never looked so appealing in spring.
3. The Adria, South Kensington, London
Spring in London is one of the great pleasures of being in this city, and there is no finer address from which to experience it than The Adria in South Kensington. Intimate where so many luxury hotels feel cavernous, this beautifully proportioned boutique property sits at the cultural heart of the royal borough, moments from the V&A’s Big Egg Hunt, the Natural History Museum’s space-themed Easter Family Festival and the wide, blossom-lined paths of Hyde Park, where a Harrods picnic is practically mandatory.
Spacious interconnecting suites make multi-generational stays genuinely comfortable, while the hotel’s signature personalised service means the smallest preferences are anticipated before you even think to ask. The Easter afternoon tea is a particular joy: a thoughtfully composed spring menu that marries novelty with tradition, and for younger guests, Archie’s Teddy Tea, complete with a cuddly keepsake, delivers one of those quietly magical moments that children remember for years. The Adria proves, elegantly, that London can still surprise.
4. Down Hall Hotel, Spa & Estate, Essex
An hour from London and a world away from it, Down Hall Hotel is the kind of grand English country estate that reminds you why this particular form of hospitality was invented. Its Easter Family Stay; available from 31st March through 12th April, priced from £269 per night for two adults and two children; combines overnight accommodation in the newly renovated Estate Family Rooms with breakfast and tickets to Cammas Hall Farm’s enchanting themed Easter trail nearby. Back at the hotel, 110 acres of blooming gardens play host to tennis, padel, giant chess, croquet and boules, while children burn off energy on the dedicated playground and along the woodland Trim Trail complete with balance beams. An in-room Easter craft kit awaits every young guest.
On Easter Sunday, the Sunday Feast at The Potting Shed is nothing short of theatrical: an unlimited spread featuring lobster mac and cheese, seafood platters, a roaming dessert cart and cocktail-slinging mixologists on hand throughout. Quite egg-ceptional, as they say.
5. Pine Cliffs, Luxury Collection Resort, Algarve
Perched atop the Algarve’s iconic ochre cliffs with the Atlantic stretching endlessly below, Pine Cliffs Resort is the kind of place that renders Instagram entirely inadequate. This Easter, from 2nd to 5th April, the resort’s specially curated package includes daily breakfast, an Easter welcome gift and a generous €100 resort credit, positioning you beautifully to explore everything from the nine-hole clifftop golf course to the Annabel Croft Tennis and Padel Academy. Easter Sunday’s colonial garden buffet lunch, accompanied by live music and a parade of traditional seasonal dishes, is unmissable at €72 per person. On the morning of 5th April, Porto Pirata, the resort’s dedicated children’s village, transforms into a wonderland of egg hunts and activities that keeps little ones thoroughly occupied while you slip away for an 80-minute Purifying Ritual at Serenity, the Art of Well Being. With eight swimming pools, 18 restaurants and bars, and room rates from €330 for a family of four, the only difficulty is knowing where to begin.
6. Burrow Farm Estate, Chiltern Hills
For those who crave the sort of privacy that no conventional hotel can provide, Burrow Farm Estate in the Hambleden Valley represents something genuinely extraordinary. Opening for the first time this year after a meticulous reimagining, this 500-acre private estate, just one hour from Mayfair, offers exclusive-use access to a secluded hamlet of six beautifully restored residences sleeping up to 40 guests, each one impeccably designed with interiors that would not look out of place in the pages of this very magazine. Entertaining spaces flex effortlessly from intimate Easter dinners for eight to marquee celebrations for 150 across manicured lawns and woodland clearings; the gated grounds, private access roads and advanced security ensure a level of discretion that is simply impossible to replicate.
Whether the occasion calls for a languid family gathering, a landmark celebration or a long weekend of complete seclusion from the world, Burrow Farm Estate delivers with a confidence that can only come from genuine rarity. This, I suspect, will be the most coveted booking of 2026.
7. Aurora Nights, Northern Lights Expeditions
I have been tracking solar activity with rather undignified excitement for the better part of two years, and astronomers confirm what aurora enthusiasts have quietly known: 2026 is shaping up to be one of the most spectacular seasons for the Northern Lights in over a decade. Heightened solar activity and favourable spring equinox conditions create precisely the circumstances under which the sky comes alive with ribbons of green, magenta and violet; and Aurora Nights, in my considered opinion, will be the finest way to witness it. What distinguishes this specialist operator from the rest is its concierge-level precision: trips are built entirely bespoke, whether that means snowmobiling across frozen tundra, mushing huskies beneath star-laden skies or pairing night-time aurora hunts with Nordic fine dining in design-led glass-roofed cabins. The team’s expertise in solar forecasting and Arctic microclimates means guests are optimally positioned when the sky begins to perform, and the Aurora Buddy chaser app adds a thrilling technological edge.
Book now; the most remote lodges are already filling fast.
8. Celtic Manor Resort, Wales
There are resorts that impress on arrival and fade on acquaintance, and then there is Celtic Manor: a place that reveals new layers of pleasure with every visit. Nestled in the Vale of Usk, the resort’s Easter Breaks programme runs from 27th March to 12th April and offers that rarest of combinations: total escapism without the need to travel far. The acres of outdoor space alone: walking trails, championship golf courses, adventure activities, could occupy a family for a fortnight, while the spa side of proceedings is equally compelling for those in search of something quieter and more restorative. Dining is taken seriously here, with a range of restaurants on site that means you need never leave the grounds if you prefer not to.
For families, couples and solo travellers in equal measure, Celtic Manor has long been a reliable byword for quality and variety in British luxury hospitality. This Easter, I would not look anywhere else in Wales.
9. Rastrello, Umbria, Italy
My definition of the ideal romantic Easter involves a gloriously restored 14th-century palazzo, a farm-to-table restaurant helmed by a celebrated chef, an ancestral olive grove and a sommelier who knows precisely how to pour. Rastrello, tucked into the medieval village of Panicale on the border between Tuscany and Umbria, delivers every single item on that list with the kind of unstudied elegance that only Italians truly master. A proud member of Design Hotels, the property has recently expanded to 16 suites following the opening of its garden annex: which adds a dedicated wellness space, a meditation room and a small outdoor pool overlooking Lake Trasimeno that is quietly, stubbornly perfect. Chef Nicola Fanfano will be preparing a decadent Italian Easter lunch menu at Cucina & Giardino, while truffle hunting in the grounds with the hotel’s resident forager and loyal dog is the sort of spontaneous afternoon that you find yourself describing to strangers for years. From £275 per night, bellissimo.
10. Chalet Cervinia, Val d’Isère
For those who refuse to let the ski season end without one final, glorious flourish, Purple Ski’s Chalet Cervinia in Val d’Isère remains open until 18th April 2026; and the timing, coinciding with the launch of the new Folie Douce Children’s Academy, could hardly be better for families. Set in the quiet lanes of Le Joseray, this opulent three-storey, six-bedroom chalet sits less than 100 metres from the piste: close enough to feel the cold, but insulated by a level of luxury that makes re-entry into the warmth utterly effortless. Five elegant double bedrooms and a children’s bunk room each come with their own en-suite, while the on-property spa: hot tub, sauna, massage room and a sapphire-hued pool, is the après-ski reward everyone deserves. Purple Ski’s staff are present around the clock, handling everything from childcare and ski hire to snowman-building tutorials, and bespoke arrival gifts for children, igloo-building and dog-sledding excursions are simply part of the programme. A seven-night catered stay starts from £31,174.
11. Bedruthan Hotel & Spa, Cornwall
Cornwall in spring is a particular kind of magic: wild-flowered cliffs, crashing Atlantic surf and that peculiarly liberating sensation of sea air filling lungs that have been office-bound for too long. Bedruthan Hotel & Spa, perched above the rugged clifftops at Mawgan Porth, is my enduring recommendation for dog owners, a cohort for whom Easter travel has historically required compromises that this hotel entirely refuses to make. Dogs are welcomed in the cocktail bar, restaurants and coastal-view rooms, each of which comes equipped with a blanket, thick towel, two bowls and access to an outdoor washing station. The canine menu, house-baked oat biscuits, Barke Farm dog ice cream and locally sourced Cornish fish dishes, is prepared with the same commitment to provenance as the kitchen extends to human guests.
Meanwhile, the spa is among the finest in the South West, and the seasonal menus showcase the very best of local Cornish produce. An Easter walk along the South West Coast Path with your four-legged companion, followed by cocktails at Bedruthan, is close to perfection. From £149 per night.
12. La Mamounia, Marrakech
Some hotels exist beyond fashion, and La Mamounia is the supreme example. Since 1923, this Marrakech icon has been the benchmark against which all other North African luxury is measured, and a century on, it has only grown more magnificent. Spring arrives early in Morocco, making Easter the ideal moment to bask in balmy warmth while the rest of Europe is still debating whether to need a coat. Rooms and suites remain an education in quintessential Moroccan design, hand-painted tiles, intricate carved plasterwork, silks in colours that seem to absorb the desert light, and the gardens, featuring palms, roses and kitchen plots that supply the hotel’s five restaurants with extraordinary freshness, are among the most beautiful in Africa. The 2,500 square metre spa, offering treatments from Valmont, Augustinus Bader and MarocMaroc alongside an authentic hammam experience, could occupy a very blissful afternoon indeed. For dinner, head straight for Le Marocain and order everything. From £370 per night.
13. Saltmoore, North Yorkshire
The transformation of the former Raithwaite Sandsend into Saltmoore has been one of the most talked-about openings in British hospitality since the estate unveiled itself in November 2024, and having experienced it myself, I can confirm the excitement is entirely merited. Positioned between the unspoilt North Yorkshire coastline and the heather-clad Moors, this 72-room estate; split between Saltmoore House and The Beach House; offers a rare combination of serious wellness credentials and genuine culinary ambition. The Sanctuary spa, with its indoor pool, jacuzzi, sauna, cryotherapy chamber and six treatment rooms drawing on Wildsmith’s exquisite natural formulations, is reason enough to visit; the Brass Monkey ice bath and bone broth at the Wellness Café add a resolutely contemporary edge. Head Chef Adam Maddock, working alongside Michelin-starred consultant Tommy Banks, oversees a brasserie, lounge bar and the imminent spring 2026 opening of fine-dining restaurant Calluna. For a thoughtful, beautifully located Easter spa weekend in England, Saltmoore is quite simply the answer.
14. Cliveden House, Berkshire
There are perhaps a handful of country house hotels in England that carry the weight of true historical grandeur without ever feeling like a museum, and Cliveden, the three-storey Italianate mansion set above the Thames in Berkshire, is the undisputed master of this particular art. Once home to the Astor family and a salon for the political and cultural elite of the 20th century, the house is now a National Trust-listed hotel of quite breathtaking proportions. Easter here feels appropriately ceremonial: the terraced formal gardens and broad Thames meadows below are made for slow, restorative walks; the indoor pool, spa and tennis courts provide for the more energetic members of your party.
Dining in the grand rooms, with views across the parterre gardens as the spring light falls in long gold angles across the table, is a genuinely moving experience. The Great Hall afternoon tea remains one of England’s finest rituals, and at Easter, the kitchen adds seasonal flourishes that tip the whole thing into the exceptional. This is England at its most magnificent.
15. Gleneagles, Perthshire, Scotland
No Easter round-up of mine would be complete without Scotland’s most legendary address, and Gleneagles in the Perthshire hills is perennially, and deservedly, the property I return to when the conversation turns to the very best of British hospitality. Easter in the Highlands has a particular majesty: the hills emerge from their winter palette into something luminously, improbably green, the light is long and theatrical, and the estate’s 850 acres unfurl like a private country in microcosm. The three championship golf courses are the obvious draw for many, but Gleneagles long ago evolved into something altogether more expansive: a full-spectrum resort with equestrian and off-road driving experiences, a spa of significant ambition, a shooting school, falconry and tennis facilities that would be exceptional on their own terms. The Strathearn restaurant delivers the kind of dinner you plan the rest of your day around, while the more casual options across the estate offer comfort food elevated to an art form. For families, couples and solo travellers alike, Easter at Gleneagles is nothing less than a restorative masterpiece.
The best Easter breaks tend to share one quality: you come back feeling like yourself again. A little more rested, a little more present, reminded that the world beyond your postcode is full of places worth the effort of getting to. Wherever you land on this list the principle is the same. Go somewhere that asks something of you, even if that something is simply to slow down. Spring is short, the long weekend shorter still. Book the thing.
