Insta-worthy pools, next-gen H20 parks and the best water vacations across the U.S.
1. Camp Long Creek at Big Cedar Lodge, Table Rock Lake, Ridgedale, MO
You’ll be tempted to stay in the Ozarks awhile at the just-debuted Camp Long Creek at Big Cedar Lodge, especially once you splurge on a water ski school outing for up to six passengers. Put your kids to shame with the muscle memory of slaloming during your own summers (yass, queens, Mom can still get up on one ski!).
2. Grand View Lodge Spa & Golf Resort, Gull Lake, Nisswa, MN
That license plate motto, “10,000 lakes”? Get a sampling on Gull Lake at the Grand View Lodge Spa & Golf Resort, which just opened a 60-room boutique offshoot called North. You’ll never compete for Kadima real estate with 2,500 feet of beachfront. And the 54 holes of golf? Surely your kids will caddie when bribed with a chance to drive the cart.
3. Shore Lodge, Payette Lake, McCall, ID
Kayaking and jet skiing will seem tame compared to cliff jumping off granite outcrops, but you can do it all at this 77-room lakefront resort. After rafting on the nearby Salmon or Snake rivers, hang by the Lodge’s fire pit, which overlooks Payette Lake.
4. Lakeway Resort & Spa, Lake Travis, Lakeway, TX
st 22 miles from the hipster central that is Austin, you’ll find the Lakeway Resort & Spa. Set the kids loose on kayaks and paddleboards at the adjacent marina while you spend time at the (favorite words in the English language) adults-only pool and its (second-favorite words) swim-up bar.
5. Sunriver Resort, a Destination Hotel, Deschutes River, Sunriver, OR
If you could catch a drone’s-eye view of the Deschutes River, you’d spy a parade of rafts carrying floating passengers through the scenic wilderness of Central Oregon. From your home base at the Sunriver Resort, toggle between river float trips, horseback rides and golf.