You know what they say, a holiday with kids isn’t a holiday, it’s just parenting in a different location. And it’s true… unless you’re at Pumula Beach Hotel, we went recently and it truly is the perfect family vacation spot.

Location

Pumula is an all-inclusive hotel in Umzumbe, just outside of Hibberdene on the Kwa-Zulu Natal South Coast, a quick 90min drive from Durban and you’re there!

The location is incredible and couldn’t be more perfect if it tried. You have direct access to one of the few Blue Flag status beaches where you can not only swim, surf, bodyboard, and fish. But you can also go for long leisurely walks picking up shells and investigating all the beautiful rock pools.

We spent all morning on the beach looking for treasures (Maia loved the crabs), swimming and making friends with the fishermen. There are lifeguards on duty during peak times and the beach is very family friendly.

Pumula provides you with beach towels and you can also hire umbrellas from the reception so you don’t need to lug one around with you when you travel. There is also a lovely little shop on site where you can buy buckets, spades, etc.

Activities

If we weren’t on the beach, we were enjoying one of the many other activities on offer. There are two heated pools that we spent a ton of time in, either swimming or lazing on the loungers reading a book, sipping on something delicious.

During peak periods, there is a pool bar, but during the quieter months there is a buzzer that you can use to order drinks for the pool.

There is also an incredible jungle gym with trampolines as well as putt-putt right next to the pool so you can always have an eye on the kiddos if you’re all doing a few different things.

Pumula really caters for families and we were blown away with how thought out everything was and how accommodating the staff were when it came to making sure that the kids were having a great time.

Pumula Kids Club

At Pumula Beach Hotel, there is a full kid’s program during the holidays and weekends with lovely child minders (Bridget and Peyton were incredible with our girls) to keep a watchful eye over them.

Every day there are different activities every two hours, ranging from archery to bracelet making, sand art to beach hikes and dance parties to Minute to Win It.

Pumula Kids Centre and Dining

There is also a kid’s centre with an indoor jungle gym, ball pit, arcade games, table tennis, pool, etc. which is handy if it’s a bit of a rainy day.

Another great way that Pumula caters for families is that they have a separate kid’s menu and dining room for dinner. Kids dinner starts at 5.30pm and their menu is great!

Aria and Maia enjoyed dinners such as spaghetti bolognaise, roast gammon and veg, macaroni and cheese, pork sausage and potatoes and of course, dessert every night!

Parents can of course sit with the kiddos while they eat, and then what we did was go sit in the lounge area to read and draw while we waited for adults dinner to start from 7pm.

Children are absolutely allowed to stay with their parents for dinner but just adjacent to the restaurant is the kid’s dining room/tv room and there is always a movie playing. So what our girls did was watch a lovely movie while we ate and then we all went back to our room together.

I’m generally a bit of a helicopter mom when it comes to knowing where my kids are at all times, but we had a table where we could see into the tv room so we could keep an eye on the girls at all times, it really was excellent.

Food and drinks

The last thing I want to do on holiday is cook, but I also hate the mental calculations and sticking to a budget when going out to restaurants to eat. So when looking for a family-friendly vacation spot, we knew that it had to be all-inclusive, which Pumula is.

All three meals, tea and coffee, and afternoon chef’s snacks are included in your stay at Pumula which was such a treat!

The food was excellent and it was lovely to not have to cook every day but also not have to stress about the financial outlay as it was already paid for.

Breakfast and lunch were buffets with so many options, truly something for everyone, and dinner was a three-course plated meal, but with options.

I was expecting the drinks to be fairly pricey seeing as you need to pay for these separately, but we found them really well-priced. A glass of house wine was around R45 and a draught beer was around the same. Again, we were so impressed with Pumula.

Pumula Accommodation

We stayed in a four-sleeper interleading room and it was perfect for us! We shared one full bathroom and we had separate bedrooms, the kids were thrilled with their bunk beds!

There is also a little lounge area in the “main area” where the double bed is with a TV, coffee and tea station, and dressing table with mirror. We were on the ground floor and so had a little patio with a table and chairs, if you’re on an upper level, the rooms have balconies.

The rooms are serviced every morning.

After staying at Pumula Beach Hotel for three nights I can absolutely see why people go time and time again. It’s the perfect family holiday where everyone can just relax and enjoy themselves while spending time together.

If you’re looking for somewhere to go on your next holiday, I highly recommend Pumula, it was worth every single cent that we paid and we’ll definitely go back!

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