The Spread:
The Homestead combines healing waters and history with top-ranked golf, winter skiing, and a year-round children's program. Hot Springs' mineral waters drew people for centuries, but the first lodging was built in 1766, ten years before the American Revolution. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison soaked here between 1818 and 1820. The Homestead Spa was built in 1892 and the current hotel dates to 1902 with later additions.

Find the best rate at the: The Homestead, Hot Springs here.

A grande dame property, the 496-room Homestead, located 70 miles north of Roanoke, has three golf courses and sprawls on 15,000 acres in Virginia's Allegheny Mountains. Dressing for dinner is de rigueur in the main dining room, but attire is family-friendly at the casual Sam Snead's Tavern.

Why Families Love It:
Even children get pampered here at the KidSpa, a program of treatments for those under age 16. Teens indulge in facials designed just for them, try Swedish massages, and get personalized make-up lessons. Kids can soak their toes in a soothing chocolate milk bath and their fingers in a strawberries and cream mixture.

When not in the spa, kids and adults play golf and tennis, horseback ride, hike, fish for trout, mountain bike down the slopes, bowl, and watch movies at the hotel theater. At the year-round KidsClub, kids aged three to 12 make key chains, finger paint, examine dinosaur fossils, fish in the pond, go on nature walks, and listen to folk tales enacted by a storyteller. In summer the KidsClub operates week-round 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (full day costs $60, with lunch, for the first child and $30 for additional children; half-days are $37 with lunch). In spring and winter, KidsClub is open Monday to Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Adventurous teens can get out and enjoy fun activities like paintball or scaling the climbing wall.

Special Activities & Events:
Participate in a falconry demonstration and watch these birds fly like fighter pilots to retrieve food placed just over your shoulder.