NEW & NOTEWORTHY

Posh Playground

What’s fun, relaxing, and splendid for the whole family? Welcome to the new Conrad Orlando.

How do you create a hotel that’s lavish yet playful, and theme park-adjacent yet still feels worlds away? If you’re Orlando’s first Conrad hotel, you build your property around an eight-acre crystalline lagoon.

Encircled by a silky white-sand beach, the fresh-water lagoon was developed for Conrad Orlando and Evermore Orlando Resort, which both opened in January 2024. While the lagoon itself is a picture-perfect place to swim, paddleboard, and kayak, the surrounding area is a luxe campus of sorts—one where guests of all ages can hang out, spread out, or bliss out.

A paved path wraps around the zero-entry lagoon for morning jogs, evening strolls to dinner, and even an occasional children’s cartwheel contest. For ultimate relaxation, a collection of private cabanas is perched around the resort pool and splash pad. If you prefer to laze surrounded by tropical foliage, there’s Hammock Grove, a cluster of hammocks tucked into a secret garden. Across the way is a fantastic rope swing and vast multi-person water slide, both part of the Evermore property but welcome to guests of the Conrad. And dotted all along the beach are chaise lounges, capacious daybeds, pool floats, and games.

As for the hotel, it’s equal parts exquisite and easy-breezy. A member of Hilton’s luxury portfolio and designed by HKS (architecture) and Anderson/Miller, Ltd. (interior design), the 433 spacious rooms—including 51 suites and 10 family suites—are inspired by water with calming shades of blue, bleached wood floors, layers of crisp white bedding, and ample natural light. Many rooms feature a private balcony or terrace, replete with a bright orange bunny chair that’s a fast favorite with children.

Meanwhile, the zero-entry pool is reserved only for guests of the Conrad so it never feels the slightest bit crowded. Plush seating and cabanas surround the winding perimeter, with a chic-cute splash pad at one end and The Papaya Club, one of three restaurants, just a few beautiful steps away. The open-air, tiki-style spot provides covered dining as well as lagoon-side seating, where it’s best to keep your feet in the sand and a tropical cocktail in hand.

“The open-air, tiki-style spot provides covered dining as well as lagoon-side seating, where it’s best to keep your feet in the sand and a tropical cocktail in hand.”

Across the lush grounds is Sophia’s Trattoria, a coastal-inspired Southern Italian restaurant with dishes that range from eggplant caponata pasta and whole roasted branzino to bacon-macaroni and cheese and pepperoni pizza for the littles. For refined, regional Mexican cuisine, head to Ceiba on the hotel’s rooftop. Here, the focus is on authentic salsas, masa, and moles—plus 150 different labels of tequila and agave. Apéro bar is a great place for a nightcap or to catch the latest score of the game, while Little Spoon is a buzzy café and market with coffee and espresso, grab-and-go bites, pastries, gelato, and an adorable candy bar that’s impossible to resist.

Be sure to reserve a few hours for yourself on the links or in the spa—an ideal time for the children to visit the Conrad Kids Club, where games, crafts, and nature expeditions await. The resort is bookended by golf courses on its north and south ends, both designed by Jack Nicklaus with 18 holes. The Conrad Spa is 24,000 square feet of paradise with 11 treatment rooms as well as a water garden with plunge pools and private soaking tubs.

All this and there’s nary a need to venture off property, unless, of course, you’re headed to Walt Disney World. For that, there’s a deluxe motor coach making frequent drop-offs and pickups. And if you decide to return to the Conrad before the evening fireworks at Magic Kingdom, fear not: You’ll have a flawless view from Ceiba or your guest room with a west-facing balcony.