A Family Reunion

Family Reunion. All Ages, One Table.

The multigenerational trip where everyone actually has a good time at the same one.

The hard truth about family reunions is that planning one is a logistics problem disguised as a celebration. Grandma can't walk that far. The teenagers won't go anywhere without Wi-Fi. The five-year-old needs a nap window. The adults need a moment alone. The dog comes, or the dog doesn't, but the conversation about it takes three days.

A Family Reunion at Callaway Resort & Gardens solves more of this than most places. Three generations, one cottage, a property big enough that everyone scatters by day and small enough that everyone comes back together by night. The grandkids find Grandma at dinner. Grandma found her own bench under a magnolia at 2 p.m. Both happen on the same trip.

Summer is calling, and this time, it's calling everyone.

Who This Trip Is For

Multigenerational families. Grandparents, parents, kids, sometimes great-grandparents, sometimes aunts and uncles and cousins. Family reunions celebrating a milestone like a 70th birthday, a 50th wedding anniversary, a graduation, or the weekend before or after a wedding. Family trips where the planning math has to work for four generations and four different mobility levels.

If you're trying to find a place where Grandma's knees and your seven-year-old's energy can coexist for three days, and where everyone goes home saying they had a great time, this is your guide.

What Makes Callaway Different for Multigenerational Trips

Most resorts pick a demographic. Callaway Resort & Gardens doesn't have to. With 2,500 acres of lake, gardens, beach, two championship golf courses, a spa, and accommodations from full-service Lodge & Spa rooms to multi-bedroom cottages and villas, there's room for every kind of day.

Three details make multigenerational trips work here that don't work in most places.

Cottages Built for Big Families

The cottages at Callaway Resort & Gardens have multiple bedrooms, kitchens, private porches, and enough living space for the whole family to gather without anyone being stuck in a corner. They become the home base. Days scatter. Nights converge. The kitchen does the real work.

Accessibility Everywhere It Matters

The main trails and gardens are paved. The 10-mile Discovery Bike Trail is flat, paved, walkable, and good for wheels of any kind. The Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center, the Virginia Hand Callaway Discovery Center, and the Ida Cason Callaway Memorial Chapel grounds are all wheelchair-accessible. Grandma can do the gardens without it being a "did Grandma make it back okay?" question.

The Cruiser

Callaway Cruiser golf cart rentals get the older generation around the property at the same pace as the kids on bikes. Nobody waits. Nobody pushes. Everyone shows up to dinner at the same time.

Scatter by day. Together by night.

For Grandparents

The Callaway Brothers Azalea Bowl is the show. Pair it with the Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center. Climate-controlled, benches everywhere, magical at any age. The Ida Cason Callaway Memorial Chapel is the quiet stop. Small, beautiful, often empty in the middle of the day, with a stained-glass interior and a stream out front. The grandparents will pause here longer than you expect.

For grandparents who can do more, the Discovery Center has rotating exhibits, and the Birds of Prey program at 11 a.m. or 3 p.m. is universally a hit (no Wednesdays). Bike the paved Discovery Trail at their pace. It's flat enough for a casual ride.

For grandparents who want their own moment, book a single spa treatment on a Monday during the Summer Spa Special. 20 percent off all services through August 27, 2026. A 60-minute massage, a quiet salt room, lunch delivered. They'll talk about it for a year.

Mobility helpers include the Callaway Cruiser rental for the long days. The walkway from the Lodge to the beach is paved and gently sloped.

For Parents

The middle generation has the hardest job at any reunion. Shuttling between Grandma's pace and the kids' pace, keeping everyone fed and not sunburned and not arguing. Callaway Resort & Gardens gives the parents a few real wins.

The first is the chance to sneak away to the spa. A couple's massage during the kids' afternoon hour with the grandparents at the Butterfly Center. Two hours. You'll come back a new person. Book a Monday for the 20 percent off.

The second is dinner without the kids. Most cottages are walkable to the Lodge. Order room service for the kids and grandparents in the cottage. You go to Piedmont Dining Room or Cason's Taproom for a real meal with a real cocktail. The first quiet dinner you've had with your partner in months.

The third is the afternoon nap window. Robin Lake Beach has shade, cabanas for rent, and the lake itself. Grandparents and parents settle in the cabana. Kids do Aqua Island for two hours. Everyone wins.

For Kids

TreeTop Adventure for the older ones. Three courses. The Sapling Course for ages 5+ at heights 40 to 60 inches. The Discovery and Lake Courses at 56 inches minimum. Aqua Island for everyone age 7 and up. The Birds of Prey program at 3 p.m. The Discovery Center bug exhibits and interactive science. The 10-mile Discovery Bike Trail. Mini golf for a low-stakes group game.

The reunion-specific play is to organize a cousins' afternoon. The cousins all want to do Aqua Island. Send one adult with five kids to the beach for two hours. Everyone else gets a break. The cousins make memories without the adults. The adults remember what conversation feels like.

Family Reunion Structure. The Rhythm That Works.

This is the rhythm that makes a multigen trip work. Each day, everyone does their version of the day. Grandparents do gardens and Birds of Prey. Parents hike and spa. Kids do beach and TreeTop. Then everyone converges at the cottage at 6 p.m. for one big family dinner. Grilled out on the porch, ordered in from Piedmont, or sit-down at Cason's.

The cottage is the anchor. A kitchen big enough to cook a real meal. A porch for the long sit-after-dinner. Enough rooms that no one is on a fold-out unless they want to be.

A Sample Three-Day Flow

One version of a great reunion weekend. Built around the Birds of Prey schedule, Sunset Dance Party, and the cottage-as-anchor rhythm.

Day One. Arrival, Settle, One Meal Together.

Afternoon

• 3 p.m.  Whoever planned the trip arrives first to do the cottage walk-through and figure out who's sleeping where. This is non-negotiable. There will be opinions.
• 4 p.m.  Check-in opens. Everyone else trickles in.
• 5 p.m.  Group walk through the gardens. Robin Lake walk for the ones who can. The grandparents stop at the Chapel. The kids run the lawn.

Evening

• 6:30 p.m.  Dinner at the cottage. Order from Cason's Taproom, pick up Country Kitchen takeout, or fire up the porch grill. Eat together. Toast to being here, all of you, at the same time.
• 8:30 p.m.  Lodge firepits with the s'mores kit. Or back-porch storytelling, which is the real reunion ritual.

Day Two. The Scatter-Together Day.

Morning

• 8 a.m.  Breakfast at the cottage. Coffee on the porch. Whoever wakes up first makes the first pot.
• 10 a.m.  Split up. Grandparents head to the Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center and Azalea Bowl with one parent. Older kids head to TreeTop Adventure with another. Younger kids and a third adult head to Robin Lake Beach. Everyone has their day.

Afternoon

• 12 p.m.  Lunch together at the Beach Pavilion. One hour together. Then scatter again.
• 1 p.m.  Spa for two of the adults (a Monday for 20 percent off). Cousins on Aqua Island. The middle generation gets a real break.
• 3 p.m.  Birds of Prey program for the kids and grandparents.

Evening

• 6 p.m.  Reconvene at the cottage. Big family dinner. Order in, cook in, however you do it. The grandparents sit. The kids set the table. The dishes get done by whoever loses the round.
• 8:30 p.m.  Walk to the Sunset Dance Party at Robin Lake Beach next to the Lake View Bar. The kids will dance with Grandma. The video your aunt takes will be the family group chat for two weeks.

Day Three. One Family Photo and Out.

Morning

• 9 a.m.  Late breakfast at Country Kitchen. Takes a big table without it feeling weird. Pine Mountain views, Southern fare, everyone fed.
• 10:30 a.m.  Group photo at the Chapel or in front of the Callaway Brothers Azalea Bowl. Pick whichever has better light.

Afternoon

• 11 a.m.  Check-out. The fun continues.
• 11:30 a.m.  One last walk through the gardens together. Or one last beach hour for the kids.
• 2 p.m.  Hit the road. The group chat starts immediately. The photos begin posting. Someone is already planning next year.

Where to Stay

• Cottages are the play for family reunions, full stop. Multiple bedrooms, kitchen, porch, your own family compound for the weekend.
• Villas work for groups bigger than one cottage holds. Same property feel as cottages with more bedrooms.
• The Lodge & Spa is the overflow option. Pair a base cottage with a few Lodge rooms for extended family who want their own bathroom and don't mind a short walk.

Where to Eat

View all dining

• The cottage itself. Most flexible, best for big group dinners. Cook in, order in, or pick up.
• Country Kitchen for big-group breakfast. Southern, takes a long table without drama.
• Piedmont Dining Room for dressy-casual, the splurge dinner. Reservations essential for groups.
• Cason's Taproom for patio dinner, firepits, live music weekends, a wider-appeal menu that works for all ages.
• Azalea Market for coffee, pastry, Starbucks for the early risers.
• Beach Pavilion for beach snacks during the day.

The Package to Book

For a Family Reunion, the Callaway Resort & Gardens concierge stacks two packages that work together for multi-generation, multi-room stays.

• Book the Summer to Remember package. Save up to 15 percent on accommodations, get a $150 food and beverage credit (which softens a three-generation dinner bill), and earn an Explorer Pass for every registered guest. The Explorer Pass covers 5 activities including Aqua Island, bike rentals, mini golf, pedal boats, kayaks, and paddleboards — the kids will use it the moment you check in.
• For 2026, layer on the All American 250th Anniversary Celebration Package for America's milestone-year perks. Particularly relevant for reunions celebrating a milestone year, as your stay includes a $250 resort credit to use towards dining or the spa.

Mention you're booking a reunion when you call the concierge so they can coordinate multi-cottage availability, ADA-accessible room blocks, and pet-friendly cottages in one booking flow.

Summer Events to Plan Around

• Wild Air: A Live Action Spectacular runs May 29 to July 28 and works for kids and grandparents simultaneously, which is rare (Wed–Thu 3 & 5 p.m., Fri 4 & 6 p.m., Sat 2 / 4 / 6 p.m., Sun 1 / 3 / 5 p.m.; no shows Mon, Tue, or June 28 to July 4).
• The Friday Night Luau Dinner every Friday May 29 to July 24 is the whole-family event of the summer (all-you-can-eat buffet, hour-long Polynesian dance show, $99.99 adults 13+, child pricing available).
• The Birds of Prey program runs at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. daily, no Wednesdays — a universal hit.
• The nightly Sunset Dance Party at Robin Lake Beach next to the Lake View Bar (Wed–Thu and Sun 6:30 p.m., Fri–Sat 7:30 p.m.; no dance party Mon or Tue) is where Grandma dances with the kids and the video your aunt takes carries the family group chat for two weeks. 
• The Discovery Center hosts rotating Saturday shows great for the cousins: Magic Show with Ken Scott on June 13 and 20, The Big Game Show on June 27, July 4, and July 11, and the Science Machine Show with Mike Green on July 18, July 25, and August 1.
• Anchor the reunion to a holiday weekend with 4th of July Weekend with three nights of fireworks, or the new Labor Day Yacht Rock Weekend.

Tips & Tricks from Our Team

Real answers to the questions every reunion planner asks before booking the multi-cottage block.

ADA and Accessibility

• The Lodge & Spa is fully accessible.
• Main gardens, the Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center, the Discovery Center, and the Chapel are wheelchair-accessible.
• Robin Lake Beach.
• Most pathways are paved.

Cottage Logistics

• Real kitchens for family dinners.
• Multiple bedrooms. Pick the configuration that works for your generation count.
• Private porches for after-dinner sitting and the long family conversations.
• Pet-friendly cottages available. 

Mobility and Pace Tips

• Callaway Cruiser for the older generation. 
• The walk from Lodge or cottage to the beach is paved.
• Schedule the longest activities (full garden walks, biking, full beach day) for cooler morning hours.

Quiet Zones for Naps

• The Chapel grounds are extremely quiet.
• Cottage porches are usually shaded, a built-in nap spot.
• The Butterfly Center is climate-controlled and slow-paced.

Age-Appropriate Notes

• Birds of Prey. Fine for all ages, including infants in carriers.
• Aqua Island. Minimum age 7, minimum height 43 inches. $15 per hour daily.
• TreeTop Adventure. Sapling Course for ages 5+ at 40 to 60 inches ($15). Discovery and Lake Courses at 56 inches min ($35 / $30). Closed-toe shoes required.
• Children 3 and under are free for general gardens admission.

Planning a Different Kind of Trip? 

Ready to Book?

Callaway is Calling, and this time, the whole family is invited. Pick up at 1-800-CALLAWAY or ask the concierge about multi-cottage planning, ADA accommodations, and pet-friendly options. The team can help structure a reunion that works for every generation in the group.