COMPARING MARTINHAL SAGRES & PINE CLIFFS

When we were deciding whether to book Pine Cliffs or Martinhal Sagres for October half term last year, the one thing I really wanted was to find a blog review that compared the two. To help me decide.

I couldn’t. So now that we’ve stayed in both, I thought I would write it! October 2022 we stayed at Pine Cliffs, and in October 2023 at Martinhal Sagres. I think it is a personal choice which of the two a family will prefer. We had a fabulous stay at both. Both win accolade after accolade and have been doing so for years!

Location

Pine Cliffs is on the edge of Albufeira, 35 minutes drive from Faro airport. Albufeira is a busy tourist town in the heart of golfing country. Beautiful scenery but popular – with many large hotels dotted along the coast.

Martinhal Sagres is 85 minutes drive from the airport on the bottom south west corner of Portugal, on the edge of Sagres. It’s surfing country, think wild and rustic with independent stores, cafes and restaurants.

Size

Pine Cliffs is over 70 hectares and has at least 600 rooms/apartments/villas. At Pine Cliffs we were easily walking 12,000 steps a day between room, beach, pool and food.

Martinhal is a smaller resort with 250 rooms/houses/villas. There was a lot less walking at Martinhal given the way the resort has been designed, but it is not at all cramped.

Both resorts feel more like villages with different clusters of accommodation and plenty of green space and footpaths. We felt more at home in Martinhal, because we didn’t need a map to find our way around!

Accommodation

Pine Cliffs properties are elegant and Portuguese. There is a large hotel in the centre of the resort. The residences are low rise 2 and 3 bedroom apartments favoured by families. There are smarter suites nearer the sea and of course some larger pool villas hidden away too. I believe new in 2023 are family apartments which look far more modern, more like Martinhal!

Martinhal properties are design-led and modern. At Marthinhal there is a small hotel, nearest to the sea. There are then a great set of terraced ocean and garden houses, predominantly with 2 bedrooms. There’s some larger houses set back from the water, some with pools. And then a host of privately owned pool villas for rent around the outside of the resort.

Both have the offering right, a real mixture to suit all tastes. Crucially it isn’t predominantly rooms and suites. Portugal is cornering the market on resorts like this as I’ve not found anywhere else quite like it. There is an actual hotel in each resort, but predominantly accommodation is apartments and houses (with kitchen and laundry – winning) and then larger villas with private pools. Specifically for us having a sea view, and being able to hear the waves was a major win at Martinhal.

Service and cleaning

At Pine Cliffs our apartment was cleaned daily, water bottles were replenished and turn down was also performed which included another tidy up for the apartment.

At Martinhal our house was also cleaned daily, and the bedding changed mid-week. The dishwasher was always run too and the kitchen tidied for me too!

Horses for courses. Pine Cliffs service is hotel spec even in the houses. But where Martinhal stood out was with its staff – the charm and the attentiveness of all staff was unbeatable. There wasn’t a turn down service, but I’d far rather the time is spent in care of the customer (young and old) which was superb.

Beach

Pine Cliffs beach is reached by a long set of stairs and a board walk which is spectacular. When you do get there it is pretty epic. It’s a big wide beach, there are hotel loungers near the top and one of the hotels restaurants is there too. There’s also hotel toilets on the beach as well.

Sagres beach is rugged and wild, on a nature reserve. It’s wonderful for swimming and playing in the waves, popular for paddle boarding and wind/kite surfing too. There’s no loungers on the beach, but plenty between the pool and the beach, which keeps the beach unspoilt.

Both beaches are beautiful sandy beaches and enjoy wonderful sunrises. Guests use them differently. At Pine Cliffs given the distance from the hotel, you go for the day and get a lounger. At Martinhal you grab a lounger by the pool or the dunes and come and go between beach and pool. We never had an issue finding a lounger at either, even if we went out for the morning – there wasn’t any towel reserving!

Pools

We didn’t spend much time in the pool at Pine Cliffs as they weren’t that warm. We thought the pool at Casa Pine Cliffs was the prettiest, but the residences pool (with paddling pool) was by far the warmest. There is another in the centre of the resort as well as an indoor pool perfect on cooler days. I understand there is a new pool alongside the new apartments.

At Martinhal, which we booked because we were told about the warm pools (even in October), we found ourselves spending a significant amount of time swimming. The beach-side pool is beautiful and very warm. Club 98 and the indoor pool we also enjoyed. There is another in the centre of the resort. The indoor/outdoor pool perfect for rainy days.

At both resorts the pools are dotted around the resort and both have indoor pools which is a godsend on a rainy day! Four/five main pools doesn’t sound like much given the resort sizes, but even at half term they weren’t too busy. Many villas have their own pools which takes the pressure off the communal pools. The temperature of the water at Martinhal was notably warmer which was a major win!

Food and drink

I think I counted up 12 restaurants or cafes, such is the scale of the resort. The restaurant set up at Pine Cliffs is big scale and there is an incredible choice of different cuisines. Mare was our favourite, right on the beach and a perfect spot for lunch. O’Grill in the residences is another lovely spot, doesn’t feel like a hotel restaurant and is right by a pool. Corda Cafe we used a lot as it was the only one serving supper at 5pm, the most basic but practical. Zest is lovely for smoothies and Mimo for coffee en route to the beach or ice cream on the way back. My favourite though was the sunset champagne bar Mirador. It could so easily have been adult only but it wasn’t and the views over the cliffs to the sea are amazing. There are other restaurants but they weren’t central to the resort so we didn’t visit them.

Three restaurants, a cafe/bar/pub and an evening take away grill. Something for all tastes and all family friendly, but stylish. As Dunas is the nearest the sea and has a lovely sea food offering. O Terraco is a spectacular setting and offers fine dining. Os Gambozinos is a bistro for the family. We booked in advance through a guest website. Every restaurant has a play area inside, which has a member of staff overseeing it and helping the children. There are outdoor playareas alongside two of the restaurants. Truly inspired, we enjoyed our dinners and the children could play together. MBar is great for coffees and drinks and is alongside the main play area. Josper grill is there for evening take away food. Fabulous food throughout, plenty of kids options and excellent desserts too.

Food and drink is higher end at Pine Cliffs given it’s Luxury Collection and the resort is larger. But there aren’t any play areas attached to the restaurant which if you are travelling with young children is a game changer. We dined superbly at both hotels however. Pine Cliffs made a little more of the views, but at Martinhal the restaurants felt far less hotelly and far more local, which I enjoyed. The wine was surprisingly expensive at Martinhal.

Kids club and play areas

Pine Cliffs has amazing tennis coaching, which would be great for older children. There is a big play area called Porto Pirata with a pirate ship that we stopped in to a few times when walking past but it was never busy, perhaps it would be busier in the summer. There are a number of paddling pools alongside the main swimming pools. There is an active kids club here and we saw them out and about during our stay, but we didn’t use.

There are 2 large outdoor play areas as well as play zones in each restaurant. There is also an indoor games room and a big projector screen that shows movies each days. There is also a zip wire and a pump track in the sand dunes. To call the kids club a kids club is an understatement, it is like the most amazing school holiday camp you can imagine, and only £25 for 3 hours. Bertie loved it and made great friends, who he then played with each evening after dinner!

The thing I noticed most is how the kids facilities are central to the resort at Martinhal, but not in a tacky way (no entertainers at dinner or karaoke). The resort revolves around families and so it is just right that at the centre of the resort is the biggest play area, a the bar alongside and the kids club spaces. At Pine Cliffs, because it isn’t just a resort for families, it is a little more discreet so I am less able to comment. But if you ask Bertie – Martinhal had it all, it was hard to convince him to go home after supper!

Facilities

Both have spa facilities. I didn’t use at Pine Cliffs but at Martinhal we were both able to take advantage of them because we used kids club. At Pine Cliffs there is a gift shop and a toy shop. At Martinhal there is an excellent mini-market selling everything you will need food and drink wise (although there is a Lidl and Intermarche a few minutes away that are much cheaper!). When we were at Pine Cliffs the mini-market wasn’t open, I’m not sure if now is – instead it was a 10 minute walk to a 24-7 outside the resort.

The full package

I don’t think you can go wrong with either to be honest. A villa inside a 5* hotel is a total win. As is the presence of a kitchen and a washing machine which is a game changer. A beautiful beach, an excellent choice of places to eat and things to entertain children keep everyone happy at both. The sheer volume of returning guests, those ‘in the know’, at each resort is testament to their fan following!

I was worried Martinhal wouldn’t live up to our Pine Cliffs experience because we had enjoyed our time there so much and frankly, all Luxury Collection hotels are excellent. But Martinhal was so good, we are returning next year! When we first arrived at Martinhal I wasn’t sure it was 5* – it didn’t feel and look like the Pine Cliffs 5* that we loved so much. But then I realised that the differences were actually the winning moves.

They are both 5 star resorts but they are different. Pine Cliffs has more the feel of an old school luxury resort, a bit more luxe and a bit more dressing for dinner! Martinhal is privately owned and as a result more relaxed, outdoorsy and modern – far more dry robes wandering around and lots of guests arriving with body boards (rather than golf clubs!).

Highlights of Pine Cliffs: Bonvoy points, big choice of food, closer to the airport.

Highlights of Martinhal: warm pools, amazing kids facilities, sea views, a homely feel

It’s so hard to compare, both offer a wonderful family holiday for the same price, but I think if we had visited Pine Cliffs after Martinhal we would have been disappointed. Martinhal revolves around the family unit, in a very elegant and relaxed way. We felt more at home and more relaxed at Martinhal, and our 5 year old son thrived there in a way I’ve not seen at a hotel before which meant we did. Martinhal had a better package that was more aligned to what we look for.

Read my full review of Pine Cliffs here.

Read my full review of Martinhal here.