Pine Cliffs Resort is somewhere we will return to. It was everything I didn’t expect a resort to be. It was peaceful and relaxing and it made everything so perfectly simple for a half term getaway. I typically don’t like big places and so I’d expected to not find quite what I wanted. But Pine Cliffs has been around for over 30 years, they’re good at getting it right and there’s a reason that many guests are repeat-returners. Conde Nast Traveller talks about it as a ‘those in the know’ type place and they are absolutely right – I’m glad we are also now in the know. Here’s the know…
Pine Cliffs Resort is immense, you need a map to get around and there are signs all over the place to keep you on track. Our 4 year old quickly learnt his way around between the apartment, pool, beach and food! There are 5 main hotels within the resort, each a little different and targeted at a different audience. But all part of The Luxury Collection which is an excellent brand. The family formula works well – it isn’t uptight or stuffy. And thankfully no sign of any discos!
Accommodation
We booked into the Residences. This is where families tend to stay as they come with big space and tout themselves as somewhere good for family groups. We stayed in a 2 bedroom garden apartment. The perfect choice. The décor was a little dated, but the quality of everything was top notch. The apartment comes with all the things a hotel room doesn’t – two separate bedrooms as well as a lounge, a kitchen, a washing machine and a tumble drier. Basically the benefit of staying in a self-catering but in a hotel! Rooms are expansive and how good not to have to share with a 4 year old. Bertie’s two ‘single’ beds in his room were actually three quarter size doubles. So I could crawl in next to him if he woke in the night and we both had plenty of space to snooze. The curtains were black out and both bathrooms had baths!
Each of our rooms opened up onto a garden patio which was ideal for a slow start each morning. Although my 4 year old bolted most mornings so I was glad I took nice pyjamas with me as we darted around the gardens at dawn! A first or second floor apartment has a balcony or terrace from each room. We were able to relax into the apartment just as if it was a villa holiday and there was a small supermarket just outside the hotel grounds which allowed us to keep the fridge full of everything we needed – wine, milk, pasta, sausages.
We visited in October half term so I reasonably expected to be jostling for space by the pool, at the beach or in the restaurants as is the case in peak weeks. This wasn’t the case because there is such a lot of space and choice of places to be. I think the busiest place we spotted was actually the tennis courts – coaching of all ages was very popular. Pine Cliffs isn’t quite The Chedi, but it does master zen and relaxing space almost as well. There is no sense of accommodation being piled into empty spaces, so there is plenty of green space and gaps between buildings. The Residences are also very elegant, and are only 2 storey.
Pool and beach
I believe there are 5 swimming pools, we only found 3 of them in 4 days! There are a couple of kiddie paddling pools too. One of the main pools is heated warmer than the others so it was busier, but not busy. And everyone round the pools was really friendly, no pretence.
There’s a golf course, so lots of people vanish off there in the daytime. Lots of hotels have one big feature pool that is the centre of the resort. At Pine Cliffs there are pools in each different part of the resort, and I think all but one is for use by families. Half term is shoulder season but still the two pools we swam in were warm enough. There is also an indoor pool, but thankfully good weather meant we didn’t go in search of it.
Where we spent most of our time was on the incredibly beautiful beach – Praia da Falesia. Our 4 year old was absolutely delighted by it. Just getting to the beach is spectacular, it’s a walk down through a limestone gulley along a boardwalk and it really is something to behold. There’s the choice of a lift to avoid the main staircase down from the cliffs to sea level, however we tended not to use it after getting stuck in it on day one… We were easily getting in 12k of paces trundling to and from the beach each day.
On the beach there are lots of sun loungers for hotel guests. Thankfully there doesn’t seem to be a towel grabbing approach – presumably because of the distance! At low tide the beach is immense and flat and so a lot of fun to run around in the little wavelets. At high tide there’s still more than enough space for sand castles. It has the feel of a very safe beach and the clouds and the views were cherished. We were down there most days by 9am, not long after dawn, and loved how we had it to ourselves at the start of the day.
There is a massive outdoor kids area – Porta Pirata – which is also where the kids club run from. We used the play area when we were passing, and it is excellent. But my son was more interested in spending time at the beach. We didn’t use the kids club as it was a short break and there was plenty for Bertie to do with us as a family. The resort laid on face painting, pumpkin carving and balloon modelling as part of their Halloween events which was fun to join in with!
Food and drink
Food wise there is a great choice of places to eat. So many that we only had one evening meal that we cooked ourselves in our apartment. We didn’t have breakfast included in our stay so ate that at home too, but given the early hour we were up it was perfect as we could just relax on our terrace with breakfast, tea and lego… If you do want breakfast there are 3 places that offer it – one is adults only, one is for Residences guests and then another larger one at the hotel. All restaurants have kids menus. The choice I wouldn’t say is massive if you were there for the full week, it would be good if they could do smaller plates from the adult menu.
We enjoyed O Grill for lunch, sat next to the Residences pool. Corda Café in the centre of the resort was a multiple visit for us as there was a great menu choice and it is open at kids teatime too. MIMO is great for coffee and Zest to get a smoothie.
The standout star for us though was Maré, down on the beach. It’s the type of place you’d assume would be reserved for adults only. But thankfully the resort has the good sense to open it to all. Sat in the sunshine, by the sea, with fresh fish a plenty it’s a dreamy spot. There’s other places to eat too but in 4 days we didn’t get everywhere!
There are bars dotted around the resort too. We only used one – Mirador – as we had wine in our apartment fridge and a terrace to relax on. Mirador is the sunset champagne bar and, of course, kids are welcome too. Hallelujah! We settled down here for a few early evening sojourns, enjoying the spectacular view before it was time to put the little one to bed – OJ for Master P, Laurent Perrier for me and G&T for Mr P.
Location
The resort is only 30 minutes from Faro airport, and we hired a car with Avis which was the same price as arranging airport transfers. I’d half expected us to go out day tripping, but we liked the resort so much that we didn’t need to. We headed out once – Master P needed to do his holiday shopping and the toy shop on resort didn’t have anything that took his fancy! After he’d picked some suitably tatty toys, we headed to Vilamoura Marina for supper and enjoyed dinner and ice cream by the water. There’s a little supermarket just outside the hotel and a row of restaurants too.
Will we go back?
We will undoubtedly return to Pine Cliffs. Our stay has definitely given me faith that the right big resort can still be relaxing and peaceful. It wasn’t a cheap holiday, but it was a fabulous one, it was worth every penny. It was so easy to relax at Pine Cliffs.
We fitted in if that makes sense? There was no need to worry that our child was disturbing others and others didn’t disturb us either. We were eating at the same time and in the same fashion as others with children the same age. And round the pool or on the beach people were relaxing in the same slightly chaotic way with their kids as we do. It wasn’t cramped in any way like hotels so often can be at peak times. And positively for the future, there were families with older children having an equally good and relaxing time as us.
A fabulous holiday and a continued love affair with Portugal.
