THE MAGIC OF MARTINHAL

Magical Martinhal, where to start? It truly provided the most effortlessly relaxing holiday our little family could have hoped for.

Martinhal have got everything right for a luxury family holiday. Everything. Nothing is missing, nothing is an effort, really it’s perfect. A John Lewis holiday, if that makes sense. It has everything you might need, everything is fantastic and looks good, and the quality and pricing is on point too. There’s no need to pay extra to access special areas, everything is for everyone and it feels like a real little family community.

Martinhal is definitely an institution, with repeat returners. Martinhal Sagres opened in 2010 and is one of the big names in luxury family holidays. This place will wow any tired parent that likes the finer things but above all likes to be able to relax and know things are just as well set up for their children as them. Does that make sense? The 5 stars come from the whole package and there’s a reason it keeps winning prizes. It has the boutique feel that we’ve long loved about hotels but found hard to find in a family resort. It isn’t identikit, and it fits into the surroundings – which are peaceful as it’s nestled alongside a nature reserve.

The staff training is clearly somewhere a massive investment is made. We’ve stayed at some great hotels and few have such well trained and attentive staff. They were as good here as at somewhere like the Chewton Glen. And they were expert with kids, not just adults. It isn’t a hotel with some kids stuff added on, the children are at the centre of the design to make a luxury family holiday that everyone can enjoy.

The winner for us at the time of booking was the fact that nearly all the accommodation is in a house or villa. Space is often hard to come by in a resort (we’ve looked at a major competitor for hours on end but it can’t compete on private space) but is so necessary. It makes all the difference to us having real space to spread out and relax, and a separate bedroom for Bertie as well as a lounge for us. As fans of self catering, a resort that offers a house stay with hotel perks alongside is hard to beat.

I was nervous when we were heading there, we’d loved our stay at Pine Cliffs so much last year, but Martinhal was so much more. Let me tell you about it…

Villas

We booked a two bedroom ocean house. It was the perfect space for us. Sea views and the noise of the sea were a treat. Downstairs there’s two big bedrooms with ample storage. Two bathrooms, one with a bath (as well as toilet steps and toilet seat for little people). And there’s a terrace facing the sea with two loungers.

Upstairs is open plan, there’s a big lounge area with an enormous corner sofa and bean bag, leading out to a large sun terrace. A slick kitchen (newly fitted) and a dining table. Hidden under the stairs is a large washing machine and a clothes airer.

I’ve got no drone, so this is a video from the Martinhal Instagram feed taken by another customer so you can see the ocean houses!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Martinhal (@martinhal)

There are other types of house and villa to choose from, as well as hotel rooms. The hotel rooms are the closest to the water. The bay houses are similar to the ocean houses, with a bigger garden but no sea view. There are garden houses and pinewood houses that are a bit more hidden away. The Villas Mimosas are further from the sea with their own shared pool. Larger villas are dotted around which would be ideal for a group stay. Having walked the resort the ocean houses remain our favourite. A short walk from everywhere and with the best house views.

The resort has a fleet of electric golf buggies, we only used one for our luggage but I’m sure they can help for getting around too.

Kids club

This isn’t a hotel with a kids club latched on. The kids club and all the play areas are a central part of the resort. It’s a key reason why people book. It’s more like a nursery/childminder set up, I’d happily use it for summer holiday club at home if they ran one! Bertie went to Fox Club which is for 5-6 year olds. He did a few three hour sessions and wanted more. £25 a session, it was great value.

They have different activities every day – including beach and pool activities and plenty of craft and soft play. There is a crèche for the babies and then other clubs for the ages in between and older than Bertie. All the kids are given a rucksack and fox toy on arrival, coloured to their age – all so well thought through. Everyone uses the kids clubs, so clearly it has a good reputation. And it is wonderful for the children to make friends because then they play happily together in the evenings too!

There’s a massive play area in the centre of the resort. Soft floor and so much to climb and bounce on. Set alongside is a bar, so basically it’s a parents dream as either you settle into the bar and keep an eye on your child, or you totter around the play area with your drinks! There’s a cute little playground disco each evening at 5pm (no chintz, it’s the kids club staff having some fun after kids club finishes) which brings everyone together for 10 minutes. It’s so easy for kids to have a blast and parents to relax and have an extra glass of wine.

There are other play areas too, and each restaurant has its own indoor play zone (with a carer to play with the kids). There’s also an indoor games room and a room with a big screen that does film showings. So plenty inside for a rainy day. We didn’t use it but there was also crazy golf.

Pools

There are 7 pools! 4 large and 3 baby pools. Each pool can be used by everyone, whatever their age.

The pool by the sea is the most picturesque, and has a bar too. We spent a lot of time there, there’s a baby pool too. This is the most popular pool but even so isn’t over-stretched. Bertie loved to order a hot chocolate after his swims!

The village pool is a great indoor/outdoor set up and opens at 8am. Perfect for a rainy day. There’s another baby pool here too and a play area. They’ve also got little slides for the children to whizz into the pool from. It’s next to the gym as well and I spotted some water spin bikes.

There’s a pool (and baby pool) up at Club 98 and there’s also tennis courts up there. When we were there they had a bouncy castle slide joining the pool. One more pool that we didn’t use is in the middle of the garden houses and is smaller and likely quieter.

The most important thing about all the pools is their temperature. Warm. We booked our holiday because we knew this. Even on a cooler October day the pools were warm enough to swim and play in, no gasping as you get it for once. It’s a measure of a pool, that with a storm raging on the beach just a few metres away, you can swim happily in the pool! Just wonderful.

Food

Such good food. So good in fact we didn’t even eat any chips (Bertie did of course)! There are three restaurants and you can book all in advance online. All of them are fabulous. All of them have indoor play zones for the children. And two are located right next to play areas you can watch the children in from your table. Bertie ate well, there is a good length kids menu in each restaurant. Food is fresh and comes quickly including with vegetables. There is also a kids buffet in one of the restaurants.

O Terraco is the most spectacular, perched up high above the pool with wonderful views of the sea. This is the more fine dining restaurant and is very popular. I had a delicious duck dish and Mr P devoured his steak.

Gambozinos is the restaurant alongside the big play area. One evening we enjoyed pizzas (took some home for lunch the next day) and another evening we ordered a mass of starters to share. All the food was excellent. As Dunas is the nearest to the beach and is alongside another outdoor play area. This is the fish restaurant and is buzzing in the evenings. O Terraco and As Dunas are both open for breakfast too. M-Bar is the coffee shop and bar which also does light bites, and there is Josper Grill for evening take-away food.

There’s also a great little mini-market store that sells everything you need. Reassuring pricing, but a great choice of wines and really good fresh bread. There’s also an intermarche 5 minutes away or a Lidl 10 minutes up the road. My only complaint is the price of the wine and coffees, definitely cheekily priced.

Beach

I loved the beach, it really is wild and beautiful. And with the storm that went over on our first morning, it can definitely be wild! There are no loungers on the beach which is a pleasant change. Instead there are loungers on the dunes down to the beach which is far more elegant and means they are spread out nicely.

People go to and from their loungers to the beach for digging and swimming, it’s a very safe bay and there’s watersports kit to hire as well. We took wetsuits and enjoyed some spectacular sunrises on the beach. An outdoorsy loving beach goers paradise.

Spa

I used kids club time wisely and checked in for a 60 minute hot stone massage. It was fabulous. The spa is in the centre of the resort and is a peaceful little enclave. It was perfect to slip away and be an adult for a while. The sauna and steam room you can use at any time during a stay. They do family treatments so I’m very tempted to take Bertie with me next time! Side note – Mr P used the time to run a long way and learn how to sea swim properly, slighty less relaxing but still something that was only possible because of Fox club!

Area

We’ve seen a lot of the Algarve already and this area stands out as our favourite. It is far away from the strips of coastline with one hotel after another that we’ve been to before. And not a golf course in sight! It is surfing country and there’s a laid back cool to everything. Martinhal is a 80-90 minute drive from Faro airport but all on good roads, we had an automatic Corolla estate hired from Thrifty and it was an easy drive. It’s a rustic area but as a result it is blessed with indie coffee shops and cute places to go out for lunch. We loved exploring the west coast up to Aljezur and Arrifana beach. We also took a trip out to Cape St Vincent which was spectacular as the storm rolled on.

Final thoughts?

Martinhal Sagres is getting everything right. The resort isn’t enormous, and so it keeps a really boutiquey and relaxed feel to it. The staff are sublimely good at what they do. Even in half term, it didn’t feel overly busy, and the busyness that you do get in the playground before dinner time is truly enjoyable as parents can relax whilst the kids play with their new buddies. The accommodation is slick and practical and looks good. The day care (notice I’m not calling it a kids club) is better than anything we’ve seen in the UK as a holiday club. I thought that as a whole the holiday was well priced. We didn’t scrimp with our food/drink/spa, but when we came to check out we were pleasantly surprised.

It’s the full package and one that we will be back to in about 350 days time…