I stayed for 4 nights in late September as part of a corporate event. It was a first visit to this part of Portugal and also a first visit to any Club Med resort. Our large group had a warm arrival with several members of staff lined up to greet us as we walked in.
ROOM: my room was clean and very spacious (at least 35m), with separate toilet and shower rooms, a queen sized bed as well as a single bed, and 2 sets of closets. I also had a small balcony offering mountain views. The main bathroom had a double vanity, there was plenty of hot water although shower pressure was low.
POOL/BEACH: the beach was accessible via a staircase, it was perhaps a 3-4 min walk from my room. There were plenty of sun loungers on the beach, but notably there was no bar or staff presence, so if you wanted a drink you would have to go all the way back to the main resort or pay for a drink from the beach bar next door (not part of the resort). The water was a bit nippy but it was still swimmable and I did enjoy a few sessions here. I checked out the main pool one day and it was really busy, being located right next to the main restaurant and bar and with a lot of sun loungers packed all around the pool. In contrast the adults only “Zen pool” was very quiet and had loads of space to spread out with ocean-view sun loungers scattered widely around the surrounding lawns but note this was close to a 10 min walk from the main pool and quite well hidden, I’m guessing many guests would go through their whole stay without even realising it was there. On the day I visited it was also quite windy at the Zen pool as the area was quite open and exposed.
ACTIVITIES: I didn’t do much else but there was tennis, football, ping pong, beach volleyball, and other stuff as well, and most of it seemed complementary to use.
FOOD/DRINK: quantity over quality, with mass production buffets for all 3 meals. There was a large enough choice that I could always find something decent, but probably 80% of what I tried was quite average or in some cases inedible. The coffee was particularly bad. I should note this was not a uniform view across our large group, there were plenty of others who agreed with me, but there were some who really enjoyed the food, so it just depends on what you’re used to I suppose. To their credit, they were quite generous with the extensive buffets plus afternoon tea, they didn’t seem to be cutting any corners although I did wonder how much food was being thrown out every day! On the drinks they fared a bit better, cocktails were generally strong (but it varied), there was a reasonable selection included as standard, but as expected you had to pay extra for brand name spirits.
STAFF AND GUESTS: other guests at the resort were totally dominated by French speakers and in September appeared to comprise an equal split of retirees and younger families with babies or toddlers. Staff were generally friendly and accommodating, unsurprisingly I was spoken to in French as a default, but all staff seemed confident speaking English as well so communication was not a problem once we switched over.
CONCLUSION: as someone who is generally sceptical over all-inclusive resorts, my stay here exceeded expectations. The property itself is well maintained and while I certainly wouldn’t call it a luxury resort, it didn’t feel cheap or tacky either. I would give them a solid 4 stars on the physical property, rooms and service, but only 3 stars on the food. My stay was funded by my employer so I cannot comment on value for money and I have no idea what it would normally cost, but in my view a fair price for a couple would be around €500-600 per night during peak summer season, falling to around €300-400 during the off peak dates off my visit.
