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Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

pine cliffs in Portugal-anyone been?

11 replies

whatname · 12/05/2010 11:19

Bit confused, Pine Cliffs hotel, village, apts. or the Sheraton hotel?
The childcare is very important and is the route down to the beach v precarious?! Will be taking a very lively 2year old by myself!

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MintChocAddict · 18/05/2010 00:10

Have stayed in the golf apartments @ Pine Cliffs and they were nice and clean, well equipped. We used the facilities in the hotel - bar, restaurants etc. Other family members have stayed in the Sheraton hotel and it's lovely and fairly luxurious. Not sure about townhouses and other accomodation and didn't use the childcare but seemed well organised and plenty to keep a lively 2 year old occupied.

The outdoor play area is big and leafy and lots of trikes, cars, slides, climbing frames. Also a large sandpit, ballpool and trampoline.

The walk to the beach is fairly long depending on which part of the complex you are in, but plenty of pools if you don't fancy the walk. You reach the beach via a glass elevator on top of a cliff. We had a 2 year old with us but plenty of adults in the party to carry things/hold hands etc so didn't really think about how precarious it was for toddlers TBH. Might be different on your own. Think from memory that you have to leave buggies at the top but don't quote me on that one.

Really lovely setting and great holiday. Hope that helps.

whatname · 21/05/2010 18:42

ooh thank you.
still haven't booked yet, but it looks great, just wasnt sure on the set up. Is the only thing there the Pine cliffs resort and the Sheraton? And the golf?

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MintChocAddict · 25/05/2010 00:27

TBH we didn't really explore the local area too much but think there are a few local places to eat/supermarkets nearby if you want to get off site.
We tended to taxi into Albufeira Old Town in the evening. (about 10 mins and 8 euros from memory) Vilamoura is also fairly easy to get to. HTH

essential1 · 09/06/2010 12:43

Here's a warts-n-all review www.totstoo.com/review-sheraton-pine-cliffs - hope helps

ravenousbugblatterbeast · 11/06/2010 13:31

The childcare can be expensive, but the kids facilities are fab - you can go into the area and your LO can play in the sandpit, or on the bikes/trikes if you want push them around the track.

The beach is accessed via a lift, then a long wooden walkway which has 3 steps every 20 ft or so, so there's a lot of bouncing pushchairs down the steps. You can leave the pushchair at the lift and walk down with your stuff. The beach has sunbeds and shelters, and towels are free at the beach so you don't need to carry them.

Drinks and food are at 5 star (eyewatering!) prices. If you walk out of the front gates (about 10 mins, maybe longer from the furthest golf suites), there's a mini-supermarket and a good selection of restaurants to eat in, as well as places to get takeaway chinese and pizza.

Obviously you'll be able to self-cater in the golf suites - the suites are nice but were a little tired when we were there last year. The hotel rooms are obviously just rooms, so if you'd like a bit of space for your LO then the suites might be better.

I wouldn't choose the "Village" - the townhouses are quite dark and damp, and some haven't been renovated for ages.
We've been for the last 5 years (!), so can answer any questions you might have! (And if you're thinking of buying a week in the Golf Suites, for goodness sake let me know, we're looking to sell a Gold week - it will save you a fortune!!!)

Hope this helps!

ravenousbugblatterbeast · 11/06/2010 13:35

You can email me on pcvcmembers at yahoo dot co uk if you want any more details about Pine Cliffs (or indeed about the Vacation Club, which is lovely, but doesn't suit everyone, despite their sales pitch...)

kaybee75 · 14/06/2010 22:42

Hi, we've just come back from Pine Cliffs - we stayed in the Residences which are 2 bed apartments and are lovely - definitely the most child-friendly bit - if you get a ground floor one - you can have the run of the gardens too. Upsides - beautiful apartments, very well set up, really friendly & sociable by the pool, lots of kids to play with and parents to chat to.

Downsides are - very spread out so lots of walking, extortionate prices on the resort are a bit depressing (Supermarket outside is OK if you don't mind cooking), really long slog to and from the beach along a wooden boardwalk - loads of steps so have to leave the buggy at the top or carry it back up. Nice when you get there though. Kids club was only OK - the facilities were great but my son just didn't take to it at all and it is very expensive.

We booked through Travelbeam who were great, and used Algarve365 for private transfer E60 return compared to hotel charging E160!! IS really not that busy there and lots of people who worked there saying how quiet it is, so would have thought you could get a bargain if you negotiate, if you can get a good deal on breakfast included or half-board would be worth it. The breakfast buffet was great and cost E20 p/person if you just went ad hoc. We made secret doggy bags of bread rolls, chees, pastries etc to keep us going through the day to get our money's worth!!

Make sure you request a sunny terrace as some of the apartments were very dark and didn't get the sun at all. Ours were fine, but met a couple of families who were really unhappy with theirs. Any questions send me a message - happy to help out!

All in all - is a lovely place, but pricey in the resort, and hard work to get out and about and go anywhere else if you wanted to.

whatname · 24/06/2010 12:02

Thank you all.
Just come back!!
From the best holiday ever!!

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Snowstorm · 05/07/2010 15:46

Oooh - hope this doesn't count as a hijack but .... we're going there at the end of July! This is great to be able to ask some of you questions ... if anyone's still reading the thread that is!

We're in a 3 bed Ground Floor Residence - do we request a sunny side terrace when we check in or do we need to email them and ask before we go?

Is there a pool near the 'Residences' or is it a bit of a hike to them too?

Do I need to pack beach/swimming pool towels or do they provide them?

We were reading the bumph last night and were laughing at what the website included in their 'rooms include' section: sheets, sprinklers, windows that open, a fruit bowl (we wondered if that included fruit or not?!) ... amused us!

Do they provide tea/coffee in the little kitchens are do we have to buy that?

Any other pointers (DD's are 6 and 7)?

ravenousbugblatterbeast · 14/07/2010 10:26

This is going to be long!!!

You can try contacting the hotel about which apartment you get. There are 7 blocks, block S1 is the closest to the rest of the resort and overlooks the golf club pool (which is heated and good for kids), although I'd guess a ground floor apt there would have very little view as it's sort of screened off by trees IIRC. Block S7 is absolutely miles away and will be a serious hike. In the middle is the Residence pool. You can see the resort layout here : Pine Cliffs Resort Plan

Pool and beach towels are provided - you get towel cards which you swap for 1 or 2 towels each time, and return them when you're finished with them, so that saves you lugging them around.

Re coffee/tea etc, it depends if you're getting a "welcome pack" with your booking. We get it, as well as some fruit and milk, orange juice etc, because we own a week at the Golf Suites (marked C on the map), but I expect some agencies like Cadogan or whoever might offer the pack too. Unfortunately the mini-market just outside the main gates has been closed for a while, although there was a sign indicating it might reopen, so the nearest place to buy reasonably priced groceries is a 5-ish min walk as you turn right out of the main gates, along the main road and on the left side of the road. If you're hiring a car you'll be able to find a bigger supermarket and stock up, and also not collapse from heat exhaustion when carrying it back! SuperBock is good beer (lager) or Sagres Bohemia ia a darker ale-type beer. Yum!

The prices of things in the resort are ridiculous - 3 of 4 euros for a scoop of ice cream at the beach bar, can of coke for 2 or 3 euros - I can't remember exactly because we obviously didn't DREAM of paying it! We just got supplies from the shop outside and took them down to the beach with us. There are sunbeds with shades at the beach, but there's obviously a limited number.

6/7 yrs old is a bit tricky - DS is 7, and he was too big to use a lot of the kids stuff such as scooters, trikes, bouncy castle etc, which is free to access in the Porto Pirata area. There's a not terribly well maintained mini-golf, which costs 5 euros each (!) but was 25 euros last year for a weeks' pass for 2, so that was better value. This year the weather was great so we didn't play, but last year it was dodgy so we played loads and got our moneys worth. The TVs have BBC1 and 2, and CBBC, CBeebies and Cartoon Network, as well as the usual suspects of Sky News etc, so that's good for a bit of cooling down time indoors. I'm not sure if there are DVD players in the Residences - we have to pay 10 euros a DAY to hire them in the golf suites, needless to say we don't bother! There's a games room with various machines in, but we didn't look in there, and there are activities for older kids but they're all paid for via vouchers and I don't know how much.

Ummm... Oh, there are lots of frogs in and around the stream running through the grounds (the area called Pine Cliffs Village on the map), which can be fun to spot of an evening before going out to eat. If you're not self catering I can highly recommend Adega ti Costa, which is opposite the hotel main entrance if you walk up the left hand side of the drive. It's not posh, but the food's good and they're really friendly, loads of locals in there as well as holidaymakers. They open at 7pm.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record if you check my previous posts, if you do sit through the Pine Cliffs Vacation Club sales spiel (and you get about 30 euros to spend in the resort as a reward I think, so not too bad) DON'T even THINK about buying anything without checking prices etc on the internet - Gold weeks (any time except Jul/Aug) in the Golf suites (Pine Cliffs Vacation Club, the blocks marked C on the map) are being sold for 29k euros by Pine Cliffs, but you can get a resale from the internet (and indeed from my good self!!!) for 10-15k, easily.
Phew!
I hope this helps! Have a lovely time, it is a fabulous resort, once you get over the prices!

Snowstorm · 21/07/2010 09:37

Only just found this - thank you so much - really helpful and much appreciated!

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