Absoultely fantastic holiday

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Sheraton Pine Cliffs, Albufeira
★★★★★
5.0
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glenc's review of Sheraton Pine Cliffs, Albufeira

“Absoultely fantastic holiday”

★★★★★

written by glenc on 17/09/2014

We were looking for a holiday with two young kids that would be as stress free and easy as possible. We chose Pine Cliffs as it seemed to really cater for children, was close to Faro airport (about 30 min drive), had a good sized ‘village’ feel to it so that we didn’t have to faff around with hire cars and from the reviews and photos I saw it looked lovely.

When we arrived we were immediately impressed with the quality of the landscaping and grounds. They are beautiful and immaculate. Some people in other reviews have complained that it’s a large resort and walking around it is too much. For us this wasn’t the case. I guess if you never walk anywhere you might not like the resort, but if you don’t mind a short walk it’s not a problem at all. We were based in a townhouse which was about 2 minute walk to the hotel area, 3 minute walk to the shops and restaurants outside of the hotel and 10-15 minute walk to the beach. Walking was a pleasure as the grounds were so stunning. There’s also a little train that goes round the grounds which you can hop on and off if you don’t fancy walking, but for us the walking element really wasn’t a negative of this place.

In terms of facilities they were very good. We have a 3 year old and 6 year old, so I can’t really speak for older kids, but for this age it’s well catered for. We used the kids club for a few mornings and both of our children came out gleaming – surely a good sign? The only negative I’d say about the kids club was that when I walked past a few times the kids were often just playing in the playground whilst the staff watched. Not a disaster and end of the day kids love playing in the playground but maybe a few more activities would have been good. If they were in for a full day I wonder if they would have been bored? To be fair, there were some activities, our daughter came back with some painting one day and they do other things, but it didn’t seem fully packed with organised activities.

The playground is great though – the most prominent part are the two pirate ships which are large enough to have loos, an office and a small shop underneath. In actual fact the pirate ships were not very exciting to play on – basically there was very little to do on them other than climb up them. This wasn’t a major issue though as there were other things to do – whether they were with us or with the kids club team.

There’s a bouncy castle with slides, climbing frames, swings and lots of bikes, scooters etc for the kids to play around on. The main area is also well shaded by pine trees, which is a good thing. Alongside this area are two lovely paddling pools for the kids. Actually they’re deep enough in part for the kids to swim in too. Our house was 50 yards from the playground and our kids had a go on something there most days – even if it was for just 10 minutes.

Moving further afield, there are about 6-7 restaurants and a similar number of pools. We checked out all the pools and most of the restaurants.

The pools first: We went in peak season August and the pools were busy but never too busy. A pet hate of mine, and something I really would love hotels like this to resolve, is people putting towels / inflatables on loungers and then leaving them there pretty much the whole day without being there. Really annoying. It’s not just Pine Cliffs that has this problem, but I really would like them to at least put up a sign asking people not to leave towels on unattended loungers for more than an hour or so – that would at least give people the hint that it’s not acceptable!

That aside, we always got a lounger at the pool (and we didn’t join in with the towel leaving brigade). Sometimes the loungers were a little further back than we’d have liked, but it really didn’t matter to be honest. The pools were great and the kids loved them. They were, however, pretty cold! Being unheated they felt pretty chilly when you first got in, but when its 35 degrees it’s actually pretty refreshing. The kids just went in for a while, got out and warmed up, then got in again. Maybe one or two slightly heated pools would have been good, particularly if you’ve got really young ones, but it didn’t spoil our stay in any way.

Restaurants next: I’d read lots of people complaining that they were astronomically priced. It’s a 5 star resort, they will be pricey and they are. To be honest though they weren’t as bad as I thought they’d be. We had one night at O’Pescador where I thought ‘ouch that’s overpriced’ when we had a 220 euro bill for a fairly standard fish meal for 4 (2 adults, 2 young kids) without wine. That’s about £180, which is, by anyones standards, steep for a non-fine dining restaurant. The food was very nice though – so at least it’s not a case of paying a huge amount for rubbish. However, I didn’t feel this meal represented great value for money.

Most of the other places we went were better priced but again don’t expect £5 meal for adults, it just doesn’t happen in a 5 star hotel. There are quite a few restaurants within 5 minutes of the resort entrance and they are more  reasonably priced so I would recommend you eat at home a bit, eat at the resort restaurants a bit and eat out of the hotel a bit. There was a great Italian restaurant (go out the gates, turn left, about 1 minute away) - excellent pizza and first class salmon tagliatelle. I think the bill for this place was about £40 for a family of 4 – really quite reasonable.

We only had 1 bad meal the whole holiday – this was at The Club House for lunch. All 4 of our meals were somewhere between average and unpleasant. They may have been just having a bad day, but I wouldn’t frequent this restaurant again as it was notably worse than anywhere else we ate.

There were plenty of other facilities, as you’d expect with a 5 star Sheraton hotel on site. We had a great 90minute massage (not ridiculously priced either) and saw the older kids games room (pool, arcade machines and the like). It would feel like a shame if your older kids spent all their time in there as it’s the beach/pools/outdoors that make this place – but it’s there if you want it!

Next the beach. It isn’t right on your doorstep – I’d estimate it was a 10-15 minute walk for us (that’s with a 6 year old walking and the 3 year old in a pushchair). It’s a lovely walk – along to the top of the cliffs – amazing views – then down a little lift to a long wooden walkway that takes you right into the heart of the beach. Don’t bother packing towels; all the pools and the beach have a hut where you get free beach towels (a very welcomed touch). It’s a huge beach – golden sand stretches out left and right as far as you can see. It wasn’t over packed and the kids just loved making sand castles, doing some rock pooling and jumping up and down in the crashing waves (crashing when you’re 3 – for an adult they were more trickling….).

One thing I’d improve – and this is slightly nit picking – the hotel has a whole batch of loungers on the beach for exclusive use of the resort guests – each has a sun shade built in, but they really are quite useless. You continually have to adjust them and even then it’s physically impossible to have all your body in the shade, so quite annoying to use. As I say, this is nit picking but would have been good to have better shade on the beach as it does get very, very hot in August especially between 1pm and 4pm ish. Pack your sun suits for the kids is my advice.

So, it’s a beautifully maintained and landscaped resort. Has very good facilities, a lovely beach and is really geared toward kids. I’ve been to similar places in the past and the one, highly, highly annoying thing that’s let them down is the staff. Just because you work in a 5 star resort doesn’t give you the right to look down on people or be rude – indeed it should mean the opposite.

For me, this is where Pine Cliffs differentiates itself from most of the other places I’ve stayed at and really excels. The staff are quite simply amazing.

We must have interacted with maybe 40-50 staff, from the welcoming team to towel attendants, to waiters, to kids club members. Each and every one was happy, polite, efficient and took a genuine keen interest in the kids. They all, without fault, seemed to actually care that you were having a good holiday. It sounds simple, but is lacking in so many resorts. I can only say ‘well done’ Pine Cliffs, you’ve got this just right – your staff are great. For me this really makes or breaks a holiday so it’s a big, big thumbs up.

I’ve not talked much about our actual accommodation. We were in a 3 bed townhouse – they are all apparently privately owned so the quality can vary a bit, but the one we had was great. It’s not the most memorable part of the holiday - i.e. I’ve stayed in more memorable accommodation but it was pretty much what we wanted; clean, practical and pleasant enough. The location was spot on – near pretty much everything we wanted to be near. Some of the other accommodation down by the golf area was probably a bit far away from things like the restaurants and shops outside of the resort, but again you’re probably talking a 15 minute walk, nothing too disastrous for the average person.

One thing I read a lot about was that in most accommodation wifi/internet access is charged for as an extra. I think people are right to be up in arms about this, it just shouldn’t be extra in this day and age. They don’t charge extra for lighting or other services, why for web access? We were fortunate enough to get internet access as part of the townhouse, but if I was paying for it each day I’d have been pretty disappointed (and it’s not cheap). This is one thing I think they should just sort out.

We were there for 9 days and we didn’t feel we needed to leave the resort during that time (apart from the parade of shops/restaurants just outside the gates) – there was plenty to do with the kids. If you’re looking for a really cultural experience then this maybe isn’t for you – but if you’re looking for a fabulous resort, excellent staff, great facilities and a pretty carefree week or two away in almost guaranteed sun then this gets massive ticks in the boxes.

If you’re not going with kids then I wouldn’t go in August – it’s very much a family resort. If you do have kids then having like minded people at the resort is a positive.

All in all Pine Cliffs deserves the 5 stars I’m giving it in this review. They work very hard to make your holiday exceptional and they achieve it. I’d highly recommend this place for families with small kids like ours – indeed we’re going back next year.

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