Martinhal Beach Resort and Hotel Portugal

The crowning glory of our Portugal travels was ending up at the uber luxury family resort, The Martinhal Beach Resort and Hotel in Sagres. The resort in the south western most point of the European continent impressed us to no end. I’m most certain that we found the MOST family friendly property that PERFECTLY caters to all ages! It’s quite the testament I know! This non all inclusive resort  has me yearning to return (and constantly sharing pictures from on Instagram!).

The reason this resort has thought about all the tiny details when it comes to kids of all ages, is because a young family owns the property. The idea was hatched in 2002 and today Chitra Stern, her husband and their four young kids have their fingerprints all over the resort and hotel. As soon as we pulled up to the lobby of the hotel I knew we were in fabulous hands! I was greeted with a glass of port and the kids were given bags with a beach ball and hat. Since we had the hub’s parents with us we opted for a three bedroom Bay villa which gave us plenty of room to spread out.

Disclosure : We received a complimentary stay but, as always, opinions are totally mine! 

There are so many little details about this property that it’s hard to begin! Our villa had baby gates, training pottys, step stools and even special cups and plates for the little ones. Forget getting excited about a crib and high chair, the Martinhal has a baby concierge!! Yes folks you have FREE access to bottles, change pads, sterilizers and even gear! The only thing they charge for is if you rent a stroller. The resort is quite large and you may want to drive around but we walked around and were glad we had our double stroller with us. Had we forgotten it, we would definitely have rented one. The only thing I wished we had access to was golf carts to take us around the property…I know many all inclusive resorts down south offer this amenity which is why lazy me was looking for it here. Did I mention that our villa had a washer/dryer and that the ENTIRE resort had amazing WiFi?

When it came to entertainment there was no shortage of options. The resort has separate daycare options for each age group and plenty of organized group activities for parents, kids and families to participate. In addition there’s tennis courts, saunas, hot tubs and even football games! If relaxing is more up your alley there’s numerous pools scattered throughout the property and most of them have a toddler pool attached so that parents don’t have to get in the water if they don’t want to! We found that some pools were heated and Little Monkey enjoyed those immensely. She especially loved the indoor pool with a tiny slide and plenty of toys. The hubs and I liked the ones with floating pillows for the adults! You can imagine how much I appreciated having the in laws with us! They got time to bond with the kids and we got a chance to unwind, enjoy the stunning scenery (Hello!!! You can see Africa from parts of Sagres!!!) and vino!

The Martinhal Resort has quite a few restaurant options and will you believe it, there were dedicated staff members to look after the kids in a separate kids area while the parents enjoyed a meal! This was all free! There’s no nickle and diming at the property and I loved that. The meals were great and there was everything from purees to plenty of toddler approved meal options available. One evening we were so exhausted that the servers didn’t even bat an eyelash when we asked for a takeout (vs. sit down) dinner order (sadly they don’t deliver to the villas though!). Every turn we took there was a sandpit, play area or play ground and Baby Boy and Little Monkey were VERY well entertained. I know I have finally found the perfect resort for our family! These guys have thought about the little stuff that I did not want for anything during our two night stay. There is a full supermarket on site which meant that you can get freshly baked bread, wine and treats, all signed to your room. I was anxious about things being extremely expensive on the resort but that was hardly the case. We found everything from the meals to the shopping to be on par with off resort options.

The staff at the Martinhal were very friendly and eager to chat and share their love for the area. While we did not venture off resort much we did go for a drive through town (so many restaurants to dine at!!) and caught the sunset at Cape St. Vincent which is the western most point of the continent. All because our hostess on the first night made us promise we’d make it! We got some stellar pictures and this one was a favourite amougst my Instagram followers.

My most popular picture of all time is this one of the hubs and Baby Boy enjoying the beach at the resort. The hubs and Little Monkey jumped into the beach but the brown in me could NOT get into that frigid water.  I was told they were having unusually windy weather which made the water unbearable for me but the sun was out and I enjoyed lounging in the cabanas and at the pools. Little Monkey LOVED having beach toys available right on the beach! Yes.. free once again. She played with them and gladly left them for other kids to enjoy. I can imagine how busy the resort must get during peak season when the temperatures are rising but during our visit there was never a rush anywhere and plenty of toys and gear available for our use.

My fond memories of the Martinhal Beach Resort and Hotel will live for years to come and I will forever treasure the moments the kids and the grandparents enjoyed with each other. This is most definitely THE PERFECT spot for multi-generational travelers to enjoy a relaxing vacation at in Europe. I spotted quite a few couples vacationing here but what I noticed most was parents enjoying a relaxing vacation with young kids along. It isn’t often we get the chance to enjoy fantastic restaurants where there’s more kids than adults at but that harmony exists at the Martinhal and more often than not, the kids were all well behaved. I’m seriously tempted to move to the Algarve and if  I ever did that I’d totally buy property on the resort (yes that’s an option!!). Can you imagine that?