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If you are googling family friendly holidays in Europe or a variation on that theme one of the places that always comes up is Martinhal in Portugal. It has a very loyal repeat customer base, gets excellent tripadvisor reviews and the photos of the resort are stunning.
We recently visited both Martinhal Sagres and Quinta during February Half Term and have set out five reasons why it is a great choice in low season.
1. It is significantly cheaper to stay there. It isn’t surprising that it is cheaper to visit Martinhal outside of the 6 week summer holidays, but it is perhaps surprising to find out how much cheaper it can be. If you have previously priced it up for summer and thought it was out of your budget, ask for a quote for February or Easter and I think you might be surprised at how much less it is.
2. It isn’t just the accommodation that is cheaper the flights will be cheaper too. We recently paid £350 for the 5 of us to fly easyjet from Liverpool Airport to Faro. There aren’t as many flights granted, but there are quite a lot of flights still to Portugal so still quite a bit of choice. Why not Consider a 5 day holiday? It is only 2.5 hours flight. Alternatively why not fly to Lisbon and drive down to the Algarve. It can be done in less than 3 hours, particularly to Quinta. If you are flying into Lisbon you can now consider staying in Lisbon at the all new Martinhal resorts Chiado and Cascais (Opening March 2016).
3. The weather is good. It might not be stunning sunbathing weather, but then if you have young kids you don’t always get chance for this anyway. You can however experience beautiful blue skies, temperatures of x, warm sun on your face and some bright winter sun only 2.5 hours from the UK. The pool at Sagres is heated and we happily spent hours in it. There are also indoor pools at both for those slightly cooler days.
4. The kids clubs will be significantly cheaper (if not free). The kids clubs are unlikely to be full, there will still be loads of activities on and there will be less pressure on all the playgrounds etc. Your kids will be able to play on the slides, trampolines, ball pools, tennis courts etc. without having to wait.
5. Peace and tranquility. If you look at my photos of both Quinta and Sagres it will appear as though there is nobody there. We had miles and miles of beach to ourselves. It was fabulous and loads of fun.
It’s true that a Summer Holiday at Martinhal would also be an amazing experience but don’t rule out a low season break. It might surprise you!
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I visited Martinhal in Sagres last year and took my Mum-it was a really relaxing break and we saw how perfect it would be for all the family. The spa was wonderful. Lovely photos 🙂
I have never been to Portugal before. We are busy looking for are first family holiday abroad with the little two and I will have to check Martinhal out. I much prefer visiting places out of season especially with little ones, as it is less busy and not too hot. It looks beautiful, I bet you had such a wonderful time x
We loved Martinhal although only visited briefly – it was great in September too, very sunny, if you have preschoolers. I love Lisbon too so would be great to check out their new property.
It looks incredible so very stylish, I love the villas, and apartments it looks perfect for the family x